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GameThread: Knicks visit Toronto, 730 MSG
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martin
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1/29/2026  8:31 AM
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martin
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1/29/2026  8:37 AM
DLeethal wrote:Deuce is a conundrum. He’s awesome but sucks at backup PG. Kolek needs those mins IMO. Deuce should be fully off ball.

He is not a conundrum to me. He is just a POA SG. And the Knicks got too many players needing those SG minutes. Deuce, Mikal, Shamet. And none of them have more than an average handle.

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Nalod
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1/29/2026  8:40 AM

Looked like a throw away game when Brown put in his bench after flat start. Bench energy kept the team in the game.
Huk looks like he just does not know where to go at times on defense. Has no license to shoot yet.
Massive kudo's to KAT rebounding in the first half. Also kept the game tight. The shots were not there but that was a dominannt performance and his defense was ok.
For those critical of OG? You just don't get him.
What im seeing about turnovers: Ball movement and pace accelerates it and its a problem, but one can't be scared of them becuase they are moving and grooving. The ball movement was the energy last night. "where did that come from". A coach maybe telling his team to not be scared of turnovers if they are moving the ball, cutting without it. Vs Sac some good attempts at passes caused them. A coach also getting his team back into a groove. Impressive

Kolek feeds the ball to those moving without it. Simple. Brunson shoot first, Kolek not. They different.
NO Robinsin and Towns not in foul trouble. No offensive fouling issue. What do we need? He gave it. Rebounds.
The no look pass? Brilliant, a team moving and grooving not scared. A team out of its losing streak and now finding its rhythm.
Mikal? NO rest, send of a back to back. A rhythm found and they fed it. OG A dunking Demon!!!!! Also from the corner was deadly.

Toronto looked bad but they been a good team. They were well rested also having last played Sunday. RJ and IQ were not factors but does not mean they are not nightly. IQ is inconsistant and was not good last night. Streaky. Was with us. RJ not worthy of the 3rd pick? Go look at that draft again. Context of the moment. He was 19 and was here thru some bad times.

No Duece, no Robinson. No problem. Depth was good. Landry giving us quality play. Yabu also had some nice moves.

As for Precious? Not having him nightly makes us forget his limitations. Yabu is not getting it done, but neitehr was precious. Sure he had some good games and moments, but we forget he played himself off this good team. SAC is not a good team. Thibs did not ruin him, he helped him.

Good quality win on the road. 2nd of a back to back. Enjoy the journey.
martin
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1/29/2026  8:48 AM
martin wrote:
DLeethal wrote:Deuce is a conundrum. He’s awesome but sucks at backup PG. Kolek needs those mins IMO. Deuce should be fully off ball.

He is not a conundrum to me. He is just a POA SG. And the Knicks got too many players needing those SG minutes. Deuce, Mikal, Shamet. And none of them have more than an average handle.

And none of Deuce, Mikal, Shamet have a good feel for passing either, although certainly not ball stoppers.

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martin
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1/29/2026  8:49 AM
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Nalod
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1/29/2026  8:59 AM
martin wrote:

Thats how it works. He gave us a peek into the team a bit. Not a suprise really given his play at times. He wanted no part of thibs, used his leverage and got a very player friendly coach. He got his contract. "Do your ****ing job"! That was the boiling point. My guess, and I stated this before is some coaches with a vet team, a talented one, lets them figure **** out but if its not working they have to buy in at somepoint. Brown was not here long enough for then to tune him out. Win, and its all good. Not, the scene turns sour and the fans/media start to press. Being more coachable is an mature admission they turning it around.
Kat Not forcing shots last night? Could also be a deliberate execution.

This in the face of trade deadline? Maybe it matters. Im one that prefers we play this season out as is. Its not unreasonable to think two years with the core and one full with new coach should be given. Im not saying we don't need a back up PF. Yabu either gets going or gets traded. Giannis? Lets just say Miami is going nowhere and its the type of thing they like to do, so I expect them to do a big trade. There window won't be the same as ours.

As for KATs contract? That gets dealt with in the future. I have faith in Leon more than any of our knee jerk reactions as fans. Including mine. Thus, if there is an offer he can't refuse, he should do it. But if not, tweek as we need this year.
Might mean giving up some yoot we like.
ramtour420
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1/29/2026  9:11 AM
We were " running in mud" , like Bridges said, all game. Then Kolek came in at the end of the 3rd and we started scoring easy buckets, went on a run( it's pains me to admit this, Brunson was watching it from the bench) When Brunson came in he just had to not turn the ball over and drain the clock. Which he did, while also scoring a bit himself. Game ball goes to Kolek, who changed the game trajectory
Everything you have ever wanted is on the other side of fear- George Adair
SergioNYK
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1/29/2026  10:49 AM
Got to find 10 minutes for Kolek. Especially at the start of the 2nd quarter with KAT. We've already seen some pick-and-rolls and a decent two-man game earlier in the season. This is not a knock on Brunson and Deuce but Kolek naturally looks for him much like Payne did last season.

Interesting comments from Mikal after the game concerning being coachable. Makes you assume he is not the easiest guy to coach. He also had some issues with Thibs and was likely the player who told Leon and Dolan he couldn't play for him any longer. I like Mikal and he's a good player and seems like a good guy and I'm not trading him for that dinosaur Jrue Holiday. But he needs to let Brown do his job and he needs to follow the pecking order and do his job. Last night was the perfect example. Brunson and KAT didn't have it and he went to work and was aggressive offensively.

Weird game by KAT. He was a monster on the glass with 22 rebounds and had zero fouls in 35 minutes and made some nice passes including the insane over the head pass to Mikal but I just don't like what is happening with him on offense. He didn't force it at all last night and that's fine and all but we need him to be aggressive and get back to being that 24 ppg scorer. Sometimes it seems to me like he's been downgraded to just being a facilitator ala Joakim Noah. OG get's more featured which is crazy. Brown was hired in large part to get the most out of KAT and he's failing miserably there.

Great game by OG after that awful 7 turnover game the night before. He had like 5 dunks, 6 steals, 2 blocks. Never seen him smile that much in a game. Shoutout to Josh too!
martin
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1/29/2026  11:48 AM
SergioNYK wrote:Got to find 10 minutes for Kolek. Especially at the start of the 2nd quarter with KAT. We've already seen some pick-and-rolls and a decent two-man game earlier in the season. This is not a knock on Brunson and Deuce but Kolek naturally looks for him much like Payne did last season.

Interesting comments from Mikal after the game concerning being coachable. Makes you assume he is not the easiest guy to coach. He also had some issues with Thibs and was likely the player who told Leon and Dolan he couldn't play for him any longer. I like Mikal and he's a good player and seems like a good guy and I'm not trading him for that dinosaur Jrue Holiday. But he needs to let Brown do his job and he needs to follow the pecking order and do his job. Last night was the perfect example. Brunson and KAT didn't have it and he went to work and was aggressive offensively.

Weird game by KAT. He was a monster on the glass with 22 rebounds and had zero fouls in 35 minutes and made some nice passes including the insane over the head pass to Mikal but I just don't like what is happening with him on offense. He didn't force it at all last night and that's fine and all but we need him to be aggressive and get back to being that 24 ppg scorer. Sometimes it seems to me like he's been downgraded to just being a facilitator ala Joakim Noah. OG get's more featured which is crazy. Brown was hired in large part to get the most out of KAT and he's failing miserably there.

Great game by OG after that awful 7 turnover game the night before. He had like 5 dunks, 6 steals, 2 blocks. Never seen him smile that much in a game. Shoutout to Josh too!

Not for nothing but when the shot is not falling, he is down to the iHart role without the defense or relentless pick capabilities as well as the spread stuff.

But it was good to see WingStop step up when the big bros don't got it. Would have loved to see Brunson in full Melo Dad mode.

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martin
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1/29/2026  11:52 AM
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martin
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1/29/2026  12:19 PM    LAST EDITED: 1/29/2026  12:20 PM
Nice. Not equal but only 14 guys in league averaging more than 7 assists a game. Only 8 guys average more than 7.8 apg.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/traditional?dir=A&sort=AST

Some love for the Kolek hive...

Averaging 7.8 assists / 36 minutes, with 5 consecutive dimes last night going to Mikal Bridges, whose hot streak directly coincided with Kolek's entrance into the game.

Kolek & Bridges are +11.9 / 100 in 630 possessions this season per @cleantheglass. Take Clarkson off, and it jumps to +17.5 in 289 poss. w/ a 120.1 offensive rating.

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LivingLegend
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1/29/2026  1:12 PM
martin wrote:

Mikal with one of the greatest in game turnarounds in history.

He could barely bounce the ball without getting stripped for 2 1/2 quarters and then goes off for ~+25 in last 1 1/2 quarters with barely a miss.
LivingLegend
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1/29/2026  1:14 PM
martin wrote:

I haven't seen the great D during this last good stretch - solid yes but for ex. last night Toronto was just flat/bad.

Can we defend? Absolutely. Do we want to? Not often enough.
DLeethal
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1/29/2026  1:52 PM
martin wrote:
DLeethal wrote:Deuce is a conundrum. He’s awesome but sucks at backup PG. Kolek needs those mins IMO. Deuce should be fully off ball.

He is not a conundrum to me. He is just a POA SG. And the Knicks got too many players needing those SG minutes. Deuce, Mikal, Shamet. And none of them have more than an average handle.

That's the conundrum though. He's best suited at SG, but there's residual effects to playing him there and also our expanded rotation seems to not work overall. So in the tight rotation that also includes well deserved Shamet mins he seems locked in at backup PG, where the offense struggles mightily.
MaTT4281
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1/29/2026  6:10 PM
LivingLegend wrote:
martin wrote:

I haven't seen the great D during this last good stretch - solid yes but for ex. last night Toronto was just flat/bad.

Can we defend? Absolutely. Do we want to? Not often enough.

Any defensive minded coaches on the market? Just have to make sure that Brunson likes them. If they have any COY award(s), all the better.
MaTT4281
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1/29/2026  7:27 PM
Josh is a national treasure.
PassTheBall
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1/29/2026  7:56 PM
TYLER KOLEK SAVED THE GAME!!!
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BlueKnickers
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1/29/2026  9:50 PM
LivingLegend wrote:
martin wrote:

Mikal with one of the greatest in game turnarounds in history.

He could barely bounce the ball without getting stripped for 2 1/2 quarters and then goes off for ~+25 in last 1 1/2 quarters with barely a miss.

This game should have injected a dose of realism into Knicks fans' minds and made them remember Bridges is one of the best off-the-ball offensive cutters in the league.

Why does he suddenly erupt when Kolek enters the game?

Because knows if he gets open, Kolek will probably find him AND get him the ball in rhythm, in motion, in stride, ready to shoot.

Which begs the question:

Is Bridges frustrated with how Brunson plays and he gives less effort because he doesn't feel he will get the ball in an advantageous manner?
martin
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1/29/2026  10:01 PM
BlueKnickers wrote:
LivingLegend wrote:
martin wrote:

Mikal with one of the greatest in game turnarounds in history.

He could barely bounce the ball without getting stripped for 2 1/2 quarters and then goes off for ~+25 in last 1 1/2 quarters with barely a miss.

This game should have injected a dose of realism into Knicks fans' minds and made them remember Bridges is one of the best off-the-ball offensive cutters in the league.

Why does he suddenly erupt when Kolek enters the game?

Because knows if he gets open, Kolek will probably find him AND get him the ball in rhythm, in motion, in stride, ready to shoot.

Which begs the question:

Is Bridges frustrated with how Brunson plays and he gives less effort because he doesn't feel he will get the ball in an advantageous manner?

Yes, and then the wing stops also have to cover for those guys defensively too

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ramtour420
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1/30/2026  12:55 AM
BlueKnickers wrote:
LivingLegend wrote:
martin wrote:

Mikal with one of the greatest in game turnarounds in history.

He could barely bounce the ball without getting stripped for 2 1/2 quarters and then goes off for ~+25 in last 1 1/2 quarters with barely a miss.

This game should have injected a dose of realism into Knicks fans' minds and made them remember Bridges is one of the best off-the-ball offensive cutters in the league.

Why does he suddenly erupt when Kolek enters the game?

Because knows if he gets open, Kolek will probably find him AND get him the ball in rhythm, in motion, in stride, ready to shoot.

Which begs the question:

Is Bridges frustrated with how Brunson plays and he gives less effort because he doesn't feel he will get the ball in an advantageous manner?

There was one play that stood out to me. Kolek passed the ball to Bridges, who was at the 3 point line. But the ball came into a weird place, Bridges had to come forward to receive it. After Bridges caught it he realized that he had his defender already beat and had an open path to the basket, which he took advantage of. It wasn't just a perfect pass. It was a pass that allowed Bridges to get into the paint. Bridges. Get. Into. The paint. Simply unreal

Everything you have ever wanted is on the other side of fear- George Adair
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