Game thread: New York Knicks vs Phoenix Suns 11/26/2021 7:00pm [Game #19]

rady

Administrator
Staff member

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(15-3) -- (10-8)

VenueTVTIME
Madison Square Garden, New York, NYMSG7:00 PM EST



Probable starters:

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Injury Report

Phoenix SunsNew York Knicks
Abdel Nader - Right knee injury (QUEST)Derrick Rose - Ankle injury (QUEST)
Frank Kaminsky - Stress reaction, right knee (OUT)Taj Gibson - Sore groin (QUEST)
Dario Saric - Torn ACL (OUT)Mitchel Robinson - Concussion (QUEST)


Game Preview

The New York Knicks hope to ride the momentum of a win over the Los Angeles Lakers to a second straight home victory versus a Western Conference title hopeful when they seek to cool down the visiting Phoenix Suns on Friday night.

The Knicks have alternated losses and wins in their last six games, and in fact have followed each of their previous five wins with a loss. Two of those came after potentially momentum-building victories over the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers.

"We can be really good," Evan Fournier noted after pouring in a team-high 26 points in a 106-100 win over the Lakers. "We just have to trust how we play, and when we have a way to play, just stay with it."

The Knicks have won two straight at home, but that came immediately after a 104-98 home loss to the Orlando Magic. That downer had followed an encouraging 92-84 home win over the Indiana Pacers.

Now here comes the hottest thing going in the NBA. The Suns have won 14 in a row, including beating the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers in the past four days to begin a four-game trip.

A showdown with the Brooklyn Nets is on tap for Saturday night across town.

Phoenix's winning streak has included its last six road matchups. Neither the 115-111 win over the Spurs nor the 120-115 triumph over the Cavaliers came easily.

Winning close games sure beats losing close games, noted Suns star Devin Booker, who didn't make the playoffs until his sixth season in Phoenix.

"I'm just trying to find ways to win," he insisted this week. "That's what it comes down to. That's the reputation I've been trying to break after my first few years in the league, of being at the bottom of the NBA. So if you want to see winning basketball, you tune into the Suns. We play together. It's a 'we score' mentality. We have a lot of talented players, and any night could be anybody's chance."

The winning streak has demonstrated that. While Booker leads the team in scoring in those 14 games with a 23.6 average, nine other guys have averaged at least 7.5 points.

In that span, JaVale McGee has shot the best (66.3 percent); Deandre Ayton has been the top rebounder (12.0); Chris Paul has led the club in both assists (10.3) and steals (2.2); and Mikal Bridges has compiled the best overall plus/minus (+154).

The Suns have enjoyed recent visits to New York, winning three straight by an average of 16.3 points. Last year's 118-110 win, in which Booker scored 33 points, was the closest of the three.

The trip to New York provides an annual spotlight on Paul, who has played his entire career in the Western Conference and thus has never played more than once at Madison Square Garden in any year.

He has recorded six double-doubles in his 11 visits, with a three-game streak having ended last year when he contributed 20 points, six assists and five rebounds to the win.

Game preview courtesy of:
--Field Level Media

(STATS / cbssports.com)
 

Kiyaman

Legend
Thanks for the Game-Thread Rady .... I had to stop reading for a second when I read the part "the Suns are on a 14 game win streak". And the Suns play us today, and Brooklyn tomorrow.
I wish it was the other way around, Brooklyn today, and us Knicks tomorrow .. No Luck !!!

Dang! A 14 game win streak .. Did the Suns give Ayton an extension?
Our coach Thibs already know the outcome, the Suns are gonna play a equal game to the Knicks in the first-Half, and catch fire in the 2nd Half.
Time for Thibs to put the rookie guard tandem Deuce & Grimes on the court vs CP3 & Booker.
The game-tape would be for their NBA growth.
 

Kiyaman

Legend
We were getting beat to bad to put up a half time score ... will we comeback? 76-61 Suns 4 min remain in 3rd qtr.
 

Kiyaman

Legend
A Twenty-One point ..........
The Suns had 28 assist, the Knicks had 13 assist from playing 48 minute of Iso-b.ball

The Suns center Ayton had 14 pts & 13 rbs .. a double-double.
MitchRob had 7 pts & 8 rbs, on 3-4 FG shooting.

It's not looking good coach Thibs .. When your starting center has been above 80% FG shooting all season, yet he average 3 to 4 shot attempts per game. And the majority of MitchRob shot attempts has come from broken plays and put-backs (like tonight game). Yet all the other Knicks starters has been taking 3 or more FG attempts before the end of the first quarter.
Head coach Thibs & play-maker Randle/Kemba has NOT showed any offensive plays of getting the ball downlow to MitchRob to score in the paint this season. Until Thibs, Randle, and Kemba could fix this on offense the Knicks starters are BUMS.

Tomorrow we play a HOT Atlanta Hawks team that's on a 7 Game winning streak.
 

RunningJumper

Super Moderator
Would you want to get Ricky Rubio, Kiya? I think he'd help our starters so much. I don't think the Knicks could get him or Ben Simmons though without giving him our key young pieces. I don't even know if we could get Rondo. The bench is great, so the biggest thing to me is the starters getting chemistry and ball movement from a PG. Imagine Mitch Rob getting a few more scores at the rim. Imagine Randle not needing to dribble that much and being put in position in his his sweet spots more often.

The biggest concern with Ben is his contract. I'm not concerned about if he improves much as long as he stays in game shape and still puts up his averages. His defense and passing are big. If he's still not hitting his free-throws, then we know our former MVP Derrick Rose, who's the best player on the team, is more than capable of closing out big games.

I've always been a fan of Rubio. His passing is elite.

Rondo's passing is also elite and shows up big in the Playoffs on both ends of the floor. Can he still do it at 35, and at both ends? He seems like the kind of player who will put the extra effort in during big games still, but it's a question of staying healthy.

Are there any other realistic options?
 
A Twenty-One point ..........
The Suns had 28 assist, the Knicks had 13 assist from playing 48 minute of Iso-b.ball

The Suns center Ayton had 14 pts & 13 rbs .. a double-double.
MitchRob had 7 pts & 8 rbs, on 3-4 FG shooting.

It's not looking good coach Thibs .. When your starting center has been above 80% FG shooting all season, yet he average 3 to 4 shot attempts per game. And the majority of MitchRob shot attempts has come from broken plays and put-backs (like tonight game). Yet all the other Knicks starters has been taking 3 or more FG attempts before the end of the first quarter.
Head coach Thibs & play-maker Randle/Kemba has NOT showed any offensive plays of getting the ball downlow to MitchRob to score in the paint this season. Until Thibs, Randle, and Kemba could fix this on offense the Knicks starters are BUMS.

Tomorrow we play a HOT Atlanta Hawks team that's on a 7 Game winning streak.
Hey Kiya, the other day you reminded me of the creativity of Thib's offense in past. So now let me remind you of the players(Rose, Deng, Noah, KAT & co.)creating their own offense.
It a disgrace that the Whole coaching staff have not let MRob develop a jumper and design plays just for him to use it. If there is a problem then send him to the G-League and help him to develop. This is more of the same that doom Eddie Curry. Nobody to teach or coach him correctly.
**For those that didn't like Curry to bad. A lot more talented than MRob.
Where is your Big Man coach?? I said that when we drafted MRob we needed Kevin Garnett or Akeem O' on the coaching staff. Of course no one on the entire organization knows this. And how about some ballet classes for foot work.
Why didn't Thibs play Knox more last night? But he will play RJ for over 30 minutes and Q for nearly 20 minutes.
Why couldn't we have invested the same amount of minutes in Frank, Knox as we did with RJ?
**Would we be in any worse state than we are now??
 

RunningJumper

Super Moderator
I honestly forgot a lot of times RJ is in the game. Don't mean to be disrespectful saying that, but you're right, other players should get an opportunity. I haven't been paying attention to his defense though and if it's worthy of him getting his minutes.
 
There are some in this forum that want be honest with you about RJ playing time.
The true is his defense should have glued him to the bench from the first day of rookie season. That not being disrespectful it just the true. If you don't know and just listen to them, they will tell you everything is Great and we are on our way to a championship.
 

Kiyaman

Legend
Wsup Running .. Rubio would be a big improvement to the Knicks, but the Knicks don't have an offensive coach to help Rubio keep the ball out of Randle's hands on every offensive-possession.
I believe if we would've signed Rondo to be a starter, before midseason Rondo would quit, and ask for a cheap buy-out like a couple of ex-Knicks did in the past when we had PG-Melo.
Having a point-forward Randle, we need a vet PG like Chris Paul or Harden or Ben Simmons who will come with several offensive-plays of their own to take full charge of leading the point to keep the ball out of Randle's hands. The Knicks biggest problem in the 2021-22 season has been Randle decision-making at the point.
Ben Simmons 3 position performance happen to be the best player for the Knicks, and a lot of other teams in the East and West.
Ben Simmons 32 min performance for 4 seasons average 16 pts on 7-10 FG attempts, 56%, 7 ast, 8 rbd, 2 steals, and 3 turn-overs. Ben Simmons NBA performance are a number # 1 pick in a lot of our past drafts. That's why forcing a GM to trade a player/coach Ben Simmons could get a lot of people fired in the 76ers organization.
 

metrocard

Legend
Simmons sucks. Apparently we're going to ignore how much of a non factor he has been in the playoffs. Dude is a veteran who can't shoot or space the floor.
 
Shooting and floor spacing as been a problem for the last 3 Years. Player needing someone to open up the floor for them. Can?t create their own shot.
Simmons would fit right in with Dr. Frankenstein creation. At least he does have talent even without a jumper, Can?t say that for one of our starter.
 
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