NBA Playoffs Round 1. (3) New York Knicks vs. (6) Detroit Pistons

[Betrayer]

On 4/22/2025 at 12:18 PM, Deleterious said:

For all the bitching about the refs, Detroit shot 34 FT's while NYK shot 19. 

 

Some numbers courtesy of Ku.

-Over these 2 games, Brunson has drawn 23 fouls. Cade has drawn 14.
-In Game 2 the Pistons were called for 24 fouls. Knicks were called for 22.
-In the playoffs, the team being called for the most fouls per game: The Pistons.

So, Tibbs is complaining after a game in which his team drew more fouls than the other team and in a series where his opponent is being called for more fouls than any other team in the entire playoffs.

Insanity.

I'm surprised Brunson doesn't have whiplash yet with all the head whipping he does on every play.

[Deleterious]

1 hour ago, Betrayer said:

Some numbers courtesy of Ku.

-Over these 2 games, Brunson has drawn 23 fouls. Cade has drawn 14.
-In Game 2 the Pistons were called for 24 fouls. Knicks were called for 22.
-In the playoffs, the team being called for the most fouls per game: The Pistons.

So, Tibbs is complaining after a game in which his team drew more fouls than the other team and in a series where his opponent is being called for more fouls than any other team in the entire playoffs.

Insanity.

I'm surprised Brunson doesn't have whiplash yet with all the head whipping he does on every play.

And that is the frustrating thing about Ku.  He moves the goalposts.   Thibs specifically complained about the FT discrepancy, not fouls. 

On 160 FGA the Pistons have shot 54 FT's.  On 174 FGA's the Knicks have shot 36 FT's.  Now these aren't 100% perfect numbers, the FT's include technicals, 3 second violations, etc.  But its odd, the Knicks have more shots and quite a few less FTA's.  

Thibs is doing exactly what I said JB should do with Brunson hooking, bitch about it.  Game 3 refs watch and hear things.  Maybe it gets in their head to watch for that hook.  Maybe the league reviews it and tells them specifically to watch for it.

The video in question

 

[Deleterious]

Looked up their FTr

Brunson Reg 37.3% Playoffs 38.9%

Cade 25.4% Playoffs 40.5%

Two games that stat will still be pretty noisy.  But thats a huge jump for Cade.  And if he is getting a friendly whistle, he should exploit it and go to the basket even more. 

[Deleterious]

Nice article from Fred Katz about this.

Knicks must stop trending away from Karl-Anthony Towns

Quote

As teams manned Towns with wings more, Towns’ habits changed. He didn’t dominate the post enough to convince opponents to deviate. The Knicks’ bread-and-butter, the action that was supposed to dominate the league this season, had been the Jalen Brunson-Towns pick-and-roll. The team strayed from it — and thus, strayed from Towns.

By the end of the season, the Knicks were 35-12 in games where big men were Towns’ primary defender and 11-14 in games when perimeter players were his primary defender. Towns set 27.0 ball screens a game when bigs were primarily on him, according to Second Spectrum. He set just 15.9 when a guard or wing was his main guy.

Quote

Perimeter players, with Harris leading the way, have defended Towns for 82 percent of the Knicks’ half-court possessions during Games 1 and 2, according to Second Spectrum. And yet, Towns isn’t using his size advantage.

He hasn’t ducked down low. Not once in this series has Towns muscled Harris, who he has four inches and more than 20 pounds on, to the block before catching the basketball. Instead, Harris wins the shoving match. All of Towns’ post-ups in Game 2 began with his feet closer to the 3-point arc than the paint, a major no-no. If Towns received an entry pass with a just a toenail already near the restricted area, he could turn around for an easy bucket.

 

[Betrayer]

57 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

And that is the frustrating thing about Ku.  He moves the goalposts.   Thibs specifically complained about the FT discrepancy, not fouls. 

The refs can't force the Knicks to draw fouls on shot attempts. Just because they're doing it 90 feet from the basket doesn't mean the refs are favoring the Pistons who are getting their calls by attacking the hoop. That's on the Knicks who leave their Center sitting on the perimeter.

The fact remains that the Knicks have drawn more fouls in this series and the Pistons have been called for more fouls than any other team in the entire playoffs. The whistle is more than fair to the Knicks who aren't losing starters to foul trouble every game.

As for Cade, he's attacking the basket with multiple defenders draped on him and shooting less threes in this series, so yes he's earned 17 FTs. The only one attacking on the Knicks is Brunson and that's why he got 21 FTs - again, that's more than Cade. In addition, he's drawn nearly double the calls that Cade has overall, which is just silly if you look at how Cade is being guarded by professional wrestlers out there.

Tibbs argument is a house of cards for anyone who looks past the one stat he cherry picked. That's the point.

That said, obviously Tibbs is trying to work the refs for next game as many coaches do. He's wants to phone a friend and get Silver and the boys to gift them a game for the sake of ratings by screaming "they're picking on us". Funny thing is, he doesn't need to. The only way the Pistons are winning game 3 is if they can shoot themselves out of the refs range of control. They aren't going to risk the ratings and revenue from that upcoming Knicks v Celtics matchup, so you can expect the Knicks to get a very favorable whistle.

And sure I agree, I'd like to see JB talk about Brunson hooking and flopping.

[buddha]

6 hours ago, Deleterious said:

Nice article from Fred Katz about this.

Knicks must stop trending away from Karl-Anthony Towns

 

that's a nice way of him skirting around writing the obvious: towns is a pussy.

teams have been doing this off and on to towns for years.  he has never - NEVER - tried to beat it by sitting his ass in the post and punishing the smaller guy.  ever.  last season's playoffs were the same thing.

kat is one of the most talented guys in the league, but he's the soft big man.  until he gets mad and decides to dominate, he'll never be a champ.  reminds me of chris webber or early lebron.

remember lebron against dallas in the finals when they put a 5'10 guard on him and he STILL wouldnt post him up?  because he was a pussy, still deferring to dwyane wade.

remember the next year when they played boston and lebron put 50 up in the garden?  when he told wade to get the **** out his way?  that's when lebron turned the corner.

when kat parks his ass in the paint and tells brunson to get him the ****ing ball, we'll be in trouble.  hopefully he never realizes just how good he can be.  i'll take brunson beating me, but if kat figures it out, the knicks are going to be a much much much better team.

i hope he stays a sleeping giant forever.  or at least until the knicks trade him.

[Deleterious]

14 minutes ago, buddha said:

that's a nice way of him skirting around writing the obvious: towns is a pussy.

teams have been doing this off and on to towns for years.  he has never - NEVER - tried to beat it by sitting his ass in the post and punishing the smaller guy.  ever.  last season's playoffs were the same thing.

kat is one of the most talented guys in the league, but he's the soft big man.  until he gets mad and decides to dominate, he'll never be a champ.  reminds me of chris webber or early lebron.

remember lebron against dallas in the finals when they put a 5'10 guard on him and he STILL wouldnt post him up?  because he was a pussy, still deferring to dwyane wade.

remember the next year when they played boston and lebron put 50 up in the garden?  when he told wade to get the **** out his way?  that's when lebron turned the corner.

when kat parks his ass in the paint and tells brunson to get him the ****ing ball, we'll be in trouble.  hopefully he never realizes just how good he can be.  i'll take brunson beating me, but if kat figures it out, the knicks are going to be a much much much better team.

i hope he stays a sleeping giant forever.  or at least until the knicks trade him.

Did he do that last year? 

I really only remember the Dallas series last year.  PJ Washington guarded him for the most part.  PJ guards a lot of centers though, so not sure if that is a good data point.  Hell, PJ flat out played C for Charlotte about half the time.

I do know KAT looks a lot better next to a defensive C like Gobert. 

[Betrayer]

JB speaks on a bunch of topics, including the refs:

"We're happy with the way the game is being called. WE can survive physicality" - love this line. Essentially calling the Knicks weak for complaining.

"Their guy is leading the league right now in playoff free throw attempts. Cade is 9th at this point."

 

[Betrayer]

Referee crew announced. Silver sent in New Yorker, Zach Zarba, to officiate tonight's game. Tibbs reinforcements have been parachuted in to save them.

I hope Beasley is angry about not getting 6th man, because I was already expecting a Knick conga to the free throw line. We're going to need to shoot ourselves ahead in this one for any chance at winning. That Boston/NY matchup is a truck full of money the league doesn't want to miss out on.

[Hongbit]

This was my main fear heading in.   The league would love a Boston/NY series.  

They aren’t going to try and fix the game but they can do subtle things like this to make it easier to get the matchup they’d prefer.   

[Tigeraholic1]

I expect the flopper in chief to push the envelope tonight.

Anything on Stew playing?

[Betrayer]

Damnit. Chuck picked us to win in a blowout. We’re cooked. 

[Sports_Freak]

2 minutes ago, Betrayer said:

Damnit. Chuck picked us to win in a blowout. We’re cooked. 

Did he say how much he likes Wade Cunningham? 😆

[Motown Bombers]

I feel like this is the first real playoff game at Little Caesars Arena. They played playoff games here before, but that was just a warmup for the team they were playing. 

[Motown Bombers]

8 minutes ago, Betrayer said:

Damnit. Chuck picked us to win in a blowout. We’re cooked. 

That's turrible. 

[buddha]

a white out?  come on.  that's somebody else's thing.  do your own thing.

[buddha]

early doubles on cade.

[Betrayer]

Wow. KAT hits Ausar and follows through but no call even after a bloody nose. 

[buddha]

you guys might want to....make a basket at some point.

[buddha]

6 hours ago, Betrayer said:

Referee crew announced. Silver sent in New Yorker, Zach Zarba, to officiate tonight's game. Tibbs reinforcements have been parachuted in to save them.

I hope Beasley is angry about not getting 6th man, because I was already expecting a Knick conga to the free throw line. We're going to need to shoot ourselves ahead in this one for any chance at winning. That Boston/NY matchup is a truck full of money the league doesn't want to miss out on.

 

Just now, Betrayer said:

Wow. KAT hits Ausar and follows through but no call even after a bloody nose. 

 

[Sports_Freak]

Pistons tight.

[Betrayer]

Duren putting on a clinic in bad defense to start this one 

[casimir]

12 minutes ago, buddha said:

a white out?  come on.  that's somebody else's thing.  do your own thing.

Everything got taken during the Piston playoff drought.  Everything except a pizza on a piston, but that’s too close to a pizza spear.

[Betrayer]

Clearly intentional eye poke. Tibbs told them to be more physical they thought that meant play dirty. 
 

This should have been the second flagrant from them so far. Refs ignored the first one. 

[Deleterious]

I thought flagrant 1 was a FT and possession? Hardaway only took 3 FTs didn't he ?

Edited Thursday at 11:28 PM by Deleterious