If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, welcome to 2024, the Year of the Rat!We turned the calendar page 10 days ago and ushered in the new year with the Knicks hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves at MSG to kick things off in 2024. The New York Knicks (22-15) have been perfect since adding another win against the Portland Trail Blazers, who lost 112-84 on Tuesday night.
With 5 losses in 5 games, they are the only undefeated team in the NBA this year. Ah, ah, New Look Knicks!I got a phone call in December. OG Anunoby has finally earned his true New York Knickerbocker game after facing the harsh reality of having to find a new home in the New York suburbs after spending the past six seasons in Toronto chilling through London.Historically deaf. It wasn’t about OG scoring 50 points. OG didn’t even triple-double that day, let alone hit a double-double. Yes, he had the best five-game hitting streak in L history, posting a combined plus/minus of 111 during that span. This was something that had never been done before……But the Knicks scored as many points (41) in the first half as they did in the first quarter (38). It’s about Tom Thibodeau sending his starter to the pine and not calling for the rest of the fourth quarter. (Read again). New York is 5-0 this year, 22-15 this season, the No. 4 in the Eastern Conference has wins against the next best team in the Eastern Conference and a few wins over the #4. 3 seeds.No player in the NBA has won five straight games this year. Not even 4. Only two other franchises have three, one of them being the Grizzlies. In fact, not even the worst team in the league (Detroit) has lost more games in a row than the Knicks this month. Talk about dominance. Julius Randle led all Knicks in the plus/minus column with a 31 rating, tied with Isaiah Hartenstein. Every starter except Donte DiVincenzo (14) scored at least 26 points against Portland on Tuesday. Other than the 32-year-old Randle, no one logged 30 minutes that day. See to believe. There’s been a lot of talk about the bench lately, and while only two players (Quentin Grimes with 17 points and Deuce McBride with 16 points) have helped the bench, the truth is that the bench group hasn’t really been needed.”I like how aggressive they are,” Thibodeau said of QG and Deuce after the game. “One thing about Deuce is his ball pressure is elite. I can not believe. Quentin is very good at guarding several positions. “Their intensity is very good and that’s what we want.”The Knicks made the Blazers big enough to feed everyone. The Knicks did it not just by scoring (New York scored 112 or more points in 17 of their last 20 opponents), but also by defending PDX, putting pressure on the visitors and using every scheme they could think of. – Two days. The Blazers scored 134 points in an overtime victory in Brooklyn.The Knicks had their best defensive effort of the season on Tuesday. Yeah, it was Portland, but whatever.The Blazers became the first team to surpass 90 points against New York. The Knicks own the second-lowest FG percentage (38.4%) and 3P% (20.7%) allowed by the Bokers this season.The Knicks outscored their opponents 25-11 in fast break points, and Chauncey Billups had no idea what was about to happen to him and his students. “The numbers show they’re 27th in the league in passing and stuff like that, but if you look at their last four or five games, you can see they’re playing fast, they really are.” , they pick it up and play it fast,” they play, so we keep an eye on it. “I can’t say they caught us off guard because our team was trying to prepare for it, but honestly, they did a really good job.”Jalen Brunson didn’t do too much damage with 12 points, but he had seven assists, which was good, and didn’t commit any turnovers. I-Hart, a man extraordinaire, went back to work and tore down 14 boards and painted over his private office, 5 of which were unpleasant.On his return to OG, he found the back of the net on all nine shots (and OG-OG-OG! a freebie) and finished with 23 points. It’s the most points in an orange and blue uniform. Dear Achiuwa wanted this more than she could handle. He made nine field goals, but only one was on goal and he missed three shots from long range. He apparently caught the ball 9 times. Josh Hart pulled down seven boards and didn’t waste money, scoring just two points en route to the win.
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