2026 Knicks Playoff Roundtable w/ CP "The Fanchise" & Jonathan Macri | NY Got Game - video Dailymotion

New York Post

Watch 2026 Knicks Playoff Roundtable w/ CP "The Fanchise" & Jonathan Macri | NY Got Game - New York Post on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00:15what's good everybody welcome to another edition of new york got game we are here it is playoff

00:00:20time next start the playoffs on saturday we'll tip things off against the atlanta hawks 6 p.m

00:00:24eastern it's your boy dexter henry and i'm joined by my guys to your left it's my guy jonathan mackrey

00:00:31the dean of nyx film school to my right or your right on the screen is my guy cp the

00:00:36franchise

00:00:36of nyx fan tv and y'all know how we do every every year when the season starts these two

00:00:42gentlemen

00:00:43join me we talk about the season it's always a fun time and we also always do this before the

00:00:47playoffs we usually do it in person our schedules were crazy this week it wasn't going to happen

00:00:52i'm still recovering from an injury but we we made it happen here guys how y'all doing how's

00:00:56everybody doing man feeling good man uh it's crazy you were just like before we went on you're like

00:01:02hey we're gonna go over some stuff maybe we said in the past i'm like that seemed like yesterday

00:01:06that the season began i don't know how you guys feel the season went pretty quick for me um and

00:01:12maybe it's just because we always knew we were going to get to this point it was just about like

00:01:16kind of killing time for the last six months but yeah man happy to do this yeah man the season

00:01:20went

00:01:20really quick cp how you doing you've had yourself a a crazy couple of days congratulations just got

00:01:25married and everything uh how you doing brother i'm feeling good man i'm hype you know hype is an

00:01:31understatement man but like johnson said like it just feels like yesterday we were we were anxiously

00:01:36awaiting the abu dhabi games and like breaking the season and the new coach and all of that and

00:01:40here we are the season is over and like i said it's money time man it's ready to go so

00:01:45you just used

00:01:46the word anxious right and like i remember when we were sitting in studio at the start of the season

00:01:52i think all of us agreed we're like yo this is the most anxious important next season in 30 years

00:01:59we just watched the regular season the knicks won the nba cup they won 53 games i know because i

00:02:06love

00:02:06you guys i watch your content you watch mine we all made content where it was like it felt great

00:02:11at

00:02:11times then in january we were like what the hell is going on here like how do how do you

00:02:17guys put

00:02:17this season in context because i even when i thought about it i was struggling with it a little

00:02:22bit too like yo how do i really feel about this season so like how do you guys feel about

00:02:26this

00:02:26season that we just saw and like what are your maybe biggest takeaways with the knicks in in this

00:02:32season what do y'all say um i'll i'll just say like i think for me the highs were definitely

00:02:38fun like uh i comparing it just to last season because i think that's the easiest comp because

00:02:44it's the same basic team obviously the coach is different but for me the the the first season of cat

00:02:50and and uh bridges the i mean obviously they won a lot of games but i if you asked me

00:02:56to say like

00:02:57what was your best regular season memory from the 24 25 season i'm not sure there's an easy one that

00:03:03i'd be able to come up with whereas this season talk about the christmas game talk about the nuggets

00:03:08wins talk about the cup the other spurs win um even some of the wins late in the season i

00:03:13think they

00:03:13were big and at the same time and i i'm curious how cp feels about this because i he's more

00:03:19composed

00:03:19than i am um on his shows the lows were low you know and i we were talking about this

00:03:25on a kfs town

00:03:26hall last night how i think my thing was i often would read into their losses i would project things

00:03:34that i thought well maybe this is what's really going on and and i would get myself all worked up

00:03:39about stuff that was maybe not you know i didn't need to get as worked up about so look it

00:03:45got us

00:03:45here i think it was a good season and it's certainly a memorable one but obviously a lot to still

00:03:50be

00:03:50written here but j mac i gotta ask you because you had a uh you had a moment this season

00:03:57everybody remembers you know what i mean if you felt like the team wasn't uh as likable which

00:04:02listen i i understood where you were coming from on it right it wasn't exactly how i felt

00:04:09but i understood where you were coming from so i think the million dollar question for everybody's

00:04:13got it just watching this is like yo is this team likable now for you like do you like this

00:04:17team

00:04:18at all like where where are you now they're a lot more likable now for me than they were look

00:04:23my my

00:04:24issue in that moment well truthfully my issue in that moment was i've been on vacation for a week and

00:04:28i'm like i got off my butt to do this watch this uh so i was i was in a

00:04:34i was in a foul mood that night

00:04:36but you know what it was i think for me that night it came after the pistons game the first

00:04:40game after

00:04:41the all-star break we had just heard mike brown talk about how look these guys have punked us you

00:04:46know

00:04:47we better come into this game and show what we're made of and so to preface it with that

00:04:53and then we've we had kind of watched a year and a half of this team you know consistently not

00:04:59live

00:05:00up to what their talent is and to me when i think about what do i love about teams i

00:05:05compared it that

00:05:06night to the 23 24 team you know is the consistent effort that you know what you're going to get

00:05:11every

00:05:11night and you know at times this team has been the opposite of that and i and i don't like

00:05:16that

00:05:17you know but to try to put a positive spin on it i do think it's been a bit of

00:05:22a journey i do think

00:05:23changing coaches and obviously you know players getting adjusted to each other that's been difficult

00:05:27at times i i have to say the last couple weeks to see it come together and i don't know

00:05:33if i don't

00:05:34want to get ahead of myself here but to see it come together in the way that it has i

00:05:38think it has put

00:05:38a very different spin on what this team not only is for me but what what they could be moving

00:05:44forward

00:05:46so i i always say because yeah i forgot that came right after that first pistons game the first game

00:05:51after the all-star break i forgot about that uh if we want to call it your outburst j mac

00:05:55it was a crash out it was it was a car we call it you crashed out yeah we'll say

00:06:00you crashed out

00:06:00okay cp i think a lot for a lot of people including myself like i felt some kind of way

00:06:08about these pistons games because to me i just didn't see the fight back and i was like what

00:06:14what's what's up with that here we're not seeing the fight back like i feel like we should see

00:06:18from this this team and for some people that's going to be a major takeaway from the season now i

00:06:24think it's look it's three games against the pistons they were oh and three we saw last year

00:06:28they were oh four against the calves oh four against the celtics and then things turned around

00:06:32in the playoffs does the pistons game hang like you know games i should say hang large for you

00:06:38or loom large for you the way you look at this season or do you look at it more in

00:06:41totality and

00:06:42say look this was still really good there was still a lot of good things that came out of the

00:06:46season

00:06:46i thought there were still a lot of good things that came out of the season especially when you

00:06:50consider the fact that as a brand new system brand new coach uh the adversity that they had to face

00:06:55to

00:06:55to get to this place right with carl anthony towns trying to adjust mical bridge is trying to adjust

00:07:00and mike brown trying to adjust to them i think we we don't really take that into consideration we

00:07:05just look at well they finished two games short of the finals last year this they should be much

00:07:09better but i think there's an adjustment period here that and we have to give grace to that in this

00:07:15you know instant gratification age that we're in we don't really consider that so i think all things

00:07:20consider and and on top of the fact that this team had to deal with a multitude of injuries throughout

00:07:25the year that they didn't last year and so to see the way that they finished as mackery said they

00:07:30finished the season very strong you know carl anthony towns in particular finished the season very strong

00:07:35um the impact of of mitchell robinson like that i think i think there's a lot of bright spots in

00:07:41terms

00:07:41of how they finished throughout the season you had great stories from tyler kolick in the nba cup

00:07:46the christmas day tyler kolick game the potential of a mo diawara for a team that's going to be a

00:07:52second apron team you know finding those diamonds in a rough for the future i think that that was very

00:07:56promising the pistons game was rough especially the fact that they got dominated every single game and

00:08:04so it left you thinking you know can they meet that level of intensity can they meet that level of

00:08:11physicality and once again those same weaknesses that we talked about to start the season the

00:08:16same weaknesses that we saw how they ended last year you it left you wondering are those same

00:08:22weaknesses going to put them in a chokehold when it comes to going up against the upper echelon defenses

00:08:27that tend to expose the knicks so time will tell you know if these two teams should meet at some

00:08:33point in the playoffs but nevertheless i still feel good about this team going into this i think they

00:08:38are coming together at the right time and i feel like when this team is still playing at their best

00:08:43they're still going to be a tough out when you when you think about brunson and towns you think about

00:08:47the depth as i said mitch is going to be a major factor in this thing and you know it's

00:08:52it's we have

00:08:53to see really og mccall bridges what will they bring on the offensive end really defensively i think

00:09:00they're going to be strong but on the offensive end how will they help this team going forward

00:09:04so that's interesting too because i had a gerard hector from true hoop on the other day and he talked

00:09:08about how he thinks this team if they're going to get to where they want to go that the

00:09:12offensive ceiling can be really high like we've seen the knicks offense be good and look they

00:09:16finished as a top five offense but he still thinks they can get to another level and me personally i

00:09:21don't know y'all felt i think one of the biggest developments for me was i love the way the

00:09:25defense

00:09:26particularly after january came together and was a lot better where i was like okay i feel better

00:09:32about this defense because in the middle of the season did not like what we were seeing defensively

00:09:36didn't think it was good two things you guys both said i think is worth talking about a little bit

00:09:41more the end of the season how this team finished and i think both you guys made good points in

00:09:46that

00:09:46i think the biggest thing for me and i don't know i i don't know if this was planned by

00:09:52mike brown

00:09:52but we saw a lot more of the two-man game with cad and brunson and it looked good it

00:09:59looked better it

00:10:00looked cohesive a lot of us have been asking to see more of that if mike brown was you know

00:10:07keeping his

00:10:08cards close and didn't want to show his hand early i don't necessarily think that was a bad thing

00:10:13and i'll get to mike brown in a second because i like how he's managed this season but that to

00:10:17me

00:10:18offensively to your point cp that to me was one of the more encouraging things about the end of the

00:10:24season is what we were seeing offensively the process of it with brunson and cat was it was that

00:10:29for you or was it was there other stuff that you really liked at the end of the season it's

00:10:33what

00:10:33we've been looking for since the julius days it was what we've been looking for with carl anthony

00:10:38towns here last year is can these two create the advantages that's needed for them to win these

00:10:45games in crunch time right it's all about the advantages that you create is jaylen going to be

00:10:49able to create those advantages in isolation against the dyson daniels of the world you saw

00:10:54thompson's like it's still going to be a tough road against some gritty wing defenders you know

00:10:59where where is carl anthony towns going to emerge in terms of his advantage creation like the knicks

00:11:04are going to have to find that because they're going to go up against the cream of the crop

00:11:07in terms of the the best defenses in the league and so i was very encouraged to see that remember

00:11:13going back early in the season mike brown did say and the reason that he wanted them running in that

00:11:18rena react offense is that they wanted them playing off of instinct and that later on he would

00:11:24implement some more plays in the playoffs so that they're not as predictable but i think the same

00:11:31thing applies here is that i don't think he wanted to show his hand and you know give the league

00:11:37some

00:11:37more film in terms of how these two guys can operate in terms of that two-man game and so

00:11:41that's why i

00:11:42think we saw a little bit more of it as the season ended and look i think there's more to

00:11:46come here in

00:11:47the playoffs between these two guys because it was spectacular especially against the hawks but as the

00:11:51season finished i love what i saw between those two guys yeah well we're gonna get to the hawks

00:11:55people don't worry we're gonna get to the hawks but i yeah i loved how that two-man game looked

00:11:58looked against us what about you j mac well um in terms of the end of the season because both

00:12:03you

00:12:03guys hit on that so what did you love i'm happy that that uh cp was like brought through back

00:12:09to

00:12:10like julius because the funny thing i don't know how you guys feel but like the the part of the

00:12:16the

00:12:16the january 2024 nicks you want to talk about really throwing it back was it seemed like julius

00:12:22was at his best as a basketball player on that team like it seemed like it all fit suddenly and

00:12:27particularly the partnership with brunson and not to not to throw dirt on on anyone's grave but

00:12:33exchanging rj barrett for og and and ob kind of made the puzzle pieces finally fit and then of course

00:12:37we know what happened from there and then they got cat and you know every team and i don't want

00:12:44to go

00:12:44too big picture here because i want to focus it on on cat and and jalen but i think this

00:12:48is is very

00:12:49relevant we talk a lot about identity right like what is a team's identity and it's it's kind of

00:12:53like a you know a talking head you know uh hot take type of thing to say and at the

00:12:59same time

00:13:00i think it's pretty relevant because it's like all right when nothing's going right what are you

00:13:05going to fall back on and i think there's been the one thing that nicks have always had over the

00:13:09last two years is that it's a never say die team they could be down 10 15 20 you know

00:13:13they're

00:13:13always going to find a way back in the game that's kind of an identity but it's not a like

00:13:17a play

00:13:18style identity right so when you trade for cat you're you're basically saying all right we think

00:13:23our identity is going to we're going to have this unguardable two-man game and we're going to be able

00:13:27to defend well enough around it we said this when they made the trade and for two years that hasn't

00:13:32really been the case so now to finally see it and and in terms of what is interesting to me

00:13:38about it

00:13:39look i'd love to to support the idea that that mike brown's playing some kind of 4d chess here and

00:13:45that this was always the long game and yet you hear cat at his locker i forget after which game

00:13:49it was but talking about yeah we've had really great conversations the last few weeks and i'm

00:13:54hearing that i'm like those conversations couldn't happen you know a year two years ago two years ago

00:14:01you know and look and you never you never know right but he's i think he's honest and i i

00:14:11thought

00:14:12that was interesting so very interesting yeah so i think that's interesting too right the timing of it

00:14:18and then part of me is like yeah well you know you sometimes have a process of things and i

00:14:23think

00:14:23sometimes i'm going to take something cp just said instant gratification we all want that we want to

00:14:28see this quickly this should have happened already we should have seen some some more of this and then

00:14:32it doesn't happen this way but we're here and now now you just made me think about another word j

00:14:37mac

00:14:37identity okay and identities can form and change and things can happen over time but do we know

00:14:45this team's identity as they head into the playoffs because you're kind of you're kind of talking about

00:14:50how it's been forming this even this two-man identity with brunson and cat that we didn't see for the

00:14:56last year and a half until recently yeah but do we now as we as we get ready for this

00:15:01playoff series

00:15:01against atlanta do we know this team's identity or we still do you think it's still forming and is

00:15:07that a good thing yeah i don't think we know it i think it is still forming but i think

00:15:11we're moving

00:15:11closer to what the vision was when they put this starting five together which is no hiding spots meaning

00:15:20whatever defense you're going to throw at us we will be able to find a way to exploit it whether

00:15:26it's we're going to hunt your weakest defender whether we're going to be able to get the most

00:15:31advantageous switch and go after that whether it's you're not going to be able to hide a small guy on

00:15:35og and obi you're not going to be able to hide a weak defender on mccall bridges or even tapping

00:15:40into

00:15:40the bench we could throw double big at you and we could beat you that way you know um we

00:15:45could make

00:15:45josh hart the screener we could make josh hart you know uh put him in the short role and let

00:15:51him make

00:15:51play like they have all of these different weapons that in theory should be able to work not only well

00:15:57together but well together in different ways which again to go back to what i was saying before that

00:16:01was the frustrating part is that we really i felt like we really saw them actualize on on all of

00:16:05that

00:16:05talent they're moving closer to it are we there yet you know we're going to find out in the next

00:16:10hopefully two months yeah we're going to find out how do you feel about the identity cp

00:16:15you you do you or you you i know i've talked to you about this you're you're like i'm a

00:16:20big process

00:16:20guy i'm a big process guy i like the process of things going but and the process can still evolve

00:16:26here in my opinion but do you feel like you know what this team's identity is right now i i

00:16:31feel like

00:16:32we're getting there man i just like the way that they ended this season and and like mackery said

00:16:36there's so many different facets to this team and when you start off with their ball movement right the

00:16:41way that they're moving the ball yes they want to be a high volume three-point shooting team

00:16:45they want to also get out in transition look at the way that mccall bridges plays and especially

00:16:49to start the games you know just playing fast getting out in transition off of those live

00:16:53rebounds off of the turnovers with heart being able to be that secondary playmaker then when you

00:16:59get mitch in you can get a little bit grittier right mitch is going to be that dog on the

00:17:03boards

00:17:03he's going to get you those block shots he's going to do the things to get you those second chance

00:17:07opportunities but then listen man when the fourth quarter comes the team with the best fourth quarter net

00:17:13rating and that's all the number 11's hands and if he's in his groove if he has that shooter's bounce

00:17:19it's going to be jaylen in isolation or creating for everybody else which we've seen him do very well

00:17:24as i said to end the season listen i i know you guys also pay a lot of attention to

00:17:31what fans are

00:17:31saying on social media and then also the talking heads right even even part of the media which which

00:17:38i'm a part of and you just mentioned the fourth quarter net rating for the knicks which is the

00:17:44best in the league i feel like that has been not talked about enough in in enough places and listen

00:17:52i'm not all like oh this you gotta say this about the knicks and the national media says about the

00:17:56knicks and you know the knicks for clicks industrial complexes our guy jeff johnson will say and all that

00:18:02other stuff we've had a lot of talks with this team when it comes to their identity about okay they

00:18:07don't get

00:18:07off the good starts the starting unit we've heard a lot about that and that's true the facts are the

00:18:11facts not running from that but what cpu just said about the fourth quarter rating i agree i think

00:18:17that's something that this team can really hang their hat on because they've been so good at it

00:18:21you're just that's not a fluke you've done this across the whole season you've closed games out well

00:18:25you've got one of the best closers in the game jaylen brunson and other guys have been able to step

00:18:30up

00:18:30we've seen it time and time again i i love that you made that point i think that should be

00:18:35a huge part

00:18:35of this team's identity i really really believe that and it should give them confidence in the

00:18:41playoffs i think it really should give them confidence playoffs but guys i gotta say this

00:18:46too when i was thinking about the season and talking to you guys i said okay what did i really

00:18:50like about

00:18:51this season you know maybe what's the thing i liked or something i didn't like from the season

00:18:56and for me i really liked to actually really we'll get to mike brown more but i really liked how

00:19:02he

00:19:02managed the season and the roster um i thought it was a breath of fresh air i really liked how

00:19:07he did

00:19:07that i think my dislikes and this might tie into something you said earlier j mac is the inconsistencies

00:19:14that we kind of saw from this team at times and you know i don't want to just rag on

00:19:19one player but

00:19:20mikhail bridges uh at times looks great i still wish he got to the line more i'm not asking for

00:19:27him to be a

00:19:2820 point scorer but sometimes his him being manually inconsistent is just so frustrating

00:19:33for me somebody watches and covers it covers the team um for both you think yeah what you just said

00:19:40though what you just said think about what you just said you liked the way mike brown went about

00:19:44managing the team right i did that included a lot of experimentation that included deep bench that

00:19:49includes different rotations right different lineups and things so doesn't it make sense thinking

00:19:55about 10 10 000 for view that we're going to get some inconsistency i understand you're talking

00:19:59about mccall specifically which is maybe it's it's different but even think about him comes into the

00:20:05season kind of like oh mccall you're going to be like the quasi point guard you're going to be bringing

00:20:09the ball up you're going to be doing this and that and i even think his role changed and evolved

00:20:14over the

00:20:14course of the year which like look i'm mccall frustrates me don't get me wrong right to for have to

00:20:21him or have to have him focus on maybe a different role a changing role while also doing a lot

00:20:26of

00:20:26the little things that his team obviously needs him to do why they traded for him you know i i

00:20:32think

00:20:32even you know cp i think you use the word like kind of giving understanding giving grace to this team

00:20:37i think we could give a little bit of grace right to mccall bridges after you know you know what

00:20:43i hadn't thought about it like that i hadn't either no you know what i think i think that we

00:20:50all can get sometimes i'm guilty of this too in that man i want to see this guy hit this

00:20:57or you

00:20:57know not numbers but like play in this kind of way and feel like it's more part of the team

00:21:01and we

00:21:01don't think enough times about role and adjustments to roles and you're right if i'm gonna give if you're

00:21:06gonna give credit to mike brown me particularly call myself if i'm gonna give credit to mike brown

00:21:10for his malleability and how he's been able to adjust with the lineup well then things change

00:21:16for guys in the lineup yes and let's be let's keep it a buck here too we saw mike brown

00:21:21at time

00:21:21in games bench mckell bridges not playing down the stretch of games go with a landry shaman go

00:21:26with i remember landry shaman and jose alvarado against houston in the 18 point comeback at the

00:21:30garden right and he went real small in that we've seen him make those adjustments i haven't heard

00:21:36any players complain about it now i don't know if they are behind the scenes i haven't heard

00:21:39anything uh being around the team that's not what i've heard but to your point j mac that doesn't

00:21:45mean it's not always easy right for players and that doesn't mean it's there's still not an

00:21:49adjustment period for that and so yeah i see your point could could have impacted mckell and with

00:21:56malleability is going to come some inconsistency to get to the process i said i'm a process guy to get

00:22:01to where we are now i i think your point that you make is a good one i think it's

00:22:04a good one

00:22:04it's interesting uh you know mike or tom thibodeau known as like kind of the hardest coach right to

00:22:10play for because he's very demanding and everything and yet i think going from tibbs to mike brown for

00:22:16a lot of these guys really challenged them in a different sort of way because mike brown i think

00:22:23put a lot of these guys in in i don't want to say uncomfortable positions but he he really did

00:22:27challenge them in ways that thibodeau in a strange way did not challenge them like you know josh hart

00:22:32you know jalen brunson you know these guys are are built to surprise mitch like these guys are

00:22:37built a certain way like they jived with tips you know and i think mike brown came in and in

00:22:44different

00:22:44ways for every player had you know um you know wanted to to kind of see just like what all

00:22:51these

00:22:51guys were capable of and again to feed into the conversation about why we got the inconsistencies we

00:22:56got that to me is a as good an explanation as as any cp what would you make of because

00:23:04i like the

00:23:04job mike brown did in year one i i think when you get to what we've all been talking about

00:23:10which is

00:23:10the process of what we saw at the end of the season that the three of us seem to like

00:23:14i think he did a

00:23:16good job in year one do you look at him as somebody that had real impact or is this maybe

00:23:22a little bit

00:23:22overstated because we know what the expectations are and it's for this team it's finals of us

00:23:26championship of us whatever you want to say um what are you making the job that mike brown did in

00:23:30year one and don't worry jback i'm gonna ask you because we know your tips guys so i'm gonna ask

00:23:35you

00:23:35but i'll have to ask cp too regular season fine you know but he's he's here to get this team

00:23:43to the

00:23:43promised land so it's still an inconclusive but i think if if you think about the things that they

00:23:49wanted from their next head coach he came in here and did what he was asked to do just deepen

00:23:53the

00:23:53rotation develop players while being under the pressure to win when you look at colic you look

00:23:58at diawara mcculler got in some action mcculler started some games this season so they had some

00:24:04solid contributions from their younger players and like i said this is a team that in the second apron

00:24:09you're not going to have that many opportunities to to find those diamonds in the roof and i think you

00:24:13know they have some promise there for the future they wanted someone who was going to be more

00:24:17collaborative with the coaching staff and with the medical team and when you look at the fact that

00:24:21he several times several games uh gave credit to to rick brunson you saw chris jen calling some

00:24:27huddles you saw brendan o'connor calling some huddles and so that aspect you you certainly check the boxes

00:24:33there now the the friction with with towns and bridges is that just typical you know workplace

00:24:40disagreements and and you know you come together with for the common cause we'll see what happens when

00:24:45this thing is all said and done but i think by launch he did a good job this year yeah

00:24:49i i happen

00:24:50to agree uh j mac you're tibbs guy so everybody wants to know what do you think about the job

00:24:56i always approach or i appreciated the way tibbs went about his business i just i i liked more of

00:25:05the

00:25:05the man i think he did a great coaching job don't get me wrong but i appreciated the man more

00:25:09than

00:25:09than the than the job he did and a lot of the questions that a lot of people had i

00:25:13had the same

00:25:13questions too my only thing with mike brown all year was the relationship with with cat and was he

00:25:21approaching this player in the way that you need to approach a guy who you know let's be honest he

00:25:28is um mercurial is not the right word but you got to know how to manage cat you know and

00:25:33i don't think

00:25:34that that's unfair or me being unkind to say that um and you look up and over the last two

00:25:41months

00:25:42cat's been i mean other than like nikola yokich has there been a better center in the league than

00:25:48carl anthony towns over the last two months considering both ends of the floor so i've kind

00:25:52of you know i've joked about it on on nick's film school but like i don't really care if carl

00:25:58anthony

00:25:58towns is best friends with mike brown or he hates him with the fire of a thousand sons and he's

00:26:03playing this way despite him it doesn't matter to me as a nick fan because the fact that mike brown

00:26:08has been able to get the production out of cat that he has gotten and gotten him and brunson to

00:26:13be on the same page after let's be honest like they played well both under thibodeau but i don't know

00:26:18that we ever saw any great kinship between them under under the last head coach so i'm not sure

00:26:23there's a bad thing to say about mike brown right now but cp said the only words that matter which

00:26:28is

00:26:29like now we're gonna find out you know because you know their feet is to the fire here yeah mike

00:26:34brown's real test where he's really going to be judged we can give him a grade whatever we want to

00:26:39do it's going to be about what happens in the playoffs i mean this whole team this whole organization

00:26:43is going to be judged on what happens here in the playoffs you brought up cat j mac and i

00:26:51think

00:26:51cat is such an interesting topic through this season um with the fans and there was a lot of

00:26:56talking you you and i had like an offline conversation about this and um the fans wanted

00:27:02you know we should just pound the ball into cat and you know play through him in in that kind

00:27:07of way

00:27:08which i disagree with i actually have seen the vision of the way mike brown is trying to play with

00:27:12him and i i think we've seen the fruition of that here's what i say i think cat's biggest credit

00:27:17that

00:27:18he should be given for in the second half of this season to me is cut down on the foul

00:27:23the stupid

00:27:23fouls that has been the biggest thing for me the thing that i think drives a lot of fans crazy

00:27:28including myself is the dumb fouls and i i said this to you guys because i was not a big

00:27:32fan of the

00:27:33cat trade when it was first made um i was a little concerned about fit and his ability to stay

00:27:38on the

00:27:38floor what he has done to me in the second half is stay on the floor play under control he

00:27:44we saw the

00:27:44evolution at the end of the two-man game with brunson i have liked all of that process

00:27:49and i don't know maybe is it early for us to say the cat is do we think that cat

00:27:54has finally figured

00:27:55it out or tp is this a thing of like yeah you got to show me we got to see

00:28:00in the playoffs now we have

00:28:01to see now in the playoffs or are you like hey this is the carthee towns we've been waiting for

00:28:05where are you on cat it's a bit of both in terms of i think the discipline has been fantastic

00:28:12the

00:28:13discipline has been really good uh the decision making has been a lot better in terms of you know

00:28:18him on deciding to take the ball off the dribble him on his drives he's much cleaner he hasn't been

00:28:24hitting the deck which against those teams that are better in transition is going to kill you

00:28:29defensively and so by and large i think he's been good when the tests get harder is is when we're

00:28:35going to see what's really good i think this matchup against atlanta is tailor-made for carl anthony

00:28:40towns to dominate should mike brown and the nicks decide to one run the offense through him get him

00:28:45involved have him spacing out as a shooter have him attacking a congo and those guys off the dribble

00:28:50we don't know if londale is going to be available for this series but i think carl anthony towns he

00:28:55has

00:28:55to make his stamp on this series to set a good tone for the playoffs but uh i'm a believer

00:29:00right now

00:29:00man i like the way that he's finished been strong on the boards defensively he's had his moments

00:29:06so he's getting he's forcing turnovers and things like that i'm a believer in towns right now man

00:29:11all right listen hey not everybody's been believing all the time in cruelty towns and j mac i've heard

00:29:18you talk about towns you've had your monologues on how uh frustrating of a player he can be to watch

00:29:24at times do we have you in the believer status like cp are you in the believer zone or are

00:29:32you uh

00:29:33praying at the church of cat are you doing that yet uh you know there's a lot that i'm um

00:29:39i have

00:29:40been uncertain about cat over the years um one thing i am pretty sure of is uh he likes new

00:29:46york

00:29:46uh and he likes it a lot better than milwaukee or name name some other cities potentially but that's

00:29:55oh man don't say don't say memphis you might get in trouble like somebody else don't do that

00:29:59no no no no no no no no i look he has been their best player for the last two

00:30:07months and i'm you're

00:30:08not gonna find a bigger jalen brunson fan than me but he is that is that is that is a

00:30:12stunning take

00:30:12coming from you well i mean i i didn't i'll just be at the all-star break i did not

00:30:18think he was

00:30:19playing i i'm not even sure i would have said he was playing like a top 40 player and i

00:30:25think over

00:30:26the last two months i mean look he's he's probably gonna make all nba and that's you know what that's

00:30:30the only 15 guys make that so that i think is and it's it'll be deserved i think that's the

00:30:34leap

00:30:35effective field goal percentage less uh since the all-star break 63 52 before he has cut down on the

00:30:41fouls um you know but ultimately we're gonna find out i i am i'm believing but with the caveat because

00:30:49i think you know you think about like the old video games you used to play where you would get

00:30:52like

00:30:52it wasn't one final boss it was like you would have the first boss and then the second boss a

00:30:56little harder third boss if this playoffs goes the way that we all want it to go for the knicks

00:31:02it could look like that because i completely agree with cp i think this atlanta matchup they don't

00:31:07have anyone to who can guard him and if they if they utilize him if they if they lean into

00:31:12him

00:31:13this could be a four or five game series we'll see if that actually happens i know we're gonna get

00:31:17that to in a second i think boston obviously tougher but he has had success against boston we

00:31:23know he can have success against boston then if it's detroit well then we know what what they are

00:31:29capable with their physicality and the whole thing and then if it's if it's okc is the last boss look

00:31:34i'm getting ahead of myself but you got to start from square one and i actually think square one has

00:31:39been the last two months now let's carry it forward into a playoff series where in theory the matchup

00:31:44should be okay and then we'll go from there i agree um i think that i think let's see i

00:31:52will

00:31:52say this we'll get to the hawks in a second cat should cook in the series should keyword is should

00:31:57should should should happen we'll see if it happens i don't know but i like the process to bring that

00:32:03word up again no sixers but i like the way he's been um playing thus far since the second half

00:32:08of the

00:32:08season um last thing last thing just to put a bow on this season because when you guys sat with

00:32:14me

00:32:14uh in the preseason i remember we did this and i didn't look at all these stuff but i was

00:32:19just

00:32:19pulling up some of it now we did this thing where we did all of these bold takes that we

00:32:23had and a

00:32:24lot of us we have our takes we got our predictions we think things are going to happen i guess

00:32:29maybe

00:32:29i'll ask you guys both like what's the thing you thought might happen this season that didn't happen

00:32:35the way that you thought it would and it could be good or bad because sometimes things things are

00:32:39things are for the positive and then the negative is there a take you had a thing you thought

00:32:43would happen before the season that maybe didn't play out the way uh you thought it would

00:32:49definitely the detroit matchup man i don't even think i had detroit in the top five of the east this

00:32:55year to be honest with you when they lost and they lost him hardaway jr and and schroeder i thought

00:33:02those guys were so impactful for them last year but what i didn't account for was that the fact that

00:33:08this is a team loaded with lottery picks who all leveled up another notch when you think about

00:33:13kate obviously but ron holland was amazing i saw thompson has been incredible jaylen durin and mv and

00:33:19mip candidate i mean all of their top picks have taken a huge step and they're very very young i

00:33:25mean

00:33:25the danish jenkins pickup you know what he's given them off the bench so i did not see the detroit

00:33:31dominance in the eastern dominance over the knicks at all and so that's why i expected it to be more

00:33:36of a

00:33:36two-team race between the knicks and the calves and i gave the knicks a good chance to be at

00:33:41the

00:33:41top of the east yeah i thought that what about you jay man um i i mean in terms of

00:33:47my my takes on

00:33:49the east um i thought indiana was gonna have a really good season that happened so much um and

00:33:56i thought boston would be good i but like everybody else i didn't think they would they would be this

00:34:01i guess concerning the knicks the biggest i don't know if i would say it's a surprise but like

00:34:08i did think that we were going to get more offense directed towards some of the more

00:34:15ancillary pieces and and mccall bridges in particular um and i think there was obviously

00:34:21an effort made early on to that and i i'm curious if like what was like what went into the

00:34:29fact that

00:34:30the role that he started with is not the role that we've kind of seen him take on over the

00:34:34last

00:34:34few months that's interesting to me and then i guess the only other thing and this maybe leads

00:34:39into like larger conversations is a lot of the criticism or let me take a step back some of the

00:34:45thought process behind tibbs being let go was that oh didn't get input from didn't take input from the

00:34:51front office right yeah and you would have thought some of that input would have involved hey we have a

00:34:57lot of shooters on this team you're playing josh hart you know 49 minutes a game what what gives

00:35:03and look josh hart is playing a lot fewer minutes he's i think he averaged about 30 minutes a game

00:35:07so it's not that he's that mike brown has played him as much but like josh hart's as much his

00:35:12guy

00:35:13almost as he was tibbs's guy like he's closing games he's obviously still a starter um you know we

00:35:18have you know they go five out sometimes but it's not like five out has been some massive part of

00:35:23the

00:35:24plan for mike brown same thing with double bigs honestly like again we've seen some mitch and cat

00:35:28we but coming off of last year you would have thought oh maybe the front office wants more of

00:35:32that we haven't we haven't seen as much so maybe some of the things we thought we were going to

00:35:36see

00:35:36um we haven't seen as much of yeah i think you you just hit on a couple things that i

00:35:42thought

00:35:42we were going to see that we didn't i remember us talking about this beginning season whether they

00:35:46would start the double big lineup all all year um well mike brown started the year he did start the

00:35:53preseason or right or yeah and i thought you'd maybe see more josh hart off the bench to even

00:35:58keep his minutes down i thought that we obviously didn't see that i thought this team would play

00:36:02faster that's the i think one of the biggest shots for me i thought that i thought they might even

00:36:06be

00:36:06like top 10-ish in pace i i expected that that hasn't been the way things have gone um i

00:36:13thought the

00:36:14offense might be a little bit more dynamic than i think we ended up seeing now to be fair i

00:36:22think

00:36:22we're starting to see a little bit more evolution of the offense towards the end of the season

00:36:25and i think that's a good thing um particularly for some of the secondary pieces i think that we're

00:36:31talking about whether it's mikhail bridges ojean and obi um but yeah i think for me i thought this

00:36:36team would play we told we heard that a lot i remember being there on media day mike brown talking

00:36:40about i want to play faster i want to play with more pace um that's it's not really how it

00:36:45played out

00:36:46right like this is data they didn't play it's a little bit better than last year but it's not

00:36:50that much different um so i think that's the shot for me maybe that's the thing i thought was gonna

00:36:55go down um but it but it didn't but okay we don't got much time so let's let's get to

00:37:00what the people

00:37:00want to talk about that's the playoffs we're here it is nicks hawks i well let me let's let me

00:37:06go with

00:37:07this first guys i've loved the last couple of years that the nicks haven't ducked the smoke

00:37:12they have not tried to avoid playing anybody um they've been like hey whoever we're gonna play in

00:37:18the first round so we're gonna play in the first round i think the three of us here will sit

00:37:21here

00:37:21and say if the nicks have played the raptors in the first round i was gonna pick a sweep i'm

00:37:26gonna

00:37:26say that i would have picked a sweep because i don't think toronto had anything for the nicks

00:37:31right anything at all whatsoever i think the hawks are a tougher matchup right got respect on the hawks

00:37:38i think personally some people are doing a little bit too much with the hawks i put my prediction out

00:37:44here so i'm gonna say right here well well actually let me hold on the prediction for a second

00:37:49do you think the hawks at all are uncomfortable matchup for the nicks that's part one of the

00:37:54question and did you like the process of how the nicks ended up playing the hawks because the magic

00:37:59couldn't do what they had to do against the celtics uh cc team i shall say i'll call it the

00:38:05c team

00:38:07did you like the process of how the nicks ended up getting the hawks and do you think the hawks

00:38:11are in

00:38:11any way an uncomfortable matchup uh i i we went live uh on the final sunday of the season a

00:38:18little

00:38:18earlier than we were going to just so we could do a live watch along of the magic um celtics

00:38:26game

00:38:26that was i i'm actually surprised that they didn't catch jamal mosley walking out of you know the arena

00:38:34with a box uh with you know his personal items um after that game uh but whatever that's neither here

00:38:42nor there look the knicks are in the business of winning a championship this year i don't know of

00:38:48any team that has ever accomplished that goal where we where we looked back and we're like well

00:38:56thank god they got that first round matchup because if they had gotten a different first

00:39:00round matchup then they might not have got you know that's not that's not a thing that's not to

00:39:04say the teams who have won championships have not been like or it was not said before a first round

00:39:10game like oh they might be challenged think back i know you guys remember the 2011 mavs right there

00:39:16were people who picked i think it was portland in the first round that year against the mavs of

00:39:21memory serves but like blazers yeah and there were people picking the blazers over them

00:39:26so look i think the hawks are a very very good team i think there's an argument that they might

00:39:32be one of they're certainly one of the 12 best teams in the league at this point i think not

00:39:37only

00:39:37do they have real talent i think their talent fits together very well um the the reason why i think

00:39:45that they might be getting a little bit too much respect specifically in this matchup is i think for

00:39:51all that they are good at and i don't want to rehash what we already talked about but the one

00:39:56thing

00:39:56that they don't have is the ideal matchup for towns and they have um gotten to where they've gotten to

00:40:03uh since the all-star break on the back of the second ranked defense in the league again since

00:40:08since the break i i don't see how they're going to be able to stop this next offense um and

00:40:16so

00:40:17then it comes down to the other end i actually think that's going to be a bigger challenge for

00:40:21the next defense to stop atlanta's offense because i think they have some unique ways that they could

00:40:27put pressure on jalen brunson in particular um because that's that's the other thing if there's

00:40:32no good nobody good to cover towns i don't know that there's a great hiding spot for jalen brunson

00:40:37you'd say dyson daniels guess who's the you know second best offensive rebounding guard in the league

00:40:42is dyson daniels so you try to hide him there all of a sudden you got dyson daniels crashing

00:40:46the glass i'm getting into nitty gritty i think that's going to be the bigger challenge but i i

00:40:51do think the hawks are a team worthy of respect i think they are good i think they're legitimately

00:40:55a good team yeah i think they're legitimately a good team uh did the matchup make you uncomfortable

00:41:00cp um and i do i want to say i do agree with j mac your path is going to

00:41:05be your path to the finals

00:41:07like there's no nobody's looking back it's like oh you had this first round easy you're going to be

00:41:12tested and i think this i think this series can set the knicks up to be better prepared for the

00:41:18next series which likely will be boston yeah i think this series helps them in that way but like

00:41:22what do you think about this matchup with atlanta are you comfortable uncomfortable how you feel about

00:41:26it i'm comfortable man i i don't think that i'm like exactly what mackery said if this next team is

00:41:32going to accomplish what they set out to accomplish then you can't be you know nervous about a first

00:41:40round matchup again against the atlanta hawks it's not to put anything past the hawks it's just to say

00:41:44hey if this this team is built like that then they're gonna have to get past this team and i

00:41:49think they can in in convincing fashion like i said i like how this next team finished the year i

00:41:54think

00:41:54they have found that switch and they will find that switch if if they go back to how they were

00:41:59embarrassed in that eastern conference finals loss against the pacers they have to carry that with

00:42:04them into this first round then and take care of business um i spoke to uh parks assistant coach

00:42:09brian bailey close family friend of mine i talked to him about that team and what really changed for

00:42:14them and he talked about the fact that you know they're a collective group they all have buy-in they

00:42:18all know their roles and no egos in that locker room right now so i thought that was very interesting

00:42:23to move from the trey young era where you think okay maybe they're heading into you know partial

00:42:28rebuild a little competitive but they've been fantastic give them a lot of credit as mackery said i think

00:42:33the offensive end from atlanta and testing that next defense yes you could probably expect jalen to

00:42:40start on dyson daniels but from the offensive rebounding perspective i worry about that with

00:42:45jalen with mccallum with the nick guards because yes you can throw your double bigs out there and

00:42:49towns and mitch should have that advantage but if atlanta is going to be shooting more threes and those

00:42:54are leading to longer rebounds that is where especially jalen he's very susceptible to that to those guards

00:43:02he's just you know he's looking up ball watching and next thing you know his guys just zipping right

00:43:05around him and getting an offensive rebound and you get in a second chance opportunity you know will

00:43:10quinn snyder deploy some schemes to you know set oneko kongu free not not to say that he's a name

00:43:16but

00:43:16he's a guy who earlier this season was splashing threes on the knicks and so those type of things give

00:43:22it give a young team confidence and then on the defensive end they start to barrel barrel down on you

00:43:27but where i i think the knicks are going to have the edge as mac reset is the towns factor

00:43:31and then the experience factor the closer factor we saw that with this team when these two teams last

00:43:38played in crunch time it was the brunson show and he was unstoppable and it was atlanta playing hey my

00:43:44turn your turn is it going to be jalen johnson is it going to be nikeel alexander walker who is

00:43:49going

00:43:50to be the guy that can help this hawks team deliver in crunch time and that's where i'm going to

00:43:54give the

00:43:55the knicks the edge you know a lot of people wanted to want to think that this hawks team is

00:43:59is similar to the pacers of last year but you know the pacers had a dynamo at the point guard

00:44:05position

00:44:05tyreece halliburton the ultimate decision maker and in pascal siakam who's had championship experience i

00:44:12mean yeah and and the the uh recall out factor so it's still a little bit different plus their depth

00:44:19i

00:44:19don't think the hawks have the depth nearly as much depth as the next two in this series and so

00:44:24that's

00:44:24so i'm going to give it to advantage nicks yeah i've got advantage nicks you guys hit on a bunch

00:44:28of stuff and um i'll be doing it's funny because i've re-watched the all the three games they played

00:44:34this year the first game i kind of threw out a lot of stuff because you know trey young was

00:44:38featured

00:44:38in a game the team has been different since then but you guys hit on some stuff that um we're

00:44:43going

00:44:43to be doing a little bit of a film breakdown later in the week and it's some of the things

00:44:46that

00:44:46you actually hit on two of the things that i have highly targeted to watch which is one how the

00:44:52hawks generate threes um and they do a good job of doing it and in interesting ways with certain

00:44:57players two was how they got how they guarded jalen brunson and then what do i think they can

00:45:02throw at jalen brunson um here in the postseason now look we know this hawks team dyson daniels

00:45:08um you've got nakil alexander walker um they'll even find switching and throwing okongu on him at

00:45:13times right they've got a lot of length um with this team i'm where i'm with you guys too and

00:45:18one of the

00:45:19third things i highlight to look at was how can cat kill this team and when you look at the

00:45:23games

00:45:24this year with cat he looks like a great three-level scorer against this team if the three is there

00:45:31and

00:45:31he takes it it's fantastic if they're going to give him something in the mid-range he can do it

00:45:37too

00:45:37if he's under control under control guys yeah he goes to the basket he can kill them there too they

00:45:43really don't have an answer and i think we really saw this last monday the fit in the last matchup

00:45:48they really don't have an answer for cat and i really feel like that's going to swing the series

00:45:52and i think cp is a hundred percent right in that i understand where people are trying to compare this

00:45:59to the pacers in terms of the way they play with pace but this ain't the same they don't got

00:46:04the

00:46:04experience and and i think the knicks experience is a huge huge factor in this in this series now

00:46:11what i'll say guys is i'd love to hear you guys chime in on this

00:46:14the experience and the factor is is a huge huge thing for the knicks and we know the knicks have

00:46:19been battle tested and through the playoffs before but for me it is imperative and you guys are going

00:46:25to have your watch parties on saturday game one they got to come out and punch this team in the

00:46:30mouth yeah you cannot play with your food you cannot play with your food at the beginning of the series

00:46:36i'm gonna put this for game two as well you can't you can't play with your food here you have

00:46:40to

00:46:40let this team know you were on a championship path you're serious for business and when you go back

00:46:45to it down to the atl they're like oh oh shoot this team this next team is focused how important

00:46:53is

00:46:53it to get up to good scott that's how i feel they can't play with if we talked about starts

00:46:57all year

00:46:57long with this team yeah they can't play with this right now that that's the way i feel i i

00:47:01think

00:47:02look the start of game one obviously be important the result of game one will be important

00:47:08i for as much as the hawks being the matchup should not is should not and cannot be the thing

00:47:14that like prevents the knicks from like you know winning a championship or not whatever i do think

00:47:20how this series goes will tell us a lot about what this team is made of and what they are

00:47:24capable of

00:47:24this year because if they like again i want to repeat what cp said because i want to make sure

00:47:30i'm

00:47:30not not angering anybody this is no disrespect to atlanta if this is atlanta i think they're legit i

00:47:35really do think they're a really good team great the knicks should be able to win this series in

00:47:40five games at most yeah like i agree that that is how this should go not to say that if

00:47:46it goes six

00:47:46or god forbid seven like not to say that that is an you know automatic death knell on on the

00:47:52knicks

00:47:52chances to make the finals but i would feel a lot more confident moving forward if the knicks you know

00:47:59because what does it come down to it comes down to just you know those patches of games that we

00:48:04have

00:48:04seen from the knicks periodically this year where it's like have these guys ever played together

00:48:07before like what that's what they need to eliminate and that's up to them ultimately it's not and and

00:48:14and again not that the hawks can't do some things to to fluster them um and it's gonna and the

00:48:19last

00:48:19thing because you both of you guys i think brought up the rebounding um from the first half of the

00:48:24season before the break to after the break hawks went from bottom 10 uh both sides of the boards

00:48:29offensive defensive rebounding to top five and both so that's going to be one of those things

00:48:34if the knicks need to be locked in on the glass on both ends otherwise that is a way that

00:48:40the hawks

00:48:40are going to be able to to exploit them it's a great point because the knicks weren't they didn't do

00:48:44a

00:48:45good job on the glass in that last matchup the hawks got a ton of offense i don't remember the

00:48:48exact

00:48:48number of 19 19 19 19 rebounds um thank you j mac because they i remember that they were not

00:48:55doing a good

00:48:56job on the glass um cp a lot i love what j max said there about how this because even

00:49:03i'm just

00:49:04talking about the start of the series but how this series goes are you feeling better about the knicks

00:49:09if they do this in five dare i say they do this in four i mean i mean hell they

00:49:14do this in four i think

00:49:15all of us will be on top of the world but yeah it doesn't i think i think that does

00:49:20matter now i

00:49:20didn't think i really thought about it until j max said it but i think it does matter for sure

00:49:24how they

00:49:24look in this series how they handle finish the series and i'm not even gonna go to if they lose

00:49:29the series i'm not even gonna talk about that but yeah if they how they handle the hawks matters here

00:49:35i think do you do you agree with that it definitely matters and and you know to piggyback with what

00:49:41mackrey said you know their decision making to start these games the turnovers early in that in that

00:49:45final game between those two teams i mean you saw some of the most ridiculous sloppy passes

00:49:50and those type of things especially in the playoffs can give the other team confidence

00:49:54the hawks uh top five in terms of turnover percentage you don't want to give them opportunities

00:49:59to kill your already you know vulnerable transition defense you don't want to give a team like that

00:50:05those opportunities they they said they're already practicing with madison square garden arena noise

00:50:10they're in their practices right so you got to come out with with good intentions with with

00:50:15your proper intensity to really meet the moment uh how would i feel if they if they get through

00:50:20this team in four or five games listen man i felt very good i was at the garden game one

00:50:24eastern conference finals against the paces i felt very good in the fourth quarter with two minutes

00:50:29left i'm daydreaming about the finals okay and then all of a sudden it turned into a nightmare so

00:50:35hey they get past it why you gotta go why you gotta go bring up old stuff man why you

00:50:40gotta

00:50:41be right there daydreaming like oh my god they're really gonna do this and it wasn't meant to be so

00:50:47one game at a time one series at a time but i think they have a great chance and if

00:50:52they come

00:50:53with their a game they should be able to do it as mackery said in five games i cp with

00:50:57the coach speak

00:50:57one game at a time one series at a time one possession at a time is what you gotta do

00:51:01so we've all talked

00:51:03about cat and how we think this should be a good series for him is he your x factor in

00:51:10this series

00:51:11because i'll throw my x factor out here and i think he's gonna be my x factor through a lot

00:51:16of the

00:51:17playoffs here and that's gonna be josh hart and for me with josh hart it's about decisiveness um is

00:51:24he going to be willing to let let the ball fly when he's open how teams guard him if they

00:51:27throw their

00:51:28centers on him i think we even can see the hawks do this they might throw a congo on him

00:51:32um and try to throw a smaller guy on cat i think you could see some of that in this

00:51:38series

00:51:38how decisive is josh hart going to be so while i think carlton towns is a huge factor here and

00:51:46i

00:51:46think he's got a cook against this team josh hart's my x factor is cat your x factor guys or

00:51:51is it somebody

00:51:52else cat's the x factor in every every series he plays i don't think that's wrong either i i hear

00:51:58you

00:51:58right yeah um can i so josh hart i think is a good one um i actually am am gonna

00:52:06if it's not

00:52:07other than cat i think you look at wing stop in general because a stat that i just double checked

00:52:13it because i wanted to make sure i didn't mess this up yeah um so last season in the playoffs

00:52:18they

00:52:18played what was it 18 playoff games they were nine and two in games where they turned the other team

00:52:25over at least 14 times uh they were one in however many games is left uh i guess one in

00:52:31six

00:52:31in games where they did not i think when you see this team at their best it's not that they

00:52:36turn

00:52:36into the oklahoma city thunder or anything because that's not their that's not their defensive

00:52:40personality but when they are getting into passing lanes and when they are forcing the issue on the

00:52:45defensive end as opposed to always reacting as and as opposed to it's feeling like you're being

00:52:51pushed against the wall and you know og mical and josh that's that's not to say the other guys

00:52:57sham it you know deuce and and even jordan clarkson now can't get involved in that aspect as well but

00:53:03i want to see those guys hold up their end of the bargain because again to go back to the

00:53:09thing that i

00:53:09said earlier the bigger challenge stopping the hawks if og bridges and heart come to play defensively

00:53:14again i'm gonna repeat myself this is a five game series at most i like that who's i like that

00:53:21that good stat about the the turnovers and the defense there that's something to keep an eye on

00:53:24with this team who's who's your x-factor cp who you got is are you still rocking with cat in

00:53:29this too

00:53:29yeah uh well first i couldn't agree more with what mackeray's saying about turning the teams over

00:53:34you know it's been one of my keys for this team going into this season and to me make them

00:53:38a

00:53:39championship team it's what look at okc right like yes say brilliance is always there but this team's

00:53:45ability to turn teams over and generate easy points in transition it's just so many ways to slice you up

00:53:52and that's what the knicks need to become and it starts with wingstop and with mitchell robinson out

00:53:57there getting out in transition because look for a team like the knicks that are going to be shooting

00:54:02a lot of jumpers they're not going to be 40 from three every night in the playoffs and they're not

00:54:06exactly the the team that is going to put a lot of pressure on the rim all the time or

00:54:11to get to

00:54:11the free throw line so the that getting out in transition is really going to help them but to me

00:54:16in this series i think cats should be able to sleepwalk into an all-star performance to me it's

00:54:20og ananobi you know in that final game between these two guys we saw a lot of josh hart on

00:54:26jalen

00:54:26johnson i think that was mike brown holding of things a little bit closer to the vest even though hart

00:54:31didn't start the game off well against johnson he finished with a couple of key plays there

00:54:36i think og being able to match jalen johnson's physicality i think that's going to be the key

00:54:42there i wonder if he's going to start the game off against him but if he doesn't you can be

00:54:47sure

00:54:47he's going to end the game against jalen johnson and look uh alexander walker has been a dynamo for

00:54:52sure but that size and strength of jalen johnson is three-point ability that the dog has to be

00:54:58unleashed against the man so i think i'm putting og as my x factor and also on the offensive end

00:55:03yeah will his three-point shot be there and if atlanta closes him out can he put the ball on

00:55:09the

00:55:09floor make things happen i think that's going to be something to watch against og how he handles

00:55:14it and doesn't turn the ball over quick stat on og in uh three games against the hawks this year

00:55:19has gotten to the line 21 times which is a team high against the hawks this season so he has

00:55:25great

00:55:26points cp because he has put the ball on the floor and and we know that doesn't always end well

00:55:30for og especially when when there's some physicality at the rim but that's what i like

00:55:36about the fact that that he he has gotten to the line um you know playoffs officiated differently but

00:55:41hopefully that that continues yeah that's a good that's a good one cp og is a good x factor here

00:55:46all right guys last thing before we wrap i'm sure everybody's excited to know your predictions

00:55:51prediction time uh what what are we going with uh i think we're all picking the knicks

00:55:57it feels weird can cp go first yes he pk oh that this means that j mac has been deliberating

00:56:02on this

00:56:03he doesn't know where he's gonna go he doesn't know how he's gonna pick i know where i'm going

00:56:07where where are you going cp what's your pick for this series nicks hawks

00:56:13i think it's a sweet man oh cp yeah i think the knicks are bringing the brooms out

00:56:20you know there's no home court advantage here for the hawks the two all-stars captain clutch this is

00:56:28his time to shine 30 point per game playoff performer carl anthony towns a series the

00:56:33dominance i told you about wing stop og i know we mitchell robinson is going to be big country is

00:56:40going to be dominating in this series i'm going with a sweet man i'm going with it i love bringing

00:56:48i didn't know if anybody was going to say a predictive sweep i didn't know it you've done

00:56:54it i like it i like that you said it we've seen a lot of nixon six out there a

00:57:00lot of nixon six

00:57:01picks out there man a lot of it j mac you just went back in your seat because you were

00:57:07so shocked

00:57:08but i'm not shocked no listen this is this is why cp is the franchise um

00:57:16look i i've i was leaning for most of the week nixon six i'll be honest with you i was

00:57:22leaning

00:57:22nixon six and then i mentioned we had a town hall last night for nix film school at the very

00:57:27end of

00:57:27it i i ended up begrudgingly admittedly begrudgingly going nixon five and it was purely

00:57:34because i went back and and i watched a lot of that game the last game they played last monday

00:57:42and again the turnovers just like there's no reason for they were not not to say that the hawks

00:57:48defense didn't play well those were unforced errors so many of the offensive rebounds it was

00:57:53just like guys were in the clouds you know um who we we would expect those guys to lock in

00:57:59more

00:57:59the lack of an answer for towns and the fact that jalen brunson so he had a nightmare game for

00:58:06the

00:58:06first three quarters in that game the thing that's interesting about the first three quarters he got a

00:58:12lot of switches like dyson daniels actually was not on him for nearly as many shooting possessions as

00:58:17you'd think and i what i realized is like dyson daniels look he's second defense player of the year

00:58:23last year you can screen daniels off of you you can get he's not a sar thompson he doesn't have

00:58:29that

00:58:30physicality and i think as long as you know theme of the year as long as the next place smart

00:58:36as long

00:58:36as they play together as long as they trust each other um i can't go so far as to pick

00:58:41sweep because

00:58:42i've i've watched this team for 82 games but i will go nixon five i will be optimistic okay i'm

00:58:49gonna

00:58:49say this so you came i was never at six i was at nixon five but i like cp's energy

00:58:55here i love it i

00:58:56like i like this cp has said it with his chest i like his points i'm thinking i'm i'm deliberating

00:59:03i'm

00:59:03kind of glad i'm going last i'm thinking about possibly going with a sweep i'm gonna say this a sweep

00:59:09would

00:59:09not surprise me at all in the in the least bit and i'm gonna go and say this i think

00:59:17the knicks will

00:59:17be up 3-0 in the series i don't think it's gonna be easy 3-0 in the series but

00:59:22i think they're gonna

00:59:23go up 3-0 in the series i think also we'll know so much from how they come out in

00:59:29game one is gonna

00:59:30tell me so much about this series so much we know the crowd's gonna be lit we understand all that

00:59:36how the team i think responds i think this team understands the situation i think they understand

00:59:43the mission i think they understand what happened last year cp went and brought up the old stuff in

00:59:47game one against indiana i think they know where they want to get back to i think this next team

00:59:52is more focused i think that's why we saw in the middle of the season in march but towards the

00:59:57end

00:59:57of the season i'll say you know we saw some of the malaise during that seven game winning streak when

01:00:01they were barely beating bad teams but i just think the knicks are too good for this too good for

01:00:06this hawks team and i do think they clean up some of the stuff that you talked about with the

01:00:10turnovers jay mac um i am a little concerned about how they guard the three but i think they

01:00:17think i think they figured this out in this one i can't go sweep cp i can't be with you

01:00:21but i'm gonna

01:00:21say next i say i'm gonna say i'm gonna say nixon five but cp if i i think because i

01:00:27could see them

01:00:28going up 3-0 and they're playing with their food a little bit in game four and atlanta somehow gets

01:00:33one out and they come back home and take care of business i guess that's how i see the series

01:00:36playing

01:00:37out so i'm gonna say nixon five but i hope i'm wrong and i hope cp is right and can

01:00:41i ask you

01:00:42guys a question sure you can always ask the question yeah if this series does not go the

01:00:46way that we i guess all of us think that it will go and we're and we're and it's 2

01:00:50-2 after four and

01:00:51we're sweating out game five what what do you think happened like what went what what went differently

01:00:57than than you expected i think that you if it's 2-2 after four i think it's likely that the

01:01:08hawks

01:01:08have had some ridiculous three-point shooting performances okay where we might be a little

01:01:12bit frustrated at how the knicks guarded the three-point line um which nicks haven't always

01:01:16done well especially above the break threes i think that happens and possibly i'm also going to add

01:01:22this j mac the knicks something happened to the knicks where they lost the game and i hate to

01:01:26bring up this game to bring up game one against something crazy okay they lose a game where they

01:01:30blew something crazy happens or they blew a game that we all were sitting there and watching and

01:01:35we're like four or five minutes ago this is a lot they should close this out and they didn't do

01:01:39it

01:01:39they played with their food at the end of the game and didn't close out the way we would expect

01:01:45this veteran team with the closures they have in a jail and brunson to close out i think something

01:01:49like that happens now i also want to add i think it's a great question you're asking j mac great

01:01:54question if that happens and all of us and we do our shows and all this stuff we're going to

01:01:59be

01:01:59sitting there on the show saying yo we are more stressed out about this than we should be that

01:02:05we've been we're feeling after two games none of us none of us want that yeah listen j mac you're

01:02:10sitting back like this you don't want it you don't want any parts of that you don't you don't want

01:02:14that feeling at all whatsoever um and i think that will change a lot about to your point that

01:02:20you brought up earlier in the show i think it'll change a lot about how fans feel about the series

01:02:24how they feel going into the next series um listen if there's two two after four and the knicks

01:02:32then crushed them in the last two games because like how things play out matter i think all will be

01:02:37forgiven but i think if it's two two it's because they kind of they played with a food and messed

01:02:43up

01:02:44with something in some way that's my thing i i think it's the shots man i think if they go

01:02:48ice

01:02:48cold they're not disciplined sloppy whether it's on the boards or with the turnovers and you have

01:02:54these you know out of body games between jalen johnson and to kill alexander walker and that's

01:02:59another thing like alexander walker has been fantastic this year he stole his cousin's uh arsenal

01:03:05but to look for him to just be that consistent northwards of 20 plus which is what it's going to

01:03:13take

01:03:13for me in the series for them to win i'm not so sure i the the evidence is just not

01:03:18there yet for

01:03:19me to be convinced that he can do that on every night in in the playoffs against his team against

01:03:24his team to answer my question i think uh it would be a situation where jalen johnson looks like the

01:03:30best player in the series uh through four games and he is able to get the switches he wants when

01:03:36he

01:03:37wants and the knicks start collapsing the defense too because he's been automatic from the mid-range

01:03:43short mid-range all year the knicks defense starts collapsing he's kicking out and hawks shooters are

01:03:48raining threes i think that's the that's the path towards the hawks the hawks looking better which is

01:03:55why to go back to my x factor besides cat it's it's wing stop can you can you do what

01:04:01you have to do to

01:04:01stay attached to that guy who is again he's going to make all nba this year he's an awesome player

01:04:05but

01:04:06if you could shut down jalen johnson i think you could you could shut down this hawks team

01:04:10no i like that that's actually a really really really good question all right cp picked a sweep

01:04:15jmac you got nixon five i'm nixon five i hope i'm wrong i hope i'm i hope listen i'm doing

01:04:21these

01:04:21watch parties game three if game four they're gonna sweep i'll have a broom in studio you know what i

01:04:26mean be ready to do some cleaning up uh hopefully hopefully that happens we'll see if that happens

01:04:31guys this is always fun um i'm glad we got to have a conversation before the playoffs even though

01:04:37we had to do it remotely uh both of you will be doing watch parties uh kfs and kftv throughout

01:04:43the

01:04:44the postseason could you let the people know where they come and watch you know for game one you guys

01:04:48are doing both let the people know where they can come out and watch these games yeah we're doing

01:04:51pen six uh 31st street right down the block from msg for game one on saturday i think that gets

01:04:56started

01:04:56at 4 30 um and then we're doing watch alongs for every uh playoff game i um i will not

01:05:04be at the

01:05:05watch party because i will be watching right here in front of my in front of my screen so if

01:05:10you uh

01:05:11you know the the national announcers are not your thing and you want to watch the game with your

01:05:16your boys from nix film school uh nix film school youtube channel is is where it's at and no technical

01:05:22difficulties no technical oh my god that is the next wait the first game is on prime right

01:05:27it is yeah yeah uh if that happens cp man what did you what was going through your mind when

01:05:35you saw

01:05:36that i said you can't make it up you can't yeah and that game was an all-time classic classic

01:05:43game

01:05:43that was an unbelievable game man i mean just unbelievable shot making so many twists and

01:05:49turns in that fourth way uh yeah i'm the kobe white oh my goodness that what what a game man

01:05:54but yeah the technical difficulties in the backdrop of everybody in the league saying this is terrible

01:06:00for the rsn's amazon prime going out like that i mean you just can't make it up that should be

01:06:05lamello ball's new nickname technical difficulties yeah right that is the lamello ball experience

01:06:11that's right yeah absolutely uh we'll be at slate for game 154 west 21st street will be there at 4

01:06:1830

01:06:19uh we'll also be doing lots of loans on nix fan tv as well man so uh we will also

01:06:23have uh some events

01:06:24coming up in atlanta for for our msg south crew so um stay tuned for that i'll send that over

01:06:30to you

01:06:30dexter once we once we have that finalized and all yes yes we'll put that out there i also do

01:06:34want

01:06:34to say i do think that's a factor in this series too um that you brought it up we know

01:06:38atlanta could be

01:06:39msg south um i was just talking to my guy sky zoo yesterday oh man he just had his knee

01:06:46replacement

01:06:46surgery he's like dex i got this knee replacement surgery and i can't i'm in atlanta and i can't even

01:06:51go to these games i was like yeah bro that it stinks but knicks fans will be in the building

01:06:56i just want

01:06:56to say knicks you know where knicks fans are everywhere they will be in the building down in

01:07:00the a and um i do think that's a factor in this series too and probably why i think the

01:07:05knicks are

01:07:05probably gonna go up the rezip but you know we'll see how it all plays out everybody

01:07:09to my right that is cp the franchise check him out knicks fan tv to my left my guy jonathan

01:07:15mackrey

01:07:15the dean of knicks film school guys man i i always appreciate you rocking with me on this because this

01:07:22is always fun we had a good conversation um i know we will be on each other's platforms throughout this

01:07:27playoff run this will be fun hopefully it's a good long one and i hope this is one for us

01:07:32for all

01:07:32of us here that ends with the knicks in the nba finals i just want i want to see it

01:07:37for all of

01:07:37us man i just i just want us all to be doing content fingers crossed and uh this we've been

01:07:44waiting a long time for this you know all of us we're about the same age we've been a long

01:07:47time

01:07:47for this and so i think if we can see the knicks in the nba finals we pretty dope man

01:07:51so uh i just

01:07:52want to thank y'all i appreciate y'all the work you do you know thank you man um so

01:07:56thank you thank you

01:07:56for coming on everybody support these guys as i said it's playoff time we got more coming up this

01:08:02week on new york got game but that's going to be it for now uh peace and love to everybody

01:08:05we'll catch

01:08:06you next time another edition of new york got game and thanks for watching new york got game

01:08:13boom shakalaka

2026 Knicks Playoff Roundtable w/ CP "The Fanchise" & Jonathan Macri | NY Got Game

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