Knicks 116, Pistons 113

In reply to Walco

I used to see 4 players but they traded Donte.

Note the Knicks have trailed most of the games and were fouling Robinson while leading which is coaching mal-practice. Boston coach gave away BOTH games.

We see things differently and I trust my analysis that Boston's coaching was inept especially fouling Robinson. Again - if you are leading, the running clock is your friend; you only stop it if it is unavoidable. Thats common knowledge in sports.

OG has been great this series on O and D.

In reply to Walco



You don't say..........

In reply to JoeGrine

I think Mazzula was out-coached by Thibs for other reasons, but I do not agree that the strategy of fouling Mitch and forcing Thibs to take him out of the game was coaching malpractice. Especially since the Knicks did not shoot free throws from non-shooting fouls afterwards and the 2 fouls in question occurred within one second of each other. Unfortunately for Boston, one of the best defensive players in the NBA replaced Mitch and the strategy did not stop the Knicks comeback. The Knicks were on a 17 to 2 run when when Boston resorted to the Hack-a-Mitch strategy. And I don't see any former players or NBA experts calling Mazzula's decision to foul Mitch coaching malpractice. I have a feeling that if Mitch had gone to Villanova ...

In reply to Walco
Dat was quick

In reply to Walco


Robinson wasn't removed because of fouls, stop saying that. The Knicks were down and Robinson, a liability on offense, was removed to up the NY scoring.

In reply to JoeGrine

Robinson was removed because Thibs knew that if he kept him in the game Boston would play the PPP game and put Mitch on the free throw line every time the Knicks had the ball for the remaining 2 minutes and 40 seconds of the game. Let's do the match an calculate how many free throws Mitch would have made to get the Knicks ahead of Boston in the final 2:40 of game 2. The Knicks had 82 points when the Hack-a-Mitch strategy was deployed and Boston ended up with 90 points at the end of the game. If Boston took an average of 20 seconds before taking a shot for the remainder of the game and then fouled Mitch as soon as the ball was inbounded by the Knicks, Mitch would have taken 16 free throws (I'm being generous). Based on his playoff free throw percentage so far, Mitch would have made 4 of those 16 free throws and the Knicks would have ended up with a final tally of 86 points. That's why Mazzulla's move was not coaching malpractice. He was planning to play the PPP game and Thibs knew exactly what was going on.

By the way, OG was not summoned from the bench by Thibs until Boston's first intentional foul on Mitch. And it was a masterpiece by Thibs to hold OG out of the game and force Boston to commit a second foul before subbing out Mitch.

In reply to Walco

It is obvious Robinson is to be fouled if an opposing team is in foul trouble in a close game or a team is coming from behind. Everyone and their granny knows that.

What Boston did was to deliberately foul Robinson when they were leading and not in foul trouble. That resulted in the play clock stopping and Knicks getting s restart. THAT was stupidity.

In reply to JoeGrine


Two fouls one second apart gave the Knicks a restart? A team that was on a 17 to 2 run before the fouls on Mitch needed a restart?

Let's Go Knicks!

Go New York Go New York Go!!!

In reply to Walco


Go New York go.

It’s too bad that Tatum got injured late in the fourth quarter last night. He’s a great player who was having an amazing game up to the point he got injured. But I don’t think Boston was going to win the game last night if Tatum had not gotten injured. The Knicks were leading by nine points with 3 minutes to go and the momentum was decidedly in their favor when Tatum got hurt.

In reply to Walco

Totally agree and sorry to see the young man suffer this type of injury in his prime. With the advances in medicine, he should bounce back in time. Credit to my Knicks and all of my fellow long suffering fans who endured decades of poor management and being the laughing stock of the league. Being at a playoff game at the Mecca with the energy in that building is crazy.

can the celtics take it to game 7?

Congrats Knicks…1st NBA Finals since 2000

they took care of business, it has been a long wait.