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Playoff GameThread #5: Knicks-Detroit, 730pm TNT MSG 4/29
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DLeethal
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4/29/2025  11:20 PM
LivingLegend wrote:
VDesai wrote:Worst play of the game was Mikal's utter bonehead pass to Mitch from like 40 feet away in a tie game. In what world is that a good play? We had a chance to grab some momentum and create a lead.

We have been way too bad on fast breaks

How about when we were on late run with I think tie score but no lead yet - momentum turning Mitch deflects ball Hart grabs dribbles down on 3-1 with Mitch rim running and OG on right wing for open 3. Hart jumps in air tries pass to Mitch which Schroeder (should be a Knick) grabs easily passes ahead for 2 points. Next trip we botch and Cade hits 3 - Knicks down 5 and all energy gone from building.

They were brutal on fast breaks tonight.

AUTOADVERT
Clean
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4/29/2025  11:22 PM

LivingLegend
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4/29/2025  11:25 PM
Chandler wrote:
LivingLegend wrote:
VDesai wrote:Duren won them that game. Without Mitch - he got every board. KATs inability to box him out has been a major issue.

Felt like those Duren buckets hurt but I saw both Kat/Mitch having to contest at rim and nobody else putting a body on Duren (only 9 points and offset by Mitch’s 13).

Bigger issue IMO was Brunson guarding high/screen roll and failing to impede Cade AT ALL which lead to Cade flying down lane either for layups or numerous dump offs for Thompson (who we made look like Pippen tonight).

Thompson avg 10 on the season and 7.5 in 4 games going into tonight and he had 22 (BALL GAME).

personally I didn't have an issue with Brunson on the high screen and roll. I thought he was just there to buy a second to give OG or Bridges some time to recover.

My issue is they had him guarding Thompson, which worked in prior game. But Bickerstaff countered by having Thompson cut to hpp. and Jalen was too hypnotized by ball and did nothing.

Detroit did NOT play a good game. They just played a better game than us which is shameful given home court etc.

Yes - Thompson hurt us all over today and add in us insisting on having Jalen dribble up the court against him.

Another KEY -- in our building in a key game 5 Pistons shoot 36 FTs to our 27.

LivingLegend
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4/29/2025  11:27 PM
Chandler wrote:
VDesai wrote:Worst play of the game was Mikal's utter bonehead pass to Mitch from like 40 feet away in a tie game. In what world is that a good play? We had a chance to grab some momentum and create a lead.

We have been way too bad on fast breaks

Mitch was butter fingers once again. I will give him credit for more activity but his and Jalen's missed FTs were critical.

I don't know why Mikal or anyone else at this point is passing the ball to Mitch. On the rare occasion he catches cleanly, instead of going straight up for some stupid reason he brings the ball down before attempting to alleviate, facilitating the all too frequent strip. this is HS stuff. c'mon man. Grown up

Whoof - Mitch's hands are only challenged by OGs.

Brunson FT misses are maddening for such a solid shooter.

BigDaddyG
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4/29/2025  11:58 PM
Always... always remember: Less is less. More is more. More is better and twice as much is good too. Not enough is bad, and too much is never enough except when it's just about right. - The Tick
joec32033
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4/30/2025  12:03 AM
Horrible performance. A championship team closes that game out. Totally disappointed in the performance tonight. I had no problems with the officials. The Pistons barely played better. There was no crazy WWE bull****. It felt like a game where neither team had any urgency. None of the big guns had showed up on either team (KAT, Brunson for the Knicks, Cade for the Pistons). This is a game Bridges should have feasted. Stupid mental mistakes. This was a freebee game as far as I was concerned. The Pistons were ripe to be had. They blew it.
~You can't run from who you are.~
LivingLegend
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4/30/2025  12:17 AM
BigDaddyG wrote:

SO PERFECT

LivingLegend
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4/30/2025  12:20 AM
joec32033 wrote:Horrible performance. A championship team closes that game out. Totally disappointed in the performance tonight. I had no problems with the officials. The Pistons barely played better. There was no crazy WWE bull****. It felt like a game where neither team had any urgency. None of the big guns had showed up on either team (KAT, Brunson for the Knicks, Cade for the Pistons). This is a game Bridges should have feasted. Stupid mental mistakes. This was a freebee game as far as I was concerned. The Pistons were ripe to be had. They blew it.

Yep. Zero putting a stamp on the game with tons of unforced boneheaded passes, missed rotations and just non TO fumbling/bumbling game away.

You’d think collectively they would know this was a game that could put them on target to go at Boston fully rested But they tossed that right in the trash.

Knicksfan
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4/30/2025  1:07 AM
I’ve called this team a beautiful disaster a few times, an enigma. I focused mostly on Thibs, because, after a long season of taking one step forward and two steps back, I could only point at the coaching staff for the apparent inability to learn a lesson. While I still believe the coaching staff is a huge factor, players have to be held accountable, and it gets scary when you start doing so. Because then, it becomes harder to see Brunson as a real ball distributor, OG as a consistent offensive player and Bridges as mentally strong enough to shine even in a star-studded cast.

This playoffs have been such an up and down affair, just as the season, that it has unfortunately confirmed that this team will either crash horribly at the end of this first round or simply be easily dispatched by a way superior and more consistent team in the Celtics. And it sucks because in theory we seem to have very, very good pieces to be an elite team. But after a whole season where they should have gotten ready, this team, coaching staff and players, all seem to have accomplished nothing in improving the defense, maximizing the offense and building a consistent style of play.

It sucks that this team gives me less hope than last year’s.

Knicks_Fan
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4/30/2025  2:42 AM
Chandler
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4/30/2025  7:06 AM
KAT needs to touch the ball a whole lot more. If not to shoot then pass

And we need to up the pace. Tho spins on ball pressure is giving pistons the extra couple of seconds to find their men, communicate etc. need to create some pressure

(5)(7)
DLeethal
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4/30/2025  7:18 AM
VDesai
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4/30/2025  7:21 AM
The starting 5 is a massive issue. We start every game and every half slow. You literally swap any one person out for any other one person and team operates better. They played the most minutes together of every lineup in the NBA and yet they have minimal chemistry and totally mediocre ratings and have been getting worse all year.

It doesn't even matter who you decide to bench or start, but this lineup has struggled to figure things out. It only closes well because Brunson has gone off late so often all year

DLeethal
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4/30/2025  7:30 AM
VDesai wrote:The starting 5 is a massive issue. We start every game and every half slow. You literally swap any one person out for any other one person and team operates better. They played the most minutes together of every lineup in the NBA and yet they have minimal chemistry and totally mediocre ratings and have been getting worse all year.

It doesn't even matter who you decide to bench or start, but this lineup has struggled to figure things out. It only closes well because Brunson has gone off late so often all year

Brunson’s 4th quarter and clutch mastery really padded this team in every way.

VDesai
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4/30/2025  7:35 AM
Lowest 3rd quarter net rating in the playoffs. Getting outscored by 28 points per 100 possesions in the 3rd.

If they start slow Thibs keeps leaning in. Make an early sub for god sakes.

This team has played Detroit's game for 5 games.

KAT - 2nd in the NBA in rebounding, has been truly horrible on the boards the whole series. The minutes where Mitch wasn't out there, Duren dominated.

Knicksfan
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4/30/2025  7:39 AM
Chandler wrote:KAT needs to touch the ball a whole lot more. If not to shoot then pass

And we need to up the pace. Tho spins on ball pressure is giving pistons the extra couple of seconds to find their men, communicate etc. need to create some pressure

Rinse and repeat

When we constantly repeat the same things over and over, it’s really a huge part on the coaching.

Knicks_Fan
Panos
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4/30/2025  7:42 AM
WP76 wrote:We gave up way too many points on baseline dunks. It seemed like it was there anytime Detroit wanted it.

This. It was disgusting. How many times before we adjust and start defending that?!
Also, why don't we have a single player that can play that role? OG and Mitch have mitts for hands and Mikal not powerful enough. Can we go out and get an Aaron Gordon?

Nalod
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4/30/2025  7:59 AM
Credit Pistons for a game plan and execution.
They defended really well.
Somebody has to recognize there was an opponent.
Beasly hit jumpers when it mattered and when you have him and THjr you can spread the floor.
When you defend the 3, you create baseline opportunities when they pass.
Kat and Robinson with 5 fouls each hurt.
Hack a Mitch worked.
This series was tight and its frustrating to watch.
Josh and Jalen both hurting last night.

OG's shot was crazy good!!! Other than that there was no magic.
Deuce was out there in the end. Can't say Thibs did not try something different. He looks like Deuce from two years ago. Where did his shot go?

DLeethal
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4/30/2025  8:12 AM
Nalod wrote:Credit Pistons for a game plan and execution.
They defended really well.
Somebody has to recognize there was an opponent.
Beasly hit jumpers when it mattered and when you have him and THjr you can spread the floor.
When you defend the 3, you create baseline opportunities when they pass.
Kat and Robinson with 5 fouls each hurt.
Hack a Mitch worked.
This series was tight and its frustrating to watch.
Josh and Jalen both hurting last night.

OG's shot was crazy good!!! Other than that there was no magic.
Deuce was out there in the end. Can't say Thibs did not try something different. He looks like Deuce from two years ago. Where did his shot go?

Deuce was out there because Brunson rolled his ankle and then the sub patterns were a mess with offense / defense

HofstraBBall
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4/30/2025  8:16 AM    LAST EDITED: 4/30/2025  8:21 AM
Nalod wrote:Credit Pistons for a game plan and execution.
They defended really well.
Somebody has to recognize there was an opponent.
Beasly hit jumpers when it mattered and when you have him and THjr you can spread the floor.
When you defend the 3, you create baseline opportunities when they pass.
Kat and Robinson with 5 fouls each hurt.
Hack a Mitch worked.
This series was tight and its frustrating to watch.
Josh and Jalen both hurting last night.

OG's shot was crazy good!!! Other than that there was no magic.
Deuce was out there in the end. Can't say Thibs did not try something different. He looks like Deuce from two years ago. Where did his shot go?

The blame game will come out all day.
Especially the Thibs fault narrative.
At the end of the day our best players did not shoot well. They do and we win.
On the blame side, as someone mentioned above, lots of easy dunks off wing penetration.
JB having trouble guarding everyone and Pistons taking advantage.
Still see the same ball pounding from JB and KAT.
KAT hitting some big threes but seems too slow to drive. Results in back to basket pound which gives guys time to collapse.
Again, we hit our shots and we win and keep from the morning after blame game.
Think JB and KAT will turn it around in game six!

'Knicks focus should be on players that have grown up playing soccer or cricket' - Triplethreat 8/28/2020
Playoff GameThread #5: Knicks-Detroit, 730pm TNT MSG 4/29

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