It was just a sad, sad week for the New York Knicks. You couldn’t have asked for a worse week than what the Knicks had. Let’s start off with the worst of the worst, as the Knicks will now be without Julius Randle for the rest of the season. Just a huge blow for this team and fan base. If Julius Randle was able to return, you can make a legitimate case for the Knicks to make the ECF. Now, it will be a tough road for New York and Jalen Brunson in the playoffs. Randle would have brought this team new life, but now we must accept our new fate for this team. What sucks the most was how dedicated Julius Randle was to return. He put so much effort and dedication into his rehab but sadly reinjured his arm. I gave Julius a lot of shit these past few seasons, and now I look like such a dumb dumb. Randle deserves so much for what he did off the court because he cared for this team and wants to make us Knicks fans happy. Thank you, Julius Randle, and hopefully, we’ll see you next season ready to bust some ass. Also, fuck you, Jaime Jaquez, for drawing an unnecessary charge in a blowout and causing the Knicks to lose Randle.
Now, onto the next topic, the Knicks just cannot buy a win. These last four losses have been brutal to my mental state. They should have won all four of those games, especially against the Spurs and Thunder. Those two games have continued to show the absolute bullshit non-foul calls that Jalen Brunson gets. In his podcast this week, Brian Windhorst said that Jalen Brunson is a foul hunter. I don’t disagree with what Windhorst says because Brunson definitely looks to draw contact. Any person can see that, but what annoyed me the most was that he mentioned James Harden and Trae Young and the NBA trying to crack down on these types of players, but that’s blatantly false. Players like Young, SGA, and even taller players like Embiid can draw fouls with the best of them, and the refs will give it to them. But Brunson, who gets destroyed in the paint every game, seems not to get the calls anymore. If a player is fouled, call the goddamn foul, especially when it’s affecting the Knicks in the win/loss column.
The Knicks lost 3/4 this week, but the good news was OG Anunoby was able to return once again from injury. And OG was right back where he left off, as he had another positive +/- game. For the first time this season, we saw OG and Mitchell Robinson play together. If those two can stay healthy, the Knicks’ defense will be amazing to watch. Having Brunson, McBride, Hart, OG, and Robinson on one court would be deadly to any offense.
Weekly Grades:
Knicks: D
Jalen Brunson: A+
Isaiah Hartenstein: B+
Donte DiVincenzo: A-
Josh Hart: A-
Precious Achiuwa: B-
Deuce McBride: A
Mitchell Robinson: B-
OG Anunoby: B
Bojan Bogdanovic: C
Alec Burks: C-
Now, let’s see what the Knicks have up next for the coming week
Usually, I go from Saturday to Friday for the weekly blogs, but with the Knicks’ final five games, this will be the final regular season blog for the Knicks. To start things off for the week, the Knicks head to Milwaukee to take on the Bucks on Sunday night. Another challenging test for the Knicks as every game becomes a must-win for New York. They are currently in 5th place with the Magic, and with the Magic having the season series over the Knicks, they need to win these games and at least get home court for the first round. It is also important because if the Knicks do win, they will be one game behind the Bucks for second place. After that, on Tuesday, the Knicks head back to Chicago to take on the Bulls. The Bulls got us last time, but the Knicks must beat the inferior team. The Knicks will then take on the Celtics in Boston on Thursday. The Knicks have yet to beat Boston this season, but hopefully, Boston is checked out at this point as they have already clinched home court through the playoffs. New York will then head back home to play the Nets, off a back-to-back. The Nets have one day of rest, but this is a crappy team the Knicks play. They have to win this one. Finally, the Knicks play their final game of the season at home against the Bulls next Sunday. The Knicks need to win at least three games this week. If the Knicks are to be successful, they need to get home-court advantage. They have some challenging games, but they also have some easy ones, and they must win those easy ones.
Let’s go Knicks!
SmallDog Sports 
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