00:00The Knicks won the end-season NBA Cup championship, and now it's time to bring home the real one, the real trophy.
00:08Ladies and gentlemen, so let's talk NBA Cup and Knicks basketball with Jonathan Macri of Knicks Film School.
00:14J-Mac, it's championship or bust after what I saw last night.
00:17Appreciate you hopping on with this, my guy.
00:19Let me get straight into this because I want you to have as much time as you can to break this down for us.
00:25The first banner or championship since 1973, I think bell bottoms were in style back then.
00:34Did that win put the entire NBA and league on notice and why?
00:40Well, I don't want to sound like an arrogant Knicks fan, but I think the league should have already been on notice that this team was a team to be reckoned with.
00:48Look, coming into the season, the Knicks were kind of co-favorites with the Cleveland Cavaliers to come out of the East.
00:55Because of how difficult the West was, they had the second-best odds of any team in the league.
00:59So to say, you know, that last night did anything to change the narrative or the thinking surrounding this Knicks team,
01:07I just don't see how that's the case only because, like, look at last season's playoffs.
01:12We've already seen this team come from behind, come from big deficits down.
01:16So when they were down 11 to the Spurs' late third quarter last night, it's not like anybody who had watched this team last season or the last few seasons thought,
01:24hey, this team can't come back from this deficit.
01:26You want to tell me they proved that they could beat one of the big dogs out West?
01:31Sure.
01:31But I guarantee you there's still going to be people saying, oh, they can't handle the Thunder or even the Nuggets or the Rockets.
01:39Look, Jalen Brunson, for as long as he's on this team, and thank goodness he is on this team,
01:44is going to have a chance to be the best player in any game on any court anywhere.
01:50Vegas, New York, Denver, Oklahoma City, does not matter the location.
01:54So, for me, they have already been a team that everybody else in the league should be worried about for the last few years when Jalen Brunson's been doing his thing.
02:05But if you want to give them a little extra bump because they held the trophy last night, sure, why not?
02:09I don't have an objection to that.
02:11Those three teams you mentioned, the Thunder, Nuggets, Rockets, they have their star or their superstar, and then they have a pretty deep bench.
02:20Jalen Brunson hyped up the Knicks supporting cast after the win.
02:24He said, without them, we don't win this bleep.
02:27Can't say it because I'll get in trouble.
02:29Do the Knicks finally have a deep enough bench to win a chip, or do you feel as though Leon Rose still needs to go out there and grab some pieces?
02:38Well, I will say this.
02:40They were able to win that game, you know, essentially going eight deep.
02:45Ariel Huckporty did give them a couple good minutes at the end of the first half.
02:48And they did so without two really important bench pieces in Deuce McBride and Landry Schammett, which is why anyone's doubting the Knicks today or anybody, you know, questioning, you know, how impressive that win really was.
03:00The Spurs were at full strength.
03:02The Knicks were the team missing two guys.
03:04That being said, the one thing I will say, this is a still a small team.
03:08You look at Clarkson, Colek, McBride when he comes back, Schammett when he comes back, and obviously Jalen Brunson.
03:14I would like to see Leon Rose make one more move.
03:17You know, Gershon Yabuselli seems like a great guy.
03:20He was hyping up his team last night, but that's a big salary slot to be sitting on the bench and not contributing anything.
03:27So if Leon Rose or, well, one of two things.
03:30If Yabuselli can either start to produce and be the player the Knicks thought they were signing in the summer, or if Leon Rose could turn that salary slot into, you know, maybe a wing off the bench, maybe even another breaking case of emergency big man.
03:43And I think that would behoove the Knicks in their ultimate journey to, again, raise another trophy in June.
03:50Deuce McBride out.
03:51Tyler Colek has stepped in, stepped up.
03:5414 points last night.
03:56I'm feeling like that was his best overall game in the Knicks jersey.
04:00We weren't able to see this last year because Tibbs didn't play him that much.
04:04Is it safe to say that that was Tyler Colek's coming out party as a Knick?
04:08Oh, absolutely.
04:10You know, it's funny.
04:12I understand and because I've watched, you know, all of his games and all the games he's been on the Knick roster that he has never had any massive scoring performances like 20 or 25 points or anything like that.
04:24But I got to say, I was taken aback when I looked at his basketball reference page last night and saw that he had never scored in double digits as a pro since getting drafted, you know, early in the second round a year and a half ago.
04:38So his 14 points last night, a career high, I think it was also a career high for him in rebounds.
04:43And then obviously the trust that Mike Brown had in him to put, had in him to put him back in the game late in the fourth quarter to really seal the deal.
04:52It shows you not only what he has done on the court when he's had opportunities in the last few weeks, but I would guarantee you what he is displaying on the practice court.
05:01And to that end, you know, Jalen Brunson, I think, talked about this after the win that, hey, you guys maybe don't see as much of Tyler Kolek as we see.
05:11But the work he puts in behind the scenes is what really sets him apart.
05:16I think he's going to be a part of this Knick rotation for the rest of the season.
05:19And I think the rest of the league knows that the Knicks have a real backup point guard on their hands moving forward.
05:25When you look at the box score, you see Carl Anthony Towns only had 16.
05:29Mikael Bridges was kind of struggled throughout the night.
05:32He only had 11.
05:34OG dropped a game high 28.
05:36And then obviously Captain Clutch, Jalen Brunson, showed up.
05:40But again, they got great contribution from the bench.
05:43So after last night, do you think that this core, this team can win an NBA championship as is?
05:51Or are you still blowing it up and trading for Giannis if that opportunity is there?
05:57Look, if and when the Bucs decide to start taking calls and if you believe the reporting, they have not yet, you know, gotten to the point.
06:05You have to pick up the phone.
06:06You have to inquire.
06:08You have to see what it's going to take.
06:09You have to see is the pressure that Giannis may be exerting, you know, around the league, maybe trying to scare off other prospective suitors by saying that he's not going to resign any place where he does not want to be.
06:23For all those reasons, again, you have to place the phone call.
06:26You have to see what the cost is.
06:28But, you know, one guy I want to bring up, and this I think is the best way to answer your question, because when you talk about the core, what you're really talking about is Carl Anthony Towns.
06:37Because I think everybody has belief in Jalen Brunson, in Wingstop, you know, OG and McAllen and Josh Hart had a really nice game last night.
06:46It's Cat.
06:46It's Cat and Cat come up big in the biggest moments, not only on offense against, you know, tougher defenses, but defensively.
06:55And I have to say, the guy who, I know Jalen Brunson won the MVP of the NBA Cup, and he deserved it.
07:02But the guy whose play that I will remember most of all over the quarterfinals, semifinals, and even last night, was Carl Anthony Towns.
07:10I thought he did an exceptional job defensively throughout all three of these games.
07:16And I know the numbers didn't pop, but that to me is almost a plus in that he was not forcing it.
07:21He was taking what came to him.
07:23He was still having a monumental impact on his team's offense when he was out there.
07:28And I just thought he really played within himself, which is not something you would always say about Cat.
07:33So, for me, I am totally comfortable going forward with this core, seeing how far it gets me, with the caveat that if Milwaukee starts answering phone calls, you do have to pick up the phone.
07:45You do at least have to check in.
07:46All right.
07:472025 NBA Cup Finals champions.
07:51They're going to raise the banner at the Garden pretty soon.
07:55But now what?
07:56What's your expectations from this team here until, let's say, All-Star break?
08:01I would say from here until the All-Star break, I did a little checking before.
08:06I think they have 29 games, if I've counted correctly.
08:09Some tough ones in there.
08:10They have to go to Minnesota.
08:12You know, that's going to be a tough game.
08:13Carl Anthony Towns going back to where he played for nine years.
08:16They have two games at Detroit.
08:18You better believe the Pistons are going to be hyped up for those.
08:20They do have a West Coast road trip, and then they get the Denver Nuggets at home.
08:26But you look at largely the slate of games.
08:29These are going to be games that the Knicks are going to be favored in.
08:32I would not be surprised if they are favored in 25, 26 or so, maybe 24, 25 of the remaining games until the All-Star break.
08:41If they could stay on the pace that they're on, which is basically a 60-win pace, that would be great.
08:48We have seen some teams that make it to the NBA Cup Final, and specifically the teams that have won it the last two years,
08:55the Lakers and the Bucs, struggle afterwards.
08:57Is it the extra game?
08:59Is it kind of coming down off of that high?
09:02Whatever it is.
09:02I mean, look, they have a tough back-to-back because all back-to-backs are tough,
09:06and they're going to be exhausted for these games on Thursday and Friday against the Pacers and Sixers.
09:11Even so, this is a tough group.
09:13This is a gritty group.
09:15They have a bunch of pros in that locker room.
09:17If I was going to put a number on it, I would say maybe 19 and 10 between here and the All-Star break,
09:24maybe 20 and 9 if I'm going a little bit higher, but something around there to try to hopefully get in the hunt for that number one seed
09:31or at the very least solidify that they're going to be a top-two team in the East going into the playoffs.
09:37All right.
09:37Well, they raised the trophy.
09:39That means they have raised expectations for the rest of this season.
09:43J-Mac, appreciate you hopping on with you, my man.
09:46Always appreciate you having me.
09:47Great to talk about this team on a day like this.
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