Thibs has favorite players and NO MATTER how (bad/off) they are, they are his favorites and they get minutes. Starting Hart is hurting our spacing (they collapse off him) and Grimes is a better defender anyway, so why?
We could use Hart's energy off the bench as our bench is mostly playing badly. I get we have to shoot better, but Miami shot 22% from 3 vs our 20% and we still lost by 19.

Thibs doubles Butler when he doesn't have to. (And the guy is even hurt.) Just start Grimes and bring Hart off the bench. Everyone see's Hart is reluctant to shoot, right? (More pressure on Randle and Brunson.)
Grimes is bigger and better on defense than Hart, just lock him on Butler.
And what about Deuce? He is a near lockdown defender (we saw it against Mitchell last series, for 5 minutes!) but can't get spot minutes when we are playing crappy?

Another thing, Thibs needs to tell Brunson to get the other guys involved to start the game. If his shot isn't falling to start (and it hasn't been in the 2 losses) everyone is off and not in a rhythm. A big part of Miami's plan is to stop Brunson but we start every game with Brunson ISO's?

For sure we are playing terrible on offense, but Thibs coaching has been borderline terrible regarding in game adjustments. e.g. He waited till the 4th when we were down 20 to go small.
It's almost like Thibs knows we have better players and more depth but he still wants to force the issue with his favorite players and favorite lineups. Like if I keep doing this our talent will come out on top.

If we don't start Grimes I think that is the series (though we have a ton of other problems.) But let's get the lineup right. If Hart is having a better game then have him close (or play both, which we did at times.)
We have a great chance against the heat. They are not doing anything that worries me. But Thibs needs to adjust. Put the players in the best chance to succed.
And of course we need to cut back on the TO's. We win game 4 and this goes 7.

martin wrote:

CanItGetAnyWorse wrote:Spo is a coach who uses all the pieces (aka players) he has to coach. His timeouts make sense. But yes, he is a great coach.

Thibs has favorite players and NO MATTER how (bad/off) they are, they are his favorites and they get minutes. Starting Hart is hurting our spacing (they collapse off him) and Grimes is a better defender anyway, so why?
We could use Hart's energy off the bench as our bench is mostly playing badly. I get we have to shoot better, but Miami shot 22% from 3 vs our 20% and we still lost by 19.

Playoff stats:

Player1: 55% eFG%, 36% 3pt%
Player2: 34% eFG%, 15% 3pt%

Start Player2?

CanPlayer2GetAnyWorse?

That worked out better than expected

This is how to mislead with statistics

You need spacing to win; and those #s don’t show impact on other players
Defense doesn’t show in these #s
You need bench scoring

Give hart 36 minutes per game, let him come off the bench though

And now with IQ injured, bring in McBride already

Use your entire roster.

Throw in anyone to see if they can bring it. Our main guys are tired and injured.

nyvector16 wrote:In the 90s every player not in the the rotation is considered 6 hard fouls on an opponent to wear them down.
Coaches would pepper these players in throughout the game to beat up the best players on the other side.
Thibs gets a lot of credit for bringing back 90s style, but seemed to have forgotten some of the basic strategies from the 90s.
Only reason not to bring in players 10-15 in a game is if your offense is absolutely c clicking.. but that is obviously not the case for the Knicks.

Use the fouls you get and make the other team pay... kinda basic, not sure why that is so hard to figure out.

Agreed. Cody Zeller is a goon to break our players- he bodied randle and looks to flame throw our guards

CanItGetAnyWorse wrote:

martin wrote:

CanItGetAnyWorse wrote:Spo is a coach who uses all the pieces (aka players) he has to coach. His timeouts make sense. But yes, he is a great coach.

Thibs has favorite players and NO MATTER how (bad/off) they are, they are his favorites and they get minutes. Starting Hart is hurting our spacing (they collapse off him) and Grimes is a better defender anyway, so why?
We could use Hart's energy off the bench as our bench is mostly playing badly. I get we have to shoot better, but Miami shot 22% from 3 vs our 20% and we still lost by 19.

Playoff stats:

Player1: 55% eFG%, 36% 3pt%
Player2: 34% eFG%, 15% 3pt%

Start Player2?

CanPlayer2GetAnyWorse?

That worked out better than expected

What Caseloads said. Just use your eyes, they don't drop off Grimes like they do Hart and Grimes is a bigger and better defender - perfect for Butler.

I have really high regards for Grimes and wouldn’t mind seeing him start again but I’m also not closing my eyes blind to what is actually going on on the court.

Hart is also a very good defender and not afraid of the moment whereas guys like Grimes Obi IQ have all struggled in pretty much every game to match the intensity and production within the playoffs.

Grimes will always be a better distance shooter from 3 than Hart - IQ too - but you can’t look past the ineffectiveness of both and shrug your shoulders as if that doesn’t at all matter when making a comparison.

In 6 playoff games Grimes is shooting incredibly poorly. 16% from 3. Sub 30% from the field. Hopefully his shoulder isn’t actually hurting him and it’s a good possibility it is and a reason he isn’t playing as much.

Grimes really is the only young player who didn’t have to earn his starting spot this season, Thibs just started him, cause he LOVES him. My guess is that they aren’t telling us the whole shoulder story.

It’s his right shoulder that got hurt, the shooting one.