Game #35 Raps at Boston Thursday March 4th 7pm on TSN

[golden]

Basically Knicks do the same thing as Raptors. They give up a lot of threes but they try to contest as much as they can. They focus on guarding the paint. Difference is Raptors guards are short and Raptors bigs suck major ass compared Noel and Robinson. Knicks can funnel opposing guards towards them and they will contest at the rim. Raptors have Baynes and Boucher. Boucher gets his blocks mostly from help side so he's not really that paint defender you can funnel opposing guards towards.

A lot of teams are using that strategy, most notably the Bucks funneling players into DPOY Giannis and All-Defense Brook Lopez but their defense is only ranked 12th.

Sure Robinson is a nice big, but he's also been anchoring bottom-ranked defenses for the last 2 years. And Nerlens is on his 4th team in 4 years, so it's not like these 2 guys suddenly became Bill Russells and the supporting cast are now all Pippens. Has to be Thibs, right?

[MixxAOR]

A lot of teams are using that strategy, most notably the Bucks funneling players into DPOY Giannis and All-Defense Brook Lopez but their defense is only ranked 12th.

Sure Robinson is a nice big, but he's also been anchoring bottom-ranked defenses for the last 2 years. And Nerlens is on his 4th team in 4 years, so it's not like these 2 guys suddenly became Bill Russells and the supporting cast are now all Pippens. Has to be Thibs, right?

Robinson was young and inexperienced he improved. Their guards contest the threes more and better. Their guards also not small. Nothing magical that Thibs is doing. Same guy who coached Wolves

[golden]

Robinson was young and inexperienced he improved. Their guards contest the threes more and better. Their guards also not small. Nothing magical that Thibs is doing. Same guy who coached Wolves

Wolves was doomed from the start because the coach-GM-POBO model clearly doesn't work in the NBA (SVG, Rivers, Thibs, Bud, etc...). For one, those jobs are way too much workload for one guy. Secondly, players don't can't trust a coach when the same guy has the most input into your next contract and when/where you get traded. Thirdly, he had Wiggins and Towns on that team.

[MixxAOR]

Wolves was doomed from the start because the coach-GM-POBO model clearly doesn't work in the NBA (SVG, Rivers, Thibs, Bud, etc...). For one, those jobs are way too much workload for one guy. Secondly, players don't can't trust a coach when the same guy has the most input into your next contract and when/where you get traded. Thirdly, he had Wiggins and Towns on that team.

And now he has guys who are committed and capable to play defense. Again Thibs is good defensive coach but he's not doing anything special

[golden]

And now he has guys who are committed and capable to play defense. Again Thibs is good defensive coach but he's not doing anything special

Thibs is doing something very special.... he's getting guys to sacrifice their numbers and buy in to team defense. That's one of the hardest things for coaches to do in the NBA. Players don't get paid for playing defense... this is their livelihood at stake.

[MixxAOR]

Thibs is doing something very special.... he's getting guys to sacrifice their numbers and buy in to team defense. That's one of the hardest things for coaches to do in the NBA. Players don't get paid for playing defense... this is their livelihood at stake.

They can play in G-league if they don't wanna play defense. Nobody is paying Noel for offense

[KeonClark]

They can play in G-league if they don't wanna play defense. Nobody is paying Noel for offense

If that Knicks roster was being coached by Dwane Casey or Scott Brooks they'd be in last place. They are awful on paper. If somebody told you before the season Would you rather: Beal & Westbrook, Trae Young & Collins, Jerami Grant & Blake Griffin, Sabonis & Turner or friggin Randle and RJ Barrett...they would easily rank last on the list

Knicks are legitimately the 7th best team in the east, perfectly mediocre. The unfortunate thing (for them) is they need another high draft pick to finish the rebuild but Thibs is too good to get them that pick

[MixxAOR]

If that Knicks roster was being coached by Dwane Casey or Scott Brooks they'd be in last place. They are awful on paper. If somebody told you before the season Would you rather: Beal & Westbrook, Trae Young & Collins, Jerami Grant & Blake Griffin, Sabonis & Turner or friggin Randle and RJ Barrett...they would easily rank last on the list

Knicks are legitimately the 7th best team in the east, perfectly mediocre. The unfortunate thing (for them) is they need another high draft pick to finish the rebuild but Thibs is too good to get them that pick

I mean damn yeah if you bring out worse coaches results would be worse.

[golden]

If that Knicks roster was being coached by Dwane Casey or Scott Brooks they'd be in last place. They are awful on paper. If somebody told you before the season Would you rather: Beal & Westbrook, Trae Young & Collins, Jerami Grant & Blake Griffin, Sabonis & Turner or friggin Randle and RJ Barrett...they would easily rank last on the list

Knicks are legitimately the 7th best team in the east, perfectly mediocre. The unfortunate thing (for them) is they need another high draft pick to finish the rebuild but Thibs is too good to get them that pick

Fortunate thing for the Knicks is that as long as they are not a laughingstock, they become a legitimate free agent destination again, which is better than tanking for picks. If the Knicks weren't a joke 2 years ago, Kyrie & KD probably end up there instead of Brooklyn. You could easily see Beal or Lavine winding up there in the next few years.

[DanH]

This game was pretty good. Thought it would be brutal to watch. Great fight by the Raps.

[DogeLover1234]

I mean damn yeah if you bring out worse coaches results would be worse.

Not to totally diminish the Knicks revival, but the roster looks a lot worse in part because of the revolving door of bad coaches and mishandling from management. Seems like every year they manage to squander a new promising prospect.

[G__Deane]

OT
Former NFl/CFL player and TV sports personality Chris Schultz dead of heart attack at 61