nycericanguy wrote:Mitch starting honestly makes alot of sense right now, also takes the Hack a Mitch off the table. and KAT comes in against the bench players and can have the offense to himself. Don't think Thibs would do it, but it makes sense right now. we need Mitch playing 30mpg and starting makes it easier. KAT can still get his 30 min also.
Playing Mitch and Hart presents new challenges though. The real killer lineup has been Deuce and Mitch for Hart and KAT. I think the realistic happy medium is starting Deuce and bringing Mitch in earlier than usual.
i'd be fine starting both, but again, Thibs wont do it.
Hart and KAT off the bench strengthes the bench big time also
AUTOADVERT
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Brunson and KAT have never really played well TOGETHer, and thats been disappointing b/c on paper they seem like a lethal P&R threat. But maybe thats more of a JB issue b.c he didnt play great together with Randle either. so why have to start them together? staggering them might make more sense.
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nycericanguy wrote:Brunson and KAT have never really played well TOGETHer, and thats been disappointing b/c on paper they seem like a lethal P&R threat. But maybe thats more of a JB issue b.c he didnt play great together with Randle either. so why have to start them together? staggering them might make more sense.
They had a deadly PnR that was neutered mid season when nearly every team started putting a small on Towns and a roaming big on Hart. This has been pretty widely covered by Knicks twitter for awhile. Now the issues in this series are more around defense bc Indiana covers Towns with Turner and he kills Turner on O but the offense overall has been subpar since January as well.
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I believe the Brunson Towns PnR was the most effective combo in the entire league and it’s rarely used because Hart has the big on him and thus Hart is the primary screener. Another reason many have been calling for Deuce to start for months.
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I went to the club here in North Carolina to relieve some stress about last night game it’s going to be battle to come back the knicks have to play smart. I loved how Mitch played but if he is going to stay on court he is going to have to make free throws if they are going to foul intentionally. Love Mitch but he is going to have to make his free throws. Thibs is going to have to sit cam Payne down I thought his minutes in the 4 quarter were horrible I would have rather played wright or Kolek. I know some of you guys don’t like precious but we have to play him especially against obi.
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the series isnt over though, if we have any pride at all there's no way we go down 0-3, just like we said about BOS, was very unlikely they'd go down 0-3.
so one game at a time, we've been better on the road. home court has meant nothing these playoffs. Win game 3 and its a series again.
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nycericanguy wrote:the series isnt over though, if we have any pride at all there's no way we go down 0-3, just like we said about BOS, was very unlikely they'd go down 0-3.
so one game at a time, we've been better on the road. home court has meant nothing these playoffs. Win game 3 and its a series again.
Win game 3 it’s a new series.
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houston20 wrote:I went to the club here in North Carolina to relieve some stress about last night game it’s going to be battle to come back the knicks have to play smart. I loved how Mitch played but if he is going to stay on court he is going to have to make free throws if they are going to foul intentionally. Love Mitch but he is going to have to make his free throws. Thibs is going to have to sit cam Payne down I thought his minutes in the 4 quarter were horrible I would have rather played wright or Kolek. I know some of you guys don’t like precious but we have to play him especially against obi.
Thibs hasn’t played Cam in second half since like game 3 against DET. To do so last night in a tie game was complete malpractice.
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DLeethal wrote:If the Knicks blow it this year they need to make a splash this offseason because the window will likely be open again next year. They cannot look at this defense and think let’s run it back.
VERY VERY hard to make a SPLASH move.
If we get lucky and some star demands the Knicks we'd still probably end up having to give 3-1 to get close to any trade.
And add on how tight we have to make $$$ tie out on any trade and relatively NO draft assets of any significance.
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DLeethal wrote:It’s a shame because we are getting heroics from Brunson averaging 40, major production from KAT on offense, Mikal went off last night, Deuce and Mitch have been awesome. And we’re down 0 ****ing 2. In many ways our guys are playing better than they did in rounds 1 and 2. To me it’s 10000% on the one lineup digging holes we can’t get out of anymore. Somehow we got out of them in the first 2 rounds. You eliminate that lineup and every other combo is beating the crap out of Indiana.
They haven't been connected or able to get stops ALL YEAR.
We had the 1 game 5 vs Celtics and that was almost it for the year.
Kat doesn't take D seriously and more and more Jalen has checked out on D. Jalen used to scrap like hell and draws 2-3 charges a game -- lately he's just late to the party on every action.
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nycericanguy wrote:KAT is the real issue in the starting 5, its just harder and harder to have a 5 that cant defend, teams will constantly look to isolate and pick at him. Even when he gives us 30 you still feel better with Mitch out there. Like we are going to score 110 points with or without KAT when you think about it, it comes down to defense.
I'd argue that Hart has been worse than Kat most of the year -- especially given Josh's calling card should be defense.
He guards nothing - he just looks like he's trying or upset when he's beat but he's always beat.
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nycericanguy wrote:KAT is the real issue in the starting 5, its just harder and harder to have a 5 that cant defend, teams will constantly look to isolate and pick at him. Even when he gives us 30 you still feel better with Mitch out there. Like we are going to score 110 points with or without KAT when you think about it, it comes down to defense.
Realistically I think Hart is the guy he will bench if he does anything at all. Hart would take it like a pro. Deuce for Hart is probably something that could keep us afloat enough but he’s gotta get Mitch in earlier so he doesn’t play him 16 straight minutes. Start Deuce and bring Mitch in after 4-5 mins. And give him a breather before a second stint in the first half.
Why not leave Deuce/Mitch where they are playing well off the bench and just start say Wright who will defend, dribble, make a 3 and not make bonehead 3s. We don't need a stud as the 5th starter just someone who can fit in and not completely jam up the paint.
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nycericanguy wrote:KAT is the real issue in the starting 5, its just harder and harder to have a 5 that cant defend, teams will constantly look to isolate and pick at him. Even when he gives us 30 you still feel better with Mitch out there. Like we are going to score 110 points with or without KAT when you think about it, it comes down to defense.
I think this is more a matter of how he is used on defense. How is it that lead-footed Joker isn't exposed like KAT, Or any Celtic big, none of whom can defend the perimeter.
I don;t have the answer for KAT but some coaching staffs do. And the real issue is we need to use KAT more on offense. Punish the opponent. Put their bigs in foul trouble.
Joker is EXTREMELY smart on both ends -- Kat plays like a child his actions/fouls often defy imagination.
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nycericanguy wrote:Mitch starting honestly makes alot of sense right now, also takes the Hack a Mitch off the table. and KAT comes in against the bench players and can have the offense to himself. Don't think Thibs would do it, but it makes sense right now. we need Mitch playing 30mpg and starting makes it easier. KAT can still get his 30 min also.
Mitch died in the 2nd half and was exposed some -- he's been great BUT he's a flawed and limited player. He joined in the party in the 2nd half getting lost on pick/roll and leaving Turner wide open for corner 3 (literally nobody within 15 feet).
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nycericanguy wrote:Brunson and KAT have never really played well TOGETHer, and thats been disappointing b/c on paper they seem like a lethal P&R threat. But maybe thats more of a JB issue b.c he didnt play great together with Randle either. so why have to start them together? staggering them might make more sense.
I have found myself wondering how good would Kat/OG/Mikal look playing off of say Haliburton vs iso Brunson who rarely passes as option 1.
We'd be an uptempo team and could see Hali really igniting Kat/Mikal.
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nycericanguy wrote:the series isnt over though, if we have any pride at all there's no way we go down 0-3, just like we said about BOS, was very unlikely they'd go down 0-3.
so one game at a time, we've been better on the road. home court has meant nothing these playoffs. Win game 3 and its a series again.
Win game 3 it’s a new series.
I guess this is possible but they'll probably win 3 straight and blow a 20 point 4th quarter lead at the garden in game 7.
That would make the most sense with this team.
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nycericanguy wrote:Mitch starting honestly makes alot of sense right now, also takes the Hack a Mitch off the table. and KAT comes in against the bench players and can have the offense to himself. Don't think Thibs would do it, but it makes sense right now. we need Mitch playing 30mpg and starting makes it easier. KAT can still get his 30 min also.
Mitch died in the 2nd half and was exposed some -- he's been great BUT he's a flawed and limited player. He joined in the party in the 2nd half getting lost on pick/roll and leaving Turner wide open for corner 3 (literally nobody within 15 feet).
He helped off Turner because Brunson or Mikal got blown by by Haliburton. Perimeter D was getting cooked during that stretch.
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nycericanguy wrote:Mitch starting honestly makes alot of sense right now, also takes the Hack a Mitch off the table. and KAT comes in against the bench players and can have the offense to himself. Don't think Thibs would do it, but it makes sense right now. we need Mitch playing 30mpg and starting makes it easier. KAT can still get his 30 min also.
Mitch died in the 2nd half and was exposed some -- he's been great BUT he's a flawed and limited player. He joined in the party in the 2nd half getting lost on pick/roll and leaving Turner wide open for corner 3 (literally nobody within 15 feet).
Thibs played him 16 straight minutes in the first half.
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