Knicks stay perfect at home as offense clicks and bench excels

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00:00The Knicks, they've now won three straight games.

00:02Big win here at home at Madison Square Garden, 137-114 over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

00:07I'm Dexter Henry, joined by my guest as always on New York Got Game, my guy Brian Fonseca

00:12here of the New York Post.

00:13And Brian, this was a fantastic win for the Knicks.

00:16We'll get into whether or not this was their best win of the season, but the offense looked

00:21really good.

00:21We talked about that, 137 points here.

00:24Does this offense look like what we envisioned it to be under Mike Brown?

00:3083 of those points in the second half.

00:31And that's really the key.

00:33The first half, it felt like they were getting the ball movement.

00:35They were generating decent looks.

00:37Yeah.

00:37And then at other times, they were rushed, or at other times, they would take too long,

00:41and they were taking shots late into the shot clock.

00:44So what you saw in that second half is the ball movement really started to pop, and they

00:50were getting these looks that were just high quality.

00:52They were making the extra pass, which is really good.

00:54Sometimes they overpass a little bit, but you would commonly see, like OG Ananobi, wide

00:58open three, top of the key.

01:00Josh Hart, not really hesitating from three today as well.

01:03Deuce McBride, who got a lot of love from Mike Brown, as we just heard in the postgame

01:07presser for his two-way play, was great on offense, was really an energetic force for

01:11this team.

01:11They got contributions all the way around.

01:13It wasn't the Jalen Brunson carry us type of effort that you commonly see.

01:17He picked it up in the third quarter, as did everyone else, but it was a great all-around

01:20offensive effort, especially in the second half.

01:22That's the best we've seen them look.

01:23Yeah, I think it's the best you've seen them look.

01:24You have to be excited about the offense, and I think another thing that Knicks fans

01:28can be excited about here in this game against the Timberwolves was the play of Mitchell

01:31Robinson in this one.

01:33Eight points, ten rebounds, three blocks.

01:37Mike Brown said he thought he could have had nine blocks, and it did look like it the way

01:40he altered shots.

01:42One, how good is it to see Mitchell Robinson just healthy and producing at this level

01:46and having this impact that we saw from him tonight?

01:48Mike Brown asked in the press conference to all of the media members, so us, how many times

01:54have you seen somebody get nine offensive rebounds in 16 minutes?

01:58That's what Mitchell Robinson did today.

02:00You don't see that.

02:01It doesn't happen often, and this is why, like, we keep going back to the Jared Allen

02:04quote from the playoffs, because this is what Mitchell Robinson can do to defenses when

02:08he's right, and this is why he's important for this team from a two-way perspective, not

02:12just from an offensive rebound perspective, but also just defensively blocking shots, which

02:16we saw today.

02:17He sent one multiple rows back as well, so he was a terror on that end, too, but the offensive

02:22glass, just winning those extra possessions, that was really the secret sauce for the

02:25Knicks a couple years ago.

02:26They got a little bit away from that last year, but Mitchell Robinson being hurt had a

02:29lot to do with that.

02:30When he was healthy in the playoffs, you started to see that again, so if that element is there,

02:35yes, it adds more dynamics to their offense because you have more guys that can score,

02:40that can create a shot, and you have a new system that encourages pace, space, flow, and

02:45rhythm, and it's different from the stagnation that we saw last year, so Mitchell Robinson

02:48getting offensive rebounds is an important ingredient to that.

02:51It was huge.

02:51Knicks rebounded the ball extremely well tonight, 50-31 edge on the glass.

02:57That was huge, and I think another thing when you look at this game is the bench.

03:01We talked about depth a lot in the offseason, Brian, and the Knicks' depth showed up tonight.

03:0553 bench points is what you saw.

03:08We talked about the offense looking good under Mike Brown, but is this bench starting to settle

03:12in into Mike Brown's offense, and are you liking what you're seeing from the bench right

03:15now?

03:15Yeah, you're starting to see more rhythm.

03:18You're starting to see, like, Deuce McBride is coming into his own, obviously.

03:20This season, we're expecting a big season from him.

03:22Josh Hart, in particular, these last three games now, a three-game stretch where he's

03:27looking more like the Josh Hart of old.

03:29Not that you need that on a night-to-night basis.

03:30Not that you expect that.

03:32We know that he's going to be dealing with injuries seemingly all season long.

03:34He's come out and said this much.

03:36But ultimately, you're looking at the way this team is playing.

03:39The bench is going to be a key part of that.

03:40Garshan Yavusele only played five minutes.

03:42I still think he's going to be more impactful as the season progresses.

03:45Jordan Clarkson's role is still pretty limited, but he's starting to give you better,

03:48more quality minutes.

03:50So you go up and down that bench unit.

03:52You're seeing a lot of guys who are going to contribute consistently.

03:54It also feels like Mike Brown is starting to hit more of the notes that he wants and

03:58feels comfortable with.

03:59He's changed the rotations a little bit.

04:01He's starting to get a feel for what works.

04:03We're off the Trey Jamison minutes now.

04:05Tyler Colek has even been shelved a little bit.

04:07We're going to talk more about that in an upcoming episode of New York Got Games.

04:10So it feels like he's starting to get to what he wants.

04:13And the team is whole now, so he can do that.

04:15Yeah, you're starting to see that.

04:16Guys starting to know what their roles are.

04:18And it's still time for these things to evolve, but we'll see how it is.

04:21Look, the thing of note here is the Knicks, they've won three straight.

04:24They are 5-0 at home, haven't lost a game here at the Garden all season.

04:28When you look at this, Brian, and this win in particular over the Wolves,

04:32is this their best win of the year?

04:34Is this the best performance, complete performance you've seen from the Knicks thus far this season?

04:38Unequivocally, yes.

04:39It has to be because of everything we've seen so far.

04:42Now, keep in mind, they've been favored to win every game this season

04:45except for that first game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in opening night.

04:49And they had a couple guys out, right?

04:50They had a couple guys out as the Cleveland narrow underdogs,

04:52and that was just holdover from last year.

04:54Cleveland was a great regular season team.

04:56Maybe they'd do it again.

04:57But ultimately, it was almost a pick-em game.

05:00The Knicks have been favored basically ever since.

05:02And it's important to note that I feel like they haven't been playing as well as they could have.

05:06They've left some things on the table, but we expected that because it's a new coach.

05:10It's a new system.

05:11Guys have been in and out of the lineups, Mitchell Robinson in particular.

05:14And now that they're whole, give them a little more time.

05:17It's still the first week of November.

05:19It's going to be a while.

05:20Still think this is a very good team who can win over 52.5,

05:24whatever their win total was before the season, 53.5 at the end.

05:27We both project that they're probably going to be a 55-ish to maybe even on the high-end 57, 58 wins,

05:33but probably 55-ish, and that can get you in the neighborhood of first or second in the Eastern Conference.

05:37So I haven't seen anything to deter me from thinking,

05:40hey, this is one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.

05:42They are that.

05:43They have to look like that more consistently.

05:45But we're like 10% of the way through the season.

05:47Thanks for eight games.

05:48You know, we still have a long way to go.

05:50But they looked really good tonight.

05:51And the second half is the best we've seen them play, bar none.

05:53All right.

05:54You said we still have a long way to go, only eight games in.

05:57But just a couple games ago, do you remember when people were panicking?

05:59Yeah.

05:59It's going to be a recurring thing all season.

06:02Yeah, you're going to see that.

06:03But right now, Knicks, they've won five straight at home, undefeated here at the Garden to start the season.

06:07Three in a row in terms of in-the-win column.

06:10They improved to five and three on the season after a 137-114 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

06:16We'll have a lot more coming on the Knicks later this week on New York Got Game.

06:20He's Brian Fonseca.

06:21I'm Dexter Henry signing off.

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