I like playing the Knicks, because they take the entire game as seriously as possible, it feels a little more playoff-y when we play them. We can do whatever we want to a team like the Pacers, but the Knicks actually tell us something about where we can find and exploit advantages, whether we can knock down shots with a hand in our face if we need to, whether our guys' heads are on a swivel and their awareness is where it needs to be, or whether (as can happen) it's up their respective asses.
I thought all 4 of our stars had a good game, White couldn't get his threes going (until that one late), but was a menace defensively and came outta nowhere with some steals and rebounds. Horford was the one who kinda wasn't it, he got himself caught in no man's land a few times, not coming in enough to help and affect the ball handler, but while leaving his guy so open that when they find him he can't recover and it's an open look for 3.
That's my one complaint with this game, and frankly with the last couple of games: the number of times that our rotations just end up leaving someone entirely open from 3. Grimes got 3 or 4 in a row (or nearly so) against us, hitting them all, because we kept on leaving him open in the corner or right around the break. Whether intentional or just a mistake, we're giving up a lot of expected-points equity on those plays and I hope they tighten them up.
Tatum got himself a technical for complaining. He had a mildly legit complaint (getting clotheslined by Hart coming around a screen, no call), but took it too far and got a sort of cumulative, lifetime-achievement-award sort of T for his troubles.
I thought all 4 of our stars had a good game, White couldn't get his threes going (until that one late), but was a menace defensively and came outta nowhere with some steals and rebounds. Horford was the one who kinda wasn't it, he got himself caught in no man's land a few times, not coming in enough to help and affect the ball handler, but while leaving his guy so open that when they find him he can't recover and it's an open look for 3.
That's my one complaint with this game, and frankly with the last couple of games: the number of times that our rotations just end up leaving someone entirely open from 3. Grimes got 3 or 4 in a row (or nearly so) against us, hitting them all, because we kept on leaving him open in the corner or right around the break. Whether intentional or just a mistake, we're giving up a lot of expected-points equity on those plays and I hope they tighten them up.
Tatum got himself a technical for complaining. He had a mildly legit complaint (getting clotheslined by Hart coming around a screen, no call), but took it too far and got a sort of cumulative, lifetime-achievement-award sort of T for his troubles.