Wright is starting to look like an X factor. Might not be enough minutes when Deuce and Cam get back to be one.

We were physical early, but then lost the edge. I think Mitch Robinson would be a big factor against the Cavs.

VDesai wrote:Foul trouble killed OG and KAT's games and stalled our momentum.

We were physical early, but then lost the edge. I think Mitch Robinson would be a big factor against the Cavs.

The narrative seems to be Brunson can't get Bridges involved. Bridges continues to flounder against the best teams and dissapear in these games. No aggression. Almost a fear of physicality or getting fouled.

nycericanguy wrote:

VDesai wrote:Bridges only took 6 shots in a game with no JB?

The narrative seems to be Brunson can't get Bridges involved. Bridges continues to flounder against the best teams and dissapear in these games. No aggression. Almost a fear of physicality or getting fouled.

he's had a couple of quiet games but he's averaged 20.6 points, 4.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds on 54% shooting in 14 games since Brunson went out.

He took less shots than Wright and Achiuwa in this game? He has been pretty bad in every Boston, Cle and OKC game.

Im not blaming Brunson for his passivity. I think if you play switch on him you can take him away. He wants to get to the mid range and that is way easier against drop. He doesn't want contact and isn't gonna take you to the basket and his 3 ball is hot and cold. He seemed to want nothing to do with last night's game after the first quarter.

Also, that Duo of Allan and Mobley ate up Kat. knicks staggered the back to back to manage a split.
Last night we missed Brunson, Deuce, Cam, and Mitch. They were out ty Jerome.

IM not saying we can take them in a series or because we beat them a few years ago or one has a "good feeling" about such a match up but obviously we have to get and stay healthy. Especially our bench! That we are getting improvement from Mitch and Shamet is huge. Very concerned about Deuce as he has first full season in a major role is proven to be a bit fragile. He has missed 17 games this season thus far.

Last night? Knicks played a great first half but Cavs did not and they turned the game around with really strong play. Credit them at home with a better team than ours.

Knicks record says the are a top ten team. If we were out west perhaps our record might are different but knicks have the 5th best record.
Ofter the top three you have a great deal of parity. Maybe we are not where we hoped but There are 25 other teams looking up at us.

But I'm still disappointed in this loss. Specifically with Bridges and KAT. It's one thing to bring it against teams like Portland and Washington but to play soft and shy against the top team in the conference on the road is just unacceptable. How do you take 6 shots in 36 minutes? Especially after Spider was eating you alive all game. Would have liked to see Mikal go down swinging. I'd take a 6/20 night over a 3/6 from him tbh.

And KAT's effort and concentration was also unacceptable. Game changed when he got into foul trouble. Yes, the zebras were awful and made some questionable calls but KAT just played a dumb game. His defense was just atrocious. I've seen everything from him to know that we just cannot play him at the 5 against Cleveland. It doesn't work. They pick and roll him to death. He provides no rim protection and has no awareness to switch and his drop coverage is soft. Just an awful defensive effort from him against this team. We will need Mitch playing 24 plus minutes or we cannot play with this team.

OG ran out of bullets in the second half. Hart played well but had some bad defensively lapses leaving his man open. Shamet came back down to earth after such a great game against Philly. This is why you cannot trust him. But Precious bounced back after a bad game.

We got a lot of work to do on paper, scheme wise and effort wise before we meet them in the second round.

ToddTT wrote:

NYKBocker wrote:When we have all our players, we beat this team.

Cle is great but I do feel like there is a path to victory. We would be a long shot.

One thing that is getting very interesting is the Heat. They smoked the Celtics last night and are red hot. Could see them finishing 8th and winning their play in game setting them up for a first round series vs. the Celtics.

Not that they would win but at least we hope they are a pain for the Celtics.