RJ finished with 26 and had some nice drives to the hoop but his outside shooting has been awful this season. Randle gets a lot of heat for his play this season but RJ deserves blame too. He has not taken that next step.

It would have been nice to enter 2022 with a .500 record but I don't think we'll get another chance again this season. Likely looking at a mid 30s wins at best and fighting for that 10th spot in the play-in.

jskinny35 wrote:This is what I've seen this game. Again most of us figured there would be some transition time to adjust to playing w/o Randle

Positives

RJ looked more aggressive and seemed to benefit from the increased pace and spacing

Ball movement started well and more players were involved offensively

Negatives

Toppin looks lost/not confident - like he's not sure how to assert himself. Maybe IQ or Kemba would help bring out his strengths

Defense was very inconsistent/poor

Outside shooting offered lots of wide open looks but we couldn't hit the side of the barn

In fairness to Randle he would have helped against a team like OKC - since he's pretty much better than anyone in their frontcourt. But for many of us - this is about seeing how we adjust and play differently without Randle and an offense run through him. Will RJ step up and play better. Will Toppin show he can contribute not just in spurts? I think we'll have a better sense after a few games.

I also think this experiment would help with a veteran PG as McBride probably needs some time to figure out his own adjustments. Multiple changes to a starting lineup makes it harder to compare/contrast with a small sample size. By the third game w/o Randle NYKMentality will hopefully finish posting his dissertation titled "Julius Randle: Love is Blind"

No one could have helped this game having coach Thibs playing all kinds of different lineups on the court having Dum-Dum Barrett calling all the shots for 36 minutes tonight. Quickley & Burks looked upset about Barrett keep calling all the shots in their new lineup.

Panos wrote:

NYKMentality wrote:Down 10. 8 mins left.

I hope you Julius Randle critics are ashamed of yourselves for the ways you've BLAMED HIM as some type of whipping boy.

Stop it. Enough is enough. He's an All-Star with AWESOME potential at only 27 years old.

Can you STFU already about Randle?

The question is can fans who use Julius Randle as their NY whipping boy finally STFU?

The only reason why I've talked Julius Randle is because the hate he received heading into OKC was disgusting. And so were the coach Thibs critics who attack him every night for playing Obi Toppin behind his All Star PF.

Happy new year.

All joking aside we stink without Randle and we stink with ISO Randle. The best situation is for Randle to play like a cog in the offense that we usually run when he is not playing. I love Quick and McBride but they both can't beat defenders off the dribble. This is why I got pissed at that play at the end of the quarter when we faked a PNR. All it meant was Quick was forced to try and break down the D on his own and all we got was a trash low percentage turnaround shot from a far distance. You have to know your players. Quick and McBride's inability to breakdown the D is one reason why they slipped in the draft. Watch Ja Morant one game to understand how important that is in the NBA.

RJ looks like a different player on offense with an open paint area. This is also why Randle playing in the offense we usually run when he is off the court is so important. It helps unlock RJ. RJ looked much better but I don't like him as a main option.

I really like our defense when not taking into account our 3pt defense. I don't think I can watch another game of this type of 3pt defense. I don't even blame the players for it. This is a scheme issue. Weakside defenders sag so deep into the paint for no reason EVERY SINGLE TIME. There is no reason for weakside defender to sag into the paint if they can't make a play on the ball. All it ever does is leave weakside shooters open for the 3 after a drive and kick. This is the main source of the open 3's we give up. It has been the same problem the whole year. Seriously go back and watch how many times just that alone gives up the open 3. I literally make a disgusted face every time I see the weakside defender drop down now because I know what's going to happen.

Before the game I was worried about just starting Obi. The reason why was kind of shown in this game. Obi like Clint Capella relies on the guards to really shine. If the guards don't hit him on cuts and lobs he will look average. Well sad for him we have no Trae Youngs on our team. I don't really like Quick in a lead PG role. I think that is why him and McBride works because even though they have trouble breaking down the D they can make a pass and give the other guy a better chance since he is now attacking a rotating defense. When you split them up they both suffer.

I will watch the next game because there is no way we can shoot so poorly on open shots 2 times in a row. I mean we missed a ton of layups, shot 19.5% on 3's and shot 54.5% on fts. How can a whole team shoot a Shaq like percentage on fts? Nothing would go down. If we could hit a few open shots it might actually open up the paint some. Thanks for reading to my long winded thoughts on this game.

Tough loss.

On offense I think Thibs went all in on 3 or shooting this off-season and it's been a mistake because our shooting has sucked. Some of our guys are better shooters than this, but we need to run more consistent offense.

Nalod wrote:two games under .500 after a mini streak and some of you miserable sods are incredible. EF is hurt and should not have played. The yoot **** the bed. Deuce is not Lin and time to stop pretending him and grimes are special.

Tough loss.

Neither of them could put the ball in the ocean last night

Nalod wrote:

SergioNYK wrote:Very disappointing loss. I was so excited to get see what these kids would do with the extended minutes, shots and responsibilities with Randle, Kemba and Rose all out and they **** the bed. Figures OKC would have their best shooting game of the season too. Can't blame any one player either. Everyone was bad (except RJ but he had his issues). It's like we are the go-to team for players or teams to have career games or shoot insanely from three. Can't win scoring just 80 points on 8/41 from three. Amazing we wasted $78M on a bum who scores just 3 points in a game where we needed him the most! I think I've seen enough of Fournier. I've tried to be patient but I've honestly had it. I really dislike his game and I just want him gone. He is such an unreliable and unpredictable player playing a role where we needed consistent production.

RJ finished with 26 and had some nice drives to the hoop but his outside shooting has been awful this season. Randle gets a lot of heat for his play this season but RJ deserves blame too. He has not taken that next step.

It would have been nice to enter 2022 with a .500 record but I don't think we'll get another chance again this season. Likely looking at a mid 30s wins at best and fighting for that 10th spot in the play-in.

Like Mentality and his one person quest to quell the anti Randle sentiment, the “exhausted patience” on EF is admirable that you tried but neither of us has any input to the tedious reality of how to run a team.
EF is banged up and is playing.
EF before was not hitting his cuts frustrating
Randle and the ball movement.
These are facts.
Also were a 5-1 start that looked good and teams figured us out.
Also facts was Randle of last year. He looked like a max player. He signed for about half.
He does not need to return to that level to be a valuable player.
Yes, the ball iso thing is an issue. Iso is a reality and he needs to do better with decisions. At two games under .500 an emotional exile of Randle is not smart. There is a chemistry issue. Part due to personal and ingraining coaching into instinct. Its the issue coaches of all levels face.
its easy to suggest extracting either the coach or players. Out are Bullock and Elf, in Kemba and EF and since we can’t possibly long for Elf, seemingly the whole franchise demise is on Reggie and EF?
I that too easy to quantify as the case.

I thought moving RJ SF was evolution and getting a 2 that shoots better was a good idea. That is why we got EF. Good idea, not executing yet.
RJ is 21 and Inconsistent. But he consistently improves and rebounds to higher levels. If you ever wanted to develop a player and plead the knicks show patience now is the time to see this. If you are “convinced” of his ceiling then shame on you! You see his high points? Thats it. Getting consistent is the key.

The one positive takeaway from last night is RJ should be exclusively a SF moving forward

His game is driving to the basket and creating in the paint. He’s not a great shooter and never will be. Moving forward they should start Burks at the 2 and have RJ at the 3.

Clean wrote:The Randle thing aside I just don't understand how we can be so good last year and so bad this year. We have a majority of the same players. I can understand our record being worst due to team getting better. Most of this season we have not looked like an actual NBA level team.

3 things: 1) Healthy C position. 2) Randle shooting poorly 3) RJ shooting poorly.