- 2 minutes ago
Category
đ„
SportsTranscript
00:15welcome back to another edition of new york got game the new york knicks they're winning
00:21but they're not exactly silencing the doubters right now though they've won 12 out of their
00:26last 15 games but at the same time there's still a lot of real questions about this team's true
00:31championship dna they've had two blood losses in that stretch to the detroit pistons which a lot
00:37of people want to talk about and it's passed some serious concerns about their physicality about
00:42their mental toughness but at the same time there's still real questions around this team as i said
00:48and we've also seen games where jalen brunson has had to save the day late for this team so i
00:53think
00:53the big question right now around this next team is pretty simple are the knicks a true title
00:59contender or are there still warning signs that could hold them back so this week got a good guest
01:06to join me to talk about the knicks and he joined me last year around the same time and we
01:10had a lot
01:11of questions about the knicks it's my guy jd from knicks fan tv join me now jd what's going on
01:16bro how
01:17you doing dexter here we are again same time new season and a lot of similar similar questions for
01:24the new york knicks yeah for people who don't remember i think last season i can't remember
01:28if it was after the i don't know it was one of the boston blowouts or one of the cleveland
01:33blogs i had
01:33jd on with me and we had a long deep dive discussion into what was wrong with the knicks and
01:41i just think
01:42it's an interesting time jd with this team and you and i were talking a little bit about this before
01:46we
01:46started recording because they've won 12 out of the last 15 games right so let's start here
01:54when you watch this team right now do you see a true title contender or do you see a team
02:02right now
02:02that's got some real flaws what do you see in this next team that's a very tough question to answer
02:09because it's it seems to be week to week uh day to day with this team uh they go through
02:16stretch
02:17you see uh you know a a dominant uh high ceiling team you know when we talk about the the
02:24potential
02:25of this roster the differences between the mike brown knicks and the tom thibodeau knicks a lot of
02:29people like to say that the ceiling is higher with this team well they've shown that in in stretches
02:35throughout this season where you see how they can you know be very explosive offensively and even
02:42defensively you've seen stretches where they can play you know good enough defense to be considered
02:49a a title contender so i would say in the end i think they are because
02:59they the east is although the east to me is very competitive i think it's a little it's it's building
03:05up to be a little bit better than what people are saying uh calves with the hard and trade the
03:10pistons
03:11celtic let's see if tatum comes back the knicks themselves that's already that's four teams right
03:15there that's enough to make a conference you know top heavy uh they have enough in my opinion to make
03:22it to the nba finals and at that point dexter once you are a nba finals contender you're a title
03:28contender right the pacers are made it to the finals and they went to game seven and who knows if
03:33halliburton's healthy what ends up happening in that series so because of the structure of the eastern
03:39conference where in the end even through their ups and downs once the playoffs start they're going to
03:44be a uh contender serious contender to represent the eastern conference in the nba finals that alone
03:52to me you know yes they they are a title contender all right so you still have them as title
03:57contender i
03:58i would tend to agree with you on that but when you look at this recent winning and we just
04:05talked
04:05about the 12 out of 15 that they've won coming off the win in chicago on sunday night do you
04:10think
04:10that winning has maybe masked some of the issues that we've seen particularly the inconsistency from
04:15this team as you said it's kind of week to week day to day and that kind of speaks to
04:19the inconsistency
04:20and also just like the way some of these games have unfolded right you know particularly detroit games
04:25which we'll get into in a second but do you think the winnings probably masked some of that because it
04:31is weird we're talking about a team that's won 12 out of 15 games but the vibes around the fan
04:37base
04:37seems like they've lost 12 out of 15 it doesn't feel like 12 out of 15 you know what i
04:42mean yeah
04:43and and i think it's pretty much what happens is dexter when you have a roster that is pretty much
04:50together they've made some additions towards the the end of the bench factor with the jose alvarado
04:56the jeremy so hans even mo dirara being added as a rookie draft pick however the core of this
05:04roster is pretty much the same between the starting five right and and what happens also is when you
05:09enter a new season where you just were you know a contender to be in the nba finals last season
05:15people jump automatically to the final result and so even when you win 12 out of 15 the pistons game
05:24is the highlight of that 12 out of 15 right because they are the number one seed in the east
05:28and also quietly it is a budding robbery here between both teams because it seems like they
05:36don't like each other you have a head coach that is very much motivated to beat the new york knicks
05:41and
05:41get some revenge so i think that is that affects kind of like what you mentioned the vibes and the
05:46feeling is you win 12 out of 15 but you let a team that you believe is going to be
05:51this year's
05:52contender uh this year's threat for you to make to the nba finals you let them dominate you in that
05:57fashion however in their wins i do think that they they mask a lot of their uh some flaws but
06:06it's
06:07only going to show up in the playoffs depending on the matchup so if they play the pistons it'll be
06:11a situation when if they play the calves it'll be something else right it'll be advantage knicks because
06:17of the you know mobley allen versus the mitchell robinson we've seen how that's played out so
06:22yes this team does have flaws uh winning mask issues that's why you have a guy like jalen brunson you
06:29have superstars because because that's what they do but in the end will if the question is will those
06:35uh issues you know flare up it just depends on who you play and and how they you know how
06:42they
06:42counter those that matchup matchups are so important and i feel like we'll get into that a
06:48little bit later too because who they play is gonna matter and this i'll say this i'm not and i
06:53know you
06:53weren't saying this either i'm not saying that the mix haven't had good wins in here we saw them have
06:58fantastic defense against boston we saw a good win against i know it's no old joel and bead but a
07:03good
07:04win against the sixers before the break they've taken care of business there's been some good wins in
07:08this stretch so i don't want to take anything away from them there you know especially we saw a
07:12terrible stretch in january where they went two or nine so we like that but let's talk about the
07:16pistons we cannot have this conversation without talking about the pistons in this 12 15 game stretch
07:22and the 12 wins there's two blowout losses to the pistons that really stand out i think it stands out
07:28for most of the fan base what do you think those games and the way the knicks lost particularly the
07:34last one what do you think those games revealed about this next team well what it reveals
07:42about this next team is is that they have a opponent in in the conference that is just flat out
07:50not
07:51at all intimidated or or afraid by them they're not afraid of the knicks uh it you know going back
07:58now
07:58here in terms of the flaws and and exposing issues i think one of the things that the knicks have
08:04been
08:04trying to build this year has been an identity and when you talk about the vibes and a little bit
08:08of
08:09the disconnect between the inconsistencies and the frustrations between the fan base and the players
08:13and everyone involved with the up and down and the roller coaster where you kind of felt like man the
08:19knicks should be the number one seed and what you know why even when they're winning it just doesn't feel
08:24like they're that that that clear club favor like what like why are they not the favorites like where
08:29it it just seems it feels it looks that way well the pistons are exposing you know the physicality
08:36factor when it comes to you know making the knicks feel uncomfortable when it comes to you know
08:43exposing something that the knicks have been trying to find and and it's an identity and and we've seen
08:48it in spurts i think you started they're starting to build it up now with the alvarado and sohan
08:55acquisitions i think you're starting to see some of that energy spoil over into uh the rest of the team
09:01where the team is being you know they're picking it up defensively um and so you hope that within the
09:08next quarter end of the season that materializes a little bit better and then they have a better
09:14identity they have a better uh chemistry as a team and then when they that's why i said it's going
09:19to be
09:19important when they see them again we'll see if this is a factor but right now what the detroit pistons
09:26have shown you is that they are not at all intimidated by manister square garden they have
09:33now in immense confidence and the only way the knicks are going to shut that down is doing what
09:39they did last year where they were one in three last year against the pistons and beat them in the
09:44playoffs now they're oh and three and they're gonna have to do the same thing yeah it's good it's gonna
09:48take that and i wondered you know we were doing the watch party last week and i had the the
09:54homie
09:54tarika foster brasby she was in there pistons fan came in there with us yeah we had the ops in
09:58the
09:58building and she was asking me a little bit like hey do you think the pistons are in the next
10:04head
10:04and i'm like i think a little bit it it feels like that a little bit in the in the
10:09way that things have
10:11played out between them but you're right the only way to prove it is what they are going to do
10:16in the
10:16playoffs but this kind of goes to my next point jd because yeah i was having i was having lunch
10:21with
10:21my boy uh before the rockets game the other day shout out to my my friend anthony and you know
10:27we're
10:27talking about this team we're talking about the physicality which you just mentioned we're talking
10:31about mental toughness so like do you believe that this team has enough edge and mental toughness
10:37to win a grinded out playoff series because that's the basketball the pistons play against the team
10:42that plays with the physicality like the detroit pistons do do you think they have that edge
10:47enough of an edge or mental toughness right now to get that done i think they will once they see
10:52them in the playoffs i think they'll have enough because again you'll see the jose alvarado factor
11:01i mean look how that factor came into play when he came in you know his first couple games to
11:06the
11:06next and how about the houston rockets game where he was a big factor late him yelling at the crowd
11:12getting the crowd engaged even jeremy shohan you know getting getting into it with kade cunningham
11:17for a few possessions that's still you know although kade had that one possession he was successful
11:23but you still show the opponent that you're not intimidated that you're here to play to play and
11:28play physical and you're you welcome that so i think the the new additions will give enough energy
11:33to the team and then when your captain is jalen brunton in the playoffs jalen brunton is is he welcomes
11:39physicality he does not shy away from it and so i think they will have enough to respond to that
11:46i don't think in the playoffs that's going to be the defining factor actually dexter against the
11:52pistons is the physicality i think it's just going to be will they have enough from a personnel
11:59standpoint of shot creation to counter the the ball pressure and physicality that the pistons are going
12:05to give the knicks because that when you talk about my concern that's my concern is they look
12:11more physical but it's it's also more the fact that when you look at the pistons caris lavert can
12:17create a shot with three or four seconds left in the shot clock you have uh jenkins you have a
12:22couple
12:22of guards over there uh plus kate cunningham so yeah those are like role players that go to another team
12:28they're not going to be starters or anything but they have one ingredient that we don't have is
12:33if the shot clock comes down to the last five seconds they can create a shot they can create a
12:38shot we don't really have that after jalen brunton against the pistons personnel where they're ball
12:43pressuring us you know michael og are sideline to sideline players right and those are your wings
12:49and they need to be a factor against the pistons so my whole thing is it's going to be interesting
12:54to
12:54see other than jalen brunton who else is going to put pressure on jalen duran on isaiah stewart at the
13:02rim and against their pesky uh perimeter defenders who is going to do that and if we don't have that
13:09then ball movement will have to be the number one factor um in order to to beat the detroit pistons
13:15so
13:16to me it's wrong roster construction where the pistons seem to be a bad matchup whereas you might
13:22even feel more comfortable seeing the celtics again even if jason tatum comes back just because
13:26they like to shoot threes and we can play with that style of basketball we've proven it already
13:31uh you want to maybe play the cavaliers even though on paper with harden and mobley and and mitchell
13:37you may think that's a more talented team on paper than the detroit pistons as you can see that's the
13:43the playoffs is all about uh matchups and personnel yes matchups styles make fights i
13:49yeah it's a great point about the secondary ball creation and it's not detroit doesn't have a lot
13:55of guys that do it in an elite way and you're right but danish jenkins has been great for them
13:59karis laver can do that tobias harris in a pinch if he shows up can do that for them he
14:05can still
14:05get to a spot right he can still get to his spots and get a shot i hear you say
14:10that and i'm like
14:10the answer to the question that you brought up is like that should be mikhail bridges keyword should
14:17it has not been right you would think he would be that guy to get that done but that's not
14:23what
14:23we'll get into some other personnel stuff here in a second before i get before i get to it let's
14:28talk let's talk about cat because and and look i want to be very clear in saying this his last
14:35two
14:35games he's been solid 28 points against chicago 25 against the rockets i thought he played really
14:40good against the rockets actually and the knicks have been trying to get him to ball more in the
14:44post the rockets game i was like man i didn't see them post up that much all year it was
14:49really
14:49impressive with how with how he played when he's at his best jd he's looked dominant but we know
14:55we've seen that in small spurts and that it'll go away right we don't know when that's coming back
15:00but i guess the question for me is with the way cats played this season career low shooting at the
15:05rim career low shooting from three although at least the lowest since his rookie season do you trust him
15:11right now as a foundational piece for a championship team if this next team as you said it are contenders
15:17do you trust him right now to be that foundational piece that second best player on his next team
15:22where are you with cat pretty pretty direct do i trust him no i don't trust him do not trust
15:29i do
15:30not trust him but do i believe he can do it absolutely and that right there that answer has been
15:37the enigma of car anthony towns for 11 seasons is everyone believes yes he can do it everyone thinks
15:45he will do it everyone knows he has the talent to do it but does he do it yes up
15:53down up like it's it's
15:55it's an up and down situation where you know even when you you're trying to present and and put him
16:02in
16:02the right environments it's still gonna come down all up to him and it's funny because i think we have
16:09a more talented version of julius rando i think it's similar issues you just got a seven foot
16:16more talented guy but it's still similar uh challenges just in a different in a different
16:22player right it would be the same thing with julius rando i would answer the same thing for the very
16:27same reasons two ultra talented players but it's all about you know the mental part of the game it's
16:35all about the mental makeup it's all about the approach it's all about the physicality and the
16:39intensity and the consistency in that approach and that's been the story with a car anthony towns and
16:45and i actually think actually it might even be more challenging for him to do it offensively under
16:51this system and this head coach because it's just been obvious that car anthony towns has been presented
16:57a role that the coaching staff believes that if this is the role that you execute and you execute this
17:03role to a tee we will actually have a higher chance to win a championship and he's he struggled with
17:11fitting into that role because you see it some nights he'll give you 20 rebounds and 11 points and then
17:17the post game questions is about how come they only had 20 11 points so when you're a player that's
17:22used
17:22to having a specific output and and being a focal point of an offense and you're no longer pretty much
17:29that and you have a more of a different role it challenges your mental makeup it really puts you
17:36to the test of are you gonna buy in are you gonna believe that this role that the staff believes
17:43it
17:43should be your role to form the puzzle is the right fit for you because at the end of the
17:49day this is not
17:51the miami heat you know there's not a miami heat you have jalen brunson to me is a superstar and
17:56then you have a whole bunch of very good players so the roster of this team you need everyone to
18:02to to buy in one person doesn't buy him is going to throw everything off and car anthony town to
18:08me
18:09is the most important nick to get us to the nba finals because he's our second best player he might
18:16be our most talented player in terms of pure talent and skill set but he is the ingredient that
18:23is going to off is going to take pressure off jalen brunson he is the ingredient you're going to need
18:28against a potential detroit pisses matchup so do i trust him i don't but can i you know i'm just
18:36hoping that that when the time comes i'm hoping you get enough games in a seven game series can i
18:41get
18:41five out of seven where he's very good i think if he can give you that oh man nix fans
18:46was signed for
18:46that five out of seven if he can give you five out of seven if a series goes six and
18:51he gave you
18:51four good games i think the nicks will be in good shape i think the nicks will sign for that
18:58i thought
18:59you made a lot of good points there i will say i think a lot of it comes and i
19:04think you'd agree
19:05me on this a lot of this comes down to the player and i mean this in carly towns i'm
19:08not here i know
19:08you don't want to bash your dominican brother i understand all that i i think you're right about the
19:15point you made about how the coaching staff they obviously want to put him in the best position to
19:19succeed and where you think the nicks can win the championship i think one of the things that
19:24coach brown has been concerned about with him is how do we get him in a situation where we can
19:31minimize
19:32the fouls right the offense he leads the league in offensive fouls right how do we minimize that and
19:37those are momentum killers and the turnovers that you'll see with cat how can we cut that down
19:43and i think there's a balance one thing i'll say with coach brown i think we've seen these years
19:46he's been very malleable he seems to listen to the players he's tweaked the defense already this
19:51season and we've seen how that's worked now i think you're seeing him trying to give a little
19:55bit of balance of what he wants with cat and a high post and looking to be a sort of
19:59a facilitator
20:00from there and also giving him some post touches the thing with cat is it's cool to give him the
20:05post touches but you got to be under control now listen i'm also not saying cat gets fouled a lot
20:10there's a lot of calls he doesn't get and has a right to be frustrated but sometimes he's also
20:14out of control and you'll see the hooking and i think those things really hurt the team so it's
20:19like he's got to figure that out and you made the point jd 11 seasons we've been watching this
20:25all the nba fans we've seen for 11 seasons you know what i mean can i make can i make
20:29a quick
20:30point about the fouls i've been wanting to say this all season uh because i haven't been on as much
20:34so
20:35i haven't had the opportunity to say the the you know and that's the frustration thing with car
20:40anthony towns is yes he does get um fouled a lot but i think the reason he doesn't get the
20:50whistle
20:50that you know we think he should get it's him he's he's the problem i agree because because you know
20:58what happens is he argues every single call everything he argues turnovers that were his fault
21:06and he argues it to the ref and the thing is i don't think he has credibility with the referees
21:13he doesn't have any he doesn't have respect of the referees you know why referees get graded they see
21:19the film they see the missed calls you think when a referee goes out and he goes and he sees
21:25the film
21:26and he sees that cat just argued this and that and that and they weren't even close to being what
21:32he thought it was they weren't even close to being a foul you what happens is all these reps they
21:38program themselves and they give you a reputation like draymond green ron artest we've seen it so
21:44many times where certain players develop a reputation with the committee and therefore you get refereed in
21:51that fashion and i think car anthony towns when things happen he flails his arms and he
21:56argues refs are tone deaf at this point because they know they've seen it they're like oh he's
22:01probably arguing something that's that's not even close to being what he thinks it is why because he
22:06argues every single call sometimes he's not accountable to the turnovers that he has he wants
22:12to blame everything on a missed call and then you see it on the msg telecast a lot of times
22:17they show
22:17the replay and i'm like what are you arguing that wasn't even that wasn't even right how do you have
22:23the audacity to go to the referee and argue this luka donsic has that issue in the nba too like
22:28how
22:29do you have the audacity to go to the referee and argue this and you think the ref is going
22:32to give
22:32you the respect and the benefit of the doubt when you're basically trying to humiliate the ref and say
22:38that he missed it when literally his hit rate is probably 40 percent he's probably 40 to 50 percent
22:44in terms of what he argues to what actually is and i think he has destroyed his own reputation with
22:51the
22:51referees and i think he is the reason why he doesn't get a call one more other quick reason why
22:58he doesn't go ahead bro when he goes to the basket he always leans into the defender yep instead of
23:06bumping into the defender and when he leans he leans ahead of time and that's why he's always off
23:11balance that's why the defender always has a chance to still contest the shot even though car
23:17anthony towns is a seven footer drives 100 miles an hour versus seven footers you would think it's
23:22an it's an advantage but then when you see he doesn't create the separation that you would think
23:26he would and a lot of it is his technique is off going to the basket he's leaning ahead of
23:31time it's
23:32like he's he's trying to get the foul before it even happens and he his body goes off balance in
23:39doing so and then what happens is he doesn't have enough lift by the time he wants to shoot
23:43and the defender's right there easy contest and half the times is blocked other other half he's
23:49falling on the ground so i think his technique is off in his mechanics and his drives to the basket
23:54and i think the other portion is his reputation with the referees is absolutely that he doesn't
23:59have any i happen to agree with you 100 was talking about this shout out to my boy anthony who
24:04works as a personal trainer and see he said the same thing you said about him being off balance and
24:08he
24:08said look he doesn't have a strong base the base isn't strong for him and this is why a lot
24:13of
24:13times he's off balance and he'll get those offensive fouls or make it easier as you just said
24:17for the defender to come and make a play i agree with everything you said there i i agree couldn't
24:22agree more i think you said it said it perfectly well so you talked about this and cat being the
24:28most important player jd for well most important player to to support brunson to get them the way
24:34they want to go which which perfectly goes to where i wanted to go next which is is there a
24:38concern
24:39that this team and i know there's been some talk about jalen brunson being a ball hog which i think
24:43is a bit much when people say that but is there concern that the team might be too dependent on
24:50jalen brunson i'll put it like that to save them late in games you know and do you believe that
24:56this
24:56team has enough around brunson to take the pressure off of him deep in the playoff run like that point
25:02you're talking about can you get sick four out of six games good games from cat can you get five
25:07out of
25:07seven can you get four to six from mikhail bridge do that is there enough around brunson to support
25:13him in the deep playoff run on paper there is i believe there is the games are not played on
25:18paper
25:18as you know exactly and i think and but then that's why the head coach is brought here the belief
25:24from the front office is that is that mike a mike brown system uh you know they were interested in
25:31jason kidd or potential jason kidd system or whatever like it's mike brown that was the decision to
25:36you know in terms of who they hired right so the belief is that mike brown can get enough
25:41consistency in maximizing we saw a lot about that right we we heard a lot about that word maximizing
25:49the personnel maximizing the talent on this team the ceiling is high blah blah blah blah and again i think
25:58we've seen it in stretches where you have enough offensively uh where jalen brunson you know
26:05you're gonna lean on him no matter what in the playoffs in the fourth quarter because just that's
26:10just the way the playoff format is you know okc is gonna rely on shea in the fourth quarter uh
26:15jalen
26:16brown for the celtics like your best player is gonna have to come through within the last you know four
26:21or five minutes of of playoff games but before you know the the previous 42 44 minutes i think the
26:27knicks have enough it's just it's a consistency factor and this is why this team is so maddening it's so
26:33frustrating because you know you see how dominant they can be when og is scoring over 17 18 points
26:39but then you have og scoring nine points and you're wondering what happened you know you have
26:44mikhail bridges who is is it can be a mid-range assassin when he's on but sometimes he doesn't
26:52want to do that and he wants to just kind of like just lounge and and and he's not physical
26:58he doesn't
26:58attack the rim like there's so many uh frustrations with this team because i think the personnel is all
27:04talented but inconsistent players at key positions and so i think they have enough i'm still going to
27:12lean that it's going to be matchup based if they play the pistons they're going to have to really
27:18bring their a game because the pistons are going to put ultimate ball pressure i think if they play
27:23anybody else they're they're i think they have enough to play those styles of basketball whether
27:28it's three-point shooting whether it's fast pace depending on who those matchups are i think the
27:33the orlando magics though they won't give them a chance but the those teams that are more physical
27:38that are more into you that are more you know giving you ball pressure they're the ones that are going
27:42to be the true uh okay see if they make it to the finals these defensive uh you know built
27:49teams
27:50are going to be the true challenges uh to the new york knicks and listen at the end of the
27:54day
27:54it is looking like dexter you know from everything we've talked about so far is that it may look like
28:01we're going to have to lean on brunson one more time and when you talk about the offseason and you
28:06look ahead into potential yannis acquisition listen there's no more trade deadline dexter this is
28:13what we have now so those those potential solutions are going to be in the offseason
28:19it does look like for at least one more playoff run it might be brunson centric uh at least for
28:26the
28:26for this playoffs because when you have the inconsistency of this roster what are the chances
28:32that in the playoffs they're all all of a sudden you mentioned you'll sign up for four games of cap
28:38oh what are the chances we're going to get you know consistency we're going to we're probably going
28:42to get more up and down knicks so again it's going to fall on brunson being a superstar for every
28:47game
28:48of every playoff series for the knicks to get to their ultimate goal that's a lot to ask jalen brunson
28:54as dope as he is that is a lot to ask we we know that um a couple more things
29:01for you before i let
29:01you get out of here appreciate the time i i was talking about this yesterday and i think you're
29:07starting to see this you're seeing mike brown make some very i would call it interesting late game
29:15substitutions um we saw this on saturday night with the rockets where mikhail bridges and josh hart they
29:20didn't play most at the end of the game we saw landry shammit we saw jose alvarado mike brown is
29:26like size be damned i'm going with the best defenders that are bringing that intensity what do you make of
29:33the moves like these and what do you think it says about the higher paid players who aren't playing
29:40at crunch time oh and guys like alvarado and shammit who are playing at crunch time what do you what
29:45do
29:45you make the moves by mike brown and what do you think it says about those players first of all
29:50i i i
29:51absolutely i i love that he's doing that because and do it now you know and get that get that
29:57information get those uh lineup uh rotations get those lineup um you know um those different lineups
30:07so that when the playoffs come and you have situational basketball you have confidence and
30:12trust because a lot of this coaching that a lot of the coaching moves that are done the regular season
30:16you also wonder are they going to be done in the playoffs because the players a whole different
30:20animal right in terms of having that trust to actually pull the trigger on making bold moves
30:25of benching a mikhail bridges for the last couple minutes putting a landry shammit a one-year three
30:31million dollar player in a big playoff game to end the game like it takes a lot of guts for
30:37a
30:37head coach to make these type of moves in the playoffs so him doing in the regular season
30:42i like to see that and at this point dexter it might be the makeup of this team because
30:48like what is really the difference between some of these players the way they're playing so far like
30:53the way that mikhail plays on some nights to how landry shammit like what is the real got there
30:57right other than mikhail is 6'6 and you know he is a higher paid player he's a he's a
31:03better player of
31:04course but the way that we're actually seeing them play in stretches a lot of the a lot of the
31:10production in the in the result are similar so in this case if that's the makeup of this team i
31:16don't
31:16mind seeing it in the playoffs i want to see it in the playoffs right because i want it to
31:20be about
31:21what gives you the best chance to win what it says about the higher paid players is to me it
31:28just
31:28says that this core is on his last legs that's they are this this is this is probably it to
31:37be
31:37honest this next uh 20 plus games and playoff run this is probably it for this core and i don't
31:44know
31:44that if they don't you know i don't i don't think you can i i don't think there's there's even
31:49more
31:49than a 10 like you cannot bring this core back because for two seasons the thing they've done is
31:55you know they've messed around with the bench they haven't messed around with the core right
32:01the core has still been here between cat and heart and og and and mikhail and brunson that core has
32:08been and my bride and mitch so those like seven players pretty much have been your core for the for
32:13the you know the last two runs to me it tells me that you've hired a coach where else are
32:20you going
32:20to go dexter what's the next excuse you need another coach you need a different system you need
32:25you need phil jackson to come back like like what's the like no this is the this is it for
32:31this core and to me it just says that they have and they and i hope that they realize and
32:37i and
32:37they're smart enough in the business world of basketball to know that i think they know that
32:41this is it for them that if they don't they don't maximize this run they won't you know a portion
32:47at least half or a few of these players won't be back next year i think you're right but i
32:52think it
32:52always goes back to the thing i always say on here is it's on the players the players got to
32:55execute
32:56it's on them to get it done and whether they get it done or not over like you said the
33:00last quarter
33:00of the season the playoffs is going to be really telling so that brings me to the last thing jd
33:05and
33:06then we're going to wrap if the playoffs started today and not but if the playoffs started today
33:10how confident would you be on a scale of one to ten i'm gonna let you do it that way
33:15on on this
33:16team's ability to reach the nba finals how confident are you in that all right let me
33:21ask you a quick question is tatum back on the celtics i just i just want to know i just
33:25because
33:25it might affect one level might affect one all right you know what for for the sake of being
33:30fun let's say yes tatum comes back i'm not going to say how he looks i have no idea but
33:34yeah let's
33:35say like whether he's back for the last five games or just he's just back okay um right now
33:42they're the three c today i think they'll stay within the three or two to end the season
33:48so now i'm looking at their potential path my from one to ten i will say i am a
34:00strong i'm at a strong solid eight strong solid eight okay yes because in the end i think a lot
34:10of our conversation throughout this show has been about self-inflict self-infliction
34:16it's a lot of it is them it's it's really if you really actually last year it was more about
34:22the
34:22celtics how you know how overwhelming the talent of the celtics seem to be for the field of the eastern
34:29conference even with the pistons doing what they did i know they cooked us and all that the talent
34:36is still not overwhelming i'm not overwhelmed by carousel i'm not overwhelmed by the inconsistent
34:41tobias harris i don't know what what jenkins is going to do in the playoffs i don't know what some
34:45of these you know uh javante walker and these guys that you know all of a sudden hit 40 from
34:51three when
34:51they see the knicks they don't hit those threes against anybody else like i don't know what these
34:55guys are going to do in a big moment where you know these guys are so used to you know
35:00having two
35:00three reporters in the playoffs you have everything everything is packed so like the moment there's
35:05something to be said about the moment and how you perform under that pressure and when i look at the
35:10eastern conference i still don't see a team that i'm gonna have nightmares about tonight and say oh my
35:15god how are we gonna you know like there's not that factor so i am going to still be confident
35:20in
35:21that this next team the same next team that struggled to beat elite teams last year and were one
35:26the same team that's having similar frustrations this year they did it last year they showed you
35:33they got to the eastern conference finals at least they can't do it this year you're telling me they
35:37can't do it this year with a better roster with a higher ceiling with a more flexible coach that
35:44might pull more moves in the playoffs than tom thibodeau did like he might play you know different
35:50players in the playoffs that could win you a game where we didn't see that last year like there's
35:56there's more variation to this team and there's more potential i'm gonna stick to the strip i'm
36:02gonna stick to the plan from the beginning and i'm gonna say that this team will be in the eastern
36:07conference finals and from there they better you know win four and get to the nba final so i am
36:13a
36:13solid confident eight all right solid strong eight you heard it there from jd we will see but luckily
36:19we got time to playoffs do not start today that is my guy jd from nicks fan tv joining me
36:25here this
36:26week on new york guy game jd it's been a while since we talked i feel like this conversation was
36:30not as down as last year the last time i had you on the show not as down but i
36:35get why the vibes are
36:36still not great hey the knicks have still won 12 out of 15 games there's still a little bit of
36:39season to play we'll see how they do jd i appreciate you bro for coming through thank you so much
36:44all right dexter can't wait to see how this this this year turns out for the new york knicks yeah
36:50we'll see how it turns out all right everybody that is jd check him out with nicks fan tv go
36:55give
36:55him a follow as well i'm dexter henry we'll catch you next time another edition of new york got game
37:01peace
37:04and thanks for watching new york got game
37:07boom shakalaka
Comments