The Around The NBA Thread

[johnnyvann840]

You make a good point about Thibs' teams not kicking it up in the playoffs. Other than Old Man Rose playing his heart out, the Knicks look atrocious. I'm surprised it's only a 14 point game with the 3rd quarter about to wrap up. It feels more like 30 to me.

The Hawks were definitely the superior team coming out of the gate, but I didn't expect Randle to absolutely fall apart like this. I was shocked when he said the noise in MSG affected him. Dude, that's your damn home crowd! What the hell! I can see it now that the hilarious "over-rated" chants are echoing through State Farm Arena, I guess. He has made so many errors this game, I'm just baffled.

The Hawks might blow this one out by 25 soon.

Yeah, Randle and Barrett both just shat the bad in this series so far. I've never seen a team miss so many layups.

[mj234eva]

Randle plays small. Everything starts on the perimeter with him.

[johnnyvann840]

... and it's been the opposite for Trae. I didn't realize he shot only .343 from 3 pt on the season. It seems like he can't miss in this series. The Hawks are on fire from deep right now. Bogs, Heurter, Trae, Gallo.. they all seem like they can't miss right now. If the Knicks D wasn't so good, they would be getting blown out of this game and series.

The Hawks are only shooting 34.5% from 3 today, and they're up 12 as I type this. They're at 37.3% for the series, they only shot the 3 well once (in Game 3). Games 1 and 2 they shot 35.3% and 27.3%.

The Knicks simply aren't that good - just like usual, Thibs' teams play so hard in the regular season that they don't have a playoff gear. They can't turn it up a notch, they've been playing full-notch all season.

EDIT: In fact, I said the exact same thing earlier in this thread, right before the regular season ended:

viewtopic.php?p=90840896#p90840896

I could be wrong, but I expect the Knicks are going to have the same problem in the playoffs that the Bulls had when Thibs was coaching.

Thibs gets his teams to play 110% for most regular season games, but the problem is that they can't turn it up a notch in the playoffs, because they've been going full-notch all season.

Tomorrow's home game against the Celtics will probably decide their playoff fate. If they win (against a C's team that literally has nothing to play for), they wrap up the #4 seed. ATL gets HOU tomorrow, and a win gives them the #5 seed - that's the best the Knicks can hope for, they are 3-0 vs ATL this season, and the Hawks' 3 leading scorers (Trae, Collins and Bogdanovic) have a combined zero games of playoff experience.

It's not like just about everybody and their mother didn't say exactly the same thing. That has been the narrative all season.

The fact is that the Knicks were never expected to be a 4th seed this season. He'll 90% of Bulls fans thought the Bulls would be much better than the Knicks this season. Most preseason rankings had the Knicks near the bottom of the East. It's just another case of Thibs getting the absolute most out of the little talent he had. He'll be criticized for getting bounced in the 1st round but it should be the opposite. He did such a great job of coaching this season to get that team to the 4th seed. The Knicks should be proud of the season they had. They overachieved in almost every area. They were one of the most enjoyable teams to watch this season. I found myself looking forward to their games all year. I hope they can get a few good pick ups in the off season and become a real threat.

[Andi Obst]

The Hawks aren’t exactly known for great home crowds or good-looking jersey/arena design, but everything seems to be on point today. Crowd has been into it all day and the MLK design is amazing IMO.

[Andi Obst]

Obviously Barrett is still in the game.

[Lexluthor]

Once again Thibbs is getting out coached in the playoffs. The most overrated coach of all time

[HomoSapien]

The Hawks aren’t exactly known for great home crowds or good-looking jersey/arena design, but everything seems to be on point today. Crowd has been into it all day and the MLK design is amazing IMO.

I used to live in Atlanta. Hawks fans won't support a loser like we will, but they go bananas for the playoffs. I was at this game and the crowd was absolutely insane:

Watch on YouTube

[CobyWhite0]

It's not like just about everybody and their mother didn't say exactly the same thing. That has been the narrative all season.

So the narrative all season has been that the Knicks were going to overachieve all season and then collapse in the playoffs? I'll have to take your word for it, I must have missed all that talk.

The fact is that the Knicks were never expected to be a 4th seed this season. He'll 90% of Bulls fans thought the Bulls would be much better than the Knicks this season. Most preseason rankings had the Knicks near the bottom of the East. It's just another case of Thibs getting the absolute most out of the little talent he had. He'll be criticized for getting bounced in the 1st round but it should be the opposite. He did such a great job of coaching this season to get that team to the 4th seed. The Knicks should be proud of the season they had. They overachieved in almost every area. They were one of the most enjoyable teams to watch this season. I found myself looking forward to their games all year. I hope they can get a few good pick ups in the off season and become a real threat.

I would say that's the difference - you're obviously a fan, emotionally invested in their success. Those of us who aren't can see that the Knicks overachieved during the regular season, but it doesn't mean much when you lay an egg in the first round of the playoffs - when you were favored and had home court advantage for the series.

It only helps the Bulls if the Knicks can get blown out by 30 in Game 4. If we're competing for the same free agent player, the worse the Knicks looks, the better.

[Jimako10]

In the series thus far, Randle is shooting 24% from the field and Barrett shooting 34% from the field. It's a miracle they even picked up a win with Randle's amazing choke job and a testament to their defense to be only outscored by 4 points total in 3 games.

EDIT: Didn't realize the knicks had an early game today! Yea the knicks are done.

[Andi Obst]

I just don’t get the amount of Drummond minutes. He adds nothing on offense, is ALWAYS late on defense and stands around for the most part. Gasol is so much better. Still not good (at least not anymore), but probably their best option against Ayton.

[Mk0]

I just watched ex Bulls' tank commander Cam Payne drive past LeBron James in the playoffs
*looks outside the window to see if pigs are in fact flying*

[Andi Obst]

I just watched ex Bulls' tank commander Cam Payne drive past LeBron James in the playoffs
*looks outside the window to see if pigs are in fact flying*

He’s so calm, always in control, makes good decisions. Just a completely different player now.

I have nothing but respect for the guy. He could’ve easily been out of the league forever. Most players in his position probably would’ve been.

He’s also significantly outplaying the guy some people want to sign as our starting PG...

[johnnyvann840]

It's not like just about everybody and their mother didn't say exactly the same thing. That has been the narrative all season.

So the narrative all season has been that the Knicks were going to overachieve all season and then collapse in the playoffs? I'll have to take your word for it, I must have missed all that talk.

YES

The fact is that the Knicks were never expected to be a 4th seed this season. He'll 90% of Bulls fans thought the Bulls would be much better than the Knicks this season. Most preseason rankings had the Knicks near the bottom of the East. It's just another case of Thibs getting the absolute most out of the little talent he had. He'll be criticized for getting bounced in the 1st round but it should be the opposite. He did such a great job of coaching this season to get that team to the 4th seed. The Knicks should be proud of the season they had. They overachieved in almost every area. They were one of the most enjoyable teams to watch this season. I found myself looking forward to their games all year. [b]I hope they can get a few good pick ups in the off season and become a real threat.

I would say that's the difference - you're obviously a fan, emotionally invested in their success. Those of us who aren't can see that the Knicks overachieved during the regular season, but it doesn't mean much when you lay an egg in the first round of the playoffs - when you were favored and had home court advantage for the series.

It only helps the Bulls if the Knicks can get blown out by 30 in Game 4. If we're competing for the same free agent player, the worse the Knicks looks, the better.

meh... it won't make a bit of difference to the Bulls either way. I'm not a Knicks fan. I am a fan of Thibs, Rose and Taj though, so I really wanted to see the Knicks do well. Rose and Taj have done well in this series, problem is that Randle and RJ and most of the rest of the Knicks have laid a big fat egg in this series.

And I disagree that it doesn't mean anything to overachieve. They gave their fans a lot of fun and excitement this season. Hell, I'm not even a Knicks fan and I really enjoyed watching that team all season. I looked forward to their games and I watched more Knicks games than I did Bulls games. Because the Bulls sucked ass and played disorganized stupid basketball all season whereas the Knicks went out and left it all on the court every game. So, instead of being painful and boring to watch, they did what teams should do and gave their fans their moneys worth. Bulls, unfortunately, IMO, did not. I felt cheated out of my time nearly every time I watched a Bulls game.

[johnnyvann840]

Once again Thibbs is getting out coached in the playoffs. The most overrated coach of all time

'
Oh brother... not this crap again. FFS, nobody got "outcoached"... freaking Randle and RJ couldn't make a damn shot if their life depended on it. That is not on the coach. He got them to a 4th seed when they weren't even expected to be a .500 team. How in the flying F is that on Thibs? Jesus Christ, some people.

[TheGOATRises007]

Devin Booker is extremely overrated.

Lavine is clear of him.

[Andi Obst]

Hard to put into words how aggressively terrible Dennis Schröder has been today.

AD‘s health probably determines the outcome of the series.

[Lexluthor]

Once again Thibbs is getting out coached in the playoffs. The most overrated coach of all time

'
Oh brother... not this crap again. FFS, nobody got "outcoached"... freaking Randle and RJ couldn't make a damn shot if their life depended on it. That is not on the coach. He got them to a 4th seed when they weren't even expected to be a .500 team. How in the flying F is that on Thibs? Jesus Christ, some people.

He never makes adjustments in the playoffs. The hawks are not playing with a full roster . And the knicks are the higher seed.

[CobyWhite0]

Once again Thibbs is getting out coached in the playoffs. The most overrated coach of all time

'
Oh brother... not this crap again. FFS, nobody got "outcoached"... freaking Randle and RJ couldn't make a damn shot if their life depended on it. That is not on the coach. He got them to a 4th seed when they weren't even expected to be a .500 team. How in the flying F is that on Thibs? Jesus Christ, some people.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401327883

Completely false.

Randle & Barrett combined to shoot 15/34 from the field. 44.1%
The Hawks shot 43.9% from the field.

Randle & Barrett combined to shoot 4/10 3's. 40%
The Hawks shot 38.5% from behind the arc.

Sorry these damn facts get in the way of your narrative of why the Knicks got blown out today. Because of all the possible reasons why they got blown out, it's 100% certain that "freaking Randle and RJ couldn't make a damn shot if their life depended on it" ISN'T a reason. Obviously.

Lame excuses, however, are something I'm used to reading in the Lauri thread.

[Michael Jackson]

I just watched ex Bulls' tank commander Cam Payne drive past LeBron James in the playoffs
*looks outside the window to see if pigs are in fact flying*

He’s so calm, always in control, makes good decisions. Just a completely different player now.

I have nothing but respect for the guy. He could’ve easily been out of the league forever. Most players in his position probably would’ve been.

He’s also significantly outplaying the guy some people want to sign as our starting PG...

Good for him honestly. I expected him to be out of the league and he has made something of himself. Even though he was awful here it is always nice to see a redemption story. I’d be happy for WCJ (who I loathed) if he could do it to, hell even Hutch if he could. Love to see guys reach their potential even if it is someplace else.

[Michael Jackson]

Is AD out for the series?