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Knicks Lose a Heartbreaker to OKC (and the Refs)
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Knicks Lose a Heartbreaker to OKC (and the Refs)
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Good news: He continues to impress
Bad news: Other teams (with free agency money to spend) watch him continue to impress.
Mo Diawara's per-36 minutes averages over New York’s past 15 games:
16.8 points,
5.0 rebounds,
4.0 made three-pointers,
While shooting:
50.7% from the floor
44.4% from 3PT range
100% from the FT line
The Knicks outscored the Thunder by 12 points in the 31 minutes Landry Shamet was on the court last night.
The fact that Shamet can post a team-high plus/minus on a night he didn’t make a single three-pointer (0-for-3) speaks volumes about his overall, two-way impact.
KAT is fifth on the team in total FG attempts (10.4 FGA per game) over NY’s past five contests.
Feed the bodega KAT.
It's the first time in a decade (since his rookie season in 2015-16) that Towns has attempted fewer than eight three-pointers over a five-game span.
KAT didn’t attempt a single 3PT last night.
He’s attempted one or fewer in four of New York’s last five games. He has a total of just seven 3PTA over that stretch.
Free throw attempts this season:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander:
476 in 1,732 minutes
Jalen Brunson:
334 in 2,011 minutes
These are practical issues the NBA can/must improve going forward.
However, instead of focusing solely on the game itself, we're forced to talk about the horrible officiating.
In addition, this game lost some luster b/c it was on the second night of a back-to-back for both clubs, due to poor schedule planning.
Lots of talk about tanking, but there are plenty of other issues in the NBA.
For instance, last night's game at MSG should have been an ideal showcase contest for the league.
And the players did thier part. Two great teams played their asses off in a great game with a playoff atmosphere...
This game has been fun… let’s play 7 more of these in June
#SmallSampleSizeAlert
In the 46 minutes they've played together across seven games, the Knicks 3-man lineup of Karl-Anthony Towns, Mo Diawara and Jose Alvarado has posted a:
Offensive Rating: 132.6
Defensive Rating: 77.3
Net Rating: +55.3
seems pretty good.
The Knicks have ruled out Mitchell Robinson (injury management) for tonight’s game vs. OKC
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Knicks Get Another Win North of the Border
NY's dominant defense kept the contest close, allowing Captain Clutch and the offense to take over down the stretch.
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In case you were wondering, Jordan Clarkson posted a plus/minus of -77 in the Knicks' last 15 games before the trade deadline.
Really nice compliment to Brunson and gives the Knicks some real speed and pace when Brunson sits or even to take pressure off half-court when they play brief stints together. Thought he looked really good vs. Raptors.
That's the highest Net Rating by any two-man lineup in the NBA since the trade deadline.
The two-man lineup of Jose and KAT (El Gato and Grand Theft Alvarado) has been phenomenal.
In the 113 minutes the two have played together (not a minuscule sample size), the Knicks have posted a:
Defensive Rating: 92.6
Offensive Rating: 129.1
Net Rating: +36.5 (!!!)
Tuesday’s win was the 10th game Jose Alvarado has played in a Knicks uniform. He is a +93 over those ten contests.
Only three players in franchise history have posted a higher +/- over their first ten games with the Knicks:
Patrick Ewing, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart.
actually, I forgot to check... do the Knicks' most recent handful of victories still count??
I know there was talk of canceling the rest of the Knicks season after they lost to DET... not sure if that was finalized
Thus far this season, the Knicks have played a total of 25 games against the top-six teams in each conference.
New York is:
16-9 in those 25 contests.
Last season, the Knicks were ten games below. 500 in the regular season against the top-six teams in each conference:
10-20
Starting tonight in Toronto, the Knicks play five games in seven days.
Four of them are on the road (at TOR, at DEN, at LAL, at LAC).
The one home game is vs. OKC on the back-end of a road/home back-to-back
Welcome to Hell Week
Highest Net Rating among all qualified rookies in 2026:
1. Mo Diawara: +15.9
2. Hugo González: +15.3
3. Kon Knueppel: +10.3
Diawara is also one of only four rookies with a +/- above +75 since the start of 2026 (the other three are Knueppel, Gonzalez and Dyland Harper).
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Knicks Stomp the Spurs in a Statement Win
We are witnessing arguably the best extended stretch of defense by any Knicks team since the prime of Patrick, Oakley, Starks, and Mase in the halcyon days of yore...
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1. OG Anunoby: 98.0
2. Karl-Anthony Towns: 99.0
3. Derrick White: 99.6
4. Ausar Thompson: 101.7
5. Davion Mitchell: 102.3
6. Josh Hart: 102.5
7. Bam Adebayo: 102.8
8. Victor Wembanyama: 103.3
Admittedly, individual Defensive Rating is a flawed metric.
However, it is definitely worth noting that KAT has the second-best DefRtg (best among all centers) in the NBA over all qualified players’ last 15 games:
In Sunday's victory over the Spurs, Mikal Bridges became just the fourth player in Knicks franchise history to tally 25+ points, 5+ boards, 5+ steals and 5+ made 3PTs in the same game, joining Brunson, Sprewell and Starbury.
Bridges is the first to do so in less than 35 mins.
On the season, the Knicks are now up to 8th in Defensive Efficiency.
New York is one of only two teams in the NBA to rank inside the top-5 in OffEff and inside the top-10 in DefEff this season.