PG: Awful gameplan, not prepared, not 1 good performance

[Chanel Bomber]

Hart is the definition of glue guy. He was holding that group together and the moment he was removed from the lineup is when things fell apart

Yeah the lineup change felt a bit pointless to me.

I think the real move was swapping Mikal and Deuce, including their minutes. We'd at least inject more 3-point shooting in our lineups.

I don't think it was ever on the table for political reasons though.

[Knicks Byke]

hate to beat a dead horse but damn we couldve used Donte this series.

Mikal is a good off the dribble shooter but we need spot up shooters since Jalen holds the ball so much, similar to Luka.

whole thread for this -JVG

[MrDollarBills]

Hart is the definition of glue guy. He was holding that group together and the moment he was removed from the lineup is when things fell apart

That line up was an absolute negative though. That's not conjecture. They were statistically literally the worst starting group still remaining.

[spree8]

Hart is the definition of glue guy. He was holding that group together and the moment he was removed from the lineup is when things fell apart

Yeah the lineup change felt a bit pointless to me.

I think the real move was swapping Mikal and Deuce, including their minutes. We'd at least inject more 3-point shooting in our lineups.

I don't think it was ever on the table for political reasons though.

The move was always Deuce for Hart… 5 out. Moves Mikal off POA (Deuce one of the best in the L) and limits doubles on Jalen.

[Mattatron]

The Boston series might have ended up being a huge curse for us.

Thibodeau will never be fired now for reaching the ECF for the first time in 25 years.

I just hope this team makes major moves this summer. I know they’re limited with their assets but we need to do something. Bringing back Towns as your second best player is not a recipe for success. Beginning back Bridges in any capacity is not a recipe for success. Bringing back OG at $40 million is not a recipe for success.

Why can’t we be like the Pacers and find guys like Nesmith who give you the same production as OG at a fraction of the price? Why can’t we build a roster of gritty, smart, hard-working players?

Everyone should be on the table besides Brunson. Everyone. There is no untouchables.

OG had a contract similar to Nesmith's before he signed his newer one with the Knicks. Nesmith's next contract will be probably in OG sphere. There are not many guys out there with the skillset of them. The problem is the lack of depth, Hart and the Bridges trade + Ballhogging Brunson.

[3toheadmelo]

Spoiler:

Imagine trading Haliburton for Sabonis to build around De'Aaron Fox

Being a Knicks fan is hard but being a Kings fan has to be worse now.

Fox isn’t even a bad player tbh. I think what made it worse is that they traded Fox away too. They had two good point guards and decided to trade them away for a Lavine and Monk back court. That’s some nba 2k sht lol

Fox is kinda mid. I think he just holds the ball enough to put up numbers, but it's not really conducive to winning.

He's not much different than Dejounte Murray.

These guys have played on mediocre teams their whole career for a reason.

Why do you hate good players chanel???!!!?!??!?!?!?!?!

WHY?!?!?!?

[HEZI]

Hart is the definition of glue guy. He was holding that group together and the moment he was removed from the lineup is when things fell apart

Yeah the lineup change felt a bit pointless to me.

I think the real move was swapping Mikal and Deuce, including their minutes. We'd at least inject more 3-point shooting in our lineups.

I don't think it was ever on the table for political reasons though.

Deuce is somehow a worse 3 point shooter than Mikal. Swapping a 33% shooter for a 28% shooter isn’t exactly fixing things

[robillionaire]

Stubborn is as stubborn does.

It wasn’t the minutes distribution. Mitch was a -20 in 18 minutes. If the lineup didn’t work even in limited minutes there’s no reason to think he would have worked in the 4th either

It's not about Mitch, its about Josh and how horrible he's been playing nearly 40 mins.

That’s fair, he had a bad game. People mention the turnovers but the timing of some of his loose ball fouls were also backbreaking. Even with all that he was just a -1. But he’s been the heart and soul of the team in a lot of ways for a couple years now. Hard to completely go away from him. Down 3-1 I think we just live and die with the guys who got us here and I’d hope he turns it around

Honestly I’d consider putting him back in the starting lineup and Mitch back off the bench. I’m thinking maybe the change didn’t work

[snadler]

Everyone relax here.

1) OKC is at least one level, probably two levels above our level of play. Even if we won game 1 and made it somehow to the finals, it would have been 1999 vibes all over again. Basically zero realistic chance at winning the title. Yes making the finals is better than losing in the ECF but to me the difference is marginal.

2) Stop really complaining and replaying game 1 in your heads....we were the Kings of winning undeservedly during this playoff run. Almost all our wins in the Pistons series and 3 out of 4 wins in the Celtics series we weren't outplaying anyone. If all it takes is one bad loss for this team to get eliminated, then they really didn't deserve to make the finals anyways.

3) If this team made the finals they are likely running it back. Losing to the Pacers (a good but not great team really that probably in the west struggles to make it past round 1), opens up the possibility and puts pressure on the team to make changes.

4) It opens up the Giannis window possibly. I personally do not believe the team in its current constitution can truly go all the way and it would be doubtful whether Giannis would even want to join a finals team (Durant vibes). Now the stage is set perfectly---ECF loss, not getting past the Pacers. Giannis comes for the rescue.
The margin is big to a title and this series showed it. For people in doubt about this I'm sure they will come around once OKC has hammered the Pacers in the finals. We profited from an epically bad shooting choke job by the Celtics....nothing more. This is a second round and out team. They look like it, they play like it. Brunson and KAT together is not going to work period. We need 4 strong defenders next to Brunson and we need much much more ball movement and a better offense.

I agree with almost everything you say, however there is something to be said for winning a conference despite it leading to a series demolition for OKC. As far as the Giannis dream, this is not happening, unless Giannis says knicks only which he won't do, the bucks if they move him are going to want good players and picks, the knicks don't have the picks anymore, and other teams will come up with much better offers

[Chanel Bomber]

Hart is the definition of glue guy. He was holding that group together and the moment he was removed from the lineup is when things fell apart

Yeah the lineup change felt a bit pointless to me.

I think the real move was swapping Mikal and Deuce, including their minutes. We'd at least inject more 3-point shooting in our lineups.

I don't think it was ever on the table for political reasons though.

Deuce is somehow a worse 3 point shooter than Mikal. Swapping a 33% shooter for a 28% shooter isn’t exactly fixing things

Interesting. I had the impression he was shooting better. Well his shooting efficiency's better regardless, I guess because he takes fewer 2s, which Mikal stopped hitting.

[Fury]

Maybe the Pacers are just really good? Remember, last year they didn't have Hailburton for 2 games against Boston. That was like a fraudulent run by the Celtics.

[Chanel Bomber]

Spoiler:

Fox isn’t even a bad player tbh. I think what made it worse is that they traded Fox away too. They had two good point guards and decided to trade them away for a Lavine and Monk back court. That’s some nba 2k sht lol

Fox is kinda mid. I think he just holds the ball enough to put up numbers, but it's not really conducive to winning.

He's not much different than Dejounte Murray.

These guys have played on mediocre teams their whole career for a reason.

Why do you hate good players chanel???!!!?!??!?!?!?!?!

WHY?!?!?!?

"Good players"

[robillionaire]

Hart is the definition of glue guy. He was holding that group together and the moment he was removed from the lineup is when things fell apart

Yeah the lineup change felt a bit pointless to me.

I think the real move was swapping Mikal and Deuce, including their minutes. We'd at least inject more 3-point shooting in our lineups.

I don't think it was ever on the table for political reasons though.

There was a point to it. The point was to improve the defense and I suppose add some offensive rebounding. Rebounding hasn’t been improved. Defense hasn’t been improved. They calculated after game 2 that towns was the reason we were getting cooked on defense. After 2 games with Mitch in there, it’s clear that he wasn’t the biggest reason for the ongoing defensive failure by a long shot.

[HEZI]

Hart is the definition of glue guy. He was holding that group together and the moment he was removed from the lineup is when things fell apart

That line up was an absolute negative though. That's not conjecture. They were statistically literally the worst starting group still remaining.

That’s the lineup we won with all regular season and playoffs long. I tried to warn people about looking at net ratings in small sample sizes. We don’t have a bench and we don’t have players on the bench that would be better in starting roles. Look at Robinson, y’all wanted him to start and whined about it. Wanted more two big lineups because of net rating stats. I said Robinson is not a starter don’t start him he’s just an energy guy off the bench. Well you got it and it’s made us worse. Robinson can’t handle the Pacers pace and is getting exposed. Same thing applies to the rest of the guys you might think would look better starting. They won’t.

[robillionaire]

Maybe the Pacers are just really good? Remember, last year they didn't have Hailburton for 2 games against Boston. That was like a fraudulent run by the Celtics.

Well they are good, they stomped Giannis and then a 64 win #1 seed on the way here.

[3toheadmelo]

Spoiler:

Fox is kinda mid. I think he just holds the ball enough to put up numbers, but it's not really conducive to winning.

He's not much different than Dejounte Murray.

These guys have played on mediocre teams their whole career for a reason.

Why do you hate good players chanel???!!!?!??!?!?!?!?!

WHY?!?!?!?

"Good players"

You hate Brunson!!!!

[robillionaire]

Hart is the definition of glue guy. He was holding that group together and the moment he was removed from the lineup is when things fell apart

That line up was an absolute negative though. That's not conjecture. They were statistically literally the worst starting group still remaining.

That’s the lineup we won with all regular season and playoffs long. I tried to warn people about looking at net ratings in small sample sizes. We don’t have a bench and we don’t have players on the bench that would be better in starting roles. Look at Robinson, y’all wanted him to start and whined about it. Wanted more two big lineups because of net rating stats. I said Robinson is not a starter don’t start him he’s just an energy guy off the bench. Well you got it and it’s made us worse. Robinson can’t handle the Pacers pace and is getting exposed. Same thing applies to the rest of the guys you might think would look better starting. They won’t.

This is elfrid payton all tf over again. People screamed to bench him. We lose 1 playoff game against the hawks and it’s 1-1 after 2 games, and thibs capitulates to the fans and he benches him. Fans celebrate “he’s finally doing what we wanted wow it’s about time” and then we get blown out 3 games in a row. And the prior sentence just gets memory holed by everyone. Now he finally again did what fans wanted and it’s not working. It didn’t work in game 3 either and the only reason the series isn’t already over is because towns decided to go ham in the 4th quarter without fans preferred lineup and won the game. This is after he tried benching towns in the 4th in game 2, a strategy that was tried and never worked for Minnesota either, and blowing that game.

If there’s a reason to fire Thibs look no further than the fact that when things get tough more than once he has been hoodwinked to capitulate to fans and media and done stupid things that don’t work.

[spree8]

Calling Deuce a 28% 3pt shooter is so disingenuous.

If he makes 2 more threes, he’s all of a sudden an elite 43% 3pt shooter this series.

What are we doing here?

[3toheadmelo]

Maybe the Pacers are just really good? Remember, last year they didn't have Hailburton for 2 games against Boston. That was like a fraudulent run by the Celtics.

We were on our way to sweep them last year tho until we got hit with 1037394283 injuries. I think OKC gives them a gentleman sweep.

[robillionaire]

Calling Deuce a 28% 3pt shooter is so disingenuous.

If he makes 2 more threes, he’s all of a sudden an elite 43% 3pt shooter this series.

What are we doing here?

I agree with you on this, I think he’s shooting closer to 37% in the playoffs exactly how he did last year. That was a small sample size for this series. He can shoot better than others.