I-Joe looked like Curry in 1st half and to make it worse we often had no idea where he was or we were simple unable to stay with just another guy in the league.

Team is more so SOFT vs exhausted - no physical presence defensively. If Josh gets physical defensively it's either a foul or a blow-by.
Everyone else outside OG is soft.

We keep running Mikal over screens and dropping Kat while Shae/JWill hit 15 footers wide open inside the lane.

LivingLegend wrote:Another night where JAG goes off on us like MJ.

I-Joe looked like Curry in 1st half and to make it worse we often had no idea where he was or we were simple unable to stay with just another guy in the league.

Team is more so SOFT vs exhausted - no physical presence defensively. If Josh gets physical defensively it's either a foul or a blow-by.
Everyone else outside OG is soft.

We keep running Mikal over screens and dropping Kat while Shae/JWill hit 15 footers wide open inside the lane.

Yep. While the narrative right now is that with heavy minutes and no bench we are being run to the ground, the truth is that even at our so-called best, we are still an inconsistent and unfocused team whose 3pt shooting sometimes shuts down and whose defense hasn’t been there other than in short bursts.

This team is a mess and I don’t think it’s changing anytime soon. We have enough to beat bad teams most of the time, but we have proved to be well bellow the elite tier. Today was embarrassing, yes, but just aren’t on that level.

GustavBahler wrote:There will be a trade...oh yes there will be a trade.

I don't think so. Unless Sims maybe

Clean wrote:

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://www.twitter.com/IanBegley/status/1877910928592662916

This is why I always look at strength of schedule. I always feel like a downer when I point it out while everyone is celebrating and happy but I will never stop. Stats and records need context. That 9 game win streak looked amazing but the second you look at who we played it was obviously fugazi. Those stats that said our defense improved so much was also fugazi. Everything must be looked at with context. Another sign of how good we are is how do we beat the mid or injured teams. We had too many close calls and a real elite team would have never had that many.

Wait… we have less of a chance of beating good teams?

Clean wrote:

ToddTT wrote:

Clean wrote:

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://www.twitter.com/IanBegley/status/1877910928592662916

This is why I always look at strength of schedule. I always feel like a downer when I point it out while everyone is celebrating and happy but I will never stop. Stats and records need context. That 9 game win streak looked amazing but the second you look at who we played it was obviously fugazi. Those stats that said our defense improved so much was also fugazi. Everything must be looked at with context. Another sign of how good we are is how do we beat the mid or injured teams. We had too many close calls and a real elite team would have never had that many.

Wait… we have less of a chance of beating good teams?

Is that really what you got from everything I said? I am obviously wasting my time here.

I think that might be sarcasm.

And the answer is no- we just can’t beat good teams.

Sunday is the next chance at redemption, not holding my breath.

Clean wrote:I hope eople are noticing we get killed by a random 3pt shooter everytime we play a good team. People tend to forget this everytime I bring up Thibs defense.

Looks like Thibs is no magician after all. What I don’t get is Thibs is known to be a defensive coach and we added defensive wings. Yet our defense sucks. And our offense goes how JB goes. If JB or Towns are not playing like all stars, we lose. They make up for others mistakes.

Can we have a team that wins games, even when the offense isn’t clicking?

Alpha1971 wrote:Silver lining was by the end of the first quarter I knew I could go to sleep after a tough week. Knew I wouldn't have to fight my sleep... Knicks better get substantial contribution next year from Hukporti, Kollack and Dadiet and beyond.

If Thibs is the coach next year, not happening.

Leon is better off trading those guys for a Thibs type vet or 2.

I'm trying not to overreact and that it's just one game in early January but that was soul crushing to me. I know some disagree but to me that's now 0-4 in big games this season.

This entire game was a continuation of the 4th quarter last time we played them. Simply cannot start off slow against a team like OKC, who gifted us by starting and shooting slow to start the game. We never got on track and they did and they just embarrassed us in every aspect. Their defense is on a historic pace and they made us look inept and stuck in mud. Nothing came easy and not being able to hit the 3 really killed us. You can survive if a guy or maybe two guys are in shooting slumps but it seems like the entire team right now is in a funk with the 3. And the defense was horrendous. Two passes and they had a guy with open. The poor effort to spot and stay with Isaiah Joe was infuriating. Like how many open shots are you going to give this guy?

Nothing you can do when SGA is on like that. He made Bridges and OG look like kids. He's really good, possibly the best player in the entire league this season, and deserves that MVP. I'm truly impressed with OKC and shame on them if they don't win it all cause they should be heavy favorites.

That's 4 losses in 5 games. Not sure when you sound the alarm and if you do, what do you do? I'm not for firing Thibs even though gameplan, scheme and motivation has been factors in this slump. We can't do a lineup change either cause our depth is crap and swapping Precious or Deuce for Hart is not the answer. Hart was actually the only one out there playing with any urgency or effort last night too. We don't got the assets to pull off another big trade either. I think we're going to have to just hope they figure this out themselves.

That's now two really bad shooting slumps for Bridges this season and we haven't even played 40 games. We drop several tiers when he can't make a bucket. And if severely effects his effort and concentration on defense. He needs to get right. Only positives I can take from this one is that KAT didn't wines ones with that injury and we got Deuce back, even though he was rusty as expected. And Payne hit some shots.

25-14 is nothing to be sad about. Record wise we good! I'm just concerned we might just not have enough to get to where we want to be and 2nd round might be ceiling. We just don't defend as well as we should and our offense, as elite as it can be, goes into too many slumps. Still got a little over half a season left so we can improve on everything but it's getting difficult to remain optimistic in terms of ECF/Finals/Championship.