Thunder 145, Knicks 135: Now that’s odd
Twenty-nine teams understand that 3 > 2. What Tom Thibodeau presupposes is . . . maybe it isn’t?
A few days ago I turned 44 and reflected on differences between my life and my father and grandfather’s at this age. I live with family thanks entirely to their kindness. I will never own a home. My kid is 10 years old. I am grateful to be single. At 44, my father was paying a mortgage on a four-bedroom house. He had two kids in college and a third nearly there; his 22-year marriage to my mother would collapse a few years later. At 44, my grandfather was a couple of years from retirement. He had four adult children and three grandchildren, and was in year 25 of a marriage that’s now lasted 68 years.
The world isn’t the same now as it was back in the day. Once upon a time you didn’t need an education to support yourself financially; get a public sector job, work hard and save for a few years and you can buy a house. I grew up with the idea that if you went to college, especially if you went on to grad school, you could get a decent job and a house someday. I stuck to the script. But the world moved on.
The NBA isn’t the same now as it was 20, 10, or even five years ago. Every game now is essentially the same simulation, where teams only shoot when they’re in the paint or behind the arc. Everybody knows this. Yet in a league where everyone’s throwing roundhouses and uppercuts, one team insists on trying to win with jabs. We’ve seen it so much that even when that team – the Knicks, spoiler – scores a franchise-record 48 first-quarter points en route to a 12-point lead, with no player in double figures, and a dozen assists to just one turnover, I tweeted the following with 100% confidence in the second quarter.
I knew this game would be an L, and it was, 145-135 in favor of the Oklahoma City Thunder. As hot as the Knicks were early, that was mostly all twos and free throws; meanwhile, the Thunder continued the season-long trend of teams pummeling the Knicks from distance. That’s how a team that gives up 48 after 12 minutes is up six at the half. The Thunder made more 3-pointers by the break than the Knicks did all night. Let’s linger there a moment.
The Knicks came into this game giving up more 3-point attempts than any other team; at the same time, New York ranks 28th among 30 teams in their own 3-point accuracy. They stuck to that script and the Thunder, like every decent team the Knicks have faced, moved on. OKC outscored them by 21 from deep. In seven losses this season, Knick opponents are making 42% of their threes and, like the Thunder, besting the Knicks by 21 a game beyond the arc. In the Knicks’ six wins, opponents have only made 27% from deep. It really does seem to be that simple. Which is what makes this season so confusing.
Tom Thibodeau is an NBA coach mostly because of his defensive chops. His first year leading the Knicks, their defensive rating climbed from 23rd to third while they basically broke even on threes. Last year they struggled much of the season before ending up 11th in defensive rating; they actually made more threes than the opposition. Before the Thunder game, their defensive rating was 16th, and a team whose net rating was -1.5 was getting beat by six points a game from deep. All of which raises questions, questions this game repeated more loudly.
Evan Fournier played 20 uninspired minutes. His confidence appears shot. Fournier’s strength, if one exists, is his shooting; since his demotion from the starting five, he’s made five of 25 shots. On Sunday, in a game where every guard the fast-paced Thunder played was between 21 and 24 years old and Mike Muscala is their only player over 28, Fournier played 20 minutes, nearly as many as Quentin Grimes and Obi Toppin combined. He couldn’t even get a shot off in this game, reminiscent of Steve Novak’s performance in the 2012 playoffs vs. Miami and Allan Houston up against Toronto-era Tracy McGrady. Fournier made everyone guarding him look like McGrady.
Is Grimes healthy or not? The last three games he’s played five, eight and eight minutes. If he isn’t good to go, why is he active? If he is, why is he still stuck behind Fournier? Cam Reddish is playing 27 mostly fine minutes a game since entering the starting lineup and had his best game as a Knick in this one. Immanuel Quickley exists, too. Why does Fournier continue to play when he’s playing so poorly? It’s not like his trade value would climb any if he were playing better. The league knows what Fournier’s about. You might think Thibodeau was searching for any lineup to stem the bleeding, given that the Knicks lost the middle two quarters 86-58. But if any of the young Knicks who’re potentially applicable to the team’s future were playing like Fournier has the last two weeks, Thibs would nail-gun their butts to the bench.
After three quarters the Thunder had 122 points. They’d made 73% of their 2-pointers, 63% of their threes and 13 of 14 from the line. Thibodeau’s defense is predicated on rim protection and keeping dribblers out of the paint. I’m trying to lose weight. My approach is predicated on eating less and exercising more. I’m not doing very well with either. My choices are basically two-fold: I can quit trying or I can construct alternatives to my failing approach. When I get on a scale and see my weight’s up, I don’t say things like “Well, that’s the challenge, is finding that consistency.” Either I’m getting healthier or I’m not. Sure, there are all sorts of challenges to take on as I attempt to be healthier. But it’s a pretty simple proposition when you don’t get the results you want: either the results are unrealistic or the approach to achieving them is.
This was the fourth game the Knicks have lost surrendering 50-plus points from deep, a mark they themselves have achieved but once. The head coach continues to have his men dig trenches while the enemy loads up for another blitzkrieg. The Knick offense is driven by a three-horsepower engine where each equine prefers to work inside the arc. The defense is missing its chief rim protector; meanwhile, in a game where the Thunder spent 48 minutes driving and kicking, Grimes barely saw action and Miles McBride may as well be Miles Bridges, for all the minutes he’s getting this year.
Mike Breen warmed the hearts of fans of TV’s The Odd Couple when he mentioned this day, November 13th, as when Felix Unger’s wife requested he remove himself from their residence. Thibodeau preaches rim protection and paint denial while opponent after opponent look perfectly comfortable driving past the perimeter and kicking out for spot-up threes. Now that’s odd. The Knicks don’t practice what they preach and have no answer when teams play like it’s 2022 and not 2012. That’s what today was like: like you’re at the mall and everyone else is wearing new clothes, and your family is all decked out in matching Amish couture. The season is young, but this manner of defeat is already getting old. If it’s driving you slightly mad, don’t worry. You’re hardly alone.
