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00:16welcome back everybody to another edition of new york got game if you're a knicks fan you might be
00:20feeling good the team has won six games in a row but here's where they stand 10 games are left
00:27in
00:28the regular season so we are going to look at the 10 questions the knicks must answer by the time
00:35they start the playoffs and i thought it was no better person to do this with than my guy you
00:40know
00:40him as sean with the w's my guy sean hardy from knicks film school who joins me now sean what's
00:45going on my friend i'm doing all right uh dexter um how are you doing today's tonight sir i'm doing
00:53good man i'm doing good i i can't complain i don't know about you though i'm just in this mode
00:57where
00:57i just need the playoffs to start we just need i'm 10 more games you know you you you create
01:03a
01:03lot of content you do your thing with kfs you know it's you're kind of getting to this point where
01:08it's like all right let's just let's just get there we just got to get there man we just got
01:12to get
01:12there trying to get to the end just trying just trying to get yes and if i feel that way
01:17i can
01:17only imagine how that the knicks must feel that way times 10 yes yes yes and see i'm glad you
01:26brought
01:26that up because i was talking about this on the last show with my guy brian fonseca and listen
01:32this happens this is not just the knicks problem this happens to all these teams in the nba these
01:36games at the end of march is tough it is tough you know you're going to the playoffs the knicks
01:40now
01:40have 47 wins you know they're going to be a 50 win team there's very few games on the schedule
01:46that
01:46they're really looking forward to so you're going to see some performances like we saw last friday night
01:50against the nets am i tripping over it not really just got to get to the playoffs that's all we
01:57just
01:57got to get there but yep i'm glad you're good however before we get to the playoffs got some questions
02:03to answer about the knicks so just to let everybody know how this is going to work i came up
02:08with five
02:08questions that i think the knicks need to answer before the start of playoffs sean came up with five
02:13questions of his own we are going to discuss those questions hopefully try to answer those questions we
02:17might not be able to give you an answer but we're going to try we're going to see what we
02:20can do
02:21in order to answer those questions so sean since you are the guest here on this show i am going
02:26to
02:26let you kick it off with your first question what is the first question that you have that the knicks
02:31need to answer before they tip off in the playoffs so my first question is everyone is familiar with
02:39these the knicks slow starts in the first quarter uh their net rating um particularly what their net
02:46rating particularly the stars in first quarter is very poor are these slow starts a simply an illness
02:52are they a symptom of something much much bigger
02:58that's a good question um and i have a question similarly to that
03:05i don't think that it's a symptom of an illness i'm a believer in you have to have good habits
03:12though
03:12right sean you want to build good habits by the time you get to the playoffs the counterpoint and
03:17i'm going to steal this counterpoint from my guy brian fonseca nicks are the best fourth quarter team
03:23in the nba so when they do have the lead going in fourth quarter or not they generally finish strong
03:31i tend to think sometimes we put a like this doesn't matter about starting games right but a lot of
03:37people always say i want to change this with the starting lineup and i understand what people are going
03:40to say like dex you just did an episode about whether or not mike brown should change the starting
03:44lineup right and i think you i think you and jeff did something talking about this as well too
03:48um whether or not they should change the starting lineup and i was listening to you guys and your
03:52thoughts on this too and i think a lot of times we overreact to starting lineups and how teams start
03:58not saying that starting off good is bad here's my concern sean you don't want to get bad habits with
04:05the slow starts because if you're doing it against bad teams those habits could then go into playing
04:10good teams when you get into the playoffs so you don't want to have that however i do think we
04:14should probably play a little bit more attention to the fact that this team closes game strongs and
04:19maybe look at that as a strength we've also seen them come back in games where you probably thought
04:24they were dead in the water the houston game is one that comes to mind for me that i was
04:28in the
04:28building for didn't think the knicks were going to come back in that they did come back in that
04:32um i don't think it's a symptom of a larger problem but i do think there's something there
04:38the data suggests that this team the starting five excuse me has not been as strong they've
04:45been a net positive i want to be clear it's not like they've been a net negative but it hasn't
04:49been
04:49a strong next net positive i think it's something like 1.6 is their net rating for the starting five
04:54is 1.6 last year's 1.5 this year i may have those flipped either way the difference is a
04:59tenth of a
05:00point right it's not that much different the difference is the starting lineup was leaned on
05:05more last year because minutes police tips and that whole thing the starting lineup is not leaned
05:11upon as much this year so i'm not as concerned about it because i actually think this these starters
05:16are going to be fresher however all that being said you got to get off to better starts against
05:21good teams you can't afford to get down 10 14 points even when you're playing i would say the
05:27toronto raptors and i hope the knicks aren't down 10 or 14 points to the toronto raptors in the first
05:32round right but then when you start playing the celtics or the pistons or even the calves who i
05:37don't believe in as much you can't have that slippage i i think it's i think this team is bored
05:46like we were talking about in the beginning i think they're waiting to get to the playoffs i know people
05:51don't want to hear that and they think that everybody's going to go 100 miles per hour for all 82
05:55games but that's just not how things work and this ain't 2k and this ain't you playing with the team
06:00with injuries off and all of that that's not how it goes this team i think is a little bit
06:04bored
06:05do i think they're going to get up for some games they have coming up okc houston boston yeah i
06:10do
06:11we'll see how they start off in those games so i don't think it's a big symptom of a larger
06:15problem
06:15and here's the thing at the end of the day sean they're still winning they've still won six games in
06:21a row at the time of us recording this so slightly because on my concern level it's like a four
06:27that's why what about you my concern level was a two and then it went up to a three like
06:37this friday
06:39for that reason you gave that if you develop these habits in if you if you develop these habits of
06:48starting slow against the bad teams um it's going to be hard to break you may be harder to break
06:53it
06:53against the good teams because you're just used to this i've said i've more record of saying i've said
06:58this on kfs plenty of times it seems as if the starting lineup goes into every game saying let's figure
07:05out how much energy and effort and intensity we have to put in to win this game and it's like
07:11they
07:11say they have a number and they go into that they go into that game with that number and if
07:18it takes them
07:19a quarter realizing oh we really got to play harder today now some of these games like the games in
07:25la
07:26they just couldn't hit the brass out of a bar from three and they would let their and this is
07:32excuse me
07:33and this has been something that they've done all year where if they're not hitting threes if not
07:37hitting shots they let their they let that dictate their defense and they let that dictate their
07:42defensive intensity um but i know this team from following this team all season they clearly get up
07:50for certain games and they clearly make business decisions for certain games when it comes to how
07:55much energy they're gonna um expound like they're gonna be they're going to be up for okc from
08:02minute one they're good in fact i say this they look at boston the way detroit looks at them
08:11because they don't they don't mess around when it comes to boston even though they fell behind 20
08:16in games one and two last year like they get up for boston the same way how detroit gets up
08:21for them
08:22but they're just like yeah detroit whatever um so i'm not worried but it's like at some point
08:29all you need to know is this uh after which game was it um which game was what i forget
08:37which game
08:37it was where mike brown basically said he didn't name a defensive player of the game and he said
08:42golden state golden state golden state yes that one week ago and he said you know we have to be
08:48basically i'm paraphrasing but we have to be better we have to start up better and i tweeted and i
08:54said
08:54that is the tone of a man who is tired of having this conversation he said this for the last
09:01time
09:01this is the last time you said it right yeah yeah he's like i'm not saying this again like you
09:05like
09:05it's like how many times can you keep doing this and think it's okay like this is almost like you're
09:11trolling us at this point yeah no i i it's fair and it's it's annoyance i don't know because i
09:18was
09:18thinking about what you said i'm processing all here i'd said okay maybe the team will respond to
09:23this in a in a in a way now they came out they said it was hard to judge the
09:29start against indiana
09:30because starting five i wasn't there jalen brunson doesn't play in that game then you see the nets
09:36and look come on man most of y'all out here can't can't get excited about a game for the
09:42nets
09:42and you act like these players should i understand it they did start off well against the wizards
09:47on sunday i i that's kind of where i am right these things are going to happen at this time
09:54of
09:54year um do you love it would you love it was a perfect world and they were all in from
09:59the jump
10:00no but i understand to your point why they get up for boston because they have a lot of respect
10:05for
10:06boston maybe they're slightly disrespecting the pistons i don't know but i also understand why
10:11they're like yeah yeah we beat them last year i don't think they're sleeping on them and i think
10:15the pistons will have their attention should they see them in the playoffs but there's a long way
10:19between there and that i'm i'm with you so it seems like for both of us the concern level for
10:24this is
10:24low um i think this is what you're going to see at this kind of season i tend to maybe
10:28i'm a bit of
10:29a glass half full guy they're still winning games and they're taking care of their business and they do
10:35what they're supposed to do and at this time of year since it's march why don't i say this
10:38sometimes you just got to survive in advance and they've been surviving and advancing right
10:46all right good question here's my question i'm curious what you have about say about this player
10:52is mikhail bridges going to stop disappear come on sean we can't we can't have the knicks fans are
11:01not they don't want to see this you have and listen i understand what everybody's going to say to
11:07dex he had a good game against the wizards he had 14 points mikhail bridges 14 points in the games
11:13against the wizards was the most points he had had since march 5th when he scored 15. we've seen him
11:19in a game this month where he had no points we've seen a stretch let me look at this so
11:23i have this
11:23correct here the last 10 games before the wizards game on sunday mikhail bridges was averaging 8.4 points
11:29he was shooting 35 just over 35 from the field and 20 just over 29 just under 30 from downtown
11:37from
11:37three it's not good not good i'm i'm not going to do it i'm not going to bring up the
11:43cost sean i'm not
11:45going to talk about the sunk cost and what was given up for him doesn't matter it's done it's out
11:49of
11:49here what i am going to talk about is the fact that he's not playing well if he's not consistent
11:54and
11:55he's disappearing as we've seen this season is how much is that going to hurt the mix that's the
12:00question i have right is he going to show up that is the major question for me sean please i
12:08know the
12:08people out here are asking do you have an answer do you have some help anything you can give the
12:14people
12:14please um i think he'll show up i i believe in occam's razor which says the simplest answer is often
12:23the right answer and the simplest answer is he's going through a slump well before tonight before
12:29sunday night he's going through a slump it happens but to your point the cost will hang over his head
12:37as long as he's in orange and blue and that will be the scapegoat that will be the thing that
12:41people
12:41point to because listen when you pay and i'm not going to mention the exact cost we all know what
12:46it is
12:46but when you pay as much as you did for to acquire that player well some people believe that if
12:55you
12:55play that for a player he should be an all-star and scoring like 25 and 12 a game and
12:59yada yada yada
12:59um which is whatever um i'm not worried about the cost because it's a sunk cost and if the knicks
13:06actually win the championship no one is going to care i'm old enough to remember people losing their
13:10mind when the bucks traded uh three first for drew holiday and guess what they won the title and nobody
13:16cares um he'll show up in the playoffs he's just going through a slump as a wise man once said
13:21who
13:21used to coach the new york knicks you don't have to shoot well to play well and shout out to
13:26my guy
13:27dj zu of knicks from school who had who has pointed out all the things that mikhail bridges has been
13:33doing on the defensive end and not just on the ball because you know so many people just look think
13:37defense is locking people up on ball whatever right um he's doing so many things on the defensive end
13:44that don't show up in the statute that don't show up on highlights that don't go viral on social
13:50media so the offense will come back around i i'm i'm absolutely positively um assured uh sure of
13:59that yeah and we saw him play reasonably well not just defensively in the playoffs and i do it's funny
14:06because i did a video with dj last week and we talked about that with mikhail bridges and going
14:10through the slump and and i also talked with stephan bondi about this and we didn't want to
14:14ignore the fact that he has had an impact on defense still up there reflection still up there
14:18with steals he has been doing a good job there but the knicks are going to need more offensively but
14:22you feel good about him showing up in the playoffs just going through something which is fair if we
14:27want to say the team is going through the dog days of march maybe mikhail bridge is going through
14:33maybe the washington game he was able to break out a little bit we'll see what happens to them
14:38what's what's your next question that you got sean what you got um so i'll just say really quickly
14:43if mikhail bridges averaging six and a half points a game all year instead of averaging six that points
14:48a game for like a week and a half i'd be more worried um there my second question is to
14:54another
14:55player that the knicks acquired in the same offseason as they acquired mikhail bridges that is
15:00carl anthony towns and that question is has carl anthony towns figured out his role in the offense
15:08and i say that because carl anthony towns has gone on record he said it from day one not even
15:14game
15:15one practice one i don't know my role in the i don't know my role is in the offense he's
15:19we've
15:20heard this all season you know i'm still figuring out my role i'm still figuring my role in the
15:23offense and i started pushing back on that by saying carl it's not that you don't know your role in
15:32the offense you know your role in the offense you just don't like it simple to me yes but he's
15:40not
15:40going to say i i my role in the offense stinks i want to do these things but he didn't
15:45like it because
15:46think if think about it if you had a quarter for every time he did one of those pump fakes
15:52at the top
15:53of the key driving to the paint barreling in going for a layup and which either goes in great or
15:59doesn't go in but either way he ends up on the floor and it was leading to a four and
16:04five other
16:04way you'd be if you'd have a lot of quarters and you saw a lot less of that in the
16:10first half of the
16:11year and i think carl was frustrated about not being able to do the things that he wanted to do
16:21and what you have seen lately is that you've seen a little bit more of it but you know after
16:26the two
16:26and nine stretch and the players only meeting which wasn't the players only meeting according to um
16:30josh hart we were dragging it apparently uh but but in the collection of players who had a discussion
16:37about basketball yep um it seems as if after that we've seen a different carl anthony towns on both
16:44sides of the ball but i'm focusing on the offense so do you think he's figuring out his role or
16:49is
16:49he still figuring out dexter so here's what i'm gonna do because you brought up this question
16:53i had a cat question i figured why why not just why not just tie this all together
17:00i'm going to say to answer your question yes ish right i i feel like i feel like there should
17:12be
17:12enough let's okay let's just go to this let's go post all-star break sean and i'm gonna take one
17:19game out of it post the pistons game following the all-star break which was a disaster for the
17:25nicks and nicks fans were very angry about that and rightfully so cat's been really good since then
17:32this is one of cat's better defensive seasons i know you're just talking about offense but
17:38he has cut down on the dumb fouls something that i was very concerned about for this team when they
17:47acquired him it was my biggest concern it wasn't about talent it wasn't that i didn't think that he
17:52could play really well offensively it was like okay is he going to be on the floor when the nicks
17:57need
17:58him that was always a concern for me and everything that you described the from the top of the key
18:03gets
18:03the ball puts it on the ground barrels straight to the basket and it's an adventure for all of us
18:09we don't know well i was gonna say we don't know what's going to happen we just don't to your
18:13point
18:13we just don't know how he's going to end up on the floor and whether or not he's going to
18:17be called
18:17for a foul that is the question that's what we don't know we know something's going to happen
18:22we've seen less of that in the second half let's give that man his credit he's cut down on fouls
18:26particularly offensive fouls he was leading the league in offensive fouls right around the all-star
18:31break he still might be i'm not sure where it is now but that was a problem so my question
18:37for him
18:37sean i feel like if we want to talk about good habits he looks like he's starting to build up
18:44some good habits but none of that is going to matter if those habits just go out the door in
18:47the playoffs nobody's going to care so my question that i had about cat i'll toss back to you is
18:54can he
18:55continue his balanced play in the playoffs because the play has been balanced to me and what what i'm
19:00seeing is a good defense that i mentioned before the cutting down on the fouls playing within the
19:06system offensively still getting his numbers and we saw an adjustment at first even right before the
19:13all-star break right the scoring was down but he was still putting up really high rebound games
19:17this guy's still been a monster on the glass the play has been very balanced he's playing like
19:22the number two that the knicks need so do you think i'm saying yes ish to your question but do
19:31you
19:31think he can continue his balanced play in the playoffs that's my question to you about cat
19:36i hope so and and i the reason i say i hope so is because we years ago i took
19:45a training class
19:48at work one of those emergency trainings whatever and i'll never forget the gentleman he gave this
19:53emergency situation about a man who gets into a building and you know he has a weapon there yada yada
19:58yada and he said people think that in pressure situations we rise to the occasion but we don't
20:06rise to the occasion we sink to our level of training so when the you know what hits the fan
20:12we as human beings go back to what we know one can only hope because you're right carl has cut
20:21down
20:21on the silly fouls he's accepted more of his role in the offense like he's been better defensively he's
20:27been more engaged defensively let's hope he's gotten enough hours and training doing that since the
20:36since the pistons game so that in a high leverage situation in the playoffs he doesn't go back to
20:44um you know the silly fouls and stuff although for some reason carl does have a propensity to just
20:54play well in the playoffs on both sides of the ball if you may remember during the 2024 season when
20:59they
20:59when he was on minnesota they made the conference finals he did a very good job of guarding uh
21:04nikola yokich um i'll always remember game i don't remember if it's game one or game two
21:10against boston where he he knows enough to foul jalen brunson on the floor knowing that the nicks
21:17had a foul to give and a lot of people thought it was a silly foul they know he got
21:21him on the floor
21:21because they had a foul to give so i guess that's part of his training too um so i hope
21:26so i believe so
21:28i believe that he like you know when you're in the league 10 years and you know yeah you made
21:34two
21:34conference finals but you want to you're the number one pick in the draft like people expected
21:38you to help bring a franchise a championship and he's not going to bring this franchise that draft
21:42him a championship but maybe he could bring one here so i i'm hopeful that he can because i'm not
21:50because at this point what we've seen is in his improved play on both sides of the ball we're not
21:57just hoping and praying that he's just going to flip some switch on april 18th or april 19th he's
22:03no he he's establishing better habits which hopefully he will sink to his level of training
22:10and that is what he's been doing the last you know month and change yeah i i think i have
22:16to trust good
22:17habits over time the same way i've been talking all season long on the show about this next defense
22:25needs to get themselves somewhere between the eighth best defense in terms of defensive rating
22:29and 10 in the league they can do that they'll give themselves a good shot to win a championship
22:33now they have and they made some tweaks to the defense part of that defense being better has been
22:38cat we got to give him credit with that too and so if i'm believing in the defense more than
22:42i got to
22:42believe in cat's habits more and he's whether you want to call it accepted his role liked his role
22:48whatever you want to say he's producing and thriving in the system um in a way that we haven't seen
22:55before i think the key the last thing i'll say on this we can move on from cat i think
23:00the key
23:01sean is going to be what does he do against teams that put smaller players on him and is he
23:09able to
23:10punish them in the way he's done one thing that we've seen from him this year less threes i sometimes
23:15would like to see the volume of threes go up for him a little bit more we haven't seen that
23:20but
23:21what i will say regardless that the shots he's been taking have been particularly in the second half
23:26of much better quality and that's what you like getting to the line a little bit more not having
23:32those silly fouls all that stuff matters too so hopefully he can't do that but i like the process of
23:39where it's going and if this is a new cat that we're seeing well i mean and he doesn't go
23:45to the
23:46playoffs excuse me things will be good for the for the next all right what's what's your uh next
23:52question that you have all right question number three um they have to figure i guess they have to
24:00figure this out before the playoffs but playoff rotations who will be in the playoff rotation
24:05particularly will muhammad diawara be a part of the playoff rotation okay so this is another one
24:15where we have a little overlap here so i'm gonna we're gonna have to try to work this out together
24:21you asked will he be part of the playoff rotation
24:26so my question to you also will be which i think is important if you're going to consider this my
24:30question of muhammad diawara is well actually let me pause that for a second will he be part of a
24:36playoff rotation i'll get to my question in one second
24:40i think yes
24:43okay because when i look at muhammad diawara
24:48and i had a chance to talk to this young man a couple a couple about a month ago
24:53very confident there was a confidence to him that i just liked where i was like okay
24:58this dude is not scared i don't think he is shooketh at all about the playoffs i don't think
25:04that he i agree i agree i agree now i don't think he understands the level of intensity of playoffs
25:09and
25:09sometimes that's where youth can work in your favor you ain't shook because you don't understand
25:13but sometimes that fearlessness in those situations can be really good
25:20i think that you've seen a lot of what this kid has had he's gotten his minutes here and there
25:25i had
25:25looked at it in his last 12 games there's only one time he's played less than 11 minutes in his
25:31last 12 13 games now he's played less than 11 minutes so mike brown has been giving him minutes
25:37through these dog days of march that helps him get experience and again regular season basketball
25:43postseason basketball two different things that is exactly why sean we are having this conversation
25:48because we understand that but you can't get ready unless you get experience you got to get
25:54experience sometime and you got to experience playoff basketball sometime so for me personally
25:58why not now why why not now i mean we saw tom thibodeau who got killed for minutes he gave
26:06emmanuel quickly playoff minutes when he was a rookie so we've seen this before and you've got to learn
26:13now you might tell me hey dex and sean the stakes are higher for this next team this is a
26:18team that
26:18has finals or bust aspirations but you know what they need off the bench some size because you're
26:24talking about other players play off the bench there's a lot of guards this guy 6'9 has played
26:30for the most part well on defense times he's looked lost and looked like a rookie for most part he's
26:34played well so my answer is yes and why not why why not play him what's i almost i almost
26:42try hard to
26:43figure out the reason why you wouldn't play him other than your only reason being inexperienced
26:47but don't you isn't the goal to win and don't you want to try to go down with your best
26:52players and
26:52also throw a look that maybe other teams haven't seen enough isn't that something you want to use
26:59so i think so to answer your first question why wouldn't he be part of the playoff rotation and get
27:05minutes um it's because coaches usually shorten their rotations and you said you know you want to
27:13put your best players on the floor you know if deuce mcbride comes back you know he's going to be
27:20playing that's six mitchell robbins ain't going nowhere that's seven um why am i not i'm why am i
27:29blanking um jose alvarado is here that's eight you have jordan clarkson that's nine like a lot of guys
27:37don't have a lot of players don't play 10 guys in the playoffs now what i think you may see
27:43is to borrow another word from the former head coach of the new york knicks situational there may
27:48be situations where you will see mohammed you are may not play game one he may play game he may
27:54play
27:54seven minutes a game two you know he may not play game three he may play five minutes a game
27:59four
27:59i don't think his spot in the playoff rotation is nailed on however i do not think that he's going
28:09to be buried and not play at all until oh the knicks are down two or in a conference finals
28:15it's
28:16like oh let's hey you get out there and do something um so i think he will play but i
28:21don't think he is i
28:22don't think you have carved out a i don't think he has a definite 10 to 15 minutes carved out
28:31for
28:31him like automatically like against the wizards of sunday night he played he played 12 minutes um
28:36i don't know if he's gonna i don't know if that's gonna be in stone for him in the playoffs
28:40but you
28:41know we'll see okay now i think the interesting name you brought back when you were going through
28:46the guys right i'm i'm rock with you i'm with deuce mcbride he's gonna get minutes uh jose
28:52alvarado's gonna get minutes that is a small backcourt off the bench but those guys are good
28:55defensively jordan mitch is getting minutes it's not going anywhere we see how valuable mitch is
29:01with the rebound rate and everything jordan clarkson is an interesting man mr stay ready has got himself
29:08back into the rotation he's been getting minutes he's been really well playing really well he provided
29:13his spark we're not even just talking about in utah he was one of the bright spots against that
29:18interesting game against the brooklyn nets on friday he was one of the bright spots there it
29:22actually provided some energy i i think the fact that the knicks have a coach that you can talk about
29:30mr sean hardy and say that he would consider playing mohammedia wara situationally i think that's huge
29:39i think that's how you should be reading the game the best teams that we saw in the playoffs last
29:44year if you want to just talk about the finalists in oklahoma city and we know the depth they have
29:48and even the pacers those teams are going 10 deep for most rotation even if somebody was getting three
29:52minutes here even if we saw tony bradley for the pacers getting three minutes in the playoff game
29:57you liked how situationally rick carl who's a fantastic coach used it the question i have for you
30:04about mohammedia wara and i'm intrigued by the way you said and talked about things being situational
30:08do you think that he's ready for playoff minutes because it's one thing for you to see you know say
30:15that hey i can see mike brown using him here but do you think he's ready for playoff minutes
30:19whatever those minutes would be even if it's five minutes here if it's 10 minutes here
30:22do you think that the young man is ready for playoff minutes
30:27so i think he's ready that doesn't necessarily mean i think he's going to be great because to
30:33your point he's a rookie and we even see it now like especially on the defensive end some of you
30:38know some of the things he's done defensively he's makes he makes rookie mistakes also offense too um
30:43you know i just think people see him hit open threes and like oh yeah you gotta play but um
30:48in the
30:49playoffs the intensities goes up those the the rotations are crisper the defensive rotation what
30:56you what was open on a sunday night in march is not open on may 1st right and how is
31:07he able to
31:07how will he adjust to that um because again it's not like he's been playing 25 minutes a game for
31:1382
31:14games you know the times that he plays there's times that he doesn't so he's fearless so if he's
31:21open he's going to take the shot or you know maybe do a pump fake attack to close out what
31:26have you so
31:27i think he's ready that doesn't necessarily mean he's going to play well because you brought up
31:32emmanuel quickly emmanuel quickly was ready but he didn't play well in those playoffs against atlanta
31:37in 2021 did not so we have to be we have to be and listen the name on the name
31:43that escaped me
31:43is landry sham it landry sham is going to be part of the road like he's going to be part
31:47of the
31:47talk about sham it who might be their best ball defender yeah we didn't do that so most this year
31:52yeah yeah i i think he's going to be situational which is fine to your point that's that's a that's
31:59a card you'd like that you're happy to be able to play if necessary and if i would have said
32:06i think
32:06to most knicks fans or most people who cover the team if i would have said to you at the
32:11beginning
32:11of the season hey see that guy they drafted in the second round at the end of the season you're
32:17going to be talking about him as a situational player in the playoffs we all would have been
32:21like really but here we are talking about him as a situational player and that's not a bad thing
32:27right if i think mike where i think that's the key for me mike brown will be willing to use
32:34him if
32:34necessary now for him to get more minutes will you have to reward him and be well enough sure
32:40but i think there are series where you're going to meet him because if we look at it all the
32:45guys
32:45you mentioned you're talking about one big a mental robinson and four guards the knicks do could use
32:50some sides off the bench and if dor can help them in the playoffs that could be huge there's there's
32:56matchups i think i think he could definitely help him so we'll see i think he's i think he's ready
33:00for playoff minutes will he produce in the playoff minutes that's a different question we won't know
33:05we we haven't seen that movie yet all right so we've gone through three questions each uh we did
33:11have some overlap what's i do have one oh that's going to overlap with something you said before but
33:15we'll get to that in a second what's your next question
33:19is jalen brunson hurt oh is he hurt now i had a friend of mine interesting zach rosenberg shout out
33:28to him he texted me and he said he felt like jalen brunson had like an ankle issue um i
33:35forget which
33:35game it was um and listen jalen will he he will he has said if i can walk i can
33:42play
33:43and he listen god bless him he's a warrior he's a soldier he's all the things i just sometimes i'm
33:49just just watching him this these last 10 days and and then listen the fact that he they held him
33:57out of the indiana game which gave him four days off before the brooklyn game on friday night it was
34:01like you know what what they call like he has a neck issue and like the ankle because listen jalen
34:07rolls his ankle twice a year we see like yes it is what it is right you know
34:12i'm not gonna work i don't wish injury to nobody but that's what happens but then now i'm seeing
34:16like this he has a cervical issue of his neck and i'm like that's no good like you know issues
34:22with
34:22your uh vertebrae and your like you don't want you not want the back of your neck you don't want
34:28that at all so i mean by this time of year everyone's banged up cats been banged up all year
34:34josh hart was josh hart missed the brooklyn game he's banged up landry shaman did not play
34:39against washington on sunday night so like everyone's everyone's banged up to a certain
34:43extent but like is he hurt hurt like is he is this is this is he hurt to the point
34:48where
34:50his ability to perform in the playoffs will be compromised at some level
34:58it's a good question you're thinking you're thinking about it and i have it's funny because
35:03we have these questions that just like flow into each other that's that's great for this discussion
35:08i don't know i did find the him not playing in the indiana game interesting to give him the four
35:16days
35:16off against brooklyn and the brooklyn game didn't look that great he really didn't look that great
35:22now against washington nine of 19 he hasn't really shot the ball well for three weeks
35:29um maybe more we're talking about now that's been concerning again late in the season you make a
35:35great point tired leg everybody's tired all that stuff jalen brunson has now hit the 65 game mark
35:42he's past that so he's eligible for any awards and should be second team all nba likely again
35:52um here's what's interesting with you saying that if he's not a hundred percent and he's hurt and i'm
35:59intrigued why your boy zach thought this and and is this something he's noticed with him moving about
36:04is the is zach a doctor does he work in in movement science he he might he might have observed
36:09some
36:09things just not seeing the lift on the shot or all that how do you next play this with him
36:15over the
36:15final 10 games sean are they going to hold him out of some more games against lesser competition
36:21i'm sure they want him in for the okc game the houston game the boston game honestly even the
36:26charlotte game that's coming up uh this week as well too with the way they're playing so you might
36:31want to see that i think if he is hurt what i will say again don't know haven't heard anything
36:35from
36:36anybody on that front uh now i'm gonna have to do some asking around if he is hurt
36:42i think the knicks have to be cautious with this they gotta they gotta make sure he's right
36:47um and if you know that he's hurt now it's something that he can rest
36:52do it before do it before the playoffs now we saw jalen brunson hurt and miss most of march last
36:56year
36:56came back for the last couple of games played before the playoffs got his ankle right and everything
37:00was fine if it's the neck i'm not playing around with that like you said i'm not saying you should
37:06play around with the ankle either um but listen injuries are not supposed something to be played
37:11around and the guys want to be out there i get that but you need jalen brunson right before the
37:15start of the playoffs and quite honestly offensively he just has not looked like the jalen brunson that
37:23we know now am i tripping off of this too much with him no because jalen brunson generally gets this
37:30right he's a player i generally don't worry about but you still want him to get right before the
37:36before the playoffs that your question leads into my question that i have about jalen brunson
37:43with and let's even say that he is not healthy let's say he's not 100 is jalen brunson being asked
37:51to do too much with this offense when you look at the usage rate 32 and a half percent yes
37:58there are
37:58some people out there that are saying that he's a ball hog and he's hurting the team and i think
38:03those people are a bit ridiculous but is he being asked to do too much and especially with the health
38:11does he need other people to step up and take the load now we talked about cat playing pretty well
38:16in
38:16the offense but we've also talked about mikhail bridges going through his slump disappearing at time
38:22in games are we asking not we you and me but is the team and organization asking just too much
38:29of
38:30this guy that has carried the knicks for a long time but is if they're going to try to get
38:34to where
38:34they want to go they're going to need other people to step up and take a little bit of the
38:37load
38:38off of the captain what do you say to that so i think the answer that question is yes and
38:43no
38:44okay i think the answer i think you can say no because one of the hallmarks of mike brown's
38:51offense is that it was going to be more egalitarian it wasn't going to be you know go find a
38:56match
38:57event go create advantage get two in the ball and what have you right um or heavy iso ball so
39:03the organization by bringing in a different head coach has you know realized that they just did like
39:11it can't be what do we call that office last year save us save us 11 you know they can't
39:17that's not
39:18that's not feasible um but i do say yes because they're asking him indirectly by the way certain
39:29players are playing or maybe not playing you know um jalen brunson wears kobe sneakers and kobe bryant
39:39god bless his soul um was second to none in the all right you guys are on ps tonight i'll
39:45don't i'll
39:45i'll take care of it i got it whatever you know so if because og was in a bit of
39:52offensive slump for a
39:53while we spoke about mccall bridges already cat you know he comes and goes and what have you so um
40:00indirectly sometimes they are asking to do too much because like if no one else is gonna do anything me
40:06i'm the captain i got it so i'll take i'll take care of it um so i would say yes
40:12and no i think
40:13it's no but they but you know actually speak louder than words and if the team is not going
40:18to play at their level if the team i mean it's not a coincidence coincidence that jalen brunson
40:24is either first or second he's top two in the nba and first quarter point score because he's trying
40:29to set he's trying to set the tone early right so i think this i think it's yes and no
40:36i just think
40:36that that the organization is not asking to do it but if other guys aren't doing the things they're
40:42supposed to jalen is not going to be like like he's not going to shrug his shoulders you're like well
40:46why you know then no one else doing their jobs i can't do he's like all right i'll do it
40:49it's my job
40:50i'll take care of it yeah i i think you answered that in a very nuanced way right like you
40:55got to look
40:55these games and how they're being played and he does come out a lot and try to set the tone
41:00i never looked at it as him chucking or ball hogging i i think the notion of that is is
41:05ridiculous
41:06would you like the usage to be down a little bit yes i think his minutes are and i talked
41:11about this
41:11beginning of season minutes at 34.9 a game this according to cleaning the glass i kind of like
41:16that takes out garbage time i like where his minutes are for the most part the usage would come
41:22down now you're like okay whose usage can go up well we thought i think a lot of us thought
41:27you
41:27might see a little bit more uh mikhail bridges doing some things on the ball creating we saw that from
41:33him when jalen brunson went down late last season but we still haven't seen a lot more of that from
41:39him at least in this version of the offense with mike brown so you know you would like to see
41:43maybe a
41:44little bit more of that but i think you're right in that he has been reading the game and doing
41:49what
41:50needs to be done when other guys have not been getting it done now maybe the bigger factor in
41:55that is go back to another thing we talked about in cat how he if he continues his good play
42:00and he
42:00steps up in the offense the way we think that he can based on what we've seen maybe jalen brunson
42:06won't have to do too much but we'll see all right one more question for you one more question for
42:12me
42:12what you got what seed do the knicks want do they want to be third or do they want to
42:21be fourth
42:26now why would you want to be fourth when you could be third the look on your face is telling
42:32me um so
42:34i say that so so first okay so you go ahead and and and this actually ties into the brunson
42:39conversation and and what have you um yeah the knicks are currently with the knicks beat washington
42:45so they were one game behind boss for the two seed now obviously everyone wants to be the two seed
42:51you'd rather be two than three because if you're second you have home court in the first two rounds
42:55however um unfortunately we heard news that k cunningham will um be out for extended period of
43:02time due to a collapsed lung obviously wishing k cunningham a speed of recovery
43:06um and that 65 game rule oh boy um but but i did my i did my online google research
43:16like how long
43:17does it take to recover from a collapsed lung and this thing google says one to two weeks but
43:20maybe for me not for someone who literally runs up and down for a living playing basketball guarded
43:27people what have you so if you're saying like three four weeks well the season game one of the
43:35playoffs is basically four weeks from now he may be compromised and that guy if i had a vote he'd
43:46be
43:46mvp of the league because he has to do everything and he's gonna have to do that in the playoffs
43:51so
43:52it may be an easier road for the knicks to get to the conference finals if they are fourth have
44:00to play
44:00a toronto or orlando or miami but but one of those teams because i believe they're like all tied i
44:10believe they're all tied it's all and then you yeah and then you get past them and then you have
44:15a
44:16detroit piston scene that yes has beat the snot out of you in three games but with a clearly not
44:22100 k
44:23cunningham who again has to do everything and oh yeah his lung collapsed so would you rather that than
44:32being the three seed getting again one of the smorgasborgs of miami orlando toronto and then
44:41having to go play boston on the road again so what say you here's what i say i thought it's
44:48funny i
44:48about this last week with stephan bondi i don't believe in ducking teams try to get the high seed
44:55you can get i i i i i understand where people want to try to plan the path out but
45:02it never generally
45:03works that way hey i think you and i could both raise our hand on this path didn't look easy
45:09for
45:09the knicks to get to the conference finals last year when you saw they're going to play boston in
45:13the second round and then they ended up in the conference finals i think you should try to get the
45:18best record you can try to get the highest seed you can if you believe in yourself and your team
45:24hey whoever you're gonna put in front of us we got to win these games you can't try to duck
45:28detroit
45:29you can't try to get detroit at the perfect time if you believe in your team and what you have
45:33going
45:33on you're gonna have to beat detroit sometime you might have to see boston at some point
45:37i have a lot of respect for boston i'm sure you do too uh but you gotta face who you're
45:43gonna face
45:44i think it's important for this team to still play well down the stretch
45:47get the highest seed they can they've been playing some pretty good basketball i know
45:51despite some knicks fans not thinking that because they haven't blown all these bad teams out who
45:55cares they've been stacking wins they're gonna get 50 wins again they have a legit chance to pass boston
46:00if they can continue to win that game off on uh april 9th could be huge it could be for
46:05the division
46:06i know nobody cares about atlantic division titles anymore and i don't generally either but
46:12yeah don't i'm not about ducking this and trying to get the four you're gonna play who you're gonna
46:17play when you're gonna play them either you're confident what you got or you're not that's that's
46:22what it is that is what it is to me and i don't think i just want to make this
46:25clear i don't think
46:27players and good organizations are wired like that to start ducking who and try to get the best path good
46:35organizations and good players good teams they believe in the talent around them and they want
46:39to go i i think the knicks should be motivated to beat detroit after what they did to them this
46:45year
46:45if that doesn't motivate you enough i don't know what will they've they've they've whooped your ass
46:50three times what like no you're right you're right now i i do want to say to you though
46:58and to everybody not just you sean the stuff you are mentioning about kate cunningham and how you're
47:05saying like hey this is might not be just a one to two week thing and you gotta remember he
47:11they said
47:12the pistons put this out he will be evaluated in one in two weeks evaluation is huge right yes a
47:23lot
47:23of things could happen in two weeks i'm about to go have achilles surgery in a couple of days
47:28and in two weeks i will be evaluated i hope everything is fine in two weeks and it's and
47:35i'm on track to start pt and just be in my boot and off crutches and all that i hope
47:38that's but it may
47:39not be they i might go see my orthopedic surgeon and she might say hey you got to be on
47:45crutches for
47:46another week all i'm saying is that doesn't mean he's coming back in two weeks here's the other thing
47:50when you if he comes back in two weeks you're gonna have to start non-contact activities probably
47:58non-basketball activities then you can start contact and basketball activities then you got
48:03to get back into basketball shape the only way you can get back into basketball shape is by playing
48:07some basketball and that takes some time so you got to remember kate cunningham for two weeks
48:12with a collapsed lung you can't do anything anything so i say all that to say
48:21there is actually a world and i'm not wishing this on kate cunningham and i wish him a speedy
48:25recovery and back and everything and all that good stuff there's a world in which he could not play in
48:30the first round he might just be coming back into the second round assuming that the pistons advance
48:36and even then he's still trying to get back in a basketball shape so he's not going to be 100
48:41right
48:42i also agree with you on a point you made this i think you and i tend to look at
48:47the word value and
48:48most valuable player the same way and i kind of agree with you about him being the most valuable
48:53player to a team if he's not there right now at least for this season league i don't know so
48:59you
48:59don't even know you don't even know if let's say the next drop to four the point i'm making is
49:03if they
49:04saw the pistons the second round you still might not know what kind of version of pistons you're
49:07getting you still might get a version of pistons where kate cunningham is still trying to
49:11get things right now and listen if you're a nick fan you shouldn't be rooting for that that's a
49:15loser mentality too you should want to see the pistons at full strength you should want to play them at
49:19full strength and beat them after they beat you three times this season so that's what yeah and i'll
49:26say this yeah but i agree with you and i think the next should try to be third or second
49:32because now they
49:33are with uh minnesota beating the celtics on sunday they the knicks are now a half game behind boston
49:40yep but here's the thing they might not have to run into detroit in a conference final if they're
49:48the three seed anyway because detroit may not get there and i said that before k cunningham had his
49:56injury i think what you're saying is something that i've been saying not to make this a next pistons
50:02thing but it is hard for a team i think this is the point you're making that has not advanced
50:09past
50:09the first round then all of a sudden go all the way to the conference finals or the nba finals
50:15it's hard very very hard the knicks have a lot of experience we respect boston because they have a lot
50:21of experience even to some degree the calves know what it's like to get past the first round not to
50:29the conference finals but he knows like to get past the first round and they have some players well
50:34thompson mitchell has been that far that's it so it's a long it's a long way teams are hoping they
50:42can stay healthy the knicks are hoping they can stay healthy and that's it so here's my last question
50:46for you this is going to bring it back to the first question that you had okay me sean so
50:51we're kind of
50:55the knicks can and will win first quarters against playoff level competition with the concerns that
51:04everybody's had about them in the first quarter getting off the slow starts against playoff teams
51:10do you think they can and will win first quarters against playoff level competition
51:14i think so um i especially in especially if they i think they're getting i think they're getting out the
51:22first round knock on wood and if they play whoever whether it's boston or detroit i think they'll get
51:27i think they'll get over it um the the regular season where the thing is too long too short whatever
51:39has to be an experiment in data collection and after 82 games this next team should be able to pinpoint
51:47okay
51:48this is why we start slow this is what we need this is what we need to do like this
51:54is time to it is
51:55time to win it's time to win and you can't keep digging you cannot keep digging yourself into a hole
52:04and then have to expound twice as much energy to get out of that hole that game last sunday against
52:11the
52:11warriors was infuriating like you're down now you should have been like what you saw against
52:17washington this past sunday night that is what golden state should look like well excuse me the
52:23santa cruz warriors because that's who was playing that game that's how the game like the game against
52:30washington is how the golden state game should have looked but now you had to i think brunson played 41
52:34minutes that game you had to expend all that energy in order to get a win against a team that
52:41stinks for all intents and purposes um i think they'll be better in first quarters i think they'll be
52:47better because again it's winning time now and if that now when because if they don't
52:54as mr dolan said on the radio they got to make the finals if they don't make the finals
52:58there will be some changes will be made changes are afoot so i think they'll be better in first
53:04quarters in the playoffs all right there you go i think they will too i think they've shown us to
53:09rise
53:09up to the level of competition you're gonna see in first quarters where they've the san
53:13antonio game comes to mind where they started off slow i think they were down i don't know 19 to
53:187 in
53:19that game and then yep defense played well that second quarter was one of the best defensive
53:26quarters i've seen all season probably along with the third quarter in their first game at philadelphia
53:31so yeah i think they can get a bit off to better i trust i trust the group to rise
53:37to the occasion when
53:38the playoffs comes i think they're very focused i think this is the team that is waiting for the
53:41playoffs to start just like you and i we try to get through these final 10 games waiting for
53:46the playoffs to start excited for some postseason basketball and it should be fun look it's not a
53:53perfect team they still got a lot of questions we just came up with 10 questions and i'm not sure
53:58we
53:58really answered them all because we even had some yes and no's some yes issues that we had up in
54:04here
54:05but hey this is why we watch the games and it should be a lot of fun that is sean
54:11hardy
54:11everybody check him out with nick's film school does a great job with them there hopefully sean is
54:17feeling better i was even kind enough on this show even though i'm doing it now to not bring up
54:22what
54:22is going on with his team that plays in the english premier league i was not going to do that
54:26to the
54:27man but you can see that man's face right there on the screen he's a little bit stressed about that
54:30i'm going to try to offer him some therapy off camera to do that but sean you know i appreciate
54:36you
54:36my brother and and i and despite your choice in english premier league football team you know
54:40i still love you man so it's it's all it's all good i appreciate you coming on with me to
54:45talk
54:46some nicks basketball as always thanks for having me appreciate being on anytime as i said check out
54:52sean i'm jack sam we'll catch you next time another edition of new york got game peace
54:58and thanks for watching new york got game boob shakalaka
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