00:00The Greek Freak absolutely dominated the Knicks in the first Giannis Bowl of the season and he put both franchises on notice.
00:08The Knicks have actually dropped two in a row away from the Garden, so let's chop it up with Alex Jotaros of KnicksFanTV to see what's going on with these growing pains right now.
00:17Alex, you got a smile on your face right now, but a lot of Knicks fans last night were a little upset with that outcome, particularly the fourth quarter.
00:24So what are a couple of things that stood out to you most in these back-to-back losses, particularly last night to the Bucs?
00:34Brandon, I'm just happy to be here. I always love chopping it up with you, but some of the things that stood out to me in these last two games against the Miami Heat and the Milwaukee Bucs is that the Knicks, one, have poor transition defense.
00:45I mean, against Miami, it was 38-10 when it came to transition scoring. Heat had 38 points in transition. Knicks only had 10.
00:53Last night, we were talking about a team that essentially got beat again. Milwaukee had 21 points in transition, and the Knicks had 9.
01:01So they're not getting back on defense to stop guys, and they're just not hustling quick enough to get in position, eliminate guys like Giannis or anybody else attacking out in the open court.
01:13Same thing with Jaime Jaquez against Miami. So that's number one.
01:16Number two, it's coming down to continuing to embrace what the new offense is, which is the constant ball movement we saw in the second quarter last night, and even against Miami, that they were generating good open looks from three.
01:32They just have to convert. And last night, while they started converting that second half, they went away from it in the second half because no one else was making any shots, man.
01:40It was just the Jalen Brunson show.
02:11The better roster construction? I think it's still too early to tell, Brandon, who has the better roster construction.
02:15I think both teams need a little bit more time to gel. But for Giannis, the answer is both. He put both teams on notice.
02:21He said, look, Milwaukee, I know you went out and you got Miles Turner. I know you did some decent offseason acquisitions.
02:28I mean, thank God for Ron Rollins being his sidekick last night and putting up over 20-plus points because without him, the Knicks were able to win that game.
02:35So for Milwaukee, I'm going to give the Knicks the edge when it comes to who's got the better roster construction.
02:41The only reason Milwaukee is like not too far apart is because you got an MVP caliber candidate on that side.
02:46But Giannis put both teams on notice. He said, New York, this is what a guy is who everyone clowns saying, hey, he has a limited bag.
02:53You know, James Harden years ago is like, you know, he has more technique because he has to be able to shoot a ball, unlike Giannis, who just has heightened athleticism and can just dunk left and right.
03:03Well, the big difference is when Giannis wanted to take over, he got the job done.
03:07And so you want somebody like that on your team when you're looking at, all right, how do we make this push for a title?
03:14When you have someone like Giannis, who's dropped 50 in a closeout game to win an NBA championship, he put both teams on notice.
03:20He said, Bucs, make sure you keep adding to this roster so that way we can continue to compete for a championship.
03:26Knicks, look what I can do.
03:28New offensive system for the Knicks.
03:30So there's a little bit of room for error in terms of waiting for it all to gel, waiting for it all to come together, Alex.
03:36But that's two in a row. They've dropped two in a row.
03:39Does this personnel match this new scheme of Mike Brown's?
03:45I'm going to go back to that. It's too early, Brandon, just to even tell if it does or if it doesn't.
03:49I mean, the biggest question right now is Carl Anthony Towns, right?
03:53All the other guys seem to be adjusting very well to the speed of the game.
03:56And for them, it's just knocking down shots, whether it's Brunson, Bridges, OG, all those guys are gelling just fine.
04:04The big question is, is Carl Anthony Towns ready for that?
04:07This is a guy who isn't necessarily someone who has been known to hustle up and down the court,
04:12work from the high post as, you know, a prolific passer.
04:16He's a good passer, but not a prolific passer, say, as like Jokic or Sabonis, guys who really are working like dribble handoffs,
04:24you know, constantly working from the elbow, looking for guys who are cutting left and right.
04:27So I think it's more so is Cat ready to embrace that.
04:30But at the same time, the Knicks are also dealing with injuries.
04:33Like there's no Miles McBride out there right now, probably your best perimeter defender.
04:37You don't have your best rim protector and Mitchell Robinson.
04:40And so, look, if you have both those guys playing, I don't think you see the outcome that you do last night
04:46because both those guys are critical when you're looking for a Knicks defense.
04:49And right now, they're relying on that starting five last year, which is Brunson, Bridges, Hart, OG, Cat.
04:58And we just know from the data that's not the best starting five for defensive purposes.
05:03Real quick, Tom Thibodeau caught heat for, I guess, running guys into the ground and not having them fresh.
05:09I know Deuce McBride is out for personal reasons.
05:12But are you worried about these injuries that are kind of piling up for the Knicks so early in the season?
05:20I am a little concerned right now because we don't really know what's going on with Mitchell Robinson, right?
05:28So we're still unsure if it's just maintenance because, you know, he played the first two games,
05:33first two, three games in the preseason.
05:35Now it's just kind of been what's going on with him.
05:38We're still – everything's up in the air when he will return, what's actually going on with his ankle.
05:44Yavaselli dealing with some knee pain.
05:46We know that he'll return somewhere soon.
05:49McBride, as you said, personal reasons.
05:51So not sure what he's doing with right now.
05:53Hope all is well on his end.
05:54But, you know, it's not a medical issue, so he will return.
05:58The big concern, as we saw yesterday, is Jalen Brunson with a groin injury.
06:02That's what they – that's what they claim, groin, knee.
06:05So we're unsure, like, we're unsure what's going on with him right now.
06:09As we saw that he took like a – he had a weird split in like this third and fourth quarter.
06:13But, yeah, it's a little concerning.
06:15You know, you want all these guys to be healthy.
06:17This team was very healthy last season and was capable of staying so healthy when it got to the post –
06:22when they got to the postseason and made that run to the Eastern Conference Finals.
06:25And so you're looking for these guys to return, stay healthy, and go on that same run for this year
06:30because there are big expectations.
06:32But I'd rather them, you know, get over the knick-knack injuries at the beginning of the season
06:37rather than later towards the end of the season when you need these guys fully healthy
06:41and gearing up for more minutes in that postseason run.
06:45Love how you threw in that knick-knack right there.
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