VDesai wrote:Mikal has been a turnover machine when he has been dribbling and passing. He has done well coming off curls, on cuts or in post ups where he hasn't had to put the ball on the floor and create.

Josh is the best secondary creator right now - his passing has been really solid and he's a decent ballhandler, but I don't know if you want him facing ball pressure. McBride is a potential solution here. There was also a period where McBride was out the first time and Shamet was on the shelf where Payne played minutes next to Brunson. I thought we looked really good in that lineup as it gave Jalen more catch and shoots and Payne is a more sure ballhandler who can increase the pace. I don't think we'll go back to that as we are too small defensively and I think Thibs seems less inclined to use Payne as the season goes on.

Deuce is gonna need to step up in this role for sure. Brunson is also smart as hell and he usually figures out a way to beat the defense as time goes on. But right now, big defenders + pressing/trapping full court or at the timeline is the way to defend him.

I've always view Mikal with that perspective. He is not the guy you want the ball in his hands when extreme pressure is what the defense is bringing.

martin wrote:

VDesai wrote:Mikal has been a turnover machine when he has been dribbling and passing. He has done well coming off curls, on cuts or in post ups where he hasn't had to put the ball on the floor and create.

Josh is the best secondary creator right now - his passing has been really solid and he's a decent ballhandler, but I don't know if you want him facing ball pressure. McBride is a potential solution here. There was also a period where McBride was out the first time and Shamet was on the shelf where Payne played minutes next to Brunson. I thought we looked really good in that lineup as it gave Jalen more catch and shoots and Payne is a more sure ballhandler who can increase the pace. I don't think we'll go back to that as we are too small defensively and I think Thibs seems less inclined to use Payne as the season goes on.

Deuce is gonna need to step up in this role for sure. Brunson is also smart as hell and he usually figures out a way to beat the defense as time goes on. But right now, big defenders + pressing/trapping full court or at the timeline is the way to defend him.

I've always view Mikal with that perspective. He is not the guy you want the ball in his hands when extreme pressure is what the defense is bringing.

That first year he got traded to the Nets where he had that great 30 game run, he was creating for himself off the bounce and was a very different player. We haven't really seen that here. Even in the bigging scoring games lately he's not creating for himself at the top of the key - if he's dribbling he's starting in the post or a bit deeper generally.

Nalod wrote:We talking about bringing the ball over half court, right?
If you want to understand the issue, look at the movement off the ball and what Jalens options are as the double starts to form.
How many times has Jalen thwarted this? How many times has he beaten it? He is likely succeeding more than not. We are seeing the results when it goes wrong.
we are seeing Josh doing more playmaking. Kudo's to his improvement this year.
Mikal? he gets the ball with a fast transition.
the issue is after a bucket and we take the ball out, then Brunson is trapped. The best way to fix that is don't let it happen. I'd venture to say was are doing that a lot.
But don't succeed always.

We seem to walk right into in the 2nd half where we want to ISO Jalen and we walk the ball into a trap. We tried to slow down the game against OKC and fell right into what they wanted to defensively. Was tough to watch unfold, but Thibs I'm sure has seen that tape and knows exactly what happened. They have another shot this week and know what they did well offensively and what they did not. Was really dissapointing to be leading that game near wire to wire and look phenomenal offensively at times, and then have a 4th quarter where it didn't even seem like we ran a set. Overall I still look at that game taking away a positive, because I saw that at our peak we were able to overwhelm them. They can say the same for themselves when watching the 4th Q, so at the end of the day we'll see who can really control the game when it comes to the Garden.

VDesai wrote:

Nalod wrote:We talking about bringing the ball over half court, right?
If you want to understand the issue, look at the movement off the ball and what Jalens options are as the double starts to form.
How many times has Jalen thwarted this? How many times has he beaten it? He is likely succeeding more than not. We are seeing the results when it goes wrong.
we are seeing Josh doing more playmaking. Kudo's to his improvement this year.
Mikal? he gets the ball with a fast transition.
the issue is after a bucket and we take the ball out, then Brunson is trapped. The best way to fix that is don't let it happen. I'd venture to say was are doing that a lot.
But don't succeed always.

We seem to walk right into in the 2nd half where we want to ISO Jalen and we walk the ball into a trap. We tried to slow down the game against OKC and fell right into what they wanted to defensively. Was tough to watch unfold, but Thibs I'm sure has seen that tape and knows exactly what happened. They have another shot this week and know what they did well offensively and what they did not. Was really dissapointing to be leading that game near wire to wire and look phenomenal offensively at times, and then have a 4th quarter where it didn't even seem like we ran a set. Overall I still look at that game taking away a positive, because I saw that at our peak we were able to overwhelm them. They can say the same for themselves when watching the 4th Q, so at the end of the day we'll see who can really control the game when it comes to the Garden.

I loved the 1st quarter. Was back and forth and both teams playing well.
I saw knicks stop hitting shots when they lost the lead. I think it was grant hill calling the game on NBATV was saying "dead legs" or somthing to that effect.
Obviously knowing there was a game the next day it did not bode well and two quick losses.

But Thibs is winning this way and If the FO cannot do magic this year then perhaps next year is the real window. We all knew we'd have a great starting 5 then a fall off.

EwingsGlass wrote:I don't really see anything "wrong" but the entire team is going through a shooting funk. Their 3pt % has tanked over the last 10 games. Their FT% has tanked also. Not sure if they are just all getting soft legs. Or not enough shots in practice. But the shooting is why they look off.

I see a lot of shots hitting the front of the rim, which often has to do with stamina.