thelesterlee
The Knicks have consecutive 50-win seasons—a dry-mouthed mirage becoming reality after years of crawling the desert sands, dragging the remains of Derek Fisher and Steve Mills and David Fizdale and Mario Hezonja.
Yet still—as the Knicks have their most successful ball club since I was using AOL disks to load up pixelated photos of Anna Nicole Smith on the family computer—this team gets pummeled by the best of the league. The defending champions have run the Knicks out of the gym in every previous matchups this season.
With the play-in tournament starting next week, this was the Knicks final opportunity, at home—in front of Tracy Morgan and Kyle O’Quinn—to prove they could stand in the ring with Boston without waking up in the hospital connected to tubes while clips of their first-round KO goes viral.
The Knicks lost 117-119 in Overtime. Of course.
Their best performance against Boston still ended with them scoring fewer points than them.
Let’s talk about it. Reluctantly.
The Karl-Anthony Towns dilemma
Karl-Anthony Towns is a problem, for opposing defenses as well as his own team’s. Kristaps Porzingis balled out, just in case any of his old NYC hoes were watching—dropping 34 points, including 8 threes—none of which were shot near the 3-point line. My adult son was chucking from the logo. Easy.
Thankfully, the Knicks have KAT—who also dropped 34 points, beating every defender off the dribble. No one on Boston could stop him. If Porzingis or Luke Kornet guarded him, Towns blew past them. If any defender was shorter than him, KAT took them to the post and dropped easy buckets on their craniums.
KAT’s existence in this Knicks offense neutralized Porzingis’s victory lap around MSG—but the difference between Karl at center and Mitchell Robinson is the difference between Mitchell Robinson and myself—in that neither myself nor KAT is capable of stopping NBA players from scoring at the rim.
And I genuinely feel bad for Karl-Anthony. He used to be able to jump. I’m sure of it. At one point in this game, KAT tried to dunk on Kristaps, only to be thrown out the club by the rim because he simply could not jump high enough.
Mikal and OG might be Losers
I love Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby. Mikal may be the greatest shooter I’ve ever seen in a Knicks jersey. Not the most consistent, obviously, but his jumper hardly ever touches the rim. When he’s hot, you just hear gusts of wind as Mikal splashes the bottom of the nets over and over. Defensively, his large arms seem annoying as hell to dribble against. Just a real nuisance.
But here’s a cute little Bridges stat:
Mikal Bridges plus-minus against the Celtics, Cavs, and Thunder: -156
Mikal Bridges plus-minus against everybody else: +515
OG Anunoby may have the most disgusting-looking shot but he’s averaging the third most points on the team—coming off a Jalen Brunson-less run, scoring 20+ in 10 straight games coming into Tuesday night’s—where he scored just 13 and went 0-for-5 from 3. In 4 games the Knicks played against Boston, OG has scored 3 points, 10, points, 13 points and missed a matchup with an injury.
Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby love stuffing nerds in lockers but the moment someone their size approaches them, they shrink. I want to use the ‘they don’t have enough big reps’ argument but Mikal Bridges went to the NBA Finals and although OG was injured in 2019, he was still around the Raptors when they won the Title. It’s not like they’re in their heads regarding their future—they’ll already been paid and have more paydays coming.
I have no choice but to call these two losers until they prove they can compete against good teams. It’s cute dropping 35 on the Hawks and Blazers and shit but this nervous, scaredy-cat behavior against great teams is alarming. Role player behavior from two guys being paid wayyy more than role players.
Please please please, do not be losers. I have the loser corner locked down and there’s no room for y’all.
Josh Hart plays too much
Josh Hart’s rebounding has literally won games for the Knicks—especially last season when their offense missed every shot but always ended up with the offensive rebound—leading to quick, easy scores while the other team was discombobulated.
Hart’s aggressiveness and fearlessness in transition is a crucial pit stop on the road to victory. His ability to grab defensive rebounds and sprint coast-to-coast, head down, charging at the hoop regardless of who’s down there waiting to meet him at the rim, makes him unique.
Outside of that, Josh Hart plays like a guy napping behind the wheel of his self-driving car—knowing he has ultimate job security because he’s besties with the coach’s son—and the coach’s son happens to be an All-NBA player, and arguably the best Knicks since Clyde and Earl.
Frequently, Hart lazily calls switches—last second—leading to wide-open cuts to the rim while Hart gets pissed at his teammate for not instantly switching onto a player that, from their perspective, Hart should be able to stay connected to. All throughout games, Josh Hart stands in one spot, pointing at people to switch for him so he doesn’t have to move.
Towards the end of regulation, Brunson and Bridges devised a 2-man plan to get Porzingis to switch onto Brunson. But in overtime, Boston moved their big man onto Josh Hart, and that 2-man game was nonexistent. Brunson got doubled because Josh Hart is a non-factor on offense.
Sometimes, Hart gets the ball and refuses to look in the same direction as the hoop.
You cannot win a championship in the modern NBA with a guy standing on the perimeter who isn’t a perimeter scorer. Teams have a 5-on-4 advantage when Hart is standing wide open on the 3-point line , ready to pass it right back to Brunson.
I know this is a hot take but I just don’t think it’s a good idea to play obviously flawed players 70 minutes a night.
Boston may have a Jaylen Brown problem
Jaylen Brown, who came into Tuesday night’s game with a bruised knee, played like dogshit. He was a complete non-factor and had to sit out most of the second-half.
I’ve never loved Jaylen Brown’s game, it’s very “what if Giannis wasn’t as good” but if he’s limping into the postseason with a bum knee that makes him play like he’s hungover then Boston has to rely on someone like Jrue Holiday, a guy who shoots 43% from the field in his playoff career, including multiple playoff runs shooting less than 31% from 3.
Doesn’t matter. even without Jaylen Brown, the Knicks still can’t beat Boston. I’m going to make those Pina Coladas from the White Lotus finale.
Key Stats
Jayson Tatum: 32 points, 11-for-22 from the field, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
Kristaps Porzingis: 34 points, 8-for-13 from 3, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
Jaylen Brown: 6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 turnovers
Jalen Brunson: 27 points, 5-for-12 from 3, 10 assists
Karl-Anthony Towns: 34 points, 14-for-21 from the field, 14 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block
Mikal Bridges: 14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block
The Knicks finish the season 0-for-4 against the Celtics. Incredible feeling going into a postseason where the 2 teams will most likely see each other in the second round.
Boston gets to chill knowing they kept their boot on New York’s neck as they prepare to play some garbage, below .500 team that barely survived the play-in tournament.
I am going to be pissed in like, 3 weeks.
If you enjoyed what you read, head over to our Substack. We’ve got more content making fun of the ridiculous world we live in, sent directly to your email inbox daily.
Follow us over on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings