00:00Sealed with a miss, Jalen, OG off mark with tying threes and final ticks of tough loss to OKC.
00:06You guys see the back page, but is there such a thing as a great loss for the Knicks?
00:10We got to unpack all the action from Wednesday night's loss to the Thunder with our New York Post Knicks
00:16beat writer, Steph Bondi.
00:18Bondi, let's get straight into this with the word is Bondi.
00:21They had a chance to tie it at the end.
00:24Two big threes from Jalen Brunson and OG come up short at the Garden.
00:28Was that a potential NBA Finals preview for you?
00:33Yeah, potential for sure.
00:35I mean, I think, you know, if you look at the East landscape, you look at probably the Pistons as,
00:40you know, the top the top choice right now.
00:43But in the West, you know, it's the Thunder right now.
00:46And, you know, they have some contenders.
00:48Certainly, I like the Nuggets, the Spurs, who the Knicks just beat.
00:52And, you know, the Knicks, I mean, they're number two in the East right now, I think,
00:56after the Pistons in terms of competitiveness.
00:59Now, they're in a group with the Celtics and Cavs, and they're going to have to separate themselves in the
01:05playoffs.
01:05And a lot of this is going to be about who's hot at the right time.
01:09But sure, you could see the Thunder and the Knicks in the NBA Finals.
01:14Big storyline coming out of the game is obviously the fouls.
01:18Cat gets fouled out for the sixth time on the season.
01:22But it goes back to this whole phrase, foul merchant.
01:25I feel like people, when they say that, they talk about Shea or Jalen Brunson.
01:31SGA is, you know, a lot of Knicks fans feel like got some favorable calls last night.
01:36And Mike Brown was pissed.
01:38Check out what Mike Brown said postgame.
01:40You know, SGA is, he's a tough cover.
01:44And he does a great job of convincing the referees, probably better than anybody in the league, that, you know,
01:53he's getting hit.
01:55Do Knicks fans need to just take this loss on the chin, or is SGA getting too many calls?
02:01Well, I mean, that's been a wrap on him for a while.
02:03And as you mentioned, Jalen Brunson has that reputation as well.
02:06You know, this was uncharacteristic of Mike Brown because every single time he's, you know, he took this job.
02:13And part of the job, as I've reported before, was to be the anti-Tibs in terms of his relationship
02:18with officials.
02:20You know, the ownership and front office didn't want to see another coach arguing and screaming at the officials.
02:26This was his first tech in this game as a Knicks coach.
02:31So I think that tells you his level of frustration and anger with the way the game was being officiated.
02:37And then to come out with the comments that he did after the game.
02:40This was uncharacteristic of Mike Brown.
02:44But certainly you saw his frustration level.
02:47And, you know, to point out one particular player, the reigning MVP of the league, I thought that was interesting.
02:52And it's not exactly wrong.
02:54With that being said, that's the history of the NBA.
02:57The best players are going to get the favorable whistle.
03:00Jalen Brunson gets that benefit now.
03:02SGA is also getting that benefit.
03:04Michael Jordan used to get that benefit when he played as well.
03:07Jalen Brunson, only 16 points on the night.
03:10Quiet on the scoring end of things, but 15 dimes.
03:13I don't think I've seen Jalen Brunson have, you know, 10 dimes in the box score, let alone 15.
03:19He and SGA battled it out last night, two of the best in the NBA.
03:23But Kendrick Perkins think that Brunson may be the best Knick ever.
03:28Check out what Perk said, then I want to get your thoughts.
03:30No one expected Jalen Brunson to be here in the hardest market in sports in New York,
03:37carrying the weight on his shoulders.
03:39And what he's already done for this franchise,
03:42I feel like he's one championship away from being the greatest Knick ever.
03:49You co-signing with Perk on that one?
03:51I don't know how you could say that when there are a bunch of players with two,
03:55including Walt Frazier and Willis Reed.
03:57So, no, he has to get two.
03:59And then the conversation starts.
04:01He hasn't even got to a finals yet.
04:03So, you know, he's not on Patrick Ewing's level yet either.
04:06So, listen, it's been a short, great career for Jalen Brunson.
04:10But before we start, that's just a typical talk of, you know,
04:15of, you know, talking heads at ESPN to just say stuff.
04:18It doesn't make any sense.
04:19You can't just start saying that he's the best player ever
04:22and he's never got to a finals yet.
04:24All right.
04:25The way the Knicks have been kind of putting together some of these wins
04:29and even that tough loss last night,
04:31it looks like they're getting better on defense.
04:33So, what does a backbreaker or a heartbreaking loss like that last night
04:39to a damn good team tell you where the Knicks are right now
04:42at this point in the season?
04:44You know, I know moral victories aren't a thing for a championship contender,
04:48but I thought it was a good performance.
04:49And, listen, OG Ananobi, if he hit that shot,
04:51he would have had his first big moment at the Garden.
04:54He hasn't had that big shot moment.
04:55That would have been great.
04:56He didn't hit it.
04:57But to come off a back-to-back, you didn't have Mitchell Robinson
05:01because they decided to play him.
05:03In the Toronto game, to come off a back-to-back, fly from Toronto,
05:06you're facing an arrested Shea Gildress-Alexander
05:09who didn't play in the previous game.
05:11I thought it was a good showing.
05:13I thought that, you know, it showed the determination of this team
05:16when they played against great teams in the past.
05:18Not great teams, but good teams like the Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons.
05:23They let go of the rope when they were getting blown out.
05:26And, you know, they showed some fight last night,
05:28and I thought that was an encouraging sign.
05:30These two teams play each other again in OKC at the end of March.
05:35I got that game circled.
05:36All right, they've been playing the West pretty tough.
05:39They had to come back win against the Spurs on Sunday.
05:41Played OKC tough in that loss last night.
05:44Now it's time to head out to the Mile High State.
05:47They got the Nuggets on Friday.
05:49I mean, kind of just preview this one for us.
05:52I mean, again, they play the West tough.
05:55They want to get back on that winning track.
05:57What do you think the Knicks got to do to put a complete game together
06:01and walk away with a win?
06:03It's always tough to play in Denver.
06:05I realize for some reason this season, Denver doesn't have a good home record.
06:08I'm not sure the reason behind that.
06:10But you have the altitude as a factor.
06:12And you have the best player, in my opinion, in the NBA.
06:15I know we just talked about Shea Gildress-Alexander,
06:17but Nikola Jokic, to me, is the best player in the NBA.
06:20They're going to have to go up against them.
06:21They have had success already, even this season,
06:25against the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic.
06:27I think they've won four in a row or something like that.
06:30So, you know, it's a tough test.
06:32And they start this road trip off against the hardest opponent,
06:36and it kind of steadily gets easier after that.
06:39After that, it's the Lakers, the Clippers, the Jazz, and then the Pacers.
06:43So this is probably the toughest game of this road trip.
06:46And it's good to get it out of the way first.
06:48I think it's going to be a fun game.
06:50All right, Steph.
06:51Safe travels out west, man.
06:53Racking up those freaking flyer miles, man.
06:55Appreciate you hopping on with us.
06:57That's right, man.
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