00:00and we're down to 10 folks 10 games left in the Knicks regular season but it's 10 games enough
00:05for them to take the two seed away from the Boston Celtics let's talk all things Knicks with
00:10our Knicks beat writer for the post Steph Bondi uh Steph appreciate you hopping on with us my
00:15man the garden was on fire for that blowout win against the Wizards or the Frauds last night or
00:20yesterday but let's start with the word is Bonnie because the people can't wait to hear from you
00:26so let's say that I'm a Knicks fan that sees nothing wrong with their beloved Knicks especially
00:32after six straight wins I'm all in your at mentions I'm all in your comments right now questioning you
00:38on what those growing concerns are from your article on the post website word is Bondi what are you seeing
00:45from the Knicks that you feel like they need to clean or maybe even fix as we get closer to
00:50the
00:50postseason well let's just focus on one of them because it is the most glaring issue and that's
00:55the start of games um the Knicks you know before yesterday and they did they did play well yesterday
01:00I thought they handled business and listen the Wizards are kind of a joke of a franchise
01:05but they they before last night's game during this during a stretch that had gone back even further
01:10than the winning streak they had one of the worst first quarters in the NBA I think they were only
01:16worse than the in terms of point differential only worse than the Washington Wizards who I just
01:20mentioned is a joke of franchise and the Brooklyn Nets who were also tanking so that's not a
01:25good group to be among and you look at the Knicks starting lineup and you say this is one of
01:30the
01:30best starting lines in the NBA they have to clean that up because yeah you can recover and you can
01:36beat the Brooklyn Nets you can beat the Washington Wizards you can beat the Utah Jazz these are terrible
01:40teams that are trying to lose but if you start that poorly against the Boston Celtics uh you're in
01:47trouble and so that's what we're talking about cleaning up that's what they need to fix for a
01:51playoff run um now listen they they have to get everybody healthy they had games where Josh Hart
01:57didn't play Josh Hart is a huge part of the starting lineup um but assuming they have everybody
02:02healthy they do still need to start better than they have recently Josh Hart nine three pointers
02:08in a row the Knicks record is 10 so Hart you know playing some good basketball right now you talk
02:13about you know them finishing off those bottom feeders now we get to look ahead to this next couple of
02:19games to where you know they're going to play some some really good competitive talent in the NBA
02:23they play Tuesday against the Pelicans and then they're at Charlotte at Oklahoma City and then they're
02:29at Houston no more cakewalks as you wrote in the article so they're a half a game behind Boston for
02:35second
02:35in the east right now and this next stretch could determine if they're hosting game seven in the
02:41conference semis so what's this next stretch of games going to tell you about where this team is
02:48heading into the playoffs yeah I mean it's listen we just mentioned how easy this stretch was that
02:54they just finished it's a lot harder and I know the Pelicans don't have a great record but they're
02:59playing a lot better uh Zion's healthy and available uh they have no reason to tank they they don't have
03:05their first round pick so they're a much tougher opponent than what the Knicks have seen lately and
03:10that starts there and then you go to OKC the defending champs that's obviously a barometer game
03:15Houston Rockets with Kevin Durant and the Charlotte Hornets I mean this is a resurgent young team
03:21this is a team the team the Knicks might see in the first round of the playoffs so we're gonna
03:26we're
03:26gonna see during this stretch whether that those problems that I talked about particularly at the
03:31start of games against bad opponents whether they they can fix those because if they don't they're not
03:37going to win those kind of games and you mentioned the Knicks being only a half game out of out
03:41of
03:41the um second spot in the Eastern Conference that's actually important because the Knicks this
03:46season have been much better at home than they've been on the road so that game seven that you
03:51mentioned in the Eastern Conference semis let's say they play the Boston Celtics in the second round
03:56that game seven being at Madison Square Garden as opposed to TD Garden in Boston could mean all the
04:02difference so they they do own the tiebreaker the Knicks do against the Boston Celtics um but that you
04:09know they still have to rise above them in the standings and they have another head-to-head against
04:13Boston later this season in April so yeah big stretch coming up you mentioned only 10 games but a lot
04:19to
04:19be determined a lot of people talking online on who the Knicks should want to avoid having to play in
04:25the first round who do you think that you know who do you who's out there that you feel like
04:30they
04:30should would be a bad matchup for them in the first round well I'm always worried about Miami just
04:36because Spoh and I know some people say heat culture's dead but you know they always bring
04:41it in the playoffs so that's an opponent I'd be wary of the the Charlotte Hornets are kind of like
04:46fear of the unknown just because they're so young they haven't been through a playoff battle yet and I
04:50know you have to get incrementally better is the history in the in the playoffs and they have to go
04:56through it first but you don't know how good those players are going to react in the playoffs so you're
05:00a
05:00little bit worried about the Charlotte Hornets same with the Atlanta Hawks I tell you what team I would
05:04want to see and I've gotten some backlash over this because I shared this opinion before I'd love to
05:10see the 76ers I don't think Joel Embiid is going to make it through a seven game series I don't
05:17think
05:17he'll make it through even like three playoff games without getting injured his history shows that he
05:22slows down his knee is bothersome when the game gets physical and he's got to play a lot of minutes
05:28so
05:28um you know they also have Paul George who's who's old and hasn't played a bunch because he's um in
05:35the
05:35middle of a drug suspension so yeah I mean if I were to pick my opponent and if I'm the
05:41Knicks and I know
05:41they don't get to do that but if I were I'd pick the 76ers 10 games left on the season
05:48talked about
05:49you know a lot of people talking about what the rotation could look like come playoffs uh our guy
05:54Tyler Kolek dropped 42 points and 11 assists in the G League win earlier in the day on Sunday
06:00then he came out and dropped another 11 off the bench in what five minutes in that Wizards blowout
06:06I'm team Kolek I give this man his flowers but was this enough to earn some playoff minutes and if
06:12not
06:13do you think there's anything that he could do to convince Mike Brown in these last 10 games that he
06:19deserves some playoff minutes no unfortunately um especially if Miles Mc like listen Miles McBride we
06:27don't know what's going to happen with him he's still injured but the projection and what he's
06:32hoping for is that he'll be back before the um before the regular season is finished and if not he'll
06:37be
06:37there for the first game of the first round he's back I just don't see a path for Tyler Kolek
06:43to get
06:43minutes um you're talking to you you want to shrink the rotation in the playoffs anyway
06:47and let's say you have an eight-man rotation that's already Landry Shamit Mitchell Robinson
06:53and if Miles McBride is back then he's in that and if not then you have Jose Alvarado
06:58in the mix they acquired Jose Alvarado at the trade deadline to be the backup point guard because they
07:04thought that Tyler Kolek wasn't ready I don't see that changing for the playoffs um you know the G
07:11league is the G league Tyler Kolek can obviously get hot uh but I don't think that he's going to
07:17supplant those players that I just mentioned for the playoff rotation so who's a player that you're
07:22keeping a close watch out or an eye out on in the fan shoe in the next 10 games for
07:28whatever reason
07:29uh well two of them Jordan Clarkson is one um you know he's he's really surged lately and this was
07:36a
07:36guy who back in January February was out of the rotation uh but they needed him and you know with
07:43Deuce getting hurt you know he stepped up he won them the game in Utah this is a guy who
07:48you know
07:49like I said he could have he's a veteran he could have said you know what I'm not getting any
07:53playing
07:53time here I didn't sign up for this get me out of here give me a buyout he didn't do
07:57that he buckled
07:58down he helped this team and and they needed him so listen you talk about Tyler Kolek before
08:04if anybody in my opinion can crack his way into that playoff rotation it's Jordan Clarkson just
08:10based on the experience he's a vet he knows what he's doing um so he's one guy I'm keeping an
08:15eye
08:15on and on kind of on the opposite side the other one's Mikel Bridges he's obviously going to be part
08:20of the playoff rotation but he's really struggling and for the Knicks to rise to what everybody expects
08:28them to be an NBA finalist he does need to play better he does need to shoot better uh I
08:34thought
08:34the Washington Wizards game was a step in the right direction so those are those are two players
08:39that I'm looking out for and they play the same position all right Steph Bondi always appreciate
08:45your time man all right bro take it easy bye bro take it easy
08:49you
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