Game Thread: New York Knicks @ Oklahoma City Thunder 9:30 pm 2/15/2017 [Game#56]

rady

Administrator
Staff member

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(23-33) -- (31-25)

VenueTVTIME
Cheasapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OKMSG9:30 PM EST


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Injury Report

New York KnicksOklahoma City Thunder
Joakim Noah - Sore Left Hamstring (OUT)Enes Kanter - Fractured right ulna (OUT)
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Game Preview

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Before the season began, members of the New York Knicks were trying to sell the public on their status as a contender. With Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Kristaps Porzingis on the roster, it was easy to see how they might fostered that idea.

However, instead of being a super team, the Knicks have been a super failure.

On the court, they have been saddled with injuries, inconsistent play and lack of a defensive aptitude.

Off the court, it has been one controversy after another. It all came to a head last week when team owner James Dolan had former Knicks great Charles Oakley ejected from the stadium by a group of security officers and then banned for life, a punishment that was lifted Tuesday.

Even as the Knicks became the joke of the sports world, they went out and picked up their biggest win of the year Sunday, beating the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Madison Square Garden.

New York hopes to continue its good play when it visits Oklahoma City to face the Thunder on Wednesday at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The Knicks ended their homestand 1-4, but the victory over the Spurs is something they can grasp onto to build for the second half of the season.

"Now we got it on tape against a good opponent," Knicks guard Courtney Lee said. "We're showing that we're capable of doing it against those guys and guys are capable of being able to rotate and help each other out and play for each other. We can't look back. We have to use this as a measuring stick and get better from it."

This will be the second meeting between the teams this year. The Thunder defeated the Knicks 112-102 om Nov. 28 at Madison Square Garden.

The Wednesday contest will be the last game for both teams before the All-Star break.

Oklahoma City is riding a two-game losing streak after getting ripped apart by the Washington Wizards 120-98 on Monday night. The previous game was a blowout home loss to the Golden State Warriors and former Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant on Saturday.

The Thunder had only one starter score in double figures Monday, and that was Russell Westbrook, who finished with a subpar (by his standards) 17 points to go with four rebounds and four assists. The game got out of hand so quickly, the All-Star point guard played only 24 minutes.

In the past two games, Oklahoma City has allowed 250 points. That is not the type of defense coach Billy Donovan wants to see from his club.

"There's a mental toughness that needs to be built up," Donovan said. "If you're not making shots and the ball isn't going in the basket, it's hard to keep running back there and defending and grinding.

"Over a period of time, that's challenging, but that's something you have to build towards where you can understand the most important things like coming down the floor, move the ball, attack the paint, extra pass, generate a good shot. We have to live with the result, but then we have to get back and be able to guard."

(cbssports.com)
 

tiger0330

Legend
Thanks for the game thread Rady. CLee's feelings are what you would expect from a competitive bball player, let's play hard and get into the post-season because anything can happen but in the Knicks case getting a chance at the number one pick in the draft would be the best outcome for them instead of getting a playoff spot.

I was watching highlights of that kid Fultz and I'm not normally influenced by YouTube highlight videos but Fultz stands out, way better than D'Angelo Russell and maybe as good a PG as Wall and Westbrook. I hope the Knicks luck up and land him, PJ's problems would be over with him and KP to build around for the next 10 years.
 

jimkcchief88

All Star
C.lee needs to look in the mirror because he has been a major disappointment. I cant understand why in a guard heavy league why the Knicks havent had a decent 2 guard since Allen Houston. This is another national TV game as the 2nd half of the ESPN double header for us out of market guys. Knicks are fortunate the NBA doesn't "flex" its national schedule because our super team has been a super flop. Knicks have punchers chance tonight as the Thunder have been pretty inconsistent themselves.
 

jimkcchief88

All Star
Knicks off to a hot shooting start and KP with the monster block on OKC's swashbuckling pirate. Melo has knocked down a couple 3's.. CLEE has the only miss:) OKC had to get a TO baby!!! Too bad Dicky V and Walton didn't do our game
 

Kiyaman

Legend
Smart ball by the Knicks for 2 straight quarters .. 54-44 .. 4 min to Halftime ..
Time-Out! lets get ready to run for 3 min b4 the half
 

tiger0330

Legend
Not watching the game but I see OKC scored 60 at the half. Knicks still have defensive problems. I see Melo got picked for the ASG by Silver, congrats to him.
 

Kiyaman

Legend
ESPN writer .... The Knicks led by 17 in the second quarter, but OKC roared back to take a 62-60 lead into halftime. It was mostly Russell Westbrook who did the roaring, with 19 points, 4 rebounds and 10 assists.

Melo has 20 pt on nice shooting .... poor-poor defensive effort the final 4 minute from Rose/Lee/Melo/KP/Willie
 

rady

Administrator
Staff member
Just tuned in, Knicks seem to have difficulties getting to the hoop in the fourth but they cut it to 7 after trailing by 12


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rady

Administrator
Staff member
Three consecutive threes by OCK who are now leading 111-96 with 4 minutes to go


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tiger0330

Legend
I said after that Spurs game not to be fooled by that score and the Knicks D, they just ran into the Spurs on an off night.

Want proof it was just one game. OKC is 29th in 3pt %. What did they shoot tonight 52%.

Tank is still on.
 

and1

Rotation player
LMAO at no point did i even suspect that the knicks MIGHT win this game, even when they had a... what? 17 point lead and actually playing some decent defense? nah.
then again, i did think the same thing during the spurs game too. but i guess you can't lose them all.
that's what it's come down to. i'm watching knicks more as a comedy act than anything else. comedy entertainment.
i did like all the shot blocks though. they collected a bunch of those. i lost count after like 8.
other than the aforementioned shot blocking, KP was pretty dreadful. folks, this is not the guy you want to build around. he's one of the guys you get to build around someone else. who that person is going to be, we shall see. i've seen people compare him to AD. if i remember correctly, and feel free to correct me if i'm wrong - sometimes my memory is a little selective :smokin: - AD was never really hesitant to attack the basket and go in strong. KP does not do that. and i don't think that's going to change much. i still like the kid, don't get me wrong. but i don't think he's our centerpiece. what they need to do with him is get him to roll to the basket more often off the ball, and i mean ALOT more often. THAT works. but i'm getting the feeling they're not going to do much of that. maybe because i'm a jaded knicks fan.
but listen, as bad as things are right now, just remember: we are not the brooklyn nets hahahaaaa. we actually own our first round pick, and maybe just maybe we'll land in the top 4 again.
 

mafra

Legend
This game is simple to dissect: NYK played 1 of their best quarters of the year, and jumped out to something like a 39-24 lead in the first quarter. Making shots (I think they were 16-24 at 1 point), Melo was perfect..... the team played solid defense (and got benefit of the whistle)....

After that, they scored 38 points next 2 quarters.... went from 6 left to go before half to the start of the 4th quarter scoring about 24 points....

KP was great early then disappeared the entire second half....

The biggest factor was Oladipo simply dominating Lee. I felt Embarrassed for Courtney.... Lee couldn't score or get an assist and Oladipo scored at will...

The next biggest favor was this:

Carmelo Anthony and Dereck Rose attempted 41 shots and got no calls.... they couldn't draw a whistle if 6 sumo wrestlers tackled them.... if a samauri warrior hacked off an arm when they drove to the hoop.... OKC waa allowed to play Aussie rules and that certainly cooled down NYK quickly.

Again, think about this.... 41 attempted shots.... and they were rewarded 5 combined free throws between Rose and melo....

Melo had 2 FTs (he shot a technical FT b/c OKC had 6 men on the court and he shot another FT bc he was fouled 1 time when he made a 3).... that was it for Melo....

Rose was awarded 3 free throws.... but 2 of them came when there were 11 seconds left in the game, with NYK down by about 15. I'm not even sure when the 3rd FT came? An and-1 perhaps?

Think about that!

Our 2 stars take 40 shots during the course of the game and drew 1 or 2 whistles!!!! Crazy.

Grant took 8 free throws on 3 shots! Westbrook had almost 10 FTs
in the first quarter.... and, of course,
OKC Kept getting FTs when game was hanging in the balance midway through the 4th.

And it wasn't as if all Melo and Rose did was shoot 3s.... Rose was penetrating all game... he never got a call. He attempted how many shots at the rim? Whomodten qaa he driving in the paint?

after Melo lit up OKC in the first, Robeson was basically standing on melo's shows all night... they never called a foul on him.... Actually, instead, they called melo for an offensive foul. Robeson ended up with just 3 fouls.

That was a pathetic joke.

Look, Westbrook is awesome. I'll never forgive Walsh or Dantoni for running Duhon, Harrington, Hughes and those vets out there so we could win 26 game.... instead of tanking and ending up with Westbrook and Curry....

The Knicks offense went stagnant and too much iso-me-I-shoot-it ball....

But Rose and Melo both should've had about 8-10 free throws each tonight. Guarantee it's a different game if they were able to get some free points at the charity stripe.

Refs didn't cost NYK the game, but I have personally never seen 2 stars combine for 41 shots.... Playing aggressively.... and taking ball into the paint.... and not get more than 2 Combined whistles in 48 minutes. Never in 40 years.

Anyway, thank you refs for helping NY's lottery odds. Watching Tatum tonight light up Virginia has me dreaming of Tatum-KP SF/PF duo....

And, we can only hope lots of bonding going on at all star game.... lots of recurring.... IT and Horford and Lebron.... all get some quality time to recruit Melo.
 
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tiger0330

Legend
LMAO at no point did i even suspect that the knicks MIGHT win this game, even when they had a... what? 17 point lead and actually playing some decent defense? nah.
then again, i did think the same thing during the spurs game too. but i guess you can't lose them all.
that's what it's come down to. i'm watching knicks more as a comedy act than anything else. comedy entertainment.
i did like all the shot blocks though. they collected a bunch of those. i lost count after like 8.
other than the aforementioned shot blocking, KP was pretty dreadful. folks, this is not the guy you want to build around. he's one of the guys you get to build around someone else. who that person is going to be, we shall see. i've seen people compare him to AD. if i remember correctly, and feel free to correct me if i'm wrong - sometimes my memory is a little selective :smokin: - AD was never really hesitant to attack the basket and go in strong. KP does not do that. and i don't think that's going to change much. i still like the kid, don't get me wrong. but i don't think he's our centerpiece. what they need to do with him is get him to roll to the basket more often off the ball, and i mean ALOT more often. THAT works. but i'm getting the feeling they're not going to do much of that. maybe because i'm a jaded knicks fan.
but listen, as bad as things are right now, just remember: we are not the brooklyn nets hahahaaaa. we actually own our first round pick, and maybe just maybe we'll land in the top 4 again.
We had this discussion before and1. He's got to get bigger and stronger for him to play in the post. AD came into the league at 220 and now weighs 253 with 10% body fat due to off-season strength training where he has developed his overall body strength esp his core strength. I'm not sure what the Knicks approach with KP is going to be but I don't think they emphasize the kind of conditioning and strength training that AD went through otherwise we would have heard about it. The Knicks also haven't emphasized it in his game, they seem to have the attitude that we'll let him develop his game on his own and not set a direction for him. When Kenny Atkinson was here as player development coach, you would see the YouTube videos of his workouts with JLin in working on his development, have you ever seen KP get any specialized treatment on YouTube from Knicks coaches, the Knicks need to bring in someone to make him a dedicated project if they want him to develop into a franchise player ASAP.
 
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