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00:00What's good everybody? Dexter Henry here for New York Got Game. We just finished recording
00:04our latest episode of New York Got Game. We recorded it following the Knicks loss to the
00:08Magic at home, the first home loss of the season, and now it appears there could be an even bigger
00:13loss for the New York Knicks. Towards the end of this game, it appeared that Jalen Brunson had
00:18rolled his right ankle. He left the court limping after the game in the media. We did ask Mike
00:23Brown about the status of Jalen Brunson's ankle, and he did confirm that he had rolled it, but he
00:28did not have any further updates. Now, following that press conference, Jalen Brunson was seen
00:33outside of the Knicks locker room with crutches and also in a walking boot. Now, don't want
00:40to speculate an injury or the severity of an injury, but anytime you see a walking boot
00:44and crutches, that doesn't look good, and one has to only wonder if Jalen Brunson will be
00:49out, but then also how long and how serious of an injury of rolling the ankle could this
00:53be for the Knicks. We know that ankles are tricky. We know that Jalen Brunson himself
00:57has dealt with ankle injuries in the past, but just wanted to update you guys that we
01:01recorded the episode before we knew the news of Jalen Brunson being in the walking boot
01:07or on crutches. We will have more on this around Jalen Brunson and his injury, so please
01:12stay tuned to New York Post Sports and hit the subscribe button, New York Got Game. Enjoy
01:18the episode. We'll have more coming later this week where I'm sure we'll talk heavily about
01:22this injury and what it could mean for the Knicks. Just wanted to update all of you.
01:26Enjoy the episode. Welcome back to another edition of New York Got Game. Dexter Henry,
01:45Brian Fonseca here coming to you from Madison Square Garden where the Knicks, they just fell
01:51finally for the first time at home all season. I said finally like I was excited. I'm not excited
01:55about that, but the Knicks did lose to their Orlando Magic 124-107. Their first home loss of
02:01the season, five-game winning streak ended. Offense didn't look quite as good as we've seen thus far
02:09through this homestand, but we're going to still get through a lot of that today. In this game against
02:14the Magic, Brian, it was sluggish. The team looked sluggish. I know it was the second night of a back-to-back.
02:21The team looked sluggish. Mike Brown talked right here where we're sitting after the game. He said
02:27he wasn't happy. I thought this was interesting because I don't generally like this either. He
02:31wasn't happy with the team complaining about the officiating, right? And I thought that was very
02:36interesting. He said we're a no-excuse team, but the team seemed to have some excuses in the court.
02:40What did you see that you didn't like in this loss to the Magic? We know losses are going to happen,
02:45but what did you see that you didn't like in this loss? Pretty much everything Mike Brown said.
02:49Everything when we were talking about it. So he was in the postgame presser, and he mentioned
02:53a few different things that stood out. One was how the Knicks were just complaining a lot,
02:58as you mentioned, but also being out-hustled. Only 10 offensive rebounds is what he said.
03:0310 offensive rebounds might be okay for some teams, but this is where the Knicks want to get back to,
03:07where they dominated the offensive glass a couple years ago, and that wasn't the case in this game.
03:12Orlando is a team, by the way, who can hurt you in that regard. They're one of the better teams,
03:17just like the Knicks, in terms of limiting your rebounds per 100 possessions. So in this specific
03:21contest, you know, it was a matchup problem. And you also had, even though it was a second end of
03:26a back-to-back, Paolo Moncaro left early with an injury. Early is in the second quarter, and you had
03:31an opportunity there with Orlando's best player to potentially come back and win this game.
03:35Ultimately, it wasn't there. And I think, Dex, that they lost this game yesterday because they messed
03:41around with Memphis. They had a 28-point lead. They played with their food. Yeah, yeah. Late into the
03:45third quarter, they had a near 30-point lead. It was a 28-point lead. Memphis gradually got that down
03:51to 10 in the fourth quarter. And we were talking during the game, we were like, yo, this could be
03:56garbage time. We might get six minutes of Pacom Dadie, six minutes of Tyler Kolek. That didn't happen
04:01because the Knicks played with their food. They couldn't put away Memphis. A Memphis team that was
04:04shorthanded, and a Memphis team that had a John Moran who was really struggling at seven turnovers in 14
04:10minutes. Couldn't put them away. Starters had to play extended minutes. Nine-man rotation, so then
04:15you come into tonight, you don't really have those legs, and that all caught up to them. Yeah, I think
04:19that's definitely part of it. Although, you know, Mike Brown says, hey, we're no-excuse team. He
04:23doesn't want to hear any excuses. He did say, maybe I have to go a little bit deeper into the bench. He
04:27did talk about it. That was interesting, too. I found that very interesting. I thought that comment was very
04:31interesting. But you talked about the offensive rebounds. You talked about Mike Brown, I should say,
04:36talked about sprays this season. Getting into the paint, kicking the ball out. Only a
04:4011 in this game. That's a season low for the Knicks. So the things that were going right for
04:43their offense did not go right tonight. You talked about the offensive rebounds, and he said, look,
04:49everything that happened on the court, we blame the officials. That's not a good look when you see
04:53your players whining about that. I thought it was very interesting that he publicly called it out.
04:57You know he talked to the team about it. It's going to be interesting to see how the Knicks respond
05:01to that from this point on. I don't think, for me personally, there's not a huge level of concern,
05:10but I look at this as part of the process. Like, you were going to have something like this that
05:13came up in the season. I don't think anybody should be jumping out the window, even though
05:17some of y'all did after two and three. But I think that this is part of the process is what's going to
05:22happen, and you just have to see how does the team respond to adversity. Adversity happens in life.
05:26It's going to happen in basketball. How do they respond to this is very interesting to me. Now,
05:31with that being said, five-game winning streak comes to an end. I get all that. But throughout
05:37this homestand, and we talked about the two or three where people were jumping out the window,
05:41this offense has looked really good. They've made a leap here where they, before tonight,
05:47the time of us recording this against the Magic, they were the number one offense in the NBA in terms
05:51of offensive rating. There's a lot I feel like you can like about how they played through the
05:55homestand. It's only their first loss for the homestand, only their first loss at home
05:58all season. Do you like Sands this game? Do you like where this offense is right now,
06:05or at least the process of where this offense is? Yeah, there's a really focused effort on getting
06:09out to the corners, too, and getting those three-point shots from the corner, which I find
06:13very interesting, just at a faster rate, right? And when the offense is clicking, you really feel it in
06:19a different way this year, because you can feel that ball movement. You could see it, but you could
06:23also see, like, oh, okay, the ball's flying. Nobody wants to have it for more than two or three
06:27seconds. Everybody's being quick with their decisions. Josh Hart's being quick. He's driving.
06:31He's kicking it to Deuce McBride, who's kicking it back to Jalen Brunson here, like, whatever it is,
06:35whatever the action is. Like, they're just quick and precise with their decisions.
06:39Orlando got them to hold the ball a little bit at times, and Orlando wants to do that because
06:43defensively, they're not that this year, but they've been an elite defense for the last few years
06:50with this system that they've had under Jamal Mosley, who Mike Brown credited a lot of times
06:55during the press conference, two or three different times. So, ultimately, I do think
06:59that the offense is different. The offense is better. It's cleaner in a lot of different ways
07:03when they're doing it consistently. The defense still feels a little bit unsteady at times.
07:08And we'll get to that. You know, like, the defense, it's still trying to find itself,
07:12so to speak. Because, look, top 10 defense heading into this game, some of that could be strength of
07:16schedule, which hasn't been amazing, as we talked about. In some ways, this is maybe their first,
07:21like, or not their first, but one of their first big contests at home, given the context of what
07:27we've seen from, like, Cleveland being shorthanded, Boston being shorthanded. You know, they got a good
07:31Bulls team coming in, but they also beat the Bulls in that game and lost it in the game before. So,
07:37it felt like, you know, one of those spots in the NBA where it's hard to beat a team two straight
07:41times, especially when it's a home-and-home. So, this felt like a very meaningful game,
07:46especially for Orlando, who's been struggling this year, who's been underperforming, who went
07:50into this game first time all season as an underdog, by the way, and ended up winning this.
07:55So, I feel like that's big for them. And if you're the Knicks, you probably don't like that they had
07:58their sort of get-right spot in your building. In your building, you don't like that. And that goes
08:02into with them ending the home-winning streak. But I do agree, the offense, it's taken a leap.
08:08There's a lot of things I like about it. There was a lot of things you liked before the Magic game.
08:12And you don't want to get caught up in one game. But I think the process of what they've been doing,
08:17as opposed to before, one thing I will note, I thought in this game, in the Magic game,
08:21and you kind of alluded to this, you saw them revert to some old things.
08:26Some of the Tibbs-isms. Some of the Tibbs-isms that you saw, right? A little bit of stagnation
08:30with the ball, as you mentioned. A little bit of the iso ball with Jalen Brunson, who had 30 points
08:34in this game, but did roll his ankle late. There was no word on that. Rolled his right ankle,
08:38still no word on that at the time of us recording this. And we'll see how that all plays out.
08:42But there was some of that stagnation. And again, this is going to be part of the process.
08:47I want to be very clear. You're going to see this happen from time to time.
08:50And I think it's going to still take time. As good as they've looked for most of this homestand,
08:56it's going to take some time for them to fully get into this.
08:59But I still think Knicks fans should be encouraged by what they're seeing from this team offensively.
09:03And you heard Mikel Bridges say after the Memphis game, this is not even the best that this offense
09:09really is right now. He still thinks there's another level they can go to.
09:13He should think that. Should think that. It's only been three weeks.
09:14Yeah. And I'm inclined to agree with that. Now, when it's looking right, and we saw that for the
09:19first half of the Memphis game, just to take that game in particular, they're whipping the ball around.
09:23There was a lot of back cuts. There was a lot of great dribble handoff action.
09:26The back cuts were destroying. That was, you know what? We didn't mention this enough.
09:30The back cuts against Memphis was destroying them, turning their heads over and over and over again.
09:36Memphis was late to everything. That's another element. When the Knicks offense is flying
09:40and guys are moving without the ball, which is really another point of emphasis this year,
09:45they are back cutting like crazy. You saw this a little bit even in the Minnesota game.
09:49I think two of the best halves that they played. If you want a perfect Knicks game,
09:55go watch the first half of the Memphis game and go watch the second half of Minnesota.
09:59That's perfect 48 minutes of Knicks basketball right there. They have to put together 48 minutes,
10:05which is another point of emphasis that Mike Brown had last game after they beat Memphis,
10:11but nearly got dicey there in the second half. He mentioned the need to put together 48 minutes.
10:17So that's also part of the learning curve. We're going to start to see that at some point.
10:20And look, other teams will catch on. There's going to be adjustments to the adjustments,
10:23as we talk about. They're going to face other good teams along the way.
10:27More coming soon with Miami in that home-and-home. That's going to be real interesting.
10:32And we'll get into a lot of that, too.
10:34After that, they have a big road trip. So there's a lot coming up that's going to be worth watching.
10:38But yeah, I think there are a lot of things to be encouraged about.
10:41And then there are a lot of things that need improvement, obviously.
10:43Yeah, like you said, it's been three weeks.
10:45Yeah, it's still November.
10:46It has to be context into that. But when we talk about this offense and we look at Jalen Brunson,
10:51and Jalen Brunson, we heard this so much through the offseason when we were doing these videos.
10:56How many times did we get questions from fans where they were like,
10:59ah, how do you feel about Jalen Brunson and Mike Brown's offense?
11:02Mike Brown talked about this on media day.
11:05And he said, hey, I'm going to put Jalen Brunson in more catch-and-shoot situations.
11:08And some people and fans and also in the media were concerned about the ball being taken out of Jalen Brunson's hand.
11:16But if we look at this, particularly through this homestand, if we just want to have the lens on this homestand
11:20and the Knicks offense, Jalen Brunson has been cooking.
11:23And so my question to you is, when you look at this, and again, small sample size, three weeks, we get all that.
11:29Has Mike Brown's offense unlocked the best version of Jalen Brunson,
11:34or at least trending towards the best version of Jalen Brunson?
11:37You know, he's also had some high assist games, too, which I think is worth 10 assists against Memphis.
11:43Yeah, yeah. It had multiple double-digit outings already in terms of his assists.
11:46And you're seeing the playmaking raise up, too.
11:48And I think that's part of this as well.
11:50Being able to take the ball out of his hands more in spots.
11:53I've got to look at what the usage rate is exactly.
11:55But, you know, that is probably going to fluctuate throughout the year.
11:58We know he's still going to be ball-dominant at times.
12:02You want him to be less ball-dominant because what you want is for him to be healthy in April
12:06and for him to not be worn down in April from having to carry the team too much.
12:10Like, today was a lot of Jalen Brunson.
12:12And this game against the Magic, but it also felt like it was a lot of Jalen Brunson
12:15because nobody else was really consistent throughout the contest.
12:19That's fair.
12:20It was more so like, look, I need to put the team on my back because we need answers,
12:24and I have them, and nobody else is really getting in rhythm.
12:27And Carl Anthony Towns had a spark at some point.
12:29Josh Hart had a couple of drives.
12:30But ultimately, like, you didn't get that consistently.
12:33But to answer your question, yeah, I do think this could unlock a version of him
12:37that you need to ultimately get to the finals because what you need is to not wear him down
12:41in the regular season by carrying this team.
12:44You need other guys to step up in Spurs, which we've seen.
12:47Like, there have been games this year where you just see 15 points, 20 points, 18 points, 14,
12:52like all throughout the team where guys are consistently contributing.
12:55You need more of that in order to preserve Jalen Brunson for later in the year.
12:58True.
12:58We saw, I keep going back to the Memphis game, we saw in that game one of the better halves
13:03that we saw in the game, six guys were in double figures.
13:05I believe that was the same.
13:06I think it was five or six in the Minnesota game.
13:08So you've seen that here.
13:09But I do think the – I'm going to keep using this word, P word, process.
13:13I do think the process is good for Jalen Brunson, who's clearly bought into this,
13:17who's doing well on catch-and-shoot threes.
13:19We know the three-point percentage to start the season was a little bit lower than he normally has.
13:23But I said when we talked about our What is the Odd show, I was like, yo, I think that uptakes
13:28because I just trust him in the process of this.
13:30And I think that is starting to bode well.
13:33Now, you do not want, I think, too many nights in the process that look like it did against Orlando
13:39where he feels like he has to carry the load.
13:42And look –
13:42And then turns his ankle at that.
13:43Right.
13:43Bad shooting nights across the board.
13:46Jalen Brunson, McHale Bridges, Cat.
13:48It's going to happen.
13:49Right?
13:50And I think what you heard from Mike Brown, to go back to that, is he didn't like the process
13:54because you saw the complaining.
13:56You saw them letting go of the rope on defense.
13:58And it's the little things like that, not being as aggressive, not crashing the boards,
14:01which he said, this is all part of the offense and their identity.
14:04And identity is a word I'm going to transition into next.
14:08Because I think when we look at this homestand, or we're in the midst of this homestand where
14:13there's one more game to go, I think one of your major takeaways has to be this Knicks
14:18offense is starting to ascend.
14:20But I think the other thing, because there's going to be so much talk about, all right,
14:25this looks so different from last year.
14:27This isn't what we saw under Tibbs.
14:29I think a fair question here is, was this identity shift in what we're seeing with the
14:35offense, was it necessary?
14:37Is it necessary for them to get to where they want to go?
14:41I think it is.
14:42I think you always have to be evolving.
14:44And this is part of the evolution.
14:47But how are you feeling about that?
14:48It's not exactly where it's supposed to be, which is crazy to say, because coming into
14:52tonight, there's number one offense in the NBA, right?
14:55Come through 10 games, you're number one offense in the NBA.
14:58And I think fans could dream of being legitimately a top three offense in the NBA.
15:02Like, I think we would say, yeah, you have the talent to do it.
15:04They got the talent to do it, right?
15:05But was this necessary?
15:08And evolution is not easy for anything in life.
15:12But do you feel like this was necessary for the Knicks to at least try to get to where
15:15they want to go, which is win in the championship?
15:17Necessary is an interesting word.
15:19Because I think what you need, really, is, especially if you're a contender, you need to
15:25be top five, top ten in both categories, offense and defense.
15:28So, as much offense as you're going to have, and I do think this could be a top one, two,
15:33one to five offense, really, this year, all season long, and probably closer to one to
15:37three instead of one to five, the defense still has to be really good.
15:41And you've mentioned you think they could be a top ten defense, assuming that there's
15:45enough Mitchell Robinson throughout the year.
15:47He played tonight.
15:48He was in foul trouble.
15:49But guess what?
15:49He had eight rebounds in short time.
15:51Like, this is what he's going to do.
15:52Ultimately, they didn't win the rebounding battle.
15:53But you had Mitchell Robinson for, you know, his big contribution to that.
15:58I think the main thing is being able to hold up defensively.
16:01And we're not really going to know what that looks like until they start seeing more games
16:06like this.
16:07More games against the teams who are supposed to be really good in the Eastern Conference
16:10and really both conferences, and teams who are supposed to be really good in general.
16:14So, we need to see, like, I wish Cleveland was healthy for that first game.
16:17The Knicks weren't fully either, but I wish Cleveland was healthy specifically in that
16:20first game.
16:21And now Darius Garland might have re-injured his toe.
16:23So, we'll see what happens there.
16:24Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley sat tonight and actually beat Miami.
16:27So, they got their revenge in that game.
16:29They have Miami coming up.
16:30Miami's top in pace right now.
16:32Like, the fastest playing team in the NBA.
16:35We'll see where they are when the numbers update.
16:37But I'm sure they're still going to be up there.
16:39And then in terms of offense, they're really good too.
16:41So, that's not, I would call, an elite team.
16:44And they're also shorthanded right now.
16:45In the NBA, you're just going to face a lot of shorthanded teams.
16:47But I want to see how they look when they get Oklahoma City, when they get Denver,
16:51when they get a healthier Cleveland.
16:53But that's the thing, right?
16:54Because I do think, if somebody asked me this on a show I was on the other day, which is
16:58like, what matchups are you excited to see the Knicks play against?
17:01And you and I have talked a little about this off camera.
17:03And it's like, yeah, I want to see them go against really good teams that can play elite
17:07defense.
17:08That can switch everything.
17:09That can really challenge this offense, which we're seeing ascend.
17:12I need to see that.
17:14I guess the reason I use the word necessary, just to add some context and detail to that,
17:18is that I'm not sure that if the Knicks played the way they played offense last year, they
17:25could truly compete against those teams and those matchups that you're saying you're going
17:29to be excited about seeing.
17:32And when I say that, it's not just through the regular season.
17:34It's can you do that and beat a team like that four out of seven times in the playoffs,
17:38right?
17:38And that's why I'm like, is this evolution necessary?
17:41And that's what I think it is.
17:43I was just watching this game and I was like, man, they have more talent than the Magic,
17:47but like the Orlando Magic one, they're better than you think.
17:50They just, they've, they've been one of the more disappointing teams to start.
17:52They've actually been favored every single game they've played this year, except for
17:55this one.
17:56But in the defense is better than what you think, which is why I thought this was somewhat
17:59of a good test.
17:59And they also have just annoying ass players on their team.
18:03If you watch them, like Anthony Black could hit a shot now at times, you know, Jalen Suggs
18:07obviously, you know, who's one of their absolute engines.
18:11Desmond Bain, who's been very uneasy to start this year.
18:13He's actually had a couple of decent games and sort of rounding in the form.
18:16Paolo Bancaro was hurt.
18:17You know what he can do.
18:18Franz Wagner, he may be someone who's in all-star conversations this year.
18:21Like this is a team that could produce two all-stars.
18:23And one of the things that killed the Knicks today was Wendell Carter Jr.
18:26Quietly hitting mid-range shot after mid-range shot when, you know, they just needed a
18:30bailout in a possession.
18:32Orlando did.
18:32So like they have a bunch of players, Jonathan Isaac, who can guard pretty much anybody.
18:36Although not as much this year.
18:38We'll have to wait and see, you know, to what degree he'll be impactful.
18:41But like they're a team that I could totally see the Knicks playing.
18:45I've said this in the beginning, like in round two of the playoffs, if Orlando gets it together,
18:50you know, I could totally see that happening.
18:52And that's a series that you should win.
18:55But it's also a very annoying matchup that if you lose game one, you just don't know
18:58what could happen.
18:58And there's a lot of tricky matchups in the East.
19:01I think the Knicks, they have more talent than arguably anybody.
19:04It's them and Cleveland, we've said it, at the top, went fully healthy.
19:07Cleveland, we'll see what happens there.
19:09But everyone else in the East, like Atlanta could be a tough matchup.
19:12If they get healthy and get their stuff together.
19:14Right, exactly.
19:14If they get this.
19:16Who's playing really well?
19:17Detroit, especially.
19:18Amazing, yeah.
19:19Like Detroit was tough last year.
19:21And now Jalen Duren's like a most improved player candidate, you know.
19:25And the Knicks still have to play them also this year.
19:27We haven't seen that yet.
19:28So like there's still a lot that we're learning about this team.
19:31But so far, I think the offense is probably the most encouraging thing.
19:34I would actually agree.
19:36But one thing, we'll continue with the offense and then we'll talk defense a little bit.
19:39But one of the things with the offense, and I think fans will look at this too.
19:43Mike Brown talked a lot on media day and throughout training camp to start this season.
19:48He talked a lot about pace.
19:50It's another P word.
19:50Coaches love talking about pace.
19:52Process.
19:53We're talking a lot of P words here on this edition of New York Got Game.
19:56And the Knicks are still a bottom third of the league in pace.
20:0122nd coming into tonight.
20:0322nd coming into tonight.
20:04Probably didn't get faster after what we saw.
20:06Not after what we saw tonight.
20:08And they only put up 107, right?
20:10And we saw some of that stagnation we talked about.
20:14They, do you think it's, I'm going to use the N word again, necessary.
20:17Necessary.
20:18Not the other N word that y'all might be thinking about.
20:20I'm not talking about that.
20:21But, necessary.
20:24Do you think it's necessary for the Knicks to pick up their pace?
20:29Like, in order to their offense to even reach the next ceiling.
20:33Do you think that is necessary for them?
20:36Because it's not, you hear Mike Brown kind of saying it, it's like not right where he wants them to be.
20:41Yeah.
20:41So, they are pushing the ball.
20:44I do see the concerted effort is what I'm saying.
20:46I'm seeing more ball move, more passes, and I am seeing them push more.
20:49But he, just to hit, so we can let people understand, Mike Brown talked about this tonight.
20:54He talked about wanting to push the pace so defenses could not get set.
20:59Particularly, he wants them to push in transition.
21:02But part of pace is also shooting the ball a little bit earlier in the shot clock.
21:05The Knicks are among the worst in the league, shooting it with seven seconds and under left on the shot clock.
21:10So, they're taking still a lot of shots late in the shot clock.
21:13That's how you get more pace.
21:14That's how you get more possessions.
21:15Is it necessary, bringing that N-word up again, for them to pick up the pace in order to really elevate as an offensive team, despite how good the offense has been?
21:28Necessary, I don't know because of what we're seeing.
21:31Again, this goes back to what happens when you face, like, really good teams consistently, defensively.
21:38Maybe if you had a better pace or better pace in this game against Orlando, maybe that's what helps you, right?
21:45Because Orlando is not an appreciably fast team either.
21:47They're not.
21:48They're playing faster this year.
21:50I don't know how sustainable that's going to be given the way their offenses look, but they are playing faster this year.
21:54The Knicks right now, in terms of pace, this is the fastest that they've played since the 2018-19 season.
22:00Tom Thibodeau wasn't even higher yet at that point.
22:02They were 17th in the league in pace.
22:03It was 99-6.
22:04So, right now, heading into at least this game against Orlando is probably going to be a little slower now.
22:08It's 99-4.
22:11If they're probably middle of the road in the NBA in terms of pace, I think that's fine because I still think you can generate a really good offense from there if you're efficient.
22:19And part of it is also when you get these second-chance opportunities.
22:23I think offensive rebounding, you could argue, is more important than pace for this team.
22:27I think getting those opportunities, like, Carl Anthony Towns was doing a better job of rebounding on the glass, like, at rebounding on the glass.
22:34Where else are you going to rebound?
22:36You know, as the game progressed, especially later on, where he started to get into more of a rebounding rhythm.
22:40And Mitchell Robinson, this is why he's super important.
22:43Mitchell Robinson might be a top-three important Knick on this team because of what he could do from an offensive rebounding standpoint.
22:49He can win you a playoff series or win you multiple games in a playoff series because how he can dominate the glass.
22:53Even though, you know, offensively, you're not really trying to give him the ball 24 feet out.
22:57But that's okay because he's elite at one really valuable thing.
23:01And I think the offensive rebounding and the second-chance points are really important.
23:04And I think cashing in on those three-point opportunities you generate is also very important.
23:08Because right now, they've been doing that for the most part.
23:11But the way that they're getting the corners, setting up these good catch-and-shoot opportunities,
23:15I think cashing in on that with the ball movement is really important.
23:18So, no, you have me thinking about something, even though I set the question up to you.
23:23And I do agree that the O-word here, got a lot of words here, the offensive rebounding,
23:30it could be more important than the pace because of how integral it has been to the Knicks' offensive success this season.
23:36I think you're right about that.
23:37I had asked this question in an early episode this week with Lee Escobedo, and I was wondering, I was like,
23:42is the offensive rebounding masking?
23:45This was a burning question.
23:46I had masking any offensive issues the team might have.
23:49But what you're saying is this is part of the identity, and it really has to happen.
23:54And you kind of saw how Mike Brown was annoyed at the low output of only 10 offensive rebounds.
23:58You mentioned him multiple times.
23:59Multiple times, yeah.
24:00About 10 offensive rebounds in the game against Orlando.
24:03So you see how he thinks it's so important to their offensive identity.
24:07Granted, he's mentioned pace a lot.
24:09I tend to agree with you, Brian, on that point, that it's actually more important.
24:13And you gave me something to think about that that might be the most important thing to them offensively.
24:18Well, sure.
24:18Well, think about it this way.
24:19Heading into this game, they're second in the league in offensive rebounds per 100 possessions.
24:24Yeah.
24:24So they're only trailing the Houston Rockets.
24:26So they're first in the Eastern Conference.
24:27Almost 15 rebounds, offensive rebounds per 100 possessions, which is a really, really good number.
24:32And this is with Mitchell Robinson playing, what, half the games, basically?
24:36Yeah, and they were earlier in the week.
24:37They were leading at 17.6.
24:39They were number one in the league.
24:40This was after Sunday's contest.
24:42So it's dropped off a little bit.
24:43It's going to drop off a little bit after the Orlando game.
24:46But, yeah, that's the impressive part.
24:48Mitchell Robinson has only played in half the game, something I had noted in the previous episode.
24:52And you're seeing how integral it is because then they don't have that against Orlando.
24:56And it didn't look as good as maybe people thought it would.
24:59They're gang rebounding.
25:00Dys are still crashing.
25:01Like, Josh Hart, you know what Josh Hart's going to do on the glass.
25:04But it's also, you're seeing OG Ananubi get rebounds sometimes.
25:07Not as much tonight.
25:08But in general, you're seeing him crash.
25:10You're seeing Deuce McBride crash when he's out there.
25:12Jalen Brunson's gotten some offensive rebounds just off pure hustle.
25:15And then, obviously, the big is, like, Carl Anthony Towns, so to speak.
25:18But I think if you continue, and Mikael Bridges, actually, we should shout him out in this regard, too, right?
25:22Like, everyone's putting in that effort there.
25:25That's why they're getting there.
25:26Mitchell Robinson's, like, the guy that takes you over the top.
25:28Like, he's out there.
25:29You can pencil in.
25:30And, like, I had his over for rebounds today.
25:32It was six and a half.
25:33I'm like, are you kidding me?
25:34He's, like, even with foul trouble, he got eight.
25:36You know what I mean?
25:37And I thought there was a chance he could get ten as well.
25:39Like, it's just any given night, he could just go off from a rebounding perspective.
25:43And I think the offensive rebounding is key because you also have a bunch of potent scorers, potent three-point shooters, multiple potent creators at this point who can get you a shot off the offensive rebound so that you can score and cash in on those opportunities.
25:58Yeah, and that's part of what's made this offense look so good.
26:00Before we get out of here, let's also talk defense because there's going to be so much attention on this offense.
26:04We talked a lot about offense thus far this season.
26:06But heading into this game, according to Cleaning the Glass, the Knicks were ranked eighth in defense.
26:11Cleaning the Glass, obviously, you know, we always take out the garbage time in terms of looking at that, which is why we love to look at that site.
26:17Shout out to Cleaning the Glass for the stats.
26:18But eighth in defense, I've been saying I thought they could be a top eight to ten defense.
26:23I will say this, though.
26:25Having looked at the defense, it hasn't always looked that good sometimes.
26:29Like, sometimes it's looked just a little bit clunky.
26:33You see some miscommunication.
26:35The Knicks have not been good at defending the three-point line at all whatsoever.
26:38That has been a struggle for them in an area they have to get better on.
26:42With all that said, and small sample size of ten, eleven games now, okay?
26:47They're still top ten-ish defense.
26:52Where we think there's room to get better, I feel like that should be encouraging.
26:57But what else are you seeing in terms of the defensive issues and how do you think they can actually get better on defense
27:04and get to where they're consistently within that eight to ten range or, dare I say, even higher possibly than that?
27:10Yeah, I think it may start at the three-point line, as you mentioned.
27:13Because heading into this game, in terms of three-pointers allowed per 100 possessions, so just attempts, not even makes, six, six most.
27:23And in terms of percentage, teams are shooting 39% from three against them heading into this game, fifth highest in the NBA.
27:30So those are two things you want to cut off.
27:31And you could say, hey, teams maybe are just getting lucky, and it's like you minimize the luck if you're closing out
27:37and you're not just getting roped off with open look after open look.
27:41Even today, Orlando was just 12-33.
27:43That's 36%.
27:44That's actually not bad.
27:46That's about league average.
27:47And as a team, that can hurt you, especially when you yourself are shooting 30.6%.
27:51You're 11 for 36, which is what the Knicks did in this game against Orlando.
27:54So I think a bunch of it could be, like, yeah, figuring out how to defend a three-point shot more effectively
28:00because teams, evidently, are trying to attack you in that regard.
28:03Like, they're trying to get your wings out of position, trying to get guys to overhelp.
28:07Overhelping is a thing that we talked about a lot last year as it relates to Carl Anthony Towns.
28:11And this is just going to be an ongoing thing regardless of who's out there.
28:14With Jalen Brunson and with Carl Anthony Towns and teams trying to figure out how to get them in actions
28:19to create opportunities for our guys.
28:21And a lot of times in the modern NBA, that could end in a three-pointer
28:24because Carl Anthony Towns, you could get him in space and hit the pass to somebody over there on the wing
28:29who's wide open, and then all of a sudden they could pass it off to somebody in the corner
28:33who's more wide open, or they could just take the shot themselves.
28:36Like, there are a bunch of different ways to break down the defense,
28:38especially if everyone's trying to play faster now.
28:40So I do think that's something that, like, maybe there's a ceiling there.
28:44And this is part of the gamble, right, of the Carl Anthony Towns trade.
28:47It's like, can you actually have an elite defense or at least a top-ten defense all season long
28:52with Jalen Brunson and with Carl Anthony Towns?
28:54The elixir to that is supposed to be Carl Anthony Towns at the fore, Mitchell Robinson starts.
28:58But if Mitchell Robinson...
28:59It's like, what about the games he doesn't start?
29:01If he doesn't play enough, then, you know, it's harder to gauge.
29:04So I do think the three-point shot is going to be where teams or other teams look to hurt them.
29:09It's already happening, and we'll see what happens from there.
29:12Yeah, we're going to see.
29:12It's going to be interesting to see.
29:13I do think Mitchell Robinson being on the court or not on the court has got a lot to do with that.
29:18It's so important to the team.
29:19And you see the value of what he has, even in limited minutes.
29:22It's really interesting.
29:23But that's going to do it for this edition of New York Got Game.
29:25We've got a lot of other good stuff coming this week for you,
29:29so stay tuned in to New York Post Sports' YouTube channel.
29:33Make sure you hit that subscribe button, the like button, all that good stuff.
29:36Here's Brian Fonseca.
29:37I'm Dexter Henry.
29:38Catch you next time in another edition of New York Got Game.
29:40And thanks for watching New York Got Game.
29:45Boop-shakalaka.
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