Not So Random Thoughts

[irish2u2]

It seems to me the Hawks are trying to make this series into a Death Match confrontation worthy of the Knicks and Bulls in the 90's. Or the Heat. Or the Sixers. Or the Pacers. Or even the Celtics. It seems to me ludicrous they are talking trash when the Knicks owned them in the regular season and could easily be 2-2 in this series except for one exceptional play by the best player on the court. 

Before the season began the Sporting news had the Hawks as the 8th best team in the East. The Knicks were 15th. Last. Forbes also had Atlanta as 8th while picking the Knicks 13th. CBS Sports had 7 experts pick the seedings in the East and West. Atlanta was selected as either a playoff team or a play in participant by every one of these pundits. Not one vote for New York.

My point here is NOBODY expected the Knicks to make the playoffs and yet here they are the 4th team in the East. Atlanta was SUPPOSED to be a playoff team. Some even thought the Hawks would be a championship contender after trading for Clint Capela last season and spending 135 million this summer signing Danilo Gallinari and Bogdon Bogdanovic. The Knicks? They spent 15 million this past off season on one year deals for Burks, Noel and Gibson. 

I was all right with a one and done in the playoffs this year mainly because I was so shocked OUR Knicks were playing post season basketball. Now Clint Capela and his big mouth have changed everything. As Jason said in another thread this next game is HUGE. This is a character game. A gut check. This team I have grown to love and respect is facing their biggest game of the year. It's a chance to shove Capela's words down his throat. It seems fitting he will spend a lot of time facing Taj Gibson. From Brooklyn. 

But while the game is huge to me I also have to say how bitterly disappointed I am over the words of some of our own Knicks fans mostly on Facebook. I guess I never realized how many idiotic, entitled fans are supposedly supporters of the Knicks. The things said about Julius Randle, Tom Thibodeau and some other Knicks are beyond infuriating. This TEAM made it to the playoffs when in fact they should have been a lottery team. Randle, RJ, Bullock and Burks have not played well but they have played hard and because of them we are playing in June. Kudos to the Hawks for playing well though if Trae Young were a Knick it would be a different story. Our job as a team is to make the Hawks earn this next win and if they do so be it. If the Knicks win tonight then it's their job to make the Hawks earn their next win. In my mind New York isn't out of it till in fact they are out of it. The Knicks have to find their Trae Young type player who would elevate them to the Eastern Conference elite in the next few years but in the mean time they won't quit. It's not in their DNA.

Kudos to Derrick Rose. And to think I was against trading for him. 

WE FIGHT


WE GRIND


WE FAM


WE BELIEVE


WE BELONG


WE HERE

[jbnewyork162]

Jun 2, 2021 1:46:31 GMT -5 irish2u2 said:

It seems to me the Hawks are trying to make this series into a Death Match confrontation worthy of the Knicks and Bulls in the 90's. Or the Heat. Or the Sixers. Or the Pacers. Or even the Celtics. It seems to me ludicrous they are talking trash when the Knicks owned them in the regular season and could easily be 2-2 in this series except for one exceptional play by the best player on the court. 

Before the season began the Sporting news had the Hawks as the 8th best team in the East. The Knicks were 15th. Last. Forbes also had Atlanta as 8th while picking the Knicks 13th. CBS Sports had 7 experts pick the seedings in the East and West. Atlanta was selected as either a playoff team or a play in participant by every one of these pundits. Not one vote for New York.

My point here is NOBODY expected the Knicks to make the playoffs and yet here they are the 4th team in the East. Atlanta was SUPPOSED to be a playoff team. Some even thought the Hawks would be a championship contender after trading for Clint Capela last season and spending 135 million this summer signing Danilo Gallinari and Bogdon Bogdanovic. The Knicks? They spent 15 million this past off season on one year deals for Burks, Noel and Gibson. 

I was all right with a one and done in the playoffs this year mainly because I was so shocked OUR Knicks were playing post season basketball. Now Clint Capela and his big mouth have changed everything. As Jason said in another thread this next game is HUGE. This is a character game. A gut check. This team I have grown to love and respect is facing their biggest game of the year. It's a chance to shove Capela's words down his throat. It seems fitting he will spend a lot of time facing Taj Gibson. From Brooklyn. 

But while the game is huge to me I also have to say how bitterly disappointed I am over the words of some of our own Knicks fans mostly on Facebook. I guess I never realized how many idiotic, entitled fans are supposedly supporters of the Knicks. The things said about Julius Randle, Tom Thibodeau and some other Knicks are beyond infuriating. This TEAM made it to the playoffs when in fact they should have been a lottery team. Randle, RJ, Bullock and Burks have not played well but they have played hard and because of them we are playing in June. Kudos to the Hawks for playing well though if Trae Young were a Knick it would be a different story. Our job as a team is to make the Hawks earn this next win and if they do so be it. If the Knicks win tonight then it's their job to make the Hawks earn their next win. In my mind New York isn't out of it till in fact they are out of it. The Knicks have to find their Trae Young type player who would elevate them to the Eastern Conference elite in the next few years but in the mean time they won't quit. It's not in their DNA.

Kudos to Derrick Rose. And to think I was against trading for him. 

WE FIGHT


WE GRIND


WE FAM


WE BELIEVE


WE BELONG


WE HERE

Very well said. Let's go!!

[garyd]

We are in an era where injuries are the 5th horseman. Take away AD and LBJ fromthe Lakers, and they aren't last years champ by 2 big buckets.

[daglazer]

Jun 2, 2021 14:05:39 GMT -5 garyd said:

We are in an era where injuries are the 5th horseman. Take away AD and LBJ fromthe Lakers, and they aren't last years champ by 2 big buckets.

The loss of Mitch was huge for this series. Without Mitch's ability to defend rebound and score inside, Capela was able to help on Randle and on all drives. With Mitch available for alley oops, then Capela cannot help as hard because it would have opened the Hawks defense to dunks. Noel was hurt and not capable and Taj while strong lacks the hops.

That being said, talent usually wins in the playoffs because everyone plays hard. The Hawks had more and better shooters to stretch our defense whereas the Hawks played a version of the pack line defense and dared us to beat them from the outside.

[garyd]

2021`season thoughts- NY Knicks I am sad for the players. JR put such a tremendous effort in his game but only sporadically had big support and that was mostly teenager-20ish Barrett and sharp shooter (and rookie) Quickley. Rose played great in a throwback to his career but is more of a half game-man right now?.

Injuries hit this team as hard as anyone. Thin to begin as a group, they lost a top defender in Mitch Robinson ( is this persistent?). They played great, but physicallity he may not be a 30 minute player. I think that those teams evaluating future acquired starts need to thoroughly checkout the likihood of operandi like AD. In the playioffs the game often becomes a shooting gallery and so each team needs a PG that can score heavily and produce that game bending shot. Rose is great… most other Knicks PGs just aren't in that caliber. A needed pickup.

Coach Thibs took a big step. Next year will improve with some savvy pickups. I am happy with the progress, unhappy with the result (Uh….I'm just a fan). Here's to 2021-2022.

[Deleted]

Give team an A-. Came from nowhere. Young players got helpful playoff experience. Got to see how truly limited the veteran role players actually were in a playoff setting. Cultural foundation set. Carry on front kffice.

[ReneNYG1]

We miss Mitch bigtime and it shows in playoffs more than regular sason.

[garyd]

Mitch's absence was big in getting easy baskets for the Knicks on O. And taking away an inside option for Trae on the Atlanta offense.

Dropping through to Taj who did a yeoman job but not a playoff performance was the other side of the issue.

[ReneNYG1]

I like to think positive about the current events.Sure we lost but what have we learned,we got huge playoff experience.We finally findout how valuable Mitch is and how important he is to our team,this is my best idea we got out of this Thibs is finally publicly saying the value of Mitch which he hasn't done before.Off course they might of thought this all along and the praise might of been lacking to agree to extension with Mitch and keep his price down since his agent is a dick.I love Mitch and his impact so keeping him and not hearing his names in trades makes me warm and fuzzy inside.