GT: ECF: GAME 2 @Knicks vs Pacers: Fri: 5/23/25: TNT; 8pm

[Jeff Van Gully]

I would start Deuce tbh. Mitch isn't playing more than 20 mins anyway.

that makes way more sense to me.

double big works really well against second units. we stagger the bigs a bit.

Yep. Play 5 out and let the double bigs punish their 2nd unit

i mean, it’s kind of what we have been doing lately.

[8516knicks]

Guard Nesmith. Please. Pretty pretty please.

[Context]

I also just don't understand why we will not give Wright a chance, he played in the playoffs last year with Miami. The Pacers have more trust in a 2nd year random guy like Ben Sheppard, it's ridiculous.

They put Sheppard on the court simply to make Jalen work, nothing else, anything else he gave them was gravy.

Thats why I put this series on Thibs. No one else.

[Jeff Van Gully]

I also just don't understand why we will not give Wright a chance, he played in the playoffs last year with Miami. The Pacers have more trust in a 2nd year random guy like Ben Sheppard, it's ridiculous.

They put Sheppard on the court simply to make Jalen work, nothing else, anything else he gave them was gravy.

Thats why I put this series on Thibs. No one else.

this… and only this… coach not playing delon wright minutes of significance… is why the knicks lost game 1 and the entire series preemptively.

this place is the best.

[rajajackal]

let's get it together and lift our chins. i am choosing to continue rooting for this playoff run

[MrDollarBills]

let's get it together and lift our chins. i am choosing to continue rooting for this playoff run

I stand with brother raja.

[MrDollarBills]

we just put them together. we are in the ECF immediately.

I know, and it sounds as crazy as saying we should fire Tom right now.

But I'm just thinking about how we can really sustain this with our 1 and 5 being negatives defensively.

don’t give away 17-point 4th quarter leads

A simple solution. Let's hope last night serves as a wake up call.

[LFGK]

They won't sleepwalk through another part of a game after last night, they took their foot off the gas and paid the price with losing a game they had no business losing, all will be fine soon enough

[omerome]

let's get it together and lift our chins. i am choosing to continue rooting for this playoff run

Same. I want nothing more than to eliminate that cornball, Haliburton, who had the nerve to taunt us on our court like that.

I hope the team all saw it and will keep that in mind for the rest of the series.

[spree8]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=W09F6FrMDfp5_y1gKYgF1g

Unbelievable

I'm about to ask a dumb question. Please humor me.

Do we have an analytics team??

I'm dead ass. Do we? Because fans shouldn't be the only ones looking at this and realizing that the starting unit as constructed hurts this team?

And yes, I absolutely think Josh needs to come off the bench.

Good question. Imo, since the buck stops with Thibs, it’s his call to ignore the analytics that I’m sure his staff is telling him about. Which is weird because he himself has said that he relies the most on these plus minus stats.

The only reason I think he would do that is because of his stubbornness and his favoritism towards Hart because he’s a Thibs type of player to the fullest.

[MrDollarBills]

Obi told a fan to come see him at the Ritz

[Jeff Van Gully]

They won't sleepwalk through another part of a game after last night, they took their foot off the gas and paid the price with losing a game they had no business losing, all will be fine soon enough

inshallah

[Jeff Van Gully]

Obi told a fan to come see him at the Ritz

i bet no pacer wants this more

[G_K_F]

The Pacers are an extremely lethal team with amazing chemistry.

Remember the same squad and rotation is there from last season. They’ve gotten even better.

I looked at the Pacers playoff performances and in all their wins they are, except for one game, shooting over 50% from the field and over 40% from 3. Does anyone remember last year in Game 7 when they shot like 70% for the game? This team can score and is extremely efficient. I just don’t see us beating them at this point. Just taking the big choke collapse out of the equation - we shot 50% and lost. We don’t normally shoot 50% from the field. We can’t shut this team down when it matters. I just don’t see it happening.

[spree8]

We almost got shot out the gym in the first quarter without it

turn that almost into a definite.

you think the perimeter rotations would be better with mitch instead of josh?

I'd start Mitch over Bridges at this point, the on/off net ratings are not kind to him, he is the sore thumb out of all the guys. And if they're afraid to start Mitch, I'd go with Deuce over Bridges as well.

What I don’t get is how these analytics don’t match what we’ve been watching with how Hart hurts our spacing and allows doubles on Jalen. The rebounds n assists gotta be skewing these numbers lol. He can still get them for us off the bench.

I’d take made 3’s by a wide open Deuce over those Hart rebounds (n assists which will go to someone else like Mikal who should have the ball more)… not to mention a more efficient Jalen once the defense realizes they can’t keep doing that without getting punished. Plus Deuce at POA helps Mikal fall back to his natural position on defense.

I just dunno if these stats capture the whole scope of the game.

[G_K_F]

They won't sleepwalk through another part of a game after last night, they took their foot off the gas and paid the price with losing a game they had no business losing, all will be fine soon enough

Why do you make these definitive statements like they’re the 98 Bulls?

They’ve been extremely inconsistent in the regular season and blew many leads in similar fashion. They even blew games against the Pistons in the playoffs. Beating the Celtics doesn’t erase their history or inconsistency. In fact it shines a bigger light on their issues now. They’re not some powerhouse that’s going to come out and stomp people. They have no track record of doing this consistently to say they will.

[The KnicksFix]

The Pacers are an extremely lethal team with amazing chemistry.

Remember the same squad and rotation is there from last season. They’ve gotten even better.

I looked at the Pacers playoff performances and in all their wins they are, except for one game, shooting over 50% from the field and over 40% from 3. Does anyone remember last year in Game 7 when they shot like 70% for the game? This team can score and is extremely efficient. I just don’t see us beating them at this point. Just taking the big choke collapse out of the equation - we shot 50% and lost. We don’t normally shoot 50% from the field. We can’t shut this team down when it matters. I just don’t see it happening.

Didn’t you just state something as though these Pacers are the 98 bulls?
Just because posters like Context, LFGK and I are choosing to change the outlook of how the Knicks are perceived, with confidence rather than focusing on the negatives shows that we are changing the mindset of the fan base that the franchise has long felt for over 25 years.

We will win the series. Focus on what we did right, rather than 5 minutes of a collapse, and you will see why we are positive on this team.

[MrDollarBills]

Obi told a fan to come see him at the Ritz

i bet no pacer wants this more

Yep. He'd love it.

I'm gonna be real, i got no beef with the dude. I questioned why Leon traded him for 2 seconds but i think it was cap related (plus he cussed out the coach). It is what it is. He's on the enemy side now tho.

[MrDollarBills]

I think fan vitriol outside of booing should be reserved for players who grab dicks during games.

[K_ick_God]

I also just don't understand why we will not give Wright a chance, he played in the playoffs last year with Miami. The Pacers have more trust in a 2nd year random guy like Ben Sheppard, it's ridiculous.

They put Sheppard on the court simply to make Jalen work, nothing else, anything else he gave them was gravy.

Ummmm ... because