GT: The Evil Empire (BKN) vs Bahstan Saltics: NBA Playoffs Round 1, Game 1 (5/22/2021 8pm EST ABC)

[Hello Brooklyn]

I honestly don’t care that we won. I’m not happy. Just like the Chicago game I saw in person that we won. The foundation of the offense is mainly ISO. You cannot win this way in the latter stages of the playoffs against better defenses.

There’s no excuse for a team with this collection of offensive talent to not blow out this Boston team by 30pts (especially without Jaylen Brown). It wasn’t a blowout because we don’t run through good, quality offensive sets not let the others do the heavy leg lifting for most of the game and make way for the stars to close out.

Idk man. KD and Kyrie are two of the greatest ISO players of all time. I just don't agree.

We missed a ton of wide open 3s. And nobody was cooking offensively outside of the Big 3.

I have no problem with how we played tonight. The defense was incredible and thats all that matters.

[Hello Brooklyn]

Harris and Shamet have become a serious concern for us. They haven't been able to consistently hit wide open 3s in a month.

If so what is their purpose? I'd rather play Brown or Green.

[CalamityX12]

I honestly don’t care that we won. I’m not happy. Just like the Chicago game I saw in person that we won. The foundation of the offense is mainly ISO. You cannot win this way in the latter stages of the playoffs against better defenses.

There’s no excuse for a team with this collection of offensive talent to not blow out this Boston team by 30pts (especially without Jaylen Brown). It wasn’t a blowout because we don’t run through good, quality offensive sets not let the others do the heavy leg lifting for most of the game and make way for the stars to close out.

Idk man. KD and Kyrie are two of the greatest ISO players of all time. I just don't agree.

We missed a ton of wide open 3s. And nobody was cooking offensively outside of the Big 3.

I have no problem with how we played tonight. The defense was incredible and thats all that matters.

While yes, the outside of the 3 weren't scoring at a clip but they were not given a credible chance through ball movement and set plays where they excel at.

Nyceevo is 100%... our deferment from team ball made it harder than it should be.

We also shouldn't restrict ourselves to a tight rotation yet...

[Hello Brooklyn]

I honestly don’t care that we won. I’m not happy. Just like the Chicago game I saw in person that we won. The foundation of the offense is mainly ISO. You cannot win this way in the latter stages of the playoffs against better defenses.

There’s no excuse for a team with this collection of offensive talent to not blow out this Boston team by 30pts (especially without Jaylen Brown). It wasn’t a blowout because we don’t run through good, quality offensive sets not let the others do the heavy leg lifting for most of the game and make way for the stars to close out.

Idk man. KD and Kyrie are two of the greatest ISO players of all time. I just don't agree.

We missed a ton of wide open 3s. And nobody was cooking offensively outside of the Big 3.

I have no problem with how we played tonight. The defense was incredible and thats all that matters.

While yes, the outside of the 3 weren't scoring at a clip but they were not given a credible chance through ball movement and set plays where they excel at.

Nyceevo is 100%... our deferment from team ball made it harder than it should be.

We also shouldn't restrict ourselves to a tight rotation yet...

1/13 for 7% shooting from 3 in the First Half. At some point when the ball movement isn't working you look elsewhere.

KD's isos were the turning point in the game. Finally had some consistent offense.

[DarkXaero]

We got very little from the guys outside the big 3 tonight, which was disappointing. I think the big 3 have to do a better job of getting those guys involved, but you still expect them to do better.

I've been very critical of Joe Harris over the past month, and even though he struggled with his shooting tonight, I was okay with his performance tonight. The reason being that he was actually fairly well defensively and didn't stick out to me as a liability like he had been recently. As long as he's giving good/solid defensive effort like that, you can live with him having a subpar offensive game. Generally though, we definitely need more from our supporting cast going forward. Blake didn't have a single shot attempt iirc, Shamet had 1 shot attempt in 14 mins, Brown & Green were a combined 2-8.

[DarkXaero]

Idk man. KD and Kyrie are two of the greatest ISO players of all time. I just don't agree.

We missed a ton of wide open 3s. And nobody was cooking offensively outside of the Big 3.

I have no problem with how we played tonight. The defense was incredible and thats all that matters.

While yes, the outside of the 3 weren't scoring at a clip but they were not given a credible chance through ball movement and set plays where they excel at.

Nyceevo is 100%... our deferment from team ball made it harder than it should be.

We also shouldn't restrict ourselves to a tight rotation yet...

1/13 for 7% shooting from 3 in the First Half. At some point when the ball movement isn't working you look elsewhere.

KD's isos were the turning point in the game. Finally had some consistent offense.

His isos in the first half helped put us in a hole in the first place. The general sentiment here is correct. We need to start off running team plays before moving to isos.

[CalamityX12]

Idk man. KD and Kyrie are two of the greatest ISO players of all time. I just don't agree.

We missed a ton of wide open 3s. And nobody was cooking offensively outside of the Big 3.

I have no problem with how we played tonight. The defense was incredible and thats all that matters.

While yes, the outside of the 3 weren't scoring at a clip but they were not given a credible chance through ball movement and set plays where they excel at.

Nyceevo is 100%... our deferment from team ball made it harder than it should be.

We also shouldn't restrict ourselves to a tight rotation yet...

1/13 for 7% shooting from 3 in the First Half. At some point when the ball movement isn't working you look elsewhere.

KD's isos were the turning point in the game. Finally had some consistent offense.

Actually.... Durant, Irving n Harden combined 0 for 12 from 3 on the first half. That was all them, joe Harris was 1 for 1.

That's not correlated to team ball

[Hello Brooklyn]

While yes, the outside of the 3 weren't scoring at a clip but they were not given a credible chance through ball movement and set plays where they excel at.

Nyceevo is 100%... our deferment from team ball made it harder than it should be.

We also shouldn't restrict ourselves to a tight rotation yet...

1/13 for 7% shooting from 3 in the First Half. At some point when the ball movement isn't working you look elsewhere.

KD's isos were the turning point in the game. Finally had some consistent offense.

His isos in the first half helped put us in a hole in the first place. The general sentiment here is correct. We need to start off running team plays before moving to isos.

KD is one of the most efficient scorers in the history of the NBA. I'm willing to bet more often than not that his isos will be a good shot.

I have no problem runnings isos for KD and Kyrie.

[Hello Brooklyn]

While yes, the outside of the 3 weren't scoring at a clip but they were not given a credible chance through ball movement and set plays where they excel at.

Nyceevo is 100%... our deferment from team ball made it harder than it should be.

We also shouldn't restrict ourselves to a tight rotation yet...

1/13 for 7% shooting from 3 in the First Half. At some point when the ball movement isn't working you look elsewhere.

KD's isos were the turning point in the game. Finally had some consistent offense.

Actually.... Durant, Irving n Harden combined 0 for 12 from 3 on the first half. That was all them, joe Harris was 1 for 1.

That's not correlated to team ball

I didn't realize KD and Kyrie took all of them

To be fair though I missed the First Quarter.

[CalamityX12]

1/13 for 7% shooting from 3 in the First Half. At some point when the ball movement isn't working you look elsewhere.

KD's isos were the turning point in the game. Finally had some consistent offense.

Actually.... Durant, Irving n Harden combined 0 for 12 from 3 on the first half. That was all them, joe Harris was 1 for 1.

That's not correlated to team ball

I didn't realize KD and Kyrie took all of them

To be fair though I missed the First Quarter.

I couldn't believe it myself lol

It felt like they were shooting ourselves out of it but damn!

[MGrand15]

Not concerned at all about this game. The team was clearly a little too hyped up by the moment and the fans. It showed on offense. Lots of iso + missed easy shots. Loved what I saw defensively and energy wise. We'll definitely get it together for game 2.

[sashaturiaf]

Good performance all things considering, the team came out with playoff intensity on D and maintained it, at no point did I feel we were in danger of losing that game. The switch has now officially been flicked and SCARY HOURS is on. Shooting comes and shooting goes, but show up on D consistently and I'll back our big 3 to outgun anybody in any circumstances in a 7 game series.

2 main takeaways for me to look for in the next game

- The role players have to be more aggressive in getting their own shots, it's easy to sit and watch the big 3 in awe but we need these guys to put pressure on the defense. If you're timid shooting the ball in a first round series what will happen when its a 1 point game in the finals and KD finds you open in the corner. Shoot it and get those reps in.

- The refs were horrific. While our fans were great, the refs tried their best to take away any home court advantage we had. Consistency is too much to ask for from NBA refs but calls like KD's flagrant on Tatum are indefensible. I don't want conspiracy theories but they were more like the Mario Kart AI than actual referees today.

[Whiskey Slick]

We also shouldn't restrict ourselves to a tight rotation yet...

I'll attribute Harris and Shamet's anemic and ZERO production respectively to first playoff game jitters, but Nash needs to make it clear to them that the post season is not the regular season, we can't wait forever for them to start hitting wide open 3's. If they're not gonna hit those shots their minutes will decrease while Bruce Brown and Uncle Jeff's minutes increase. As for Shamet, he needs to be told, POINT BLANK, there's no doubt Mike James can out-produce ZERO POINTS and ZERO ASSISTS if he gets the same 14 minutes Shamet received.

Also if Brown and Green receive the same 37+ minutes Harris received they can do better than 10 Points.

IOW's we can't win a championship, and that is our only purpose, if our bench are SPECTATORS of the BIG 3.

We need them to be CONTRIBUTORS.

Like I said, I'll write this one off to first playoff game jitters, but these two cats don't have a long leash.

[Whiskey Slick]

Harris and Shamet have become a serious concern for us. They haven't been able to consistently hit wide open 3s in a month.

If so what is their purpose? I'd rather play Brown or Green.

I should have quoted you before I submitted my prior post. My bad.

[andrewww]

They were hunting Shamet on matchups when he was in the game. And since Shamet isnt exactly above average in terms of defensive awareness, nor is he able to create off the dribble, what good is he if hes not hitting 3s at a reasonable clip? He was a clear liability in game 1.

[Pelly24]

I don't think there's much to take away from this game. They would've let the role players do more if the role players were able to get anything going.

[therealbig3]

We shot less than 24% from 3 and still won by double digits.

This game makes me feel way better, not worse. No way do we shoot that poorly from 3 again. And no way do they shoot that well from 3 again.

[sashaturiaf]

They were hunting Shamet on matchups when he was in the game. And since Shamet isnt exactly above average in terms of defensive awareness, nor is he able to create off the dribble, what good is he if hes not hitting 3s at a reasonable clip? He was a clear liability in game 1.

Shamet better stop playing scared or all his minutes will goto Mike James. He's the kind of small guard teams are going to go at, and if he's just going to be a spectator on offense then there's no reason why he should be in the game.

I still believe in his shooting ability but 1 shot and 0 decisive moves in 15 minutes won't get it done.

[MrDollarBills]

Rough game but that 2nd half was our kind of basketball.

Also, we had a great crowd in the building tonight. So much for the narrative that no one in NY cares about the Nets.

On its own, Brooklyn would be the 4th largest city in the US.

Even if most of the town was comprised of Knicks fans, that would still leave room for a ton of Nets fans.

The only people who push the narrative that the Nets have no fans are desperate Knick fans (not all of them do this though). Since they haven’t won recently, fanbase size is the only thing those can cling to in arguments about Knicks vs Nets. Those fans are praying we don’t win because if we do, it’s only a matter of time before the Nets fanbase grows even larger.

A perfect parallel of this is what has happened in Manchester, England in soccer.

Manchester United is a historic team with global recognition. They dominated English soccer throughout the 90s and 2000s.

A foreign owner bought the cross town rival (Manchester City) in the late 2000s and has spent a ton of money on their team. Now they’re currently dominating English football.

Many ManU supporters who grew up in the 90s are begrudgingly envious of Man City. They constantly talk about Man City is a plastic club that has no fans.

But guess what? Kids in Manchester and across the world don’t care. You’re seeing more and more Man City fans pop up everywhere. Their fan base is growing by leaps and bounds.

Instead of hating, Manchester United fans should stop hating and start hoping that their team can win. Eventually, the “bigger fanbase” schtick is going to go away if Man City keeps winning and ManU doesn’t.

The same advice applies here for the Knicks. If they want to remain top dog, they gotta win. If you let the other team rise up and dominate, few people will care about your greatness from yesteryear. They need to win before we do or the Nets wave will only grow larger.

Yeah. These dumb asses are concerned about how much more Dolan charges fans for tickets while we are focused on the Nets bringing home a title. Narratives will change quick once reality sets in.

[MrDollarBills]

1/13 for 7% shooting from 3 in the First Half. At some point when the ball movement isn't working you look elsewhere.

KD's isos were the turning point in the game. Finally had some consistent offense.

Actually.... Durant, Irving n Harden combined 0 for 12 from 3 on the first half. That was all them, joe Harris was 1 for 1.

That's not correlated to team ball

I didn't realize KD and Kyrie took all of them

To be fair though I missed the First Quarter.

you would have had a stroke dude. It was by far the worst quarter of basketball I've ever seen from Durant.

The fact that this guy managed to turn it around to score 32 points on 25 shots is amazing