Game-Thread .. Knicks vs Mavs .. KP in Town

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle on an unexpected positive COVID-19 test that puts his coaching tonight against the Knicks in doubt:
Carlisle says that this morning "I had an unexpected positive test. There's a chance and a hope that it will be a false-positive." Carlisle says he has been fully vaccinated since January. He is still in the Mavs hotel in NY. If new test results come back negative he could coach

How loud will the BOOS be for KP ???

Knicks has the same starters from last game tonight .. how well will they do after last game crunch-time ???

How many points and assist will the Mavs Doncic & Brunson backcourt score tonight on our Knicks?

Thibs fisrt two players off the bench are Rose & Gibson for Payton & Noel .. 2 min reman in first quarter ..Mavs 20 - Knicks 19

Toppin playing at the TOP of his game tonight 5 points in 3 min

Where you at Toppin haters? Where you at? Toppin exploding tonight!

How come I like the 2nd unit Knicks better than the Starters .. How Come ???

Obi Toppin is putting on a show 9 pts in 4 min

Six minute into 2nd qtr. Knicks 44 - Mavs 31 .. Thanks to the 2nd unit and their 2nd star rookie Toppin !!!

UhOH .. the Knicks starters are back on the court and the Knicks are playing like BUMS .. 2 min remain in 2nd qtr. Knicks 44 - Mavs 41

RJ and Randle need to play better. They are our #1 and #2.

17-0 Dallas run to end the half? Nobody can choke up a lead like our Starters SMH
Thibs rotation/substitution and ability to read lineups and ride the hot hand is absolute trash...
Thibs is costing us this game !!!

We live and die with Randle and RJ and tonight we died.

htr10 said:

Where you at Toppin haters? Where you at? Toppin exploding tonight!

Click to expand...

I am in shock he actually had an off rebound putback. Wow. I thought all he could do was dunk on the fastbreak.

Not sure Thibbs didn?t go back to second unit for entire fourth, based on how the starters played.

Still, 2 rebounds and 0 assists. My biggest beef with him is he doesn?t do anything to help the team except score (and he doesn?t score often).

If he is so athletic, where he can dunk on a 20 foot hoop. Where?s the rebounds and blocks?

Still, he almost hit double figures... so, I guess that?s a good thing.

Well, in the midseason when teams perform a little tougher on offense/defense for the playoff run the Knicks are not one of those teams .. we are less than a .500 team in midseason.
Hello LOTTERY, here we come.

Randle is not a first option - shooting 5-20 from FG for 14 pts .. 37 min
RJ Barrett is not a 2nd option - shooting 3-11 from FG for 8 pts .. 31 min
D.Rose is not a 3rd option - shooting 1-10 from FG for 2 pts .. 25 min
And the trio above showed a non-defensive performance tonight.
Thibs favoritism with minutes to our starter lineup has cost the Knicks 3 consecutive LOSSES !!!
Randle played 37 min in a losing game, how many minute will Randle play tomorrow vs the Lottery Pistons?

The Big high-light of tonight game were rookie Obi Toppin performance.

htr10 said:

Where you at Toppin haters? Where you at? Toppin exploding tonight!

Click to expand...

You know I?m cool with the kid, surprised he was able to get busy in a WHOPPING 11min of play

I watched this game on low volume while on the Clubhouse app. This team disinterests me and more importantly the NBA in general from the aesthetics of the game, to how horribly it?s governed, to how inconsistent some of these athletes are, to how entitled, whiny, and cavalier they?ve become, and not giving us their all

Again when the team loses I?m not mad, totally numb

mafra said:

I am in shock he actually had an off rebound putback. Wow. I thought all he could do was dunk on the fastbreak.

Not sure Thibbs didn?t go back to second unit for entire fourth, based on how the starters played.

Still, 2 rebounds and 0 assists. My biggest beef with him is he doesn?t do anything to help the team except score (and he doesn?t score often).

If he is so athletic, where he can dunk on a 20 foot hoop. Where?s the rebounds and blocks?

Still, he almost hit double figures... so, I guess that?s a good thing.

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Have you seriously looked at our rotation and the role of each player on the team in how they play. I mean I can understand the Halliburton side of the frustration but Maf are you seriously being fair with this kid?

You think Thibs is giving him a genuine look into whatever his potential may be?

I?m truly shocked at how hard you ride him!

Broadway said:

You know I?m cool with the kid, surprised he was able to get busy in a WHOPPING 11min of play

I watched this game on low volume while on the Clubhouse app. This team disinterests me and more importantly the NBA in general from the aesthetics of the game, to how horribly it?s governed, to how inconsistent some of these athletes are, to how entitled, whiny, and cavalier they?ve become, and not giving us their all

Again when the team loses I?m not mad, totally numb

Click to expand...

Couldn?t agree more... I don?t have anything against OBI either, when I trash him I am really trashing Leon Rose...

Losing to MIA and MIN were painful, but season died then. Anybody who thought we had a chance tonight? Delusional. It was free money taking DAL -4.5

Sport is unwatchable. The Banana boat crew of LJ and CP3 ruined everything. These cats are so annoying with their phony ?political? nonsense.

How come Kd can?t text anti-gay slurs and nobody cares? Oh, they only care when it fits their narrative.

The game is borderline unwatchable. With resting and not trying 1/4 of the games.... players don?t even try half the time...

Broadway said:

Have you seriously looked at our rotation and the role of each player on the team in how they play. I mean I can understand the Halliburton side of the frustration but Maf are you seriously being fair with this kid?

You think Thibs is giving him a genuine look into whatever his potential may be?

I?m truly shocked at how hard you ride him!

Click to expand...

I ride the kid bc it was an awful pick and it pains me to even think about it still. He?s a bust. There?s no doubt about that.

The kid couldn?t dominate in the paint vs the meh schools Dayton plays. His game was never gonna translate to the NBA. He doesn?t rebound, defend, and isn?t a good shooter.

Toss in fact we had Randle and Knox.. made the pick unbearable.

Toss in it was a Rose client and he had tunnel vision on this kid?

If we draft TH, we have 5-8 more wins....

But, yes... the kid hasn?t been given much of a chance. But, I do surmise, that he probably looks lost in practice too.

Obi is an undersized PF, who cannot guard SF and isn?t powerful enough to defend other Pf. He has no interior game, no handle, and awful shooting... and, he doesn?t impact game at all
Off the ball.

If he is so athletic, where is the rebounding? And, if he can?t shoot, defend, or rebound, how do you play him?

Again, I hate ragging on him constantly. But he has a lot of work to do to even resemble a decent rotational player.

Now, the kid has no business playing college basketball but he worked hard and made a team... then, he worked hard and earned PT at Dayton, then he parlayed that into a nice senior season...

This gives me some hope he at least works hard enough to carve out a little role here... but the idea an NBA team is gonna start and playing Obi Toppin 30 minutes a night? That?s not happening.

What does he do well? Not much... so, he has to work very hard to develop a decent shot so he can score. Teams leave him wide open. He has to knock down those looks. Then, maybe he learns to rebound and defend.

Sure, we could employ pick and roll some and get him 3-4 easy dunks a game. But, he must first prove he can hit a jump shot.

mafra said:

I am in shock he actually had an off rebound putback. Wow. I thought all he could do was dunk on the fastbreak.

Not sure Thibbs didn’t go back to second unit for entire fourth, based on how the starters played.

Still, 2 rebounds and 0 assists. My biggest beef with him is he doesn’t do anything to help the team except score (and he doesn’t score often).

If he is so athletic, where he can dunk on a 20 foot hoop. Where’s the rebounds and blocks?

Still, he almost hit double figures... so, I guess that’s a good thing.

Click to expand...

Thibs is getting stupid and stupid as the season goes on .. Toppin was on Fire in the first half of the game and should have receive 11 minute of playing-time in the first half of the game, instead of 5 minute. Plus Toppin's movement on defense kept Doncic offence off-balance for the Knicks to take a double digit lead.
Toppin been having great chemistry lately when in lineups having Gibson, Burks, and Quickley.
Tonight, taking Gibson, Burks, and Toppin off the court in the 2nd quarter having a 13 pt Knicks lead to replace them with Noel Randle and RJ having 6 min remaining in the quarter the Mavs went on a 17-0 run to take a 3 pt lead at half-time. What does that say to the Knicks head-coach?
I know what it says to me .. Knicks starters Payton RJ Bullock Randle, and Noel are a lottery bound lineup during the midseason of the NBA.
We all seen what all the Knicks starters had against the Lottery-bound Timberwolves this week.
Tomorrow, we will watch and see how the Knicks starters perform against another Lottery-bound Pistons team.

I agree 100% that the second unit ? Obi especially?deserved to play almost the entire fourth quarter...Clearly, Randle and RJ had nothing. Julius was 1-11 and RJ 2-8 at the half or something. And, they?ve both played like butt recently.

It was time to unleash the Toppin but Thibbs did squat.