Hurting the team.
We lost to the Celtics by a single basket, well, okay, a single basket if counting RJ's last second heat check trey. Close loss to the Nyets as well.
Clearly our team's margin for error is VERY SMALL.
So are we assessing JR as a negative based on 9-23, and 2-6 from trey.
KNICKS FANS are some spoiled MFs.
Julius finished with 22 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 1 block. Yes, he had 3 turnovers. So did Payton and RJ. Jayson Tatum had EIGHT TURNOVERS, for fuck's sake--is Tatum [25-10-5-1...gee whiz, that looks a lot like JR's stat line] hurting his team? Smart and Brown had 2 each. When you make plays, you draw attention.
Here's an interesting stat line from the box score.
The starters' +/- was a cumulative negative.
The bench [Gibson, Toppin, Burks, Quickley, Rose]? Their +/- was on the positive side of the ledger, Obi and IQ getting 11 and 13 minutes each.
PS: Interesting contrasting the statistical SG battle between Jaylen and RJ', the final +/- with Brown's +7 versus Barrett's -9 based on Brown's 12-26/5-13 versus RJ's 10-14/6-6. Based on the manner in which Jaylen has elevated his game season by season, RJ is right on schedule.
PPS: We are now at 25-27 in the competitive EC Playoff scrum behind the Nyets, Sexers and Schmucks
4 Charlotte Hornets [26-24]
5 Atlanta Hawks [27-25]
6 Miami Heat [26-25]
7 Boston Celtics [26-26]
8 New York Knicks [25-27]
9 Indiana Pacers [23-27]
10 Chicago Bulls [21-28]
11 Toronto Raptors [20-31]
Question, anyone, as per BoD's prenatal/post-mortem, time to reflect on free agency and the draft ruminations: In the new extended playoff format, do teams that fall out of the Top 8 still qualify as Lottery Teams for the ping pong ball extravaganza, vis a vis the possibility of having our cake and eating it too?