00:00All right, let's get you guys some first impression of the Knicks win over the Atlanta Hawks.
00:05Game one win here at the Garden.
00:06We've got Michael Scotto, senior NBA insider for Hoops Hype.
00:11We're talking about a Knicks team that's got all the hype, all the pressure going into this postseason.
00:17They were up by 18 at one point.
00:20Atlanta comes back.
00:21But forget me talking about it.
00:23Let's get your first impressions, your initial thoughts on the Knicks game one win.
00:27I'm a big X-Factor guy, so what stuck out to me tonight was Josh Hart.
00:31His 14 rebounds, equaling as much as Onyeko Okongwu and Jalen Johnson in the frontcourt,
00:37that was a huge advantage for the Knicks tonight.
00:40And they shut down Atlanta's most improved player of the year candidate across the whole league
00:45in Nikhil Alexander-Walker.
00:47He had a rough shooting game tonight.
00:49Those are the two big X-Factors for the Knicks that got them the game one win.
00:53It's going to be interesting to see if they can keep that going forward.
00:55But you also touched on, obviously, Jalen Brunson, huge game tonight.
00:59Put them on his back early on as well.
01:01But those are the two X-Factors that stuck out to me and two keys that are going to be
01:06important
01:06for this team going forward as they try to close out a series down the line.
01:09Oh, don't you worry.
01:10I'm going to give you a chance to talk about Captain Clutch in a little bit.
01:13And I feel a little weird asking this after a win and a pretty convincing win
01:19where the Knicks pretty much dominated the stat sheet.
01:21If you're Mike Brown going into game two, because the Hawks did have a little success there
01:27here and there throughout the course of the game, are there any adjustments you make Monday night?
01:33I think it's two different offensive styles you could play, too.
01:36We saw in the first half they played a lot through Carl in the high post,
01:39looking to find cutters and whatnot.
01:41In the second half, when the Knicks really seemed to pull away more, he was more aggressive.
01:45And it seemed like a little bit more of a two-man game with Jalen Brunson and Carl Towns.
01:49I think offensively, if you want to switch it up maybe a little bit with more recipe,
01:54a little bit more cooking of that, a little seasoning, I think we could see more of that.
01:58Defensively, I think you've got to do the same thing with Nikhil Alexander-Walker trying to neutralize him.
02:03You know what you're going to get from C.J. McCollum.
02:05This is a guy that's been averaging 20 points for the predominant stretch of his career.
02:10And the rest of that team, it's a different look without Trey Young.
02:13So you know what you're going to get with C.J.
02:15But I think those are the main things there that you've got to look for if the Knicks,
02:18maybe you tweak a little bit offensively because we saw how exponentially better they were in the second half.
02:23But defensively, they look great tonight.
02:25You talk about that season.
02:26We didn't see much lemon-pepper seasoning from the Atlanta Hawks.
02:30But we saw some sass song with Carl Anthony Towns.
02:33We talked about him a little bit.
02:34But Jalen Brunson, man, people call him Captain Clutch.
02:37I call him Captain Obvious with the way that he could step up and just score at will.
02:4319 points in the first quarter.
02:46Mike Brown said that he stepped up to the plate.
02:49I mean, at this point, you know, people talk about, oh, Jalen Brunson's not the guy to win this Knicks
02:54team a championship.
02:55He's not the number one.
02:58I mean, with what he showed tonight, Jalen Brunson showed that he's one of the best players in the NBA,
03:05and he's going to have himself a postseason.
03:07Oh, no question.
03:07Look, I understand everybody wonders, like, was he a 1A or 1B when he was with Luka Doncic?
03:13But Jalen Brunson's one of the top players in the league.
03:16Offensively, he can get anywhere on the court.
03:17He posts up even for a smaller guard on his size.
03:20He can get to his shot, gets to the line.
03:23To me, this guy took the Knicks to the conference finals.
03:27This talk about whether he can put them on his back or not, like, go to Lids, get me a
03:32cap, because that's what it is.
03:33I don't see it.
03:35I think it's a little too harsh on the guy.
03:37I know his size people question, but you can't question his heart, and you can't question the heart of a
03:41champion.
03:42He's getting towards there, and he's carried this team.
03:45I think he's going to try to do it again.
03:47They've got, certainly, championship expectations in this building.
03:50If anybody can try to do it, it's him.
03:51I think one thing I like, we saw some grit out of him a couple times.
03:55He was talking a little trash here and there.
03:57Got thrown around a little bit.
03:59Got up and just kept going.
04:01The little engine that just continues to keep going.
04:03I know they say they could, but this guy, I mean, he's got a chance to have a statue out
04:09front of Madison Square Garden.
04:10And he survived the C.J. McConnell, Bruce Lee kick to the groin.
04:15There's something to be said there.
04:16A little extra toughness.
04:18And he got chopped in the face like Jackie Chan, and he kept going as well.
04:21He went through all martial arts tonight.
04:24Carl Anthony Towns.
04:26You talk about Josh Hart being the X Factor.
04:29It feels as though Carl Anthony Towns is the player that all of New York is watching throughout the course
04:34of this postseason.
04:36Started off a little slow in the first half, only had seven, finished the game with 25 points.
04:42The second half, Carl Anthony Towns.
04:45Is that what we should expect for the rest of this series?
04:48I think so.
04:48I think that's when the Knicks are at their best.
04:50When Carl's getting the ball and he's going downhill particularly,
04:53you don't see a lot of guys that are seven feet that can do that.
04:56Carl's got the ability to put the ball on the floor.
04:58He can step back, shoot threes.
05:00Growing up, he always idolized Kevin Durant and tried to model his game after that.
05:03That's why you see the versatility in his game on the court.
05:07There's no doubt to me, brother, when the Knicks are at their best,
05:10Jalen Brunson and Carl Towns are the one-two punch.
05:13I understand that during the course of the game, you need a little bit more.
05:16You're going to need Mikael Bridges to step up, Josh Hart.
05:19You know, glue guys to kind of fill the void.
05:21But when it's crunch time, those two guys have to put New York on their back for sure.
05:26No question down the stretch.
05:27Were you surprised he was able to stay out of foul trouble in this game?
05:30It's always a bonus.
05:31At times, that's been an Achilles heel for Carl.
05:34But I think with Atlanta's front line, he should be feasting like a guy out here going for a Thanksgiving
05:39turkey.
05:40They simply don't have the size to hang with him.
05:42Same thing for Mitchell Robinson.
05:44He should own the boards in this series.
05:46And the Knicks should dominate that matchup in particular.
05:49Jock Londale losing him his size, his three-point shooting ability.
05:53He was shooting almost 40% from three.
05:54That's a huge loss for Atlanta that I also think is a little underrated going into the series.
05:58All right.
05:58They may not have a chance to feast on a turkey, but they're going to have a chance to feast
06:02on the Hawks again here Monday night.
06:05Your thoughts going into game two?
06:07I don't think the series starts until the road team wins.
06:11So I do think the Knicks are going to take care of business.
06:14Overall, I'll go Knicks in six with that said.
06:16All right.
06:16You hear the man.
06:17Knicks in six.
06:18Mike Scott, appreciate you joining us.
06:20Anytime.
06:20My pleasure.
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