Knicks are third in the East, 3 games ahead of the next team and can go on a ten game losing streak and still be in playoffs.
Knicks have the 5th best record in the league.
Fair enough to expect to be behind Boston and OKC. Cleveland weren’t expected to be as good as they are, so no one begrudges a team being below them.
Some would have had the 76ers or the Bucks ahead of the Knicks.
I think you’re around where I was expecting the Knicks to be. A touch below the best in the league and in the mix against the 76ers and Bucks depending on injuries and form.
Knicks should get out of the first round if they hold home court advantage (especially if they hold onto the third seed). Eastern Conference semi finals is where it gets tricky.
Over reliance on the starting 5, who are now cooked. Normally roll off a rotation of about 8 players, with those coming off the bench only getting minimal minutes anyway. They need a new coach
Lucky for the Knicks, the Celtics are looking cooked themselves. Another lacklustre performance at home and poor 3 point shooting is becoming a huge issue. Feels like they need to do a big trade to shake things up a bit.
Meh. Bound to happen in an 82 game schedule.
If you get to the All Star break in 3rd or 4th with a full roster, that’s a good result. It’s the March and April run where you don’t want to see these kind of losses. Eastern Conference Semi Finals should be the minimum requirement.
OKC hit 14 threes. Knicks hit 4. There’s the margin.
Pretty much the same deal with the Celtics Kings game.
The way the majority of teams play, it comes down to who wins the 3 point shooting contest.
Some further postponements.
Lakers v Spurs and Clippers v Hornets postponed because of the wildfires.
Rockets v Hawks postponed because of snow.
I can’t recall many postponed games in January. When Kobe died was the only one I remember.
Before then, the ones I took notice of were in November and December due to heavy rain (New York floods) and also some snowed in games back in the 90s.
Sources say even Lowry, who remains as close away from the court as anyone to Butler, gradually grew fatigued by his teammate’s headstrong tendencies on the floor. Currently in his second season with his hometown Philadelphia 76ers, Lowry declined to comment last week when an interview was requested.
Now it’s Pat Riley’s front office that has shown it will no longer tolerate Butler’s freestyling, announcing to the world on Jan. 3 that the six-time NBA All-Star has been suspended for “conduct detrimental to the team.” Among Butler’s transgressions, according to league sources, have been multiple instances of Butler skipping out on morning shootarounds altogether and insisting on private flights separate from Miami’s team charter. Former Heat star Tim Hardaway Sr. told Sirius XM NBA Radio over the weekend that Riley sent a 10-page letter to the players’ association detailing Butler’s missteps.
“You don’t disrespect authority and that’s what Jimmy Butler has been doing,” Hardway said. “It’s about accountability. If you can’t take rejection, because everyone’s been saying ‘yes, yes, yes’ to you, now the world’s coming to an end.” Maybe the strongest argument Butler could muster as a counter: Look to his left and right and his closest teammates from that Cinderella team in 2023 are all gone. At a time when the 33-5 Cavaliers serve as quite the poster team for the benefits of roster continuity, Butler’s formerly Finals-worthy supporting cast has witnessed a flurry of departures reminiscent of the Mile High exits of Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope from the Nuggets. Max Strus, Gabe Vincent and Caleb Martin — three starters from Miami’s Game 1 Finals lineup against Denver — all left the Heat over the past two summers.
Butler is said to have viewed Strus as a brother — someone who could match the All-Star’s sarcastic (some call it abrasive) sense of humor. They hatched a celebrated handshake routine, featured often in Instagram posts and punctuated by the players flipping each other off with shared tongue-in-cheek zeal. Several people who knew that edition of the Heat well cited Strus as an instrumental figure in keeping Butler steady within the greater team dynamic.
The Heat, though, openly struggled with the prospect of paying both Strus and Duncan Robinson, who has one season left after this one on a five-year, $90 million contract he has struggled to live up to. The sharpshooting Strus left Miami for Cleveland soon after 2023 free agency opened, scoring a four-year, $62 million deal with the Cavaliers via sign-and-trade after usurping Robinson in Erik Spoelstra’s rotation.
That same summer, sources said, Miami set itself a $9 million annual limit in talks with Vincent. The Lakers delivered a three-year deal with an average annual value of $11 million to lure Vincent into LeBron James’ supporting cast soon after those same Nuggets had just swept L.A. in the Western Conference finals.
Yeah, I’ve been listening to some NBA podcasts and they were saying that the stuff Butler was getting away with was more than the luxuries afforded to Wade and LeBron back in the day. I can’t see how he can reintegrate back into that locker room without there being further problems. I think the Heat organisation may simply give him enough rope to hang himself. Let him back in post suspension (if he isn’t traded before the deadline), he acts up again and they suspend/fine him again, this time for a longer period, maybe even the remainder of the season. This relationship is done.
Okogie? Interesting. There was speculation that Suns were wanting to move Nurkic as part of a deal for Richards.
I’m a little reluctant to lose him, tbh , given Williams has been so injury prone. But I guess Diabate deserves more minutes as a Centre fill in , given how hard he worked when Richards and Williams were both out.
I’ve really not seen Okogie play, no idea what he’d bring for Charlotte. I wonder if he’s even viewed as a likely player, or just a means of getting the financial aspect balanced.
Charlotte are in full on Draft asset accumulation mode atm and perhaps the three picks were the main target. Would have a swag of first and 2nd round picks now. The obvious next step is what they intend to do with them , when , and for who. Peterson seems to have a plan, but I’m not sure if the injury riddled start we’ve had would change that at all.
