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CP The Fanchise, of Knicks Fan TV, joins Evan & Shaun Morash to break down the Knicks heading into their playoff matchup vs. the Hawks and he’s not holding back 🔥
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00:00Finally, this long, rollercoaster-like, kind of annoying regular season is over.
00:06And tomorrow at 6 o'clock, the New York Knicks will begin their journey
00:09against a familiar opponent, even though they're not familiar at all
00:12because there's nobody left from five years ago, the Atlanta Hawks.
00:15And joining us right now, CP, the franchise, who's all set for this game.
00:18One is Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, Knicks Hawks.
00:22First of all, congratulations.
00:24CP got married a few days ago.
00:27Hold on, let's get his mic on.
00:29Right over there.
00:31Bang!
00:32Sound like Mike Breed.
00:33So congratulations on that.
00:35How does it feel?
00:35Do you feel different?
00:36Yeah, I feel great, man.
00:37I feel fantastic.
00:39You know, I planned it right before the playoffs like a maniac.
00:42Did you realize this was all a part of your plan?
00:44This was all part of the plan.
00:45But the good news is, my wife, she's equally as diehard of a Knicks fan as I am.
00:49So she was all a part of the plan.
00:50She was all on board.
00:51Because she knows we've got to lock in every game.
00:54We've got to get to the watch parties.
00:55We've got to travel.
00:55We've got to be on the road.
00:57You know, summertime gets into summer league.
00:59So this is the time.
01:00But we had a fantastic time.
01:02Family-filled wedding on Sunday.
01:04It was beautiful.
01:04Did you get introduced to Go New York, Go New York, Go?
01:07How did you guys come out?
01:08We came out first to the NBA on NBC's theme.
01:12I love it.
01:12Back to the old days of the 90s, getting ready for the playoffs.
01:15So it was beautiful, man.
01:17All right.
01:17Let me ask you this about the regular season.
01:19Because I was having a fun time the other day.
01:21I was listening back to the beginning of the season.
01:22And what I said and everyone said, talking about the regular season.
01:26And we got here.
01:27And they won probably the amount of games we expected.
01:30Like, I had them as a 50-win team.
01:32They won 53 games.
01:33They're the three seed.
01:34But there were so many roller coasters, especially the downstretch that they had,
01:38that caused a little bit of worry from some fans.
01:41Now that it's over and it's been completed and everybody's relatively healthy,
01:46how would you kind of summarize the regular season?
01:48I still think it's a successful season.
01:51They won 53 games with a new coach, a new system,
01:55guys trying to get acclimated to new roles, even Carl Anthony Towns.
01:58Look at the way he started the season in doubt.
02:00I thought he finished the season strong.
02:02Jalen Brunson finished the season at an all-NBA level.
02:06You know, the play of Mitchell Robinson.
02:07They had top-to-bottom guys had good seasons.
02:11And for Mike Brown, his first year in the fire,
02:14coming out of Sacramento where he was showing the door early,
02:17he had to learn.
02:18They had to learn.
02:19You know, Mike Brown admitted that he had to dial some things back in his system
02:23like never before to make sure that he was getting the best out of these players.
02:27They won the NBA Cup, which was a high.
02:29They had a few four-game losing streaks where you questioned, you know,
02:33can this team really get the job done?
02:35But nevertheless, it's all about now.
02:37And I felt like they finished the season strong.
02:40They hit that switch.
02:41I think they're ready to go, man.
02:43What alarmed you the most at any point this regular season,
02:45despite them finishing strong?
02:47The losses to Detroit.
02:48And OKC.
02:49Not being able to beat the top of the East and the West, just like last year.
02:53Those are, you know, the quote-unquote elite teams.
02:56And not only losing, getting absolutely demolished.
02:58When you think about Detroit, it just had me thinking, well, of course,
03:02Detroit's going to get up for that game.
03:04They're circling all those games based on last year's playoff result.
03:07But the way that the Knicks lost, it just really, to me, exacerbated some of their weaknesses that came about
03:14last year in the playoffs.
03:15And we could see it this year again because it's the same team.
03:18It's funny, like, yes, the OKC and certainly the Detroit stuff, but they did such a better job this year
03:25against good teams than they did last year.
03:26And across the board, statistically, if you look at their defensive rating, their offensive rating, they were a better team.
03:33Not saying significantly better, but just looking at the sample size of 82 games, they were relatively healthy.
03:37I thought they handled Mitchell Robinson beautifully.
03:39Beautifully.
03:40Like, they were better this year than they were last year.
03:42And the success against good teams, I thought, stood out to me despite their struggles against the Pistons.
03:47Offensively, when you look at the contrast between Mike Brown and Tibbs, number one, the ball movement was better and
03:52more consistent this year.
03:53The off-ball movement, the cutting, was more consistent this year.
03:56They got to their three-point attempt diet, which is around what Mike Brown wants to be, around 40 attempts
04:02per game.
04:03You know, modern NBA shots.
04:04So I thought all that was pretty good under Mike Brown.
04:06And then you saw him go into the bench.
04:08You saw that at some extended bench contributions from the Colics, from the Diawaras of the world.
04:14Hey, Jordan Clarkson coming in on a vet minimum contract.
04:16I thought he finished the season very well.
04:18So I think there were some positives between this year and last year, especially on the offensive side of the
04:23ball.
04:23And now it's the Atlanta Hawks, so the first round of the postseason.
04:27The other thought I was giving was, all right, everything about the Knicks feels like we expected almost.
04:32All right, it's going to take some work.
04:33They're going to have to learn Mike Brown.
04:34They kind of did that.
04:35They won the amount of games they were going to win.
04:36But I thought about what changed in the Eastern Conference between October and now.
04:40And to me, it's everybody else.
04:41Like Detroit, at least for me, and maybe you didn't feel this way.
04:44Detroit was much better than I thought they would be.
04:46Me too.
04:47Likewise.
04:48Boston, I think the surprise is how quickly Jason Tatum got healthy.
04:51Yeah.
04:52Big surprise.
04:52Yes.
04:53I thought the Pacers could actually be good.
04:55Non-factor.
04:56Yeah.
04:56The Bucs, non-factor.
04:58Cleveland makes a major change in terms of bringing in that fraud, James Harden.
05:02Sorry, my opinion slips in.
05:04And it almost feels like, and I know Atlanta was like a trendy pick.
05:08Sean was big on Atlanta.
05:09Fine.
05:10It worked out that way.
05:10That was Trey Young's Hawks, though.
05:11These are a completely different Hawks.
05:14Doesn't it feel like the rest of the East changed significantly from October, more so
05:18than even the Knicks?
05:19They did.
05:20And give them credit, especially the Hawks.
05:21Give them credit.
05:22When they gave the keys to Jalen Johnson and showed Trey Young the door, I was expecting
05:26competitive, but really building towards the future.
05:29But he's really taking them on an expedited base.
05:32And to get them to the 60, they almost had the 50.
05:34They had a great year.
05:35But why is everybody discrediting the Knicks?
05:38Why is everybody crapping on the Knicks?
05:40Like, this is the same team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals with a deeper
05:44bench, finished the year strong, and could have some wrinkles this year that we haven't
05:48seen before.
05:49So, it's a great question, and I brought this up yesterday, and obviously I bring it up as
05:53someone that hates the Knicks, which I find ironic that we're completely different, yet
05:56in this regard, I think we're very similar.
05:58I don't understand why they're being disrespected.
06:00I was even going through the Vegas odds.
06:02The biggest chance of an upset, according to Vegas, is this series.
06:06Yeah, I think that's ridiculous.
06:07I think that's crazy, too.
06:09It's ridiculous.
06:09And so, let's dive deeper.
06:10Why?
06:11Is it an anti-New York thing?
06:12Is it something about Karl-Anthony Towns?
06:14Like, what is it that makes, because I think it comes more nationally than locally, why do you
06:18think the Knicks are disrespected?
06:20If you go back to last year, the Eastern Conference Finals, the first two games being
06:23embarrassed.
06:24Their regular season, again, not being able to beat the OK season, the Detroit Pistons
06:30of the world.
06:30And yes, the Hawks, they're a bit of a good story with Jalen Johnson and Nikhil Alexander-Walker
06:35playing well.
06:36But nevertheless, I think it's disrespectful.
06:38I think it's ridiculous to think that the Hawks will upset the Knicks.
06:41They don't have the playoff experience.
06:43They don't have the bench depth.
06:44Who off of that bench should the Knicks really fear?
06:46I mean, you're going to be asking a lot for Jalen Johnson and for Nikhil Alexander-Walker
06:51to be playing above their pay grade right now in a seven-game series to beat the Knicks
06:56because that's what it's going to take.
06:57They have no answer for Karl-Anthony Towns.
07:00Yes, they have Dyson Daniels, but when Jalen Brunson wants to get into his bag, he's damn
07:03near unstoppable.
07:04And as I said, from the wing stop to the Knicks' depth, they're going to be ready come
07:08Saturday at 6 p.m.
07:09I want to go back to something you said on the answer previously.
07:11You said, and who knows, a couple more wrinkles.
07:13It was just a week ago, two weeks ago, off the Hawks' win, off the Celtics' win, and
07:17Jalen Brunson was asked about him and Karl-Anthony Towns, the pick and roll.
07:21Like, why has that not been there?
07:22And he had kind of a very blunt, I don't know where it's been.
07:25Do you, when you say a couple new wrinkles, do you think Mike Brown was holding back stuff
07:29this year and now we're going to see a lot of different offense here?
07:32I do.
07:32I really do.
07:33In the beginning of the season, when he talked about the system that he implemented,
07:36that read and react system, it's not a lot of plays.
07:39It's not a lot of sets.
07:40It's just feel.
07:41It's instinct.
07:42It's moving the ball.
07:43It's cutting and passing as such.
07:45And so, but he did say that when the playoffs come, he may implement some new plays and
07:50some new sets because, look, when you're playing a team three, four times and sometimes with
07:54the NBA Cups wrinkled in, maybe even five, when you get to the playoffs, they know what
07:58you're going to do.
07:59You know what you're going to do.
08:00And so, I think he is holding some things close to the vest so as to not be as predictable
08:05and then, hey, then the other team is going to have to adjust.
08:08But utilizing your two best players, that's Jokic and Murray.
08:11It's only natural.
08:12You have to do it.
08:13It was just so weird that the entire season, when you were breaking down the regular season,
08:18a part of the concerns were, boy, you got to figure out a way to get Jalen Brunson and
08:21Kat going.
08:22You need more of that two-man game.
08:23I said that here.
08:24I said that right here.
08:24Yeah, it didn't happen until there were like two games left in the season and it looks
08:29so good that I think it's the enthusiasm of, oh, it works.
08:32But it was odd that it took until the very end.
08:35You're calling for it in January.
08:37We're talking about it before the season starts and it took the final two games of the season
08:41before we really saw how dynamic that two-man game could be between them.
08:45It's strange to me.
08:46It was odd.
08:48And at times when they did run the pick and roll and the opposing defenses are putting
08:52wings on Karl-Anthony Townsend, they were able to switch those actions, it may not have
08:56been as effective.
08:57When they played the Atlanta Hawks in that final regular season game matchup between those
09:01two guys, the Hawks had to put Okongu on Karl-Anthony Townsend.
09:04How did that look?
09:05It was a bit more effective.
09:07And so, but also you have to also think about this equal opportunity offense that the Knicks
09:12have where guys like Josh Hart and O.G.
09:15and only Cal Bridges, you know, guys have the freedom and the wherewithal to take shots
09:20and put the ball on the floor.
09:21And so, it's not always going to be just, you know, force it through Brunson or force
09:26it through Towns.
09:27Other guys have opportunities as well.
09:29But in crunch time, the Knicks are the best clutch team in the NBA by a record this year.
09:35And I think that's going to come through those two guys.
09:37That was kind of nuts.
09:38And it's true.
09:39The stats in the fourth quarter are through the roof.
09:41And it's because, and I think this is the advantage they clearly have in this series,
09:44is Jalen Brunson.
09:46If there are close games late, and there may not be, but if there are, you're going to trust
09:51him like we always have since he's gotten here to make the big play in the big moment.
09:54The most 40-point games in the NBA playoffs since 2022.
09:59Captain Clutch, man.
10:00It's Captain Clutch.
10:01And the disrespect for him is just ridiculous.
10:04Every time he hits the big stage, he performs.
10:06I've seen it live.
10:07I've seen it on TV.
10:09He is that guy in the fourth quarter.
10:11The key for the Knicks is everybody else is going to have to come along for the ride.
10:14You can't just be riding with him throughout, because by the time you get to the Eastern
10:19Conference Finals, like they did last year, he was spent.
10:22He had to deal with Asar Thompson and Ron Holland in Detroit.
10:25He had to deal with Drew Holiday, Derek White, and the Celtics.
10:28By the time he got to the Pacers series, the entire Pacers guard depth was guarding him
10:31at 94 feet.
10:32And if nobody else is helping him, the bench, Mikal Bridges, Karl-Anthony Towns, you're going
10:37to tax him.
10:38And that might not bode well for the Knicks.
10:40The only critique is sometimes he gets too ball dominant and doesn't get his teammates
10:45involved enough.
10:46You saw it a little bit this season.
10:47I guess that's the one concern you have about him at times with this offense.
10:51It's a tricky balance.
10:52Both guys have to make their shots.
10:53It's trust.
10:54And so the balance between trusting those guys and trusting yourself, knowing that you
10:58can go out there and get a bucket nine times out of ten and be successful, it's
11:02hard, especially for a score-first guard like Jalen Brunson.
11:05But I think by and large, he knows what he has to do for this team.
11:08The playoff experience is going to show come Saturday at 6 p.m.
11:12I want to take you back 10 months ago.
11:14Tom Thibodeau is dismissed.
11:15And the narrative on this station, the narrative of the fan base was, when we arrive at the
11:19playoffs, the expectations on whoever the new coach later ends up being Mike Brown is
11:22going to be, you got to take this next step now.
11:24And that's almost unfair to put the pressure on a coach coaching this team for the first
11:29year.
11:29We're here.
11:30It's playoff eve.
11:31We've talked about, you know, everything that he waited and held in the holster.
11:34Net positive, net even, net negative.
11:37What are you expecting from Mike Brown compared to the past playoff runs with Tom Thibodeau?
11:40He's got to take him to the finals.
11:42He has to absolutely take him to the finals.
11:43But in the way that he's going to do that is utilizing some of the depth that he has.
11:48That was the knock on Tibbs last year, especially in the Eastern Conference Finals.
11:52He waited until three, four games in to go to Landry Shamit more off the bench.
11:57It's a little bit different now with Mike Brown.
11:58He has Deuce McBride coming off the bench.
12:00He has Landry Shamit coming off the bench.
12:02And he's got the wild card in Jordan Clarkson.
12:04I say wild card because you don't know what you're going to get from him night in and
12:07night out.
12:08It's a flip of a coin.
12:09But if Clarkson doesn't have it, hey, we're going to Grand Theft Alvarado, shift the momentum,
12:13change the energy of the team, and see what we can get there.
12:16But the bench has to perform this year.
12:20How could the possibility occur that the Knicks lose this series, which I don't think will
12:25happen.
12:25CP doesn't think will happen.
12:27We'll come back and break it down.
12:28We'll go deeper into this series.
12:29We'll get to some of your calls, too, if you want to chime in.
12:31888-808-1019.
12:33It is Evan and Tiki.
12:34Tiki's in Paris.
12:35Sean's in the big chair.
12:37CP's here on Playoff Eve.
12:38It's Evan and Tiki on the fan.
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