PG: Knicks vs Indy: Game 1 ECF

[spree8]

Only solace I take in this horrific loss, is that this should be jet fuel for them to get pissed and sweep these fools the next 4.

[ctorres]

Too bad the Knicks had to give up Donte DiVencenzo in that trade....might have been the difference off the bench...

Nah, he's been struggling with his shot in Minny during the playoffs.

Meanwhile, Deuce has been lighting it up from three

[robillionaire]

not that it's gonna change or that even we should at this point, but the starting lineup hasn't worked since december. they started this game bad in the 1st and they were bad to end it too. that's worthy of talking about. it's something they're gonna have to address in the offseason. maybe for now they should just play them together a little less.

Or they could address it now like most sane coaches would haha

Yeah most sane coaches would overreact to a miraculous loss in the conference finals by blowing up the same starting lineup we’ve used all year that got us to the conference finals. This place is crazytown

[3toheadmelo]

Knicks aren’t changing the starting lineup so far deep into the ecf. What team has ever changed their starting lineup in their conference finals not due to an injury?

[dakomish23]

Mikal didn’t take a shot in OT

[mpharris36]

not that it's gonna change or that even we should at this point, but the starting lineup hasn't worked since december. they started this game bad in the 1st and they were bad to end it too. that's worthy of talking about. it's something they're gonna have to address in the offseason. maybe for now they should just play them together a little less.

worth talking about but changing Hart for Deuce doesn't change what happened at the end of the game. Changing Hart for Mitch doesn't change for what happened at the end of the game.

I think Hart was the culprit on one of the 3's Nesmith hit when he was screened by Obi and then recklessly closed out and fell.

But the collapse was because of our main guys that won't be leaving the rotation. And whether you want to admit it also coaching impact here...after the first open 3 you call a TO and get the team settled back in.

Knicks were up 14 with 3:44 left and Brunson was at the FT line for one more FT...he missed. Knicks had 2....yes 2 TO's remaining. You want to know the next time the knicks called a TO? 34 seconds remaining only up 5....how do you let 9 pts come off the lead without calling a TO to settle the team down to adjust the coverage?

Brunson missed a FT down the stretch
KAT missed a FT down the stretch
OG missed a FT down the stretch

all those guys aren't being removed.

Also as I posted above OG not staying connected to Siakam as a screener allowing back to back uncontested walk in 3's from Nesmith is space cadet type ****. I have no explanation what he was thinking. And he's our best defensive player.

Haliburton I think hit a 3 in that stretch where he gave Mikal a power dribble Mikal took one step to try to cut the drive off and then hit a step back 3...not sure why we always are concerned about giving up layups in that stretch...give up as many layups with taking time off as possible and run teams off the 3 pt line.

Another open 3 on Nesmith was a non switch with Brunson and Mikal...caused Sheppard to slip the screen...the whole team collapsed and let Sheppard hit Nesmith again on a C&S 3 with Brunson recovering too late.

I agree we should probably play the starters much less...the Net rating for a while has been ass but isn't that simply on the coach for not adjusting?

[god shammgod]

not that it's gonna change or that even we should at this point, but the starting lineup hasn't worked since december. they started this game bad in the 1st and they were bad to end it too. that's worthy of talking about. it's something they're gonna have to address in the offseason. maybe for now they should just play them together a little less.

Or they could address it now like most sane coaches would haha

Yeah most sane coaches would overreact to a miraculous loss in the conference finals by blowing up the same starting lineup we’ve used all year that got us to the conference finals. This place is crazytown

it's too late to change it but if you look at the numbers they're always losing. they lost the 1st quarter. they lost the 3rd. and they lost the end of the game. i think they won their minutes in the 2nd by 1. so they were actually losing before the end of that game.

[HEZI]

It's even simpler - score more than the other team. We don't even have to play better. Just score more than the Pacers each game. Mr. Dolan, if you are reading this, please send me a couple of million for dispensing that sage advice.

We put up 135 points and only lost because of some mental errors like turnovers, missed free throws and a few bad defensive rotations.

Time to panic, fire the coach, change the rotation, implement a new strategy, sell the team, move the team to Seattle and all that other stuff

I’d understand overreacting to a loss this painful but it’s been the same song and dance any time we lose any game all year long. Game 3 and 5 against Boston. The pistons losses. Game 1 of the regular season. Etc. And they have always bounced back. We’re in the conference finals, at some point just accept the situation is what it is and let the team do what it’s gonna do

Exactly. It’s the same type of panic after every loss and yet nothing changes except the players just simply find a way to play better. Expectations for Game 2 should be no different

[Jeff Van Gully]

who is still in?

and who wants to do the next GT? i know melo and LFGK had spoken up.

[Capn'O]

It looked like an easy 2 pts but he flubbed the pass. He made a few unforced errors under the pressure that he usually doesn't make.

I almost prefer when Brunson is cold in the first half because he defers until the mid-3rd. He may have gassed out early tonight.

The moment got too big for Jalen at the end of the game.

There were 34 second left in the game, and the Knicks had a 24 second clock available to them with a 5 point lead, and Jalen got greedy looking for points instead of taking as much time off the clock as possible.

I’d differ on greedy and say it is sheer idiocy … opening a door that is closed … like 0g’s 3 attempt early in the clock

And all of that goes on the coach’s shoulders 100%

Right. We need a TO earlier to settle.

[Gravy]

That’s all it is. We had the game in the bag to win.

It's even simpler - score more than the other team. We don't even have to play better. Just score more than the Pacers each game. Mr. Dolan, if you are reading this, please send me a couple of million for dispensing that sage advice.

We put up 135 points and only lost because of some mental errors like turnovers, missed free throws and a few bad defensive rotations.

Time to panic, fire the coach, change the rotation, implement a new strategy, sell the team, move the team to Seattle and all that other stuff

Biggest reason for the loss is the pacers hitting like 6 threes in a row and then a ridiculous bounce from Haliburton to tie it. And we still had the win with one more Free throw.

[RHODEY]

Now we know how Boston fans felt after game 1 and game 2. The fact is we went up by 16 at one point in the 4th quarter so logic says we were the better team. But ya that's what Boston fans thought throughout the series as well. I still got Knicks in 6.

This is the reverse of the Boston series. The Pacers are now in our role from that series. I wouldn’t be surprised if- actually I’ll go as far as envisioning - to see another double digit lead in the 4th in game 2 dissipate and we lose the game to go down 2-0.

Some people seem to think that the Pacers - who have the best efficiency and scoring in the entire playoffs - are just going to go back to normal after this game. They don’t seem to think the Pacers are going to have supreme confidence after this win at home. If I’m the Pacers my belief is if I can win this game like they did yesterday then I can win any game against anyone. And half the playoffs is about confidence. The other half is about execution. The Pacers have done both these playoffs. They have played extremely well the entire playoffs, whether you want to say it was against injured teams or not. Their confidence is at an all-time high. Ours isn’t.

This is not just another game 1 loss. It’s a historical loss. Literally the first of its kind in the nature of which it happened. Acting like it’s some regular ass game 1 loss is absurd. It affects your psyche as a person, as a player. For them to come back and win the series they will have to be one of the most mentally tough teams of all time and I don’t see a team consisting of Towns, Bridges and others having that mental fortitude to do it. I hope I’m wrong but momentum is telling me otherwise.

Sure it was a very very bad loss , but we can comeback from this and it may make us better int he long run. Heck we did it before when Reggie lit us up in 8 seconds.

On to game 2.

[GettinitDone]

Only solace I take in this horrific loss, is that this should be jet fuel for them to get pissed and sweep these fools the next 4.

Yes I mean one of the only few ways we rebound in this series is to blow them out and have a more sense of urgency in keeping the lead safe in G2 and also G3

Like the C's did in G3 when they blew us out, but we need to do it to the Pacers in 2 straight games G2 and G3 just to put doubts back into their minds

Imo we must put a stop to their momentum and growing belief that they're winning this series because as theirs grow bigger, ours grow weaker

Can't wait til G2

[KnicksGadfly]

Thing is this…there were so many risky plays at the end of the game. Balls thrown where guys are tripping or 50-50 plays. Thibs better get on that.

Other thing from us is that this kind of seems similar to our Boston loss in G5. I don’t know how we put the foot off the pedal in this game or that game. None of these teams are going to let up.

[Clyde_Style]

Woke up and my ass still hurts

[spree8]

who is still in?

and who wants to do the next GT? i know melo and LFGK had spoken up.

Someone who witnessed our last championships… at least there’s some good juju to bring to the thread. Posters who only know misery should refrain lol.. just my two cents

[mpharris36]

fans are going to overreact...its what they do...especially after one of the worst sports collapses of recent memory...

what is not an overreaction is the starting lineup NET rating for a while...and the way we defensively close out games. Remember game 3 vs the pistons when we were comfortably ahead with 1 minute to play. Beasley hit an open 3....THjr hit an open 3...Tobias Harris hit an open 3...to the point the pistons got the ball back with a chance to tie or win...the fact these games get to one possession late is a terrible look.

We haven't learned from it. The only way for these teams to get back into the game is shoot a bunch of 3's...yet constantly we are either in drop or not connected/switching everything late. And its not just our bad defenders making mistakes either in KAT or Brunson...the whole team makes the mistakes. That seems to go back to everything I am talking about...

the defense was fine for about 40 minutes of the game...the first 6 and last 3 were a complete disaster.

[mpharris36]

Thing is this…there were so many risky plays at the end of the game. Balls thrown where guys are tripping or 50-50 plays. Thibs better get on that.

Other thing from us is that this kind of seems similar to our Boston loss in G5. I don’t know how we put the foot off the pedal in this game or that game. None of these teams are going to let up.

yup...its not just the mistake plays...how many times on a inbounds was brunson caught in the corner have to make some high level risky no look pass to no one just hoping our guys would get it.

The late game execution with a lead is elementary level ****. Our inbounds plays are way to complicated and leave us with one option that usually is brunson getting trapped.

[Deeeez Knicks]

It was a total team and coach collapse. Everyone gets blame.

The OG play where he fumbled stood out as the biggest and dumbest mistake. All we had to do was just hold the ball and take the clock down. Indy gets the ball down 5 with like 10 seconds left at worst.

[dakomish23]

We were talking about Nembhard in the game thread, who had been great all playoffs. Dude was a complete non factor on both sides. Scores 7 pts on 3-4 & had that big assist to Obi on the press for the dunk.

They got good contributions from their top 7 and so did we.