- 2 days ago
Get the ultimate edge on the Hawks-Knicks series! Bob Rathbun joins "The Steakhouse" to break down why this matchup is "very winnable" for Atlanta.
From the rise of Jalen Johnson to the defensive "X-factor" of Dyson Daniels, find out the keys to victory and why Bob calls the NBA’s new broadcasting rules a "disservice to fans." Don’t miss this expert preview of the playoff battle at the Garden!
From the rise of Jalen Johnson to the defensive "X-factor" of Dyson Daniels, find out the keys to victory and why Bob calls the NBA’s new broadcasting rules a "disservice to fans." Don’t miss this expert preview of the playoff battle at the Garden!
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00This guy's been calling their games for 30 years, and I don't know that anybody had more fun than this
00:06guy did watching the Hawks over the last few months.
00:08Bob Rathbun joins us on Sports Radio 92.9 The Game.
00:11Bob, thanks so much for being with us.
00:14Hey, good morning, Stake.
00:15Good morning, Queen.
00:16How are you?
00:18So, is it safe to say watching that group, those five guys, once Reese's Shea and nothing against Zach,
00:26but once they put C.J., was that as much fun as you've had calling games watching those five?
00:31It's been the most fun we've had in a while, that's for sure.
00:34It reminds me so much of the 60-win team with the way they share the basketball.
00:39The group is greater than the sum of its parts, and that was the hallmark of the 60-win team.
00:44That's what it reminds me of the most, and we know that team had a tremendous run in the playoffs,
00:50too, before the injuries took over.
00:51So, it's been a lot of fun.
00:53And what's been amazing about it is it came together so quickly.
00:59You have so many new faces after all those trades at the all-star deadline, or the trade deadline,
01:05and really coming together after the all-star break.
01:07It's been pretty amazing.
01:09Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of iterations of teams, and we've all been here.
01:14I've been here, you know, I watched the Stacey Ogman, Steve Smith teams,
01:19then the Millsap, Korver, Horford teams, obviously had the trade team in the Eastern Finals.
01:24They all have their own personality.
01:25I feel like the comparison is good to the 60-win team, but we may have, you know,
01:30that was the ultimate sharing the ball, right?
01:32Millsap and Korver and Teague and Damari Carroll.
01:36Feels like we got an assassin, though, in Jalen Johnson, our triple-double machine,
01:42where the star power may even be higher on his upside than anybody on that other team.
01:48You may be right.
01:49His star has certainly ascended.
01:51It really started when Trey got hurt in October, and Jalen took over the offense,
01:59became the point forward, and by the time Trey came back,
02:03Jalen had been established as the head of the snake offensively,
02:07and that has gone on pretty much uninterrupted since.
02:12I mean, he's going to be the first, or he is, the first Hawk in the history of the franchise
02:18to be in the top 20 in points, rebounds, and assists in one season, which is remarkable.
02:24Here's your power forward averaging eight assists a game.
02:27So I agree with you.
02:28I think the star of Jalen Johnson shines pretty brightly these days,
02:33and I do think that is one of the keys to this Knicks series,
02:36is we've got to find a way, Stake and Sandra, to get O.G. Ananobi off of him.
02:43If we can't do that, then Jalen might have some difficulty,
02:47but I think Quinn's got a lot of things up his sleeve for these guys.
02:51A lot of planning is going into this, and I think the results will show that.
02:57Bob Rappin with us, how much fun is covering games in Madison Square Garden
03:01versus other buildings?
03:02Give us, in your 30 years around the league, the three or four places where,
03:07now again, I don't know how much they move you all around in terms of views.
03:10I think TV gets treated pretty well.
03:11But give me the places you love to spend the two days, feel the basketball energy.
03:17I don't know if New York is on the list, but give us some idea over all these years.
03:21Oh, yeah.
03:23I really enjoy these road venues when we win.
03:27I think that's the biggest divider.
03:31But I think the Garden is special, certainly, and it will be.
03:35It's going to be electric.
03:35It is for any playoff series at any time.
03:39And when we get to broadcast, we are set of court.
03:41We've had the best seats in the building, and that makes it special.
03:46To win in Boston in a playoff game like we did a few years ago
03:50was great when Trey hit the shot to beat them.
03:53That's special.
03:54Going back to Chicago when Jordan was around to go up there back,
03:59that was 30 years ago, but that was an electric atmosphere.
04:03So I think they're all unique and special in their own ways,
04:07but it's hard to beat the Garden.
04:09It really is.
04:11I want to ask something real quick, Bob.
04:14You know, the national TV folks, Bob Ratham, by the way,
04:1731st year covering the Hawks, television boys.
04:20The narrative has been the playoff experience for this young group,
04:24and are they going to walk in there with bright eyes
04:26and forget how to play basketball?
04:28You've been with this team all year.
04:30What do you think happens when the bright lights shine?
04:34Well, I think maybe for some of our guys that might be the case,
04:39but when you look at our veterans that have come in,
04:42this is not Nikhil Alexander Walker's first rodeo.
04:46This guy has been on the Western Finals each of the last two seasons.
04:51D.J. McCollum is a proven playoff performer.
04:54What he and Dane did in Portland was tremendous.
04:58You know, for Hawks fans or maybe for fans on the East Coast,
05:02for Portland, if you don't stay up late,
05:05they might as well be playing on the dark side of the moon.
05:07Nobody knows what happens out there.
05:09But if you watch the games, you would have seen over the years
05:13that was one of the most dynamic playoff backcourts in years,
05:18what he and Dane were able to accomplish.
05:20And C.J. is kind of sipping at the fountain of youth
05:23since he's come to Atlanta.
05:25And you look at Kaminga, who as a rookie was on a championship team
05:31at Golden State, has tons of playoff experience,
05:33knows what the stakes are like.
05:35So, you know, it may be true for, you know,
05:38Dyson's got a little bit of playoff experience.
05:40Jalen tasted a little bit of it with Boston,
05:42but they weren't counted on to be big-time performers.
05:45They are now.
05:46And maybe that will take them a bit by surprise.
05:49But I, to be honest, I really don't see that in these guys.
05:53They have really come together.
05:56I think any time that you can lead sort of with your defense,
06:01the crowd's not going to affect that so much.
06:04I think it maybe affects your offense a little bit more,
06:07your ball handling, the turnovers.
06:09But not the defense.
06:10I think that's something that they can hang their head on,
06:12and I think they will in this series.
06:15Yeah, I think that's a great point,
06:17because the way we defend is kind of, I don't know,
06:22it's not recession-proof, they say, about, like, certain industries, right?
06:26But it's disaster-proof.
06:28Because at the end of the day,
06:30Nikhil Alexander-Walker and Dyson Danis are shut-down defenders,
06:34absolute shut-down defenders, especially Dyson.
06:36And then you have the length of Jalen.
06:38McKellum is being forced to play more D than he's ever played.
06:41I know we're undersized with Okongwu,
06:43but, like, defense can make up for when it's going to be a lower-scoring game,
06:47right?
06:48We know we're not scoring 135 in the garden,
06:50but, like, Dyson Daniels,
06:52Quinn said it today,
06:53he didn't say officially that he's guarding Brunson,
06:55but I watched him wreak havoc on Jalen Brown,
06:58really get in the shorts of Jalen until that fourth quarter.
07:02Like, Dyson Daniels is an X factor.
07:04The rest of basketball fans really don't understand.
07:08He's amazing.
07:10And his demeanor, say, is what gets me.
07:14He's got that look on his face for 48 minutes,
07:17like there's nothing that's going to happen
07:19that is going to change my focus.
07:21Like, you're going to hit some shots, and that's fine,
07:23but I'm going to be here.
07:24When you wake up in the morning,
07:26when you go to bed at night,
07:27I am here in your face.
07:29And that's not going to change.
07:31I think two big things for us defensively in this series
07:36is, number one,
07:37what are we going to do about Carl Anthony Towns
07:39shooting three-pointers?
07:41And, number two,
07:42can we keep them off the offensive playoffs?
07:45When we beat the Knicks five years ago,
07:47we didn't have to deal with Mitchell Robinson.
07:49He was hurt.
07:50He did not play in that series.
07:52And it exponentially helped Clint Capella
07:55and helped these Hawks to be able to hold their own on the glass.
08:01An X factor in that regard may be Tony Bradley.
08:05Now, I know fans are not familiar with him,
08:08but you go back to last year.
08:09This is a guy that played in Game 7 of the Finals.
08:12And our two-way guard, Ray J. Dennis,
08:15was with the Pacers last year.
08:16We were talking at Shootaround the other day in Miami
08:19about the potential of facing the Knicks.
08:22And he said,
08:23we don't beat,
08:24speaking of the Pacers,
08:26we don't beat New York
08:27without the job that Tony Bradley did on Mitchell Robinson.
08:30Okay.
08:31So, I think that might be an X factor.
08:33If we could just get Tony out there to defend
08:35and keep Mitchell off the offensive glass,
08:37foul him, put him on the line,
08:38he's not a good foul.
08:39No, he's the worst.
08:40And maybe that can swing that pendulum
08:43because, just for you guys,
08:45I was looking up the numbers here,
08:47and the New York Knickerbockers
08:49in the three games in the series
08:52had 45 offensive rebounds in three games.
08:55That's 15 a night.
08:56That's not going to get it done in the playoffs.
08:58That's too many second chances.
09:00Hawks have to win the possession battle.
09:02So, if we can keep Mitchell Robinson off the boards
09:04and do something with Carl Anthony Towns out front,
09:06I think the rest of it will kind of take care of itself.
09:10Yeah, I mean, they do have an advantage.
09:13That's their advantage.
09:14I mean, you know, it's like Quinn said,
09:16my biggest guy is 6'9".
09:18Of course we're going to be, you know,
09:19which is why everybody has to crash
09:21and which is why our offense is oftentimes,
09:24you know, not giving up an offensive rebound,
09:26then we get to run.
09:26I mean, they're going to have that advantage.
09:28I'd love to see Mitchell Robinson.
09:30He's a free agent.
09:31Everyone's talking already about,
09:33isn't he the ideal guy for the Hawks
09:35to start to complete the pieces?
09:36But for right now, he plays for the Knicks.
09:38You've got to get a body on him
09:40and you've got to survive the advantages they have.
09:43So, you know, I know you're not calling
09:45the first round games.
09:46A lot of conversation that the local broadcast teams
09:51used to get to cover the first round.
09:54You have any thought about how the league has said
09:56that's not happening, Prime Video wants it,
09:58and whoever else is paying billions.
09:59Any thought of not getting it to call
10:01the first round of the playoffs?
10:03I think it's a tremendous disservice to the fans.
10:07This is something that has happened in the NBA
10:09since we started televising games.
10:12The ability to broadcast playoff games
10:14has always been there.
10:16And to have this taken away
10:18just adds another layer for NBA fans
10:22of their team for the 16 playoff teams
10:24eventually that will start this weekend.
10:27We just add another layer onto the sports fan
10:31that makes it tougher to watch games.
10:33Now I've got to buy Prime.
10:34Now I've got to buy Peacock.
10:36And this never-ending loop of pay more, get less,
10:41I think is a tremendous disservice to the fans.
10:44Yeah, and I think some of the great calls,
10:47I don't know whatever town you grew up in,
10:49and I think you had the Knicks series, right?
10:52That was a first-round series.
10:54Like, your broadcast team on TV calling it
10:58are some of the great memories of, you know,
11:01of your team's games, right?
11:04The first round, and you called that series.
11:06Oh, 100%.
11:07100%.
11:08You know, it reminds me, Don Sutton,
11:13when I was doing the Braves,
11:14and we would talk all the time,
11:16and Don said, you know,
11:18when fans follow the Braves,
11:21he said it's like a soap opera
11:24that you tune into every day.
11:27And, of course, baseball is the daily game.
11:29We know that.
11:30But I think so, too, for the Hawks
11:32and for Falcon fans or what have you.
11:35It's your team.
11:37You want to be entertained by your team
11:41and your announcers and your production crew
11:43because you, the extension of the fan
11:46is the fanatic part of it.
11:48You want to be a part of this team by association.
11:52And that's all taken away.
11:54And I have nothing against the guys calling the games.
11:56But it would be the same thing if they said,
11:59Bob, we need you to go do the Portland-Phoenix game.
12:02Now, I would be excited,
12:03and I think I'd do a great job,
12:05but I don't know Portland and Phoenix
12:06like I know the Eastern Conference.
12:08And the fans know that.
12:10And it's also not the same as Dominique Wilkins
12:13sitting in Madison Square Garden
12:15when Jalen hits a three and you make the call
12:18and having your guy there that you know
12:21bleeds the Hawks.
12:22It's a completely different,
12:24it's a completely different viewing
12:26and listening experience.
12:28A hundred percent.
12:29And Mike Breen and I talked Monday night
12:32when they were here last.
12:33They got to do the game on MSG.
12:36We did not because of all these stupid blackout restrictions.
12:40And Breen and I were talking,
12:42and I said, Mike, what can we do?
12:44Because as you know,
12:44he was very vocal last week about this topic.
12:48And I said, well, how about this?
12:50I said, maybe we could go to Adam and say,
12:53look, as a compromise,
12:56how about the 16 teams that make the playoffs
13:00get to broadcast their first home playoff game,
13:05regardless of which network is broadcasting it that night,
13:09even if it's on NBC,
13:10even if it's on ESPN or Pico,
13:13wherever the game may show up.
13:14As you know, that first home playoff game,
13:18the atmosphere is fantastic,
13:20even if your team comes home down 0-2.
13:23The atmosphere is tremendous.
13:25And let us just get, for our fans,
13:29get their involvement.
13:31You know, we could do a pregame show
13:33and do all the things we normally would do
13:36to bring that experience home to the Hawks fan,
13:40to the Knicks fan, to the Celtics fan, etc.
13:44And he thought maybe that had a chance of flying.
13:46Well, we'll see.
13:47I mean, listen, I like your expression.
13:49Pay more, get less.
13:50That's who you're getting when you don't have the local.
13:52That's so true.
13:52It's like what Apple decided with MLS.
13:54Okay, you want to...
13:55Oh, I haven't seen a United game.
13:57I didn't...
13:58How many years?
13:59Yeah.
13:59Well, I'm just...
14:00Well, I mean, the NBA said...
14:01The NBA said we're going to take all that money
14:03from the streamers.
14:04I guarantee you the numbers,
14:06local ratings numbers,
14:09having your local team do the games
14:11would be double what the national number
14:14would be of the national crew.
14:15But it is what it is.
14:16We all do.
14:16Even when it was on ESPN and TNT.
14:20Yeah.
14:20We could do side-by-sides
14:22and the local ratings would always blow them away.
14:24Blow them away.
14:24In that market.
14:26All right.
14:26Of course.
14:26I mean, it's not...
14:27Listen, let's have fun over the next couple of weeks
14:31as fans, if nothing else.
14:32Oh, boy.
14:34It's going to be so much fun,
14:36especially because it's New York, you know?
14:38You know.
14:39Yeah, it's the right team.
14:40It's just going to be great.
14:41Yeah, Nikhil Alexander-Walker,
14:42they're going to learn his name real fast.
14:43Thanks, buddy.
14:44Always a pleasure.
14:46Okay, guys.
14:47There he is.
14:48Voice of the Hawks, 30 years.
14:49We do have the local guys.
14:51That's Steve Holman and Mike Conte.
14:52Steve Holman, Mike Conte.
14:54We're going to explain to you
14:55how you can turn it down
14:56and listen to us and all that.
14:57I'm going to do that when we come back.
14:58Thank God.
Comments