LivingLegend wrote:

Knicksfan wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

WP76 wrote:

Alpha1971 wrote:

NYStateOfMind wrote:Not if it is true, and it was a factor, but the bench discrepancies lost this game. The Knicks have earned the same calls at MSG and they don't get them. JB gets bumped multiple times on some possessions, but no foul. SGA initiates minimal contact if any, fouls are called. But the Knicks bench or lack thereof, lost this game and Mitch isn't going to change that if he ever comes back.

WP76 wrote:

NYStateOfMind wrote:Apparently, they earned the home-court calls the Knicks haven't. Total BS that a team with 13 str8 wins needs favorable calls. Disgusting.

Alpha1971 wrote:How can OKC get away with all these fouls ?

Blaming the refs is weak. They made the clutch shots; we didn't.

The refs were a factor.

.

I'd say Wiggins kicking our butts down the stretch was a much bigger factor plus three consecutive turnovers when the game was in the balance was pretty important, too. Refs or no refs, this game was there for us to win.

Knew it was going to be one of their scrubs that would go for career night.

I actually like Wiggins but by no means for his offense.

A magic trick called playing your bench. It’s something unseen around here, unfortunately.

You would have taken Jalen.Josh.Mikal.OG or Towns out in the 4th for Cam/Shamet/Precious?

I don't understand your argument. Wiggins was playing because rest of OKC was choking - our front line wasn't choking - they weren't getting the ball.

My argument is not just about this game, but the result of game after game of relying solely on the starters. We have a team without a significant bench and whenever teams adjust to our gameplay, we have nothing to counter with. Not an adjustment from the coach, from the starters or from a bench that’s never relied on.

I agree with the details on the mistakes we made. But this game fully showed me why we will probably not even end with a decent record against the big teams in the league: Thibs and the coaching staff didn’t care about developing the bench from the start, and now we have a team limited to its starters and unless anyone has a historic night, we can be stopped when it matters while a better rounded team will run us out of the court.

The way we lost the 4th quarter is embarrassing. Yet we kept the starters there, playing like crap, just waiting to get the game done. This team has a new level to reach to actually compete with the best, but I wonder if they are capable of that.

We did ourselves a huge disservice not developing the talent we already have on the bench. Are they limited in some areas? Yes. Do they make mistakes? Yes. But fudge, they are still talented and capable of giving us a different look and a change of pace. It makes a difference in the 4th whatever significant they get in the earlier quarters.

Has anyone forgotten our first game against Cleveland? It was almost the same situation. The Knicks are good, but today was another reminder that we might not be able to join the best teams because of how poorly we have developed our bench and how poorly we adjust during games.

fitzfarm wrote:That was the most manufactured win and Bull **** calls I’ve seen all year .::

But good to know we are the clear better team..just absolute horse **** home team calls to keep them in the game … honestly if we are home we win by 20

We don’t get “home” calls at home either.

And honestly, we have so far failed against the elite teams and today was another proof. We are the better team? Not yet. Not at all. We collapsed on the 4th and neither the starters could right the ship, nor Thibs could change anything with a substitution.

We have a marvelous starting lineup that can be strategically stopped by the best teams. After that, we have nothing else. So we are very limited this year unless a change in philosophy opens things up.

We just aren’t in that league yet. Sucks but without a bench, we will remain on the outside. Those teams are solid basically from top to bottom.

Knicksfan wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

Knicksfan wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

WP76 wrote:

Alpha1971 wrote:

NYStateOfMind wrote:Not if it is true, and it was a factor, but the bench discrepancies lost this game. The Knicks have earned the same calls at MSG and they don't get them. JB gets bumped multiple times on some possessions, but no foul. SGA initiates minimal contact if any, fouls are called. But the Knicks bench or lack thereof, lost this game and Mitch isn't going to change that if he ever comes back.

WP76 wrote:

NYStateOfMind wrote:Apparently, they earned the home-court calls the Knicks haven't. Total BS that a team with 13 str8 wins needs favorable calls. Disgusting.

Alpha1971 wrote:How can OKC get away with all these fouls ?

Blaming the refs is weak. They made the clutch shots; we didn't.

The refs were a factor.

.

I'd say Wiggins kicking our butts down the stretch was a much bigger factor plus three consecutive turnovers when the game was in the balance was pretty important, too. Refs or no refs, this game was there for us to win.

Knew it was going to be one of their scrubs that would go for career night.

I actually like Wiggins but by no means for his offense.

A magic trick called playing your bench. It’s something unseen around here, unfortunately.

You would have taken Jalen.Josh.Mikal.OG or Towns out in the 4th for Cam/Shamet/Precious?

I don't understand your argument. Wiggins was playing because rest of OKC was choking - our front line wasn't choking - they weren't getting the ball.

My argument is not just about this game, but the result of game after game of relying solely on the starters. We have a team without a significant bench and whenever teams adjust to our gameplay, we have nothing to counter with. Not an adjustment from the coach, from the starters or from a bench that’s never relied on.

I agree with the details on the mistakes we made. But this game fully showed me why we will probably not even end with a decent record against the big teams in the league: Thibs and the coaching staff didn’t care about developing the bench from the start, and now we have a team limited to its starters and unless anyone has a historic night, we can be stopped when it matters while a better rounded team will run us out of the court.

The way we lost the 4th quarter is embarrassing. Yet we kept the starters there, playing like crap, just waiting to get the game done. This team has a new level to reach to actually compete with the best, but I wonder if they are capable of that.

We did ourselves a huge disservice not developing the talent we already have on the bench. Are they limited in some areas? Yes. Do they make mistakes? Yes. But fudge, they are still talented and capable of giving us a different look and a change of pace. It makes a difference in the 4th whatever significant they get in the earlier quarters.

Has anyone forgotten our first game against Cleveland? It was almost the same situation. The Knicks are good, but today was another reminder that we might not be able to join the best teams because of how poorly we have developed our bench and how poorly we adjust during games.

The bold is why I always have to be the voice of reason when we have a stretch vs bad/injured teams. People on twitter like Tommy Beer likes to have circle jerks with stats but leaves out critical context that the month was all bad teams and the only good team was the Magic who was severly injured. After awhile I take a break from forums and social media debates because I always feel like a downer but I just state the truth that may be hard for some fans to admit.

LivingLegend wrote:ISO Jalen took us out of flow completely and basically voided Kat in 2nd half.

Mentioned earlier - hopefully no career games from OKC role player and wouldn't you know WIGGINS.

As I turn this one off I'm thinking our most talented player and most difficult match-up for OKC (KAT) was basically ignored most of the game.

Yep, they had Williams and Dort on him the whole game, while Hartenstein was on Hart which enabled him to roam. We never took advantage

OKC is the best and hottest team in the league and nearly unbeatable at home, we had them by the ropes but couldn't finish it off. Needed a bit better game from Brunson, he'll get em next time.

ToddTT wrote:iHart is one of the most impactful players in the league. He's earning that bloated paycheck.

Made all the clutch little plays to help his team win.

fitzfarm wrote:It’s one of those games your like what we crushed them on All aspects of the game but we lost !??! What ? A clear ref won game for the. Thunder lol the NBA is a joke

Before we go using the refs as scapegoats, who did suck, let’s not pretend that the struggles with teams double teaming JB did not also happen last year in the playoffs. And against elite teams. We just do not have an answer. Yes, Brunson has to work on that. And he had a bad game. He shot 9 of 23. 0 for 5 from three. When your alleged best player does that, you lose. Not to mention his two other wings going 6-23 from 3. And Bridges, who was incredible in first half disappeared in second.
However, there should be some blame on our coaching staff. It’s no secret elite teams have gone to shutting down JB first. Specifically by getting the ball out of JB’s the hands once he crosses the mid court. We don’t have offensive schemes to counter? And it’s not like last year against Indiana. We had highly paid good players with him last night. No excuse to have your $55 million dollar man only shoot 13 shots. You can’t get him an open three of a PnR?

Guess it’s just things they have to work on. As well as improving the bench. Hopefully done once they are all healthy.

Great game in the first half and a sign of what we can be.

But yeah, Fuck the refs too!