Meanwhile the Hawks have gameplanned to stop Julius Randle and not only have they completely taken him out of the game for 3 games - they have made him a net negative.

So one team is playing to their strengths and the other team is completely off their game.

We have been beat by the same stuff for 3 games.

Penetrating and kicking it out to 3 point shooters is a much less effective strategy even by % wise

I remember a few people here who thought trae would be a bad nba player. He’s more like an isiah thomas the original without the d

VDesai wrote:They aren't more talented because we got a win and nearly got 2 with our two most talented players completely taken out of the game. IMO if we are playing our game they can't beat us. But they have gameplanned to take our guys out and we haven't adjusted. Conversely we haven't done a lot to make them change their game. To me that's on the coach.

Look maybe it's just an epic choke from Randle and RJ, but to me their defense is confusing Randle and we haven't been giving him enough outs.

OK so next game Randle starts at the point.

VDesai wrote:They aren't more talented because we got a win and nearly got 2 with our two most talented players completely taken out of the game. IMO if we are playing our game they can't beat us. But they have gameplanned to take our guys out and we haven't adjusted. Conversely we haven't done a lot to make them change their game. To me that's on the coach.

Look maybe it's just an epic choke from Randle and RJ, but to me their defense is confusing Randle and we haven't been giving him enough outs.

This is how I see it too. I would like to see Thibs use Randle more at the 5 to try and get Capela away from the paint. I know it won't happen but we gotta try to do something cause the **** they doing out there right now is ugly.

We are into Game 4 and you can count the adjustments Thibs has done with one hand. But the situation with Randle, which should’ve been adjusted by Game 2, that is where he is leaving a lot to be desired.

The Hawks have risen for the challenge and NY, I honestly don’t know what they are doing.

ESOMKnicks wrote:

franco12 wrote:I partly agree, Thibs is not the difference maker I expected.

Now- I will say this about Trae Young- he's great! And we got Kevin Knox in that draft, and Dallas and Atlanta both ended with franchise changing talents, while we got Kevin Knox.

Trae Young is a great player, but his size is going to be a major deficiency. We are simply not exploiting it by having a bigger guard manhandle him in the post. The Sixers will show us how it is done.

joec32033 wrote:When ATL's best player is raising his game and the Knicks' 2 best players are sliding back, there isn't alot coaching can do about it. Randle is missing shots he made during the season. He isn't passing well and honestly I don't see the passion he had during the season for whatever reason. Doesn't help that their shooting overall as a team (minus Rose) has gone to ****.

That isn't coaching. Young's game is tailor made for this NBA. Give him any space he shoots, crowd him he is fast enough to go around you.

Make no mistake. This is a player performance issue.

When your best player is a PG...and 2nd best player is a center, it's very hard to win against that. With us, our best players are not at PG or center, so that minimizes our adjustments. PGs control the game....Centers control the paint. This team needs to find a star or up and coming star PG. And a star or up and coming star center. Right now we have backups in those positions and Randle at PF as our only all star. That's a bad recipe for any serious playoff runs.

There's only so much adjustments thibs can make.