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

[3toheadmelo]

"Good players"

You hate Brunson!!!!

Sorry I prefer two-way players like KAT!!!!

[sol537]

You know what the worst part is for me?

Realizing Brunson isn't the seemingly perfect player who would always make the right play and never let us lose big games

He seemed when he first came here he could do no wrong, and I don't mean that in a rose tinted glasses kinda way, I mean it literally, like when he first got here he just always seemed to come up big at the most important times, or if he didn't we always had some way to logically excuse him for it

But now? I really don't know man, he's my favorite Knick of the last 20+ years, he took a huge pay cut, etc but man.. we've routinely **** the bed against teams we could/should beat or there's an opportunity to come up big and we never capitalize on the series.

Started with the Heat series years ago, then last year I know injuries but still we had a shot and blew it, now this year, Pacers are not more talented on paper, they have B level stars, we have 2 A level starts IMO, yet we come up short again.

I'm sad because I had such assurance in my mind that Brunson would lead us to the promise land if we gave him a talented roster around him, but once again he comes up short as the leader and loses to a clown like Haliburton.

It's just disappointing man, I want to believe in him but year after year I'm realizing he is a normal player with flaws and stuff, I thought his life long of growing up with basketball and how level headed he is would assure us he would always come up big and never let stuff like this happen to the team, but he doesn't prevent it, it keeps happening now every year ends up disappointment and feeling like "we should have beaten that team they weren't better than us" it's never "damn that team just was so much better than us that we lost" were losing series we should win.

"they have B level stars, we have 2 A level stars"

Who the f*** are the "2 A-Level Stars" ? Neither KAT nor Brunson are A Level Stars and never have been. How delusional lmao they're b-level stars. They are sidekicks at the very best. Hali is a much more polished player than Brunson, Siakam = KAT (But siakam has mental toughness and champion
pedigree while KAT....)

Haliburton isn't better than Brunson and Siakam isn't better than KAT

YouSureAboutThat.gif?

Our two are being taken to the shed this series by their "big two"...

[HopelessKnick]

I too think OKC in 4 or 5 but crazier things have happened (like our game one meltdown).

This was our only bad loss in this year's playoffs and essentially every game except 2 in the Celtics series have been close....so for me...if that is all it takes to eliminate us...then we were frauds anyways...rode high on some lucky wins and flamed out after facing the first adversity...nothing to lose sleep over...the Knicks are a good, not great team...borderline top 10 team maybe...

AND KEEP THIS IN MIND: We are talking a really weak weak eastern conference. In the west both the Knicks and Pacers are likely first round and out teams so in the grand scheme of things I'm not even bothered much:

OKC, GSW, Rockets, Lakers, Wolves, Nuggets, Clippers.....I truly don't know if we even beat a single one of those teams....Memphis was the only team I could have seen us beat....maybe just maybe the Rockets although I thought they played pretty strong against GSW. We aren't anywhere close to where people assumed after the Celtics series....And of course a healthy Celtics team beats us 8 out of 10 times. We are a borderline top 10 team where everything aligned for us to make the ECF (Atlanta like):

Epic Pistons meltdown in game 1
Epic blown whistle in game 4

just to have us barely beat a mid team. A good team does not get stomped like we did in game 5 at home against clearly inferior competition.

Historic Celtic shooting choke job. Missed 60+ open 3s in two games and we BARELY won. It wasn't like they missed record number of 3s and we hammered them. They missed record number of 3s and we barely won on the last play. Still without Tatum they destroyed us by close to 30 points at home.

I don’t think the west is that good either. A mid 49 win Timberwolves team is in the conference finals, the rockets were proven to be 1st round frauds, the warriors are washed, OKC for the world beaters they’re supposed to be needed 7 to get past a janky Nuggets team who fired their coach a month ago

Yeah well let us see. Would it be fair to say that for your assessment to be true the Pacers would need to make it a close tough 7 game finals series?

And anything less than a 6 game series would make my assessment more accurate?

[HEZI]

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.

After we beat Boston I praised Thibs and said just do you Thibs don’t ever read this board and just do you. I don’t think he listened to the fans but listened to Josh Hart. It was reported that Hart presented the idea to Thibs about coming off the bench and was willing to make the sacrifice. That was a decision they made internally but it went along with what the fans wanted. It backfired

In fairness, the lineup change is negated if Hart comes in far too early because of KAT's fouling in yesterday's game. But also Thibs sub patterns are dog ****.

But all of our comebacks involve Hart in there. When Robinson went to the bench we did end up tying the game in the 2nd quarter with Hart. Then Robinson came back and Pacers took the lead going into halftime. Opening the 3rd the Pacers extended the lead again despite Hart not being on the floor.

[Grinditout]

Imagine the comeback from 1-3, all of us would take couple of sick days from our jobs.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

After we beat Boston I praised Thibs and said just do you Thibs don’t ever read this board and just do you. I don’t think he listened to the fans but listened to Josh Hart. It was reported that Hart presented the idea to Thibs about coming off the bench and was willing to make the sacrifice. That was a decision they made internally but it went along with what the fans wanted. It backfired

In fairness, the lineup change is negated if Hart comes in far too early because of KAT's fouling in yesterday's game. But also Thibs sub patterns are dog ****.

But all of our comebacks involve Hart in there. When Robinson went to the bench we did end up tying the game in the 2nd quarter with Hart. Then Robinson came back and Pacers took the lead going into halftime. Opening the 3rd the Pacers extended the lead again despite Hart not being on the floor.

Harts turnovers yesterday likely cost us the game, today isn't the day to defend him.

[robillionaire]

This was our only bad loss in this year's playoffs and essentially every game except 2 in the Celtics series have been close....so for me...if that is all it takes to eliminate us...then we were frauds anyways...rode high on some lucky wins and flamed out after facing the first adversity...nothing to lose sleep over...the Knicks are a good, not great team...borderline top 10 team maybe...

AND KEEP THIS IN MIND: We are talking a really weak weak eastern conference. In the west both the Knicks and Pacers are likely first round and out teams so in the grand scheme of things I'm not even bothered much:

OKC, GSW, Rockets, Lakers, Wolves, Nuggets, Clippers.....I truly don't know if we even beat a single one of those teams....Memphis was the only team I could have seen us beat....maybe just maybe the Rockets although I thought they played pretty strong against GSW. We aren't anywhere close to where people assumed after the Celtics series....And of course a healthy Celtics team beats us 8 out of 10 times. We are a borderline top 10 team where everything aligned for us to make the ECF (Atlanta like):

Epic Pistons meltdown in game 1
Epic blown whistle in game 4

just to have us barely beat a mid team. A good team does not get stomped like we did in game 5 at home against clearly inferior competition.

Historic Celtic shooting choke job. Missed 60+ open 3s in two games and we BARELY won. It wasn't like they missed record number of 3s and we hammered them. They missed record number of 3s and we barely won on the last play. Still without Tatum they destroyed us by close to 30 points at home.

I don’t think the west is that good either. A mid 49 win Timberwolves team is in the conference finals, the rockets were proven to be 1st round frauds, the warriors are washed, OKC for the world beaters they’re supposed to be needed 7 to get past a janky Nuggets team who fired their coach a month ago

Yeah well let us see. Would it be fair to say that for your assessment to be true the Pacers would need to make it a close tough 7 game finals series?

And anything less than a 6 game series would make my assessment more accurate?

That just boils it down to one team vs another instead of considering all the other teams at the top of the conference. Where the west will actually be represented by their lone dominant team (OKC) and the east will be represented by a 4 seed because their top teams choked.

I would still venture that a healthy Cleveland or Boston would smoke Minnesota Denver or GS, the other west semifinal teams.

My point is I see very little in the way of teams to fear in the western conference outside of OKC so them winning wouldn’t change my opinion

[Fury]

"they have B level stars, we have 2 A level stars"

Who the f*** are the "2 A-Level Stars" ? Neither KAT nor Brunson are A Level Stars and never have been. How delusional lmao they're b-level stars. They are sidekicks at the very best. Hali is a much more polished player than Brunson, Siakam = KAT (But siakam has mental toughness and champion
pedigree while KAT....)

Haliburton isn't better than Brunson and Siakam isn't better than KAT

YouSureAboutThat.gif?

Our two are being taken to the shed this series by their "big two"...

Are they? All I see is one team understanding how play team basketball and exploit the weaknesses of the other team a lot better. Is Hailburton also guarding Brunson?

[Woodsanity]

Mikal Bridges had terrible shot selection all night.

His shot selection has been trash all playoffs.

[NoStatsGuy]

This was our only bad loss in this year's playoffs and essentially every game except 2 in the Celtics series have been close....so for me...if that is all it takes to eliminate us...then we were frauds anyways...rode high on some lucky wins and flamed out after facing the first adversity...nothing to lose sleep over...the Knicks are a good, not great team...borderline top 10 team maybe...

AND KEEP THIS IN MIND: We are talking a really weak weak eastern conference. In the west both the Knicks and Pacers are likely first round and out teams so in the grand scheme of things I'm not even bothered much:

OKC, GSW, Rockets, Lakers, Wolves, Nuggets, Clippers.....I truly don't know if we even beat a single one of those teams....Memphis was the only team I could have seen us beat....maybe just maybe the Rockets although I thought they played pretty strong against GSW. We aren't anywhere close to where people assumed after the Celtics series....And of course a healthy Celtics team beats us 8 out of 10 times. We are a borderline top 10 team where everything aligned for us to make the ECF (Atlanta like):

Epic Pistons meltdown in game 1
Epic blown whistle in game 4

just to have us barely beat a mid team. A good team does not get stomped like we did in game 5 at home against clearly inferior competition.

Historic Celtic shooting choke job. Missed 60+ open 3s in two games and we BARELY won. It wasn't like they missed record number of 3s and we hammered them. They missed record number of 3s and we barely won on the last play. Still without Tatum they destroyed us by close to 30 points at home.

I don’t think the west is that good either. A mid 49 win Timberwolves team is in the conference finals, the rockets were proven to be 1st round frauds, the warriors are washed, OKC for the world beaters they’re supposed to be needed 7 to get past a janky Nuggets team who fired their coach a month ago

Yeah well let us see. Would it be fair to say that for your assessment to be true the Pacers would need to make it a close tough 7 game finals series?

And anything less than a 6 game series would make my assessment more accurate?

no because a snapshot of two teams is not a good representation for such a broad statement.

there is no good way to provide proof for either side tbh.

i personally think, we would definitley beat the lakers, warriors and rockets from your little list. the rockets palyed a good regular season ONE time. their offense is not that great, they rely on dillon brooks. they are scrappy, it would be very similar to the pistons series. but i have no doubt we are the better team despite any regular season records.
and even the nuggets or wolves are a toss up. nuggets might be slight favorite because of match ups. but i dont see how the wolves are that much better.

these statements like the west is so tough is based on what? because the middle seeded teams won 5,6 more games than the east middle seeded teams? i dont find that very convincing. but this narrative probably is here to stay, since "its always been like that".

and im talking about now, not what might happen with giannis and all that. ofc stuff like that shifts the power dynamics. but people really put too much weight into 5 regular season wins.

[Fury]

Read on Twitter

[Jadoogar]

I dont understand how the knicks can beat the defending champions in 6 with miraculous comebacks only to lose to the goddamm pacers. This is the false hope that I can't stand.

KP with AIDS or whatever it was changes how BOS can attack teams. It was always a gift....we took advantage of it and credit to us...but we don't beat a fully healthy BOS team consistently.

i see some parallels between that series and this one.
Both G1s had miraculous comebacks with highly unlikely situations (Celtics missing every shot, Nesmith going on a heater). G2s were both close, Knicks had another miraculous comeback and Pacers just barely held on for the win. Both home teams were probably deflated at that point that they lost 2 games that they should have won and then spiraled in the rest of the series.

[god shammgod]

Read on Twitter

Because they mostly place when Hali isn’t on the floor. Make any of them play more when he is and it won’t stay that way.

[Grinditout]

The Pacers beat the Cavs and likely will beat us. Need to put a little more respect towards them, even if they are some b*tch a*s ho*s.

[CharlesOakley]

The post season is about exploiting favorable matchups. If we can force Indiana into a half-court game, it favors us. Our biggest favorable matchup is clearly KAT vs whomever. He doesn't even touch the ball every quarter and it's not like he is on the floor for defense.

Get back on defense, stop turning it over, force them to play half-court and get Kat the ball. Our coach is inept and needs to go.

[robillionaire]

I don’t think the west is that good either. A mid 49 win Timberwolves team is in the conference finals, the rockets were proven to be 1st round frauds, the warriors are washed, OKC for the world beaters they’re supposed to be needed 7 to get past a janky Nuggets team who fired their coach a month ago

Yeah well let us see. Would it be fair to say that for your assessment to be true the Pacers would need to make it a close tough 7 game finals series?

And anything less than a 6 game series would make my assessment more accurate?

no because a snapshot of two teams is not a good representation for such a broad statement.

there is no good way to provide proof for either side tbh.

i personally think, we would definitley beat the lakers, warriors and rockets from your little list. the rockets palyed a good regular season ONE time. their offense is not that great, they rely on dillon brooks. they are scrappy, it would be very similar to the pistons series. but i have no doubt we are the better team despite any regular season records.
and even the nuggets or wolves are a toss up. nuggets might be slight favorite because of match ups. but i dont see how the wolves are that much better.

these statements like the west is so tough is based on what? because the middle seeded teams won 5,6 more games than the east middle seeded teams? i dont find that very convincing. but this narrative probably is here to stay, since "its always been like that".

and im talking about now, not what might happen with giannis and all that. ofc stuff like that shifts the power dynamics. but people really put too much weight into 5 regular season wins.

I’d say the west has a bit more depth to it with teams like the warriors grizzlies and Timberwolves as their bottom 3 seeds compared to the heat magic and pistons but at the top? Not really seeing any kind of gap there outside of OKC

[Context]

Its time for us to double and pick up Halifraud at half court...We also need to double Siakam at times too. Let everyone else beat us...

[HEZI]

In fairness, the lineup change is negated if Hart comes in far too early because of KAT's fouling in yesterday's game. But also Thibs sub patterns are dog ****.

But all of our comebacks involve Hart in there. When Robinson went to the bench we did end up tying the game in the 2nd quarter with Hart. Then Robinson came back and Pacers took the lead going into halftime. Opening the 3rd the Pacers extended the lead again despite Hart not being on the floor.

Harts turnovers yesterday likely cost us the game, today isn't the day to defend him.

Sure they did. All that work your two big lineup did of looking like crap was thrown away by Hart

[3toheadmelo]

Read on Twitter

[Grinditout]

Fwiw, there have been a few 3-1 comebacks in recent years...