PG: Not fun

[Clyde_Style]

I think we lose games 4 and 5 and then steal game 6 only to lose in game 7. Boston vs Cleveland semis but this time Cleveland wins and face OKC in the finals. We get a new champion.

Why do you do this to yourself?

[mpharris36]

We have led the score in 9% of all minutes played in the series.

The Knicks being up 2-1 after 3 games in this series is a major upset and feels like a win. Yet, I feel less optimistic about the team's chances than I did before the series.

We've been thoroughly outclassed and outplayed so far. And it took some exceptionally bad shooting from the Celtics in games 1 and 2 for us to have a chance to mount a comeback.

The question is can we scrap two more wins like the Nuggets did against the Sonics in 1994?

I think it's quite easy and convenient to pile on KAT for his defense when Brunson has been a bigger liability defensively. The more significant issue to me is that, besides some clutch shots by Brunson in Boston, neither has played like a star offensively, and we need them to provide elite offense to stay in the game with Boston's 3-point machine. If neither steps their game up, we're likely toast.

5-18 FGAs from KAT is not going to cut it, especially as Mazzzula fouls Mitch out of the series. KAT was a mess on offense. Brunson's final boxscore numbers are misleading, he did not have a good game offensively either. Let's see if either one of them can have a big game on Monday or whenever game 4 is. We're gonna need a dominant performance, likely from JB.

I agree with a lot of your saying. And I ask why do you think Brunson and KAT are struggling? BOS has a very good defense so I will give them that. But it was the same struggles vs a much less talented defensive team in DET. Brunson wasn't overly EFF in that series even with a monster game 6 on the road.

KAT shot the ball decent but now in 3 games vs BOS and 6 games vs DET KAT is taking 3.5 3's per game, even then some of KATs make are crazy...he has to make some really difficult shots because nothing is schemed easy for us. That is dowright ubsurd. Under 4 attempts from 3 from our best shooter? How is that legit offense? How is our coach inable to scheme KAT to take more 3's...we have beeen guarded this was since Jan...no excuse now to just run the same "read and react" BS offense and just hope the talent level of Brunson/KAT bail us out.

Like you said...Brunson and KAT we already know aren't good defenders...they have to be on the top of there game offensively to really make this work. The fact both continue to struggle really only pts to one thing for me. Everything is a grind...everything is a struggle. We don't really try anything different. Its the same vanilla offense we have been running all year. Its just that early in the year KAT was being guarded by Centers and he kills those matchups.

Fully agree. I think it's a combination of factors.

Thibs prefers to run an isolation offense because it limits turnovers.

Brunson and KAT are not better than the sum of their parts. Brunson's mindset is focused on scoring rather than playmaking, and KAT's probably not an aggressive screen setter.

We can't run a 5-out offense with Hart on the court. Not a criticism of Hart, but his lack of shooting throws a wrench in the works. I agree with you Hart should be setting more off-ball screens for KAT.

And I think there's no excuse for the low 3-point shooting output, for which I think Thibs is largely responsible. It's a low-risk, low-reward offense. In a series where our defensive weak points can be exposed, I don't know if this safe approach to offense can produce enough points. It makes sense to use our qualities in the midrange down the stretch of a close game, but we need to take more 3s over the course of 48 minutes. Including our stars.

good way to analyze the offense is a low risk but low reward type style to limit turnovers. The difference that works better for an elite offensive rebounding team...which we aren't anymore. KAT job is to space the floor and our best rebounder is 6'4...so we don't get the same amount of second/thrid opportunities a low turnovers...ISO based offense requires to remain effective.

We need to be more creative in moving guys around to get better looks. We thrive in transition. THat should be more reason to get guys moving instead of having so many guys in the half court just stand around and watch.

Brunson and KAT are fantastic off the catch and we really need to run with that.

We never run KAT away from the ball screens to try to get the center back on him. We never run double screens with Hart and KAT...like BOS did today to really put pressure on Brunson guarding.

We need to put pressure on BOS defense by running some different sets. KAT isn't an elite screener...and Brunson isn't an elite playmaker for others.

I think we should put Mikal on the ball more...and use Hart as a off ball screener to either free up KAT to then screen for Brunson or Mikal.

[sol537]

Hey remember last game when I said I was wrong?

Yeah, my bad, I wasn’t.

It’s not a one game thing.

The Celtics have **** dominated - DOMINATED - this team all season. Including these playoffs where he have led for 12 of 144 minutes. 12 of 144! That’s insanity.

We are supremely overmatched in both ends of the floor despite what anyone here says. The fact that we have 2 wins this series is a miracle. That’s all it is. A straight up miracle. We have no business being in the lead. Series should be 3-0 Boston realistically. And at this point it’s going to end up 4-2 Boston because the sleeping giant has awakened and will make sure they step on our Knicks this time.

KAT is a zero on all ends - specifically defensively. And the Celtics know how to neutralize Brunson and tire him out. Without Brunson we are a rudderless team. We have no offense to speak of and we can’t defend the 3 point line.

Took historically disgraceful 3 point shooting by Boston for us to win 2 games which we were down 20. Think about that. Boston had historically bad shooting nights and were up 20 twice regardless.

Yeah, sorry, we’re still not very good.

That’s why I expect BOS to take the next two then Thibs will be forced to move Hart to the bench in favor of Mitch. We’d may steal game 6 with that switch. But it may be too little, too late.

[TKKnicks1]

BOS ain’t winning the chip if Tatum & Brown don’t get their head out of their asses and play team basketball. What makes them great is that they could impact the game in all these other ways besides dropping 25, but instead they’re focused on dropping 30 , which is killing this team

I think Tatum and Brown are very unselfish TBH. They are constantly trying to find the mismatches. They use screens very well to their own advantage or read the play to find an open man for a three. They had a combined 12 assists today while our total team had 16.

[Gravy]

Seems like the main reason for the poor offense is the lack of shooting:
20% from three
68% from the free throw line

If the Celtics woke up and started shooting better then we need to do the same.

[Capn'O]

We led in the important part of the first two games. The part where we win.

If the Knicks can keep it close, we can win more games. We execute better than they do when the game is tight late. We're better conditioned and we have better closers. But we executed very poorly early on today and it got out of hand, which was bound to happen in at least one game vs last year's champs. Also we missed a bunch of bunnies early. Gah! Why can't we hit shots to start these games? Then our wings, usually trusty, couldn't hit today.

Pritchard going off today killed us and we need to plan for him better. He found openings too often right when we were trying to mount a comeback. Horford too, that wily ol' bastid.

We should also try guarding the three but I'm not gonna get too crazy of my requests to Thibs here.


Bad game overall but not surprising at all. We're still up. Don't get down. The series just started.

[god shammgod]

Read on Twitter

[K_ick_God]

You either limit turnovers or limit offensive motion, giving the other team rest and peace of mind on D

You don’t need to be a basketball genius to figure out that limiting ball and bodies moving will kill your offense

Low turnovers, 2 points for OG, awful shooting by KAT, no motion off which to get a guy like Deuce going

So you tell me … which is better. This is hardly a close call and it doesn’t require much insight

Proves one thing — the NBA has squeezed the life out of their own sport

[HarthorneWingo]

Hey remember last game when I said I was wrong?

Yeah, my bad, I wasn’t.

It’s not a one game thing.

The Celtics have **** dominated - DOMINATED - this team all season. Including these playoffs where he have led for 12 of 144 minutes. 12 of 144! That’s insanity.

We are supremely overmatched in both ends of the floor despite what anyone here says. The fact that we have 2 wins this series is a miracle. That’s all it is. A straight up miracle. We have no business being in the lead. Series should be 3-0 Boston realistically. And at this point it’s going to end up 4-2 Boston because the sleeping giant has awakened and will make sure they step on our Knicks this time.

KAT is a zero on all ends - specifically defensively. And the Celtics know how to neutralize Brunson and tire him out. Without Brunson we are a rudderless team. We have no offense to speak of and we can’t defend the 3 point line.

Took historically disgraceful 3 point shooting by Boston for us to win 2 games which we were down 20. Think about that. Boston had historically bad shooting nights and were up 20 twice regardless.

Yeah, sorry, we’re still not very good.

That’s why I expect BOS to take the next two then Thibs will be forced to move Hart to the bench in favor of Mitch. We’d may steal game 6 with that switch. But it may be too little, too late.

Thibs should make that change now.

[K_ick_God]

Personally, I’ve had it with the granular analysis — will just stand back and hope to hear reports of two more semi-miracles at the guard hour.

[Adelheid]

If Brunson intends to keep his beloved uncle thibs out of the hot seat then he needs to go past 100% and be super saiyajin or unleash whatever hidden gear he has

[ScienceOfLosing]

Whoever wins game 4 will probably win the series. I expect us to come out on fire but that doesn’t matter in the playoffs. Champions would do 48 mins & send a message

Tend to agree. Two 20 points down comebacks is nice but going down 20 in game 3 and losing coupled with being outplayed in 75%+ of the quarters does not bode well for us.

If we can overcome that and go up 3-1 then we can probably win 1 of 3. Offensively with Thibs I don’t know if that’s possible.

If we lose the next 3, 4 in a row badly, maybe Thibs is gone.

[Chanel Bomber]

The overlooked aspect of our winning the last two seasons was our offensive rebounding.

It was closer to the value of Randle and Brunson's contributions than the individualistic coverage of the NBA would lead us to believe. It's also why iHart's departure and Mitch's delayed recovery were so impactful.

Mazzula hacking Mitch is a great sign of respect.

Besides KAT, we don't have overly efficient scorers, so Mitch's offensive rebounding is key in tipping the scales. Mazzula smartly recognizes that. Let's hope the big fella doesn't get too down on himself.

[Besart19]

This looks a lot like last year series vs Sixers

I hope the epilogue will be the same... 4-2 Knicks W

[NiceLikeChrist]

Reminder that we’ve been starting a high energy bench spark plug the entire season and playing him 38+ mins a night

The starting lineup was never our best lineup but thibs is too stubborn to change just like when he insisted on starting elfrid against the hawks until the very last game.

Just start mitch every quarter. Let them get in the bonus early every time. Let mitch shoot FTs til he misses then take him out.

[Spree2Houston]

You need to insert Mitch into the starting lineup. Mazulla won’t apply Hack a Mitch with his starters out there in order to avoid foul trouble. He only does it mostly with his bench guys. Mitch has dominated defensively this series and Mazulla knows this and tries to get him out of the game

[spree2kawhi]

You need to insert Mitch into the starting lineup. Mazulla won’t apply Hack a Mitch with his starters out there in order to avoid foul trouble. He only does it mostly with his bench guys. Mitch has dominated defensively this series and Mazulla knows this and tries to get him out of the game

Plus, having Hart out there with the starters isn’t beneficial at all. Despite his good numbers, he really takes away their spacing and interferes with what we want to see from them on offense. Play Mitch (or deuce) instead and let him cook with the second unit, where he should be a real plus.

[spree2kawhi]

Reminder that we’ve been starting a high energy bench spark plug the entire season and playing him 38+ mins a night

The starting lineup was never our best lineup but thibs is too stubborn to change just like when he insisted on starting elfrid against the hawks until the very last game.

Just start mitch every quarter. Let them get in the bonus early every time. Let mitch shoot FTs til he misses then take him out.

He’ll try the same next game with the same result and we’ll eventually be eliminated. He’s really the number one reason for this team approaching its the ceiling.

[spree2kawhi]

This looks a lot like last year series vs Sixers

I hope the epilogue will be the same... 4-2 Knicks W

Boston is better. It’s kind of okay to struggle against them, but there have to be adjustments.

[TheDavinciCHODE]

I'm not gonna overreact to one game...

but...

This is now 3 games where we've gone down BIG to this team, and the first two can easily be chalked up to luck with 3 point shooting from the Cs, though I think we played great defense in game 2 and boston made some really dumb decisions.

But if they start hitting 3s and a 40% clip we are cooked. I pray that we get up hard on shooters and Mitch can make a difference at the rim in the next game.

Going back 2-2 to Boston is not a good spot to be in. we gotta get game 4.