If Coach Thibodeau didn't out think himself so much, the Knicks would have a basic triangle offense they could implement when facing zone defenses, the likes of which they faced last night against the Lakers in MSG.
Everyone knows the way to break a zone if you don't have a bunch of great shooters is the triangle offense.
But, unfortunately for you Knicks fans, you don't have that kind of coach, so of course the team lost a game it could have easily won. But hey, they run New York, right?
The Knicks went into the colosseum against the Lakers guns
blazing in the first half. Julius was aggressive and RJ Barrett was channeling
Tracy McGrady.
This only lasted a half, however. In the third quarter the
Knicks completely collapsed.
It was as if they had their memories wiped at halftime and
completely forgot how they dominated the Lakers in the first two quarters.
Maybe at the half the players, including Julius Randle, were
able to get access to their phones and allowed all the trade rumors to get to
them. I have no idea.
But I do know that the Knicks let Malik Monk play like he
was the second coming of Michael Jordan as he almost single-handedly cleared
the Knicks lead over Los Angeles.
During the Lakers big third quarter coach Thibodeaux made zero
changes to try to cool Los Angeles off. This guy may not be the coach this team
needs.
Barrett fought hard in the final period and was able to
snatch victory from the Lakers at the end of the fourth quarter and took the game
into overtime.
Unfortunately, RJ had very little help in OT and the Knicks
fell in defeat to the Lakers.
It is time for RJ to realize that this is his team now. He
cannot limit himself to only taking three shots in the third quarter.
When RJ decides to take the game over few teams can stop him
it is time that he stops holding himself back acquiescing to Randle.
I hope that at the end of the game when LeBron hugged Barrett
and gave him some words of encouragement that some of those words were 'This is
your team now, dominate every night'.
Get RJ a real point guard, let Randle move on to another
team and find a center that can score a little and this team
changes into a real competitor.
