pretty much. Celtics shot poorly early and the Cavs shot well.. Celtics tightened up a bit on D, 3s started falling and it was over. Celtics are willing to let Mitchell score if he has to work, and the rest of that roster can't score enough to keep up. Especially since CLE can't really put out a real D lineup, they tried really hard to hide Garland but that meant Strus got the bullseye and he's just food.
Mitchell is up there with Wemby and Ant as one of the hardest-to-hate superstars in the league. I watched his press conference, he has such amazing maturity and perspective and great attitude... and love for his guys from the 2019 FIBA squad.
Is it wrong how much I love this Knicks team? Hart, Brunson, Hartenstein, etc? They're just a bunch of grinders who play extremely hard and play *all* of the minutes.
Given the chance to put a bullet in Max Strus or Adolf Hitler, Hitler would be alive, and Strus would have 6.
Also, Brunson can foul grift with the best of them. Big fan of hart and og though.
Mitchell and Garland were able to keep it within spitting distance, it was 10 at the half and only briefly under it throughout the 2nd. But then they did the lovegtm thing where they bore down for about 5 minutes in the 3rd on both ends, got it to 15 (with an end-of-quarter Pritchard heave for 3 helping), and looked about to run away with it. Then in the 4th, they had one bonkers sequence where in a single possession, Jrue got 2 offensive boards, Kornet and Pritchard (I think) each got another one, and we eventually got a foul, but we were just flying around with them unable to even get the ball, just demoralizing. It rapidly climbed to 20 and then 25 from there, whereupon Mitchell was removed and it was a Stay Ready Crew production for the last 5 minutes.
There will be games played at MSG if we get the Knicks. There will be plenty of hate to find.
Yes! The Knicks have been good for half a second and their (Yankees) fans are already annoying as shit (exempting the resident Knicks fans here, who are almost unfathomably likable). I really like Josh Hart, but Brunson is getting seriously overrated at this point which makes him much easier to dislike. When they were in dregs mode for the last decade I thought to myself, "the league is more fun when the Knicks are good" - but now I remember why I dislike all teams from New York.
Honestly this would be amazing.
I think this will coincide with my week up north. Oh boy!!
If the Cavs play soft and go out without as much as a whimper in 4 that would be wonderful. My only concern is that the next time we are in a tight 4Q game we’ll have gone over a month without having to execute down the stretch. That may not end very well.
His shot selection has also been shit. His percentage of shots from midrange is way up from the regular season. He's settling. Why?
Good question that I wish we knew the answer to. It hasn’t mattered so far but they’ll need normal Tatum at some point.
Just think of the spike in Manhattan suicides if Boston takes both series.
Well, despite how we all pretty much get along....there is a better than non-zero chance for a Garden vs Garden matchup where we are going to be alternating nights between Rangers vs Bruins and Celtics vs Knicks. We all know the Knicks have no chance in that series but it's very possibly a once in a lifetime experience that I would absolutely LOVE to experience, win or lose. Every single night, 1-2 games at each garden.
You could've said the same thing for Ben Simmons.
They've (almost) completely gotten rid of the thing where they don't focus and execute until their back is against the wall.
We go through this with him every year this time of year and it's exhausting. Chill the F out everyone. Ask the Bucks in 2022 when he dropped 46 on the road down 3-2 or the 76ers when he dropped 51 in game 7 or in game 6 on the road down 3-2 and took over the stretch. Seriously, SoSH was freaking out about him in those two playoff runs, too.
There is a 0.0% chance Donovan Mitchell would not start for this team (or any team in the NBA).
Wouldn't the argument be that people are worried about Tatum's shot selection and overall scoring efficiency precisely because the rest of the team is playing so well and everything else is running smoothly? Yeah, if the parts around him are working and he's having an off night it's great that he's comfortable deferring and not forcing the issue, I just would love to see him get in a groove and score without having to force the issue. I'm not all that confident he'll just be able to pull it out of his hat whenever needed.
Counterpoint. We lost last year, and Tatum's performance was erratic. High highs and low lows. The twisted ankle in game 7 of the Miami series was not his fault, obviously, but his inconsistent performance is part of why the team fell into a 3-2 hole vs Philly and then a 3-0 hole vs. Miami.
You are right that at some point he’ll need to alpha dog it. All title teams usually need their best player to do this at some point. Good news is that he has time to work it out. Assuming they advance, that’s when he needs to be “the guy”. But the good part of this team is that they have others to shoulder the load.
That’s what I see as well—-he’s consciously looking to move the ball more than in regular season. And defenses are focused on him -there’s good coverage of Miami shading two additional defenders towards him.
Coming here to say the same thing. Strus has an incredibly punchable face, but he’s not good enough to care about. There’s got to be someone to hate. Help a brother out.
I think two things are true:
Yeah very much agreed, in case that wasn’t clear. From a high level I just feel like we’ve had a few years of “Tatum needs to make better decisions,” and now he clearly is doing that. I’m quite happy with what I see from him overall so far, drain a few threes and those points will come.
I don't think they'll do anything different. They just won by 25. He just needs to make his shots when he has the chance. And if the defense adjusts, take advantage. This team is a wagon. They won't force adjustments on themselves.
The need comes later, not now. They should be able to beat the Cavs with Tatum taking every shot with his left hand. Next round, the buckets come much tougher (assuming Knicks advance) and that’s when we’ll need his shot making.
Yeah, if White keeps playing like this and KP comes back healthy, they could 100% win a title with Tatum shooting 37% and doing everything else well.
If it’s the Knicks, they’re going to put OG on Tatum, so it will again be the others who need to step up. With Mitchell/Randle out, KP should feast.
Great post. Team is smoking hot, offense is working. Tatum's gravity is part of that. Miami was basically covering Tatum like a 6yo soccer team covers the ball. We coasted.
Why is it always white guys that have punchable faces? Too scared to even imagine punching a black guy? If you were face to face with Strus I don't think you'd be thinking about punching that 6'5 guy.
I almost spit out some coffee at the soccer line. The tweet below is a snarkier way of saying what a lot of us have been, and it also gave me a chuckle so...
