Sit Hardaway and start Frank. He needs to play enough so we can have a chance to fairly judge him. Hardaway needs to rest with that injury anyway.
Last 18/19 NY Knicks season transmission: "F*** all the haters from you to SAS" See y'all in '20
- Thread starter DPresidential
- Start date
-
- Tags
- blackexcellence fizdale knicks
Exactly we are losing when do we change up the lineup again this losing asslineup
Before this game, he's averaging 20/6/4 on 48/37/82 this month and been their best player recently. Mudiay had an awful second half, but he was generating good looks for his teammates, getting to the line and making shots in the first half. I'll give him a pass for one bad half when he's been playing his best basketball of his career. Ntilikina's gotta play better.
ISO
Pass me the rock nikka
Lmaoo at Frank stans deflecting on MudiayBefore this game, he's averaging 20/6/4 on 48/37/82 this month and been their best player recently. Mudiay had an awful second half, but he was generating good looks for his teammates, getting to the line and making shots in the first half. I'll give him a pass for one bad half when he's been playing his best basketball of his career. Ntilikina's gotta play better.
We lose again
Carolina Slim
Superstar
The tank rolls on...
Aintnobodystupid
All Star
2018-19 NBA Standings | ESPN
5th worst in the league with 1 more win than the cavs and suns and two more wins than hawks and bulls. They can all realistically pass us in wins too.
5th worst in the league with 1 more win than the cavs and suns and two more wins than hawks and bulls. They can all realistically pass us in wins too.
storyteller
Veteran
The Knicks defense was picked apart yet again even with Frank, Lee, Dot and Lance all getting some time on the floor. Part of that falls to Embiid being too dynamic for Kanter or Kornet and too tall for Vonleh. Another part of it was Ben Simmons overpowering his way to the basket whenever he wanted (with the benefit of some no-calls on offensive fouls to be fair). It's hard to pin point anything though when the Knicks got slapped around everywhere; Philly shot 53% from the field, 50% from three, won the rebound battle by 16 boards and the assist battle by 9. The brightside was Kevin Knox being one of the best players on the floor and Tim Hardaway having a very strong performance after his struggles. I'll get into solutions later on, let's go to the players:
Mudiay: Emmanuel Mudiay's jumper has dropped a bit to the mean, but he's picked up his playmaking to make up for that a bit. Mudiay has really stood out with some of his passes lately and while his scoring efficiency has been up and down recently; he hasn't forced much which keeps poor shooting nights from being overly harmful. Last night was a quiet night for sure; 11 points on 3/12 shooting with 5 assists and 3 boards over 32 minutes of playing time. It's his first weak game in the last 4, so it's not much to stress about but the jumper is worth keeping an eye on because consistency there would be the next big step.
Hardaway: We got news that Tim Hardaway has been dealing with Plantar Fascitis yesterday and my immediate thought was "just shut Tim down until he's 100%." But then tip off happened and we got one of the best games Tim's had since his first DNP 10 games into the season or so. Hardaway came out with a lot of energy, best defined by a play where Knox drove to the basket and missed but Timmy was right behind on the follow-up (this got called back because Knox was fouled). It was indicative of the pace that Timmy would be attacking at most of the night, and that led to 10 FTA's that he cashed in 100% of. Tim finished with 27 points, 5 assists and 3 boards on 7/16 from the field plus 3/7 from three. The passing was what you want from a secondary ball handler although the 3 TO's is a bit much. Thanks to the blowout, Fiz got Tim off the floor after just 28 minutes compared to his recent average of 34 mpg and that's a win too because THJ's future is way more important than immediate results. One thing I'll say though and I used to say it about Melo too; playing through injuries is commendable but sometimes a week or two off to recover has a bigger positive impact than a month or two of sub-optimal performance.
Knox: Okay, I'll say it...I'm getting rookie KP vibes from some of the recent Kevin Knox performances. They're different types of players but I just mean certain factors. Last night was another game where Knox tried to yam it on somebody but the dunk missed; I remember those sorts of things with KP. It was also another game where Knox went off early but faded in the second half, which took me back to many a night where KP would push 20 at half but couldn't break 30 points in a night. You see this 19 year old out there looking like the best player on the floor for chunks of the game but he can also go through periods with low touches and impact as well. The flashes of dominant scoring though...that's the best play we've gotten from a young player since KP. Last night there was more of Knox grabbing rebounds and taking them end to end for finishes, there was an alley-oop finish that deserved SC Top 10 consideration and there was 3/6 shooting from three on a night where only two Knicks were any good from distance. Knox tallied 21 points and 6 boards on 8/17 shooting with more and more of his attacks going right into the teeth of the defense.
Vonleh: It's just Noah Vonleh at this point...6 points, 5 assists, 10 boards and a couple of blocks with quality defense for 36 minutes? Yeah, that's nothing special with this guy. As a matter of fact, Vonleh didn't hit a three last night and was too undersized to consistently contain Joel Embiid; so in a way, this was actually a below average performance. The point here is that Noah Vonleh has set the bar pretty high with good defense, quality rebounding and solid offense and that makes last night forgettable only because we've been spoiled. Vonleh looks like a keeper.
Kanter: Enes Kanter had another tough match-up, this time with Embiid, and the results were typical. Over 29 minutes Kanter was able to score from the post whenever he got deep position but was also exploited for more points than he could score. The big man spent 29 minutes compiling 15 and 6 on 5/8 shooting (also 2 assists). The numbers aren't bad, his offense didn't come at anyone else's expense, but he continues to stand out defensively in the absence of Mitch Robinson to spell him.
Frank: This is one of those games where I was ready to roll my eyes at the complaints for Frank Ntilikina out the gate. That's mainly because Frank wasn't passive in this game and that's been the major attack point. I pointed out when Kevin Knox started to make snap decisions with poor results because it was only a matter of time until that translated to production. If Frank plays like he did last night, it's gonna be the same. Frank started with a burst of speed into the lane for an easy finish and showed that same speed on a couple of other possessions as well. That extra gear is something we've rarely seen, let alone multiple times in a night and Frank's lack of using that sort of ability is at the crux of criticism toward him. When the French sophomore had space to shoot, he didn't hesitate...he just missed. Yes, it's a subtle shift from hesitating before missing the jumper to stepping into the jumper and missing it; but it bodes well for his rhythm and form which bodes well for the shots going down more consistently. The one stretch of good defense from the Knicks happened with Frank/Dot/Lance on the floor and included Frank playing the only good defense on Ben Simmons we saw all night as well. All of this is to say, the statline wasn't pretty and missed shots are frustrating but that's the assertiveness that we'll need to see before results are even a possibility. Frank had 3 points, 2 assists and 2 rebounds on 1/7 shooting over just 16 minutes. I'd like to see him attack the lane more but seeing the speed burst and ability to get his shot off was promising. Also, anybody that brings up the two tough baskets Mcconnell shot over Frank to try and pretend his defense isn't good is flat out a hater; don't at me.
Lee: Courtney Lee only got 10 minutes in this one and went 2 for 2 to score 4 points. He didn't tally anything else though and didn't stand out defensively either. It was just a muted performance in limited time.
Dot: Damyean Dotson managed to be efficient and play pretty well in spite of the fact that I felt he missed some shots that he normally cans. Rebecca Harlowe gave us a tidbit that might explain that; Dot's should ailment meant that he couldn't get jumpers up for the majority of his time off with injury. My sense was that we saw that in some open three pointers that he didn't make, even while he was still good money on midrange curls. Dot went 6/11 from the field and 2/6 from 3 point range over 22 minutes of play to pump in 14 points and 1 rebound. This falls in the Vonleh range for me where Dot has set the bar so high that this felt pedestrian in spite of being another good scoring, efficient performance. This sophomore has just been that good so far.
Lance: Lance played 17 solid minutes and my biggest complaint is that he wasn't able to shift the defensive energy for his teammates. When it was Lance/Frank/Dot for a spell, that was the one good stretch of defense but otherwise Thomas wasn't able to elevate his teammates there...and honestly, I'm just desperate for any kind of silver bullet to make this team watchable again on defense. Lance put up 3 points, 1 assist and 2 boards on 1/2 shooting which is quiet but left very little to be mad at as well. Given how offense leaning many of the rotations have been lately, it was a bit refreshing to be honest.
Mario: Only got 4 minutes of garbage time and you could tell he was on some "this shouldn't count" ish when he pump faked his man into a couple of free throws. Mario's actually played a bit better lately imo, but it hasn't been enough to supplant other wings on the roster so he'll likely have to stay ready and do even more when opportunity knocks.
Kornet: Luke Kornet is 7'1 but his stat-lines consistently look like a third string small forward had a tough night. Luke put up 3 points, 2 assists and 1 rebound in 10 minutes on 1/4 shooting and 1/3 of those 4 attempts were three pointers. The thing is; Kornet's a pretty likeable player in that he moves pretty well off the ball and gets space to fire off those threes...they just have to go down when they're open looks and he can bump his impact for the team in limited minutes. The other thing that I appreciated was his effort on Embiid. With Mitch Robinson hurt, Vonleh too short to have a consistent impact and Enes Kanter starting; Luke Kornet wound up having to try and contain the Sixers' star. Kornet didn't back down. He didn't do any better than Kanter but he at least had the right mentality rather than looking shell-shocked or intimidated. He's essentially a 15th man that's been thrust into a bigger role due to injuries and I commend his effort. He's improved from the first two years when he looked like he was having a bad dream where you try to run but move in slow motion while everyone else is going at regular speed. If the three ball ever falls as advertised, he can have utility in the pro's for sure.
Fiz: David Fizdale has too much going on for me to come down hard on him even as the defense looked atrocious again. He's now working Dotson, Lance and Lee back into the line-up; Burke got a DNP which is indicative of the PG logjam he's been working on all year; and without Mitchell Robinson the Knicks don't really have a bonafide rim protector. With all due respect to Vonleh, he's at PF which pulls him away from the rim pretty often and his rim protection is pretty good but not the same level of deterrent as Mitch or KP provides when they're in their bags. None of this should alleviate the one issue that I think is clear...the rotation is unbalanced. The starting five has one consistent defender on it while Thomas, Dot, Frank and Lee all came off the bench and provide consistent defense for positions 1-4 out there. Meanwhile with Lee just coming back, the only consistent scorer on the season that came off the bench last night was Dotson. As intrigued as my defense obsessed mind is by the idea of Frank/Dot/Lance/Mitch all defending at once; the scoring has to come from somewhere and you need someone out there that's demanding some extra attention from defenders. I'm curious if this is more an issue of managing egos and confidence because there are all kinds of excuses for fixing this obvious problem. The team's not winning, which was all Fiz needed to break-up a starting unit that actually had positive data coming back. Tim's got Plantar Fascitis that could easily explain his defensive lapses and make it reasonable to give him a break. Kanter's defense has become so recognizably bad that it's practically a meme with multiple players from opposing teams commenting on it after they beat up the Knicks. It's been 13 games since the Knicks have held a team below 100 points (or even 110 points actually). We could even flip it to offensive value, a few more stops might help pick up the pace and get guys easy transition buckets. I get that his hands are pretty tied, but I really would like to see something that suggests an honest effort to get this team back into a defensive mindset. ANYTHING will do.
Mudiay: Emmanuel Mudiay's jumper has dropped a bit to the mean, but he's picked up his playmaking to make up for that a bit. Mudiay has really stood out with some of his passes lately and while his scoring efficiency has been up and down recently; he hasn't forced much which keeps poor shooting nights from being overly harmful. Last night was a quiet night for sure; 11 points on 3/12 shooting with 5 assists and 3 boards over 32 minutes of playing time. It's his first weak game in the last 4, so it's not much to stress about but the jumper is worth keeping an eye on because consistency there would be the next big step.
Hardaway: We got news that Tim Hardaway has been dealing with Plantar Fascitis yesterday and my immediate thought was "just shut Tim down until he's 100%." But then tip off happened and we got one of the best games Tim's had since his first DNP 10 games into the season or so. Hardaway came out with a lot of energy, best defined by a play where Knox drove to the basket and missed but Timmy was right behind on the follow-up (this got called back because Knox was fouled). It was indicative of the pace that Timmy would be attacking at most of the night, and that led to 10 FTA's that he cashed in 100% of. Tim finished with 27 points, 5 assists and 3 boards on 7/16 from the field plus 3/7 from three. The passing was what you want from a secondary ball handler although the 3 TO's is a bit much. Thanks to the blowout, Fiz got Tim off the floor after just 28 minutes compared to his recent average of 34 mpg and that's a win too because THJ's future is way more important than immediate results. One thing I'll say though and I used to say it about Melo too; playing through injuries is commendable but sometimes a week or two off to recover has a bigger positive impact than a month or two of sub-optimal performance.
Knox: Okay, I'll say it...I'm getting rookie KP vibes from some of the recent Kevin Knox performances. They're different types of players but I just mean certain factors. Last night was another game where Knox tried to yam it on somebody but the dunk missed; I remember those sorts of things with KP. It was also another game where Knox went off early but faded in the second half, which took me back to many a night where KP would push 20 at half but couldn't break 30 points in a night. You see this 19 year old out there looking like the best player on the floor for chunks of the game but he can also go through periods with low touches and impact as well. The flashes of dominant scoring though...that's the best play we've gotten from a young player since KP. Last night there was more of Knox grabbing rebounds and taking them end to end for finishes, there was an alley-oop finish that deserved SC Top 10 consideration and there was 3/6 shooting from three on a night where only two Knicks were any good from distance. Knox tallied 21 points and 6 boards on 8/17 shooting with more and more of his attacks going right into the teeth of the defense.
Vonleh: It's just Noah Vonleh at this point...6 points, 5 assists, 10 boards and a couple of blocks with quality defense for 36 minutes? Yeah, that's nothing special with this guy. As a matter of fact, Vonleh didn't hit a three last night and was too undersized to consistently contain Joel Embiid; so in a way, this was actually a below average performance. The point here is that Noah Vonleh has set the bar pretty high with good defense, quality rebounding and solid offense and that makes last night forgettable only because we've been spoiled. Vonleh looks like a keeper.
Kanter: Enes Kanter had another tough match-up, this time with Embiid, and the results were typical. Over 29 minutes Kanter was able to score from the post whenever he got deep position but was also exploited for more points than he could score. The big man spent 29 minutes compiling 15 and 6 on 5/8 shooting (also 2 assists). The numbers aren't bad, his offense didn't come at anyone else's expense, but he continues to stand out defensively in the absence of Mitch Robinson to spell him.
Frank: This is one of those games where I was ready to roll my eyes at the complaints for Frank Ntilikina out the gate. That's mainly because Frank wasn't passive in this game and that's been the major attack point. I pointed out when Kevin Knox started to make snap decisions with poor results because it was only a matter of time until that translated to production. If Frank plays like he did last night, it's gonna be the same. Frank started with a burst of speed into the lane for an easy finish and showed that same speed on a couple of other possessions as well. That extra gear is something we've rarely seen, let alone multiple times in a night and Frank's lack of using that sort of ability is at the crux of criticism toward him. When the French sophomore had space to shoot, he didn't hesitate...he just missed. Yes, it's a subtle shift from hesitating before missing the jumper to stepping into the jumper and missing it; but it bodes well for his rhythm and form which bodes well for the shots going down more consistently. The one stretch of good defense from the Knicks happened with Frank/Dot/Lance on the floor and included Frank playing the only good defense on Ben Simmons we saw all night as well. All of this is to say, the statline wasn't pretty and missed shots are frustrating but that's the assertiveness that we'll need to see before results are even a possibility. Frank had 3 points, 2 assists and 2 rebounds on 1/7 shooting over just 16 minutes. I'd like to see him attack the lane more but seeing the speed burst and ability to get his shot off was promising. Also, anybody that brings up the two tough baskets Mcconnell shot over Frank to try and pretend his defense isn't good is flat out a hater; don't at me.
Lee: Courtney Lee only got 10 minutes in this one and went 2 for 2 to score 4 points. He didn't tally anything else though and didn't stand out defensively either. It was just a muted performance in limited time.
Dot: Damyean Dotson managed to be efficient and play pretty well in spite of the fact that I felt he missed some shots that he normally cans. Rebecca Harlowe gave us a tidbit that might explain that; Dot's should ailment meant that he couldn't get jumpers up for the majority of his time off with injury. My sense was that we saw that in some open three pointers that he didn't make, even while he was still good money on midrange curls. Dot went 6/11 from the field and 2/6 from 3 point range over 22 minutes of play to pump in 14 points and 1 rebound. This falls in the Vonleh range for me where Dot has set the bar so high that this felt pedestrian in spite of being another good scoring, efficient performance. This sophomore has just been that good so far.
Lance: Lance played 17 solid minutes and my biggest complaint is that he wasn't able to shift the defensive energy for his teammates. When it was Lance/Frank/Dot for a spell, that was the one good stretch of defense but otherwise Thomas wasn't able to elevate his teammates there...and honestly, I'm just desperate for any kind of silver bullet to make this team watchable again on defense. Lance put up 3 points, 1 assist and 2 boards on 1/2 shooting which is quiet but left very little to be mad at as well. Given how offense leaning many of the rotations have been lately, it was a bit refreshing to be honest.
Mario: Only got 4 minutes of garbage time and you could tell he was on some "this shouldn't count" ish when he pump faked his man into a couple of free throws. Mario's actually played a bit better lately imo, but it hasn't been enough to supplant other wings on the roster so he'll likely have to stay ready and do even more when opportunity knocks.
Kornet: Luke Kornet is 7'1 but his stat-lines consistently look like a third string small forward had a tough night. Luke put up 3 points, 2 assists and 1 rebound in 10 minutes on 1/4 shooting and 1/3 of those 4 attempts were three pointers. The thing is; Kornet's a pretty likeable player in that he moves pretty well off the ball and gets space to fire off those threes...they just have to go down when they're open looks and he can bump his impact for the team in limited minutes. The other thing that I appreciated was his effort on Embiid. With Mitch Robinson hurt, Vonleh too short to have a consistent impact and Enes Kanter starting; Luke Kornet wound up having to try and contain the Sixers' star. Kornet didn't back down. He didn't do any better than Kanter but he at least had the right mentality rather than looking shell-shocked or intimidated. He's essentially a 15th man that's been thrust into a bigger role due to injuries and I commend his effort. He's improved from the first two years when he looked like he was having a bad dream where you try to run but move in slow motion while everyone else is going at regular speed. If the three ball ever falls as advertised, he can have utility in the pro's for sure.
Fiz: David Fizdale has too much going on for me to come down hard on him even as the defense looked atrocious again. He's now working Dotson, Lance and Lee back into the line-up; Burke got a DNP which is indicative of the PG logjam he's been working on all year; and without Mitchell Robinson the Knicks don't really have a bonafide rim protector. With all due respect to Vonleh, he's at PF which pulls him away from the rim pretty often and his rim protection is pretty good but not the same level of deterrent as Mitch or KP provides when they're in their bags. None of this should alleviate the one issue that I think is clear...the rotation is unbalanced. The starting five has one consistent defender on it while Thomas, Dot, Frank and Lee all came off the bench and provide consistent defense for positions 1-4 out there. Meanwhile with Lee just coming back, the only consistent scorer on the season that came off the bench last night was Dotson. As intrigued as my defense obsessed mind is by the idea of Frank/Dot/Lance/Mitch all defending at once; the scoring has to come from somewhere and you need someone out there that's demanding some extra attention from defenders. I'm curious if this is more an issue of managing egos and confidence because there are all kinds of excuses for fixing this obvious problem. The team's not winning, which was all Fiz needed to break-up a starting unit that actually had positive data coming back. Tim's got Plantar Fascitis that could easily explain his defensive lapses and make it reasonable to give him a break. Kanter's defense has become so recognizably bad that it's practically a meme with multiple players from opposing teams commenting on it after they beat up the Knicks. It's been 13 games since the Knicks have held a team below 100 points (or even 110 points actually). We could even flip it to offensive value, a few more stops might help pick up the pace and get guys easy transition buckets. I get that his hands are pretty tied, but I really would like to see something that suggests an honest effort to get this team back into a defensive mindset. ANYTHING will do.
storyteller
Veteran
This is a pretty dope piece about how he's been scoring all those points with clips and all...
We get a first glimpse of Zion in his future home tonight...
My favorite thing about these moments is all the love for MSG. Sacred ground in our backyards and all that goodness.
I get why fans of every other team can't help but hate...imagine having to read about how important the Garden is to everyone when the Knicks have been bad for the better part of the last 2 decades. There's grown ass men that haven't seen or felt the magic when that arena is rocking; explaining that is like trying to translate what the October Ghosts of old Yankee Stadium was like...some next level ish, you gotta be there to feel it and understand.
ISO
Pass me the rock nikka
This is a pretty dope piece about how he's been scoring all those points with clips and all...
My favorite thing about these moments is all the love for MSG. Sacred ground in our backyards and all that goodness.
Meh, I honestly hate hearing it, it’s cliche at this point.
The Garden this, the Garden that man
Last edited:
Daniel.
BK to NJ, but always a New York Knicka
Miles Davis
Prince of Darkness
Throw in Mudiay in too. We gonna get you right BariTimmy and Trey for Parker and one of their 2019 2nd round picks.
Just do it. Release that bum immediately after I don't give a fukk free up the glut and get this top 3 spot.
