“Talent prevails in a best of 7. We may be able to will ourselves to a W at home, but its a long shot for us to come back and win this series. Not only are the Hawks more skilled than us on the offensive side of the ball; the Hawks have also been better than us on the defensive side of the ball so far in the playoffs. Not a good sign for us...”

-Uptown

Mitchell Robinson is out and Nerlens Noel is hobbling. Taj Gibson is 75 years old and Derrick Rose is giving everything he has. Julius Randle is carrying the weight of fizzling on Broadway, when the lights ofThe Playoffs are brightest. Barrett is unpredictable and Bullock was firing blanks. The good news is Obi Toppin is slowly finding a groove that was off beat in March and Burks can heat up like Vinnie Johnson on a good day. Immanuel Quickley is ROOKIE, playing in his FIRST playoffs, who has defied expectations. Watching Kevin Knox and Frank Ntilikina rust on the pine is the fodder for second-guessers. It is crazy making stuff.

“To be a Knicks fan is to suffer”

NO matter what, this season has been a fun rollercoaster of a season. This edition of Knicks has shocked the pundits, skeptics and most New Yorkers into feeling a uncommon sensation of competitive fire. The future is so bright, Knicks fans gotta wear shades.

“Fiiii-yuhh”

With that said, Game 5 is a MUST win for Atlanta. There is noting more dangerous than a cornered ferocious animal.

“New York, We still here”

misterearl wrote:“Fire” -The Ohio Players

“Talent prevails in a best of 7. We may be able to will ourselves to a W at home, but its a long shot for us to come back and win this series. Not only are the Hawks more skilled than us on the offensive side of the ball; the Hawks have also been better than us on the defensive side of the ball so far in the playoffs. Not a good sign for us...”

-Uptown

Mitchell Robinson is out and Nerlens Noel is hobbling. Taj Gibson is 75 years old and Derrick Rose is giving everything he has. Julius Randle is carrying the weight of fizzling on Broadway, when the lights ofThe Playoffs are brightest. Barrett is unpredictable and Bullock was firing blanks. The good news is Obi Toppin is slowly finding a groove that was off beat in March and Burks can heat up like Vinnie Johnson on a good day. Immanuel Quickley is ROOKIE, playing in his FIRST playoffs, who has defied expectations. Watching Kevin Knox and Frank Ntilikina rust on the pine is the fodder for second-guessers. It is crazy making stuff.

“To be a Knicks fan is to suffer”

NO matter what, this season has been a fun rollercoaster of a season. This edition of Knicks has shocked the pundits, skeptics and most New Yorkers into feeling a uncommon sensation of competitive fire. The future is so bright, Knicks fans gotta wear shades.

“Fiiii-yuhh”

With that said, Game 5 is a MUST win for Atlanta. There is noting more dangerous than a cornered ferocious animal.

“New York, We still here”

I hope we win tonight, I do.

But, if we flame out here in the first round, how exactly is the future bright?

Randle, for as good as he was this year, isn't the caliber of talent on par with Trae Young. Trae Young is a franchise impact talent, Julius is just a really good player - a number 2 or 3 option as I said last year when everyone wanted to dump him.

RJ might yet turn into something. IQ showed signs this year of being a really good player.

But next year, what exactly are we keeping, and where is growth coming from to get this team to the next level? Or even at the same level?

I'll give you Thibs, and maybe he can get a random collection of players to outperform their individual levels of talent.

But I am worried that this year was a bit of lightening in the bottle, the result of some career type years out of guys like Noel, Bullock, Burks and to a degree, Randle and Rose. And that we were perhaps shielded from the challenges of a normal schedule.

And that next year, we take a step back- that if we resign guys like Rose or Burks or Bullock, that we don't get the same production out of them, and that any replacements don't provide a next level of performance. Randle maintains his play- which was enough to get us to the playoffs, but not out of the first round. We end up an 8 seed.

franco12 wrote:

misterearl wrote:“Fire” -The Ohio Players

“Talent prevails in a best of 7. We may be able to will ourselves to a W at home, but its a long shot for us to come back and win this series. Not only are the Hawks more skilled than us on the offensive side of the ball; the Hawks have also been better than us on the defensive side of the ball so far in the playoffs. Not a good sign for us...”

-Uptown

Mitchell Robinson is out and Nerlens Noel is hobbling. Taj Gibson is 75 years old and Derrick Rose is giving everything he has. Julius Randle is carrying the weight of fizzling on Broadway, when the lights ofThe Playoffs are brightest. Barrett is unpredictable and Bullock was firing blanks. The good news is Obi Toppin is slowly finding a groove that was off beat in March and Burks can heat up like Vinnie Johnson on a good day. Immanuel Quickley is ROOKIE, playing in his FIRST playoffs, who has defied expectations. Watching Kevin Knox and Frank Ntilikina rust on the pine is the fodder for second-guessers. It is crazy making stuff.

“To be a Knicks fan is to suffer”

NO matter what, this season has been a fun rollercoaster of a season. This edition of Knicks has shocked the pundits, skeptics and most New Yorkers into feeling a uncommon sensation of competitive fire. The future is so bright, Knicks fans gotta wear shades.

“Fiiii-yuhh”

With that said, Game 5 is a MUST win for Atlanta. There is noting more dangerous than a cornered ferocious animal.

“New York, We still here”

I hope we win tonight, I do.

But, if we flame out here in the first round, how exactly is the future bright?

Randle, for as good as he was this year, isn't the caliber of talent on par with Trae Young. Trae Young is a franchise impact talent, Julius is just a really good player - a number 2 or 3 option as I said last year when everyone wanted to dump him.

RJ might yet turn into something. IQ showed signs this year of being a really good player.

But next year, what exactly are we keeping, and where is growth coming from to get this team to the next level? Or even at the same level?

I'll give you Thibs, and maybe he can get a random collection of players to outperform their individual levels of talent.

But I am worried that this year was a bit of lightening in the bottle, the result of some career type years out of guys like Noel, Bullock, Burks and to a degree, Randle and Rose. And that we were perhaps shielded from the challenges of a normal schedule.

And that next year, we take a step back- that if we resign guys like Rose or Burks or Bullock, that we don't get the same production out of them, and that any replacements don't provide a next level of performance. Randle maintains his play- which was enough to get us to the playoffs, but not out of the first round. We end up an 8 seed.

We're relevant again, regardless if we lose tonight or game 6/7. Barclays with 3 top 10 stars can't compare to MSG when the team is competitive. It really is ridiculous.

Yes, we overachieved and look done but there are things to look forward to:

cs and front office doesn't appear to be a revolving door
We are an attractive destination
salary cap
Barrett is 20
draft capital
Quickley development
Obi development
Mitch development

I really like Burks and Bullock but they're replaceable players. Guessing we resign Bullock and Burks walks; I'd prefer the reverse but get it in terms of 2 man game w/ Randle. Guessing contracts signed this offseason will be mindful of the big fish in the coming years (i.e. Zion). I'm also excited to see a full year of Rose as 6th man in the limited role that led us to winning 16 of the last 20. Randle was a beast and now he needs to be humble, accountable, and get back into those road gyms and put in that work like his mentor taught him.

This year was fun.