Big Blue Huddle

I don't know how many here are old enough to remember the Knicks of the 90s but there are some interesting parallels between the teams.  When the Garden is rocking, there is no place like it and when the Knicks are relevant, NY is electric again.  It's been so many years wasted with pretty much no reason to watch this team that it feels wonderful to have a reason to check in on them.  My only concern now is that I don't see how they can keep up this effort until the playoffs and through the playoffs.  I'd much rather they hit this stride in April.  But, as a long suffering fan, winning like this is magical. 

Quote from: nb587 on February 02, 2024, 09:49:54 AMI don't know how many here are old enough to remember the Knicks of the 90s but there are some interesting parallels between the teams.  When the Garden is rocking, there is no place like it and when the Knicks are relevant, NY is electric again.  It's been so many years wasted with pretty much no reason to watch this team that it feels wonderful to have a reason to check in on them.  My only concern now is that I don't see how they can keep up this effort until the playoffs and through the playoffs.  I'd much rather they hit this stride in April.  But, as a long suffering fan, winning like this is magical. 

You are spot on . Not only do I remember the Knicks of the 90ds I was going to Knick games in the 50s .

A couple things stick out to me about this team

1) winning changes an athlete's mentality and approach to the game, and it is "catching" across the whole team and they BELIEVE they can win every game
2) excitement is also "catching" and every player is excited now. You can't buy excitement, that comes from within

And that excitement carries over to the fans...man, did you hear that crowd at the Garden last night??? Friggin crazy. The last time I saw a MSG audience get that crazy was the 6 overtime game with Syracuse beating UConn in the Big East Tournament. I think last night was even far above that. New Yorkers are psyched...almost insanely so. Wicked good fun

     

I LOVE THIS TEAM!!

They remind me of the late 60 early 70's Knicks!

DAWGS!!!!!!!


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At the moment, Rose is looking like one of the top GMs in the league. Obviously they haven't gotten out of the second round of the playoffs under his watch, so I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but it's really incredible the moves he has made since taking over.

Look at this starting lineup from the 2019/20 season, right before he took over:

Elfrid Payton
RJ Barrett
Marcus Morris
Julius Randle
Mitch Robinson

Off the bench: Frank Nikilitina, Kevin Knox, Bobby Portis, Taj Gibson.

That wasn't that long ago.

Quote from: andrew_nyGiants on February 02, 2024, 02:08:05 PMI LOVE THIS TEAM!!

They remind me of the late 60 early 70's Knicks!

DAWGS!!!!!!!


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You love the fight.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on February 02, 2024, 04:20:38 PMAt the moment, Rose is looking like one of the top GMs in the league. Obviously they haven't gotten out of the second round of the playoffs under his watch, so I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but it's really incredible the moves he has made since taking over.

Look at this starting lineup from the 2019/20 season, right before he took over:

Elfrid Payton
RJ Barrett
Marcus Morris
Julius Randle
Mitch Robinson

Off the bench: Frank Nikilitina, Kevin Knox, Bobby Portis, Taj Gibson.

That wasn't that long ago.

Ultimately turned Morris (expiring deal that year, I believe) and RJ into OG, also dumping RJs contract along the way. Pretty impressive upgrade. Most impressive to me though is that this is truly a team--they have had a vision, acquired players to fit that despite some disdain (e.g. Brunson and Divincenzo), and seen it through.

Knicks in prime time!! Is this real?   

Hope the Garden factor doesn't  elevates Le Bron like so many other stars past.

Quote from: spiderblue43 on February 03, 2024, 08:27:52 PMKnicks in prime time!! Is this real?   

Hope the Garden factor doesn't  elevates Le Bron like so many other stars past.

LeBron loves playing there. Most stars do (as you noted).

Thud. Lakers really took advantage of the paint all night long and wore the Knicks down...simply made someone other than Brunson beat them. Cant be surprised. Get healthier guys!

Great run, obviously it wasn't going to go on forever. Lakers deserved to win tonight, and the bottom line is our streak was not going to be sustainable with guys like Precious Achiuwa and Josh Hart having to be the ones to take the big shots in the fourth quarter.

It had to end at some point. No team can be missing three starters, and their first man off the bench (Grimes) and win every game. They put up a good fight, but towards the waning minutes, the defense let up after too many fouls mounted and the Lakers took advantage. It was a good run. No NBA team can win every single game...not statistically possible

Quote from: Jolly Blue Giant on February 04, 2024, 07:19:25 AMIt had to end at some point. No team can be missing three starters, and their first man off the bench (Grimes) and win every game. They put up a good fight, but towards the waning minutes, the defense let up after too many fouls mounted and the Lakers took advantage. It was a good run. No NBA team can win every single game...not statistically possible

Agreed 100%. The Lakers played a great defensive game, and we were simply asking too much from bench/role players. I think the group we have now will be pretty formidable whenever we have Randle/Robinson/OG all on the floor together. The group right now is completely different.

The loss stung a little as we're back in the four seed with the Cavs winning last night, but it is what it is.

The good news is the next three games are still home games, and they don't have to play again until Tuesday against the 18-31 Grizzlies. Hopefully they'll have OG back for that, although I don't know that. Not sure what the deal is with Grimes.

Randle is going to be out for several more weeks, but we need to thank our lucky stars with him. That injury easily could have been season-ending.

Yeah, the loss did sting; however, it was absolutely going to happen sooner or later...like baseball, you never win them all

The Lakers were smart in that they did something no other team has done...they smothered Bronson with a perpetual double team and harassed him all game. They were not going to let him beat them. Yet he still put up 36 pts - incredible. Normally, they double JR and try to take him out of the game. Once Brunson and Divy got 4 fouls, the backcourt was in trouble, even though Deuce did his best to make up the difference. But I think the biggest difference was that Anthony Davis dominated the front court, not only in rebounding, but blocking shots and making assists. He was a monster last night. And Lebron was Lebron - clutch shooting

Quote from: Jolly Blue Giant on February 04, 2024, 08:58:32 AMYeah, the loss did sting; however, it was absolutely going to happen sooner or later...like baseball, you never win them all

The Lakers were smart in that they did something no other team has done...they smothered Bronson with a perpetual double team and harassed him all game. They were not going to let him beat them. Yet he still put up 36 pts - incredible. Normally, they double JR and try to take him out of the game. Once Brunson and Divy got 4 fouls, the backcourt was in trouble, even though Deuce did his best to make up the difference. But I think the biggest difference was that Anthony Davis dominated the front court, not only in rebounding, but blocking shots and making assists. He was a monster last night. And Lebron was Lebron - clutch shooting

Yup. Their three point guy also hit some huge ones late in the game. They did bottle Brunson up in the fourth quarter some, although he still had a very good game overall. 36 points on about 50% shooting and 10 assists. For me the killer was definitely Davis in the paint (as you said) and also just that we had bench players playing focal point roles with the game on the line in the fourth quarter.

The Lakers really showed up for this game. They came with an agenda, and they executed. We didn't have the horses last night. Had we had even just two of the three starters we're missing I think the outcome probably would have been different.

Brunson only had one foul last night btw.