00:00You know, as a diehard Knicks fan, I'm sure I'll do much more of this later today on the radio,
00:03I get sick and tired of people talking about how, you know, if Tom Thibodeau would have gone to the
00:08Knicks,
00:08the Knicks wouldn't have lost to the Detroit Pistons, and Mike Brown can't coach, and on and on and on.
00:13Tom Thibodeau did a good job here, not a great job, a good job.
00:15Good job.
00:16And he didn't get to the Knicks to their first Easter Conference Final in a very, very long time,
00:20and I have nothing but appreciation for his tenure here as Knicks head coach.
00:23He did a good job with the Knicks.
00:25But every day, I got to hear about how Tom Thibodeau wouldn't have done that.
00:30Well, let me tell you something Tom Thibodeau didn't do that Mike Brown has done.
00:34And I'm not saying Mike Brown's the greatest coach in the world.
00:37I don't think he is.
00:38But the Knicks' story's not going to be told until the postseason and how far they go,
00:43and do they get back to the ECF, or do they get past that and get to the first NBA
00:48Finals in over 30-some-odd years, okay?
00:51So let's see how you do against good teams, okay?
00:56So this is a stat I saw online this morning.
00:58If you look at the Knicks last year against the top six teams in both conferences, right?
01:05So the top six teams in the East, the top six teams in the West, okay?
01:10Last year, with Tom Thibodeau as their head coach, the New York Knicks, out of 30 games, you want to
01:17take a guess?
01:18I'm going to say right around 500.
01:20Okay.
01:2015-15.
01:2115-15?
01:22Yeah.
01:22Okay.
01:23How about 30 games in, they were 10-20.
01:26Oh, wow.
01:27Against a better team.
01:28Yeah, against a better team.
01:29In both conferences.
01:29Wow.
01:30So despite the fact they did win 50 games last year, it stands to reason they beat up on bad
01:36teams.
01:37And by the way, you should beat up on bad teams, but they were 10 games under .500 after 30
01:43against the top six teams in both conferences, okay?
01:47Okay.
01:47So for those of you out there like, oh, Tom Thibodeau, oh, Tom Thibodeau, Mike Brown can't carry Tom Thibodeau's
01:53jock, blah, blah, blah.
01:54And I've tried to push back to that narrative as often as I can.
01:58The Knicks this year, and obviously we've still got a month to go, have played 25 games against the top
02:05six teams in both conferences.
02:07Do you want to hazard a guess what their record is?
02:10How many games are you going to?
02:11It's 25 games.
02:1125 games.
02:12Yep.
02:13I'm going to guess that they're, let's say, 13-12.
02:18So about .500.
02:19About.
02:19Okay?
02:20The New York Knicks this year, after last night's win against Toronto, which is actually a good one, I'll explain
02:25why in a second, are 16-9.
02:28That's good.
02:2816-9 against the top six teams in both conferences.
02:33Last year, they were 10 games under .500.
02:37This year, they're already seven games over .500.
02:41And tonight against the Thunder at the Garden, they can make that 17-9.
02:46Obviously going to be a tough game.
02:47Last night's game shook me in a good way.
02:50Anyway, the Knicks have the Thunder tonight.
02:53Going into last night's game, the Knicks have beaten the Raptors 11 consecutive times and a 3-0 against them
03:01this year.
03:01And the game's not always that competitive, okay?
03:04So I'm looking at that game yesterday going, huh, that's interesting.
03:08The Raptors, by the way, with a bunch of ex-Knicks still on the roster like R.J. Barrett, et
03:13cetera, they're 10 games over .500 going into last night's game.
03:17They're at home, and the Knicks have the Thunder tonight, right?
03:22Yeah.
03:22So I looked at that, and I said, huh, the Knicks only favored in that game last night by two
03:27and a half points.
03:28So on my radio show, I was encouraging people not to gamble on the Knicks last night.
03:33I said, I know it looks enticing.
03:35The Knicks have won a couple games in a row.
03:38The Knicks feel like they're getting back into the groove right now.
03:41And I said, I just don't like the game because we've owned the Raptors, and we've got the Thunder tonight,
03:47Wednesday night.
03:48Now, I couldn't have been more wrong.
03:50The Knicks won that game almost wire to wire last night.
03:54And there were moments where Toronto did make it a one-possession game late in the fourth quarter,
03:58and the Knicks took over and won the game quite handily.
04:02That's the type of win that makes me think you better not sleep on these Knicks.
04:08Now, no guarantees tonight.
04:10They're playing against the best team in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
04:14It's going to be a very tough game against a damn good basketball team, right?
04:17And SGA's back now.
04:19That being said, when you win a game like last night, which is an obvious trap game, look-ahead game,
04:26and you win, and for those of you that did gamble on it, good for you, I didn't think you
04:31should have.
04:32If you did it anyway, great for you.
04:34I got it wrong.
04:36That's the type of game that championship teams win the way the Knicks won it.
04:42And I love what they did last night.
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