Inside Crew is locked in because they are actually watching these games as they happen.

Yeah I also think Brunson is definitely playing a little hurt. He hasn’t looked great all series but the Knicks have shown they can win by distributing the ball and playing through KAT

the spurs had a way better gameplan in this game. they took victor off kat more a, let a wing guard him a bit, and then didn’t double/overhelp brunson on the pnr (especially out by halfcourt) as much. they did the same thing against SGA when the series flipped. they have nasty wing defenders, who stay down, and they were overreacting to brunson and letting everyone else get good looks. they played more straight up, it got them out of the scramble, and turns out it’s still really hard for brunson to score on the spurs perimeter defenders. when they switched and did this to sga, they went 3-1 against okc.

I was saying that all game. Especially when Wemby was off the floor.

What has been our fatal flaw the last few postseasons is that we only have one real ball handler and down the stretch against good defenses that can just smother him, things get really dicey

It’s finally starting to show up now and this series now lives and dies on what, if anything we can do to mitigate that

Even if that means magnet ball from 3

Bridges looks terrified out there handling the ball, lol. It’s Either Brunson or KAT initiating, and they’re doing decently denying the ball from KAT.

They have changed their coverage of him they have a smaller guy on him now so he can’t drive to the rim as much. And he’s not punishing them on the boards for doing that.

Not sure why the Knicks reverted back to running everything through Brunson either. Is it politics? At this late in the season? Running the offense through KAT has not been beaten yet so why change it?

Was it the gameplan for him to not pass in the first quarter

But at the same time, they didn’t fully get it. Chuck isn’t acknowledging the Spurs defensive adjustments to make it difficult to get KAT the ball. For example, Keldon minutes on KAT were really good. He was super physical. Make it difficult for your guy to get where he wants and make the refs call a foul. Then, you have Wemby in help. Having a smaller but more physical wing push KAT out while Wemby shadows effectively neutralized KAT. The Knicks were qlso not able to get KAT the ball much in part because they were worried about Wemby doubling the catch. They also doubled KAT well almost anytime the pass did make it to him.

Yea he’s spot on. Idk if it all falls on jb though, kat was checked out and bridges was a ghost. Maybe he felt pressure to force it. Spurs better gameplan today on d too

The problem is it feels like Brunson just uses KAT for a dribble handoff then never looks his way again. It’s one thing to iso, it’s another to never look a guy’s way.

3 minutes left? That was the whole game.

The amount of times they got down to 3 seconds on the shot clock was ridiculous.

The Knicks scored on every possession they had in the final 3 minutes except 2 (and one of those was the last possession that didn’t matter)

9 points on 5 possessions if you don’t count that last one.

Spurs just hit some tough shots.

The Knicks offense was terrible and sloppy all game. The only time it looked okay was in the 2nd when Brunson was on the bench.

It was the whole game. The best their whole offense looked was their run to end the first half when the ball was popping.

This happens to all the teams. Even the Spurs jacked up a few threes instead of milking the clock and taking a quality shot. They’re ahead, they don’t need a three. I can’t wrap my head around this modern thinking about jacking threes especially in close games. At least the Knicks hit two to make the game interesting. But it could have been closer if they took better shots, or the Spurs could have put this away easily if they also took better shots.

Because KAT was in foul trouble

This pretty much sums it up. It frankly should not have been as close as it was which gives me some hope if the Knicks can get offense clicking again.

Imo, because Brunson wants FMVP and knows the favourite coming in was KAT by a mile.

Because this is how the Knicks played the last two years. Under pressure you fall back into known habits.

This wasn’t planned; it just happened.
It’s the reason why Brunson has so many big 4th quarter games: He has the ball near every single possession.

Hell at halftime he said it’s a wrap lol

It’s crazy because it could easily be 2-1, Spurs. I won’t say 3-0 because I thought Game 1 was tight but Brunson closed the deal.

He said that at half time

In the first two games they won I thought KAT was the mvp

His dad trying to make sure he gets it

Would be the least deserving FMVP if so.

Dude is literally shooting his team out of the game, hogging the ball, and icing out his teammates who are actually playing well.

He’ll probably get it assuming they win now. He got his counting stats on above average efficiency for him, Kats stats took a hit. I know the award holds intrinsic value and is a legendary piece of hardware but I really wish we stopped caring so much about an award 11 people vote on.

Bruncentric

I really hope Mike Brown snaps him out of those habits.

They did not get all the way here and have 13 wins in a row doing the Brunson Ball game. He needs to pass more.

It’s kind of the secret almost with KAT: if he gets into trouble or doesn’t get calls, he’s gonna get very passive

Ive watched the Knicks the whole season and your comment is right on the nail

Absolutely. He’s improved a lot at controlling his emotions over the years but it still affects him

Also his emotions can help you. When he gets going he brings more juice to the environment

I said in the beginning of the finals to just let Brunson get his and lock down everyone else. Mitch Johnson finally realized to do that after being down 0-2

This should be the game plan honestly. Let him get whatever he can get on Castle/Harper and shutdown everyone else

For real, lol.

Shut up Shaq.

Mikal took 2 shots as well it seemed like.

He was also in foul trouble

Mid is generous

He has been flat out bad

This was obvious fairly early in the game so I don’t get why they wouldn’t have pivoted. Like he said JB for a WHILE and I thought that was basically a punishment for hogging the ball. Then he came back in and did the same shit.

no

He was also a +11 for +/- so that’s why, it’s not exactly clear to pin on him why they lost the game when Brunson still isn’t shooting well and KAT was the most passive yet

Not that it really means Bridges played stellar either

He got in foul trouble early. He also barely took any shots and I have no fucking idea why when he won us game two. I think partially it was that Jalen refused to give the ball up.

He can’t shoot, Brunson is still dribbling.

KAT is the spurs kryptonite. Brunson is obviously an amazing player but the spurs backcourt is uniquely equipped to make life hard for him with castle/harper/fox/vassell.

But KAT is too fast for Wemby and too big for everyone else the Knicks have to go through him

We watched different games then.. their offense was sloppy, too many TOs , and too many late shot clock situations. Barkley’s assessment is accurate.

Why is OG only taking 10 shots with 3 minutes to go, when he scores at will? And why is KAT non existent most of the game. A PG needs to get people going, and today Brunson failed to do it..

Crazy thing is that they almost won despite it