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00:15The New York Knicks, they started the playoffs with a victory as they took Game 1, 113-102
00:21over the Hawks, and here's the scary part, they didn't even play their best game.
00:25Jalen Brunson, he didn't have to take over in Game 1.
00:28Carl T. Towns, he showed flashes of what we've been waiting to see from him, but not a complete game,
00:33and yet the Knicks, they still controlled this one.
00:35So now the question isn't just about Game 1, it's about the ceiling of this team.
00:39If this is what they look like without firing on all cylinders, then how good can they actually be in
00:45this series?
00:46Well, we're going to try to answer that question and much more.
00:49We're going to do it with a first-time guest here on New York Got Game.
00:51He is the author and founder of Knicks Centric.
00:53He's also the host of What's on Tap with Tommy Beer, the one and only Tommy Beer, who joins me
00:59now.
01:00Tommy, what's going on?
01:01How are you doing, my friend?
01:03Doing well.
01:03Sun's starting to creep out here in New York City, and the Knicks are one game up in the first
01:10-round series.
01:11As you mentioned, it wasn't a perfect game, but it was a win, and that's all you can ask for
01:17at this stage of the game.
01:18I agree, and I like to see that you are having the positive vibes, right, with a win is all
01:24you can ask for right here.
01:25Can't be mad at that.
01:26But you see, we saw this.
01:27The Knicks, they did win Game 1 by double digits, and we did not get a full Jalen Brunson takeover.
01:33We saw that in the first quarter, but we didn't get a full Jalen Brunson takeover, Tommy.
01:36So, what does this tell you about how this offense has evolved from last season to now?
01:42Because that's been a big talking point among the fan base.
01:44Did you see anything in Game 1 that said to you, hey, this offense has really evolved from last season
01:49to now,
01:49that he could win a game where Jalen Brunson didn't have a complete takeover?
01:54Yeah, I think that's a really good point, Dexter.
01:56Obviously, we know he came out on fire, 19 points in the first quarter.
02:00It's actually a franchise record for most points in the first quarter.
02:03And then he won an ice cold, surprisingly.
02:05I believe he was three for 11.
02:07The remaining three quarters only scored seven points the rest of the way.
02:11But as you know, he was able to hand the baton off, and that's when the rest of the guys
02:16stepped up.
02:17OG chipped in 19 points.
02:20Mikael Bridges had a couple timely buckets.
02:22Deuce McBride was ice cold through the first three quarters.
02:26He had two big threes in the fourth quarter.
02:28Jordan Clarkson gave him a nice little offensive punch off the bench.
02:31And, of course, Carl Anthony Towns really stepped up in the second half.
02:36And as you know, that's kind of one of the more encouraging aspects of the Knicks over the second half
02:41of the season.
02:42Last month, really, in particular, was that two-man game between Carl Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson.
02:48In order for the Knicks to really reach their potential, it can't be just ISO Brunson.
02:53It can't be just Cat firing away from three and on the block.
02:56It kind of needs to be a little bit of chemistry, a little bit of cohesion between those two in
03:01order for the Knicks to kind of reach their high ceiling.
03:04And I think we saw that towards the end of the regular season.
03:07We saw a little bit of that in Game 1 as well, particularly the second half when Brunson tried to
03:12get Cat a little more involved.
03:13Cat responded with a really efficient 19 points.
03:18And credit for Brunson for the sixth assist as well.
03:20Yeah, you've got to credit him for that.
03:22And you talked about the Knicks, Tommy, reaching their ceiling as an offense, right?
03:27And just overall as a team and how it's going to have to look a little bit more diverse.
03:30So with that being said, when you look at the way that the Knicks generated offense in Game 1, does
03:35this feel more sustainable for you in a playoff series than a Brunson-heavy approach?
03:40And I only ask this question because there's been so much talk about this, right?
03:44Is it too much Brunson-ISO ball?
03:46And we saw a little bit of that down the stretch of this game.
03:48But do you feel like what we saw in Game 1 is actually more sustainable in the playoff series and
03:54throughout this playoff run?
03:57Yeah, I think so.
03:57And for this series in particular, because we know that over the past two seasons, really, since Dyson Daniels elevated
04:05himself to be one of the more elite defenders, point-of-attack defenders, perimeter defenders in the NBA,
04:11is evidenced by the fact he was second in defensive play of the year award last season and will be
04:16an all-NBA, you know, all-NBA, all-defense team this year as well.
04:21Sometimes Brunson tries to, you know, I think take a little bit personally, as all pride guys do, as all
04:26great scorers do.
04:27He wants to put up big numbers against great defenders.
04:30And he did that in the first quarter.
04:31But then when his shot wasn't dropping, he was more willing to kind of get players involved.
04:36And, yeah, the ISO-Brunson debate is always going to be there.
04:39And personally, I don't have an issue with it when it's down the stretch, considering the fact that this guy's
04:44moving himself to, you know, he's a reigning clutch player of the year.
04:47But certainly earlier in the game, and even earlier in Game 1, I would like to see him get Brunson
04:52going, get Cat a little bit more involved, only at six shots in the first half.
04:57But on the flip side of the coin, when a guy is as hot as Brunson is, he let him
05:00fire away.
05:01So, yeah, I think there's a fine line there.
05:04And I think the Knicks have spent the better part of two years trying to figure out where that balance
05:08comes in.
05:09And I think slowly but surely they're starting to find their way.
05:12And I think Game 1 was an encouraging step in that direction.
05:15Yeah, and you mentioned one of the other encouraging things in Game 1, and that would be Carl Anthony Towns.
05:20And we saw the full Cat experience in Game 1.
05:23And the offensive struggles earlier, you mentioned the six-shot attempts in the first half, one of six in the
05:28first half,
05:28but then really came alive in the second half with some fantastic scoring, 19 points there in the second half.
05:34So we saw also some good and bad from Cat on defense in this game.
05:38But I thought he made some really good plays when he was attacked, and you've got to give him credit
05:41for that.
05:42How do you evaluate his impact in this series after one game?
05:47When you saw what you saw from him, how do you think his impact can be in this series going
05:51forward?
05:52Yeah, going in, I think a lot of us kind of expected this or predicted this would be a cat
05:57series or cat-heavy series just because of the matchup.
06:01As we've seen throughout the previous postseason, throughout the entire regular season,
06:06the teams that do a good job of really limiting his looks, decreasing his efficiency,
06:12are when they were able to put a smaller wing on Towns and then stick the center on Josh Hart,
06:20which really kind of gums up the works and doesn't allow the Knicks offense to fire on all cylinders.
06:26This isn't the case with Atlanta.
06:28They have to hide C.J. McCollum defensively as well, so that makes it a little bit tricky.
06:33So they have to leave Okonwu on Cat, and I think Cat did a good job of knocking down the
06:38three-pointer,
06:39took threes, made all three, did a good job of attacking the basket when the defenders closed out too hard,
06:45did a good job distributing the basketball when they ran doubles at him.
06:49So, yeah, when the Knicks are playing like that, they really force you to pick your poison.
06:54I think early on the Hawks were content to let Brunson shoot a lot.
06:58He scored 19 points in the first quarter.
07:00They decide, that's not going to work. Let's run some extra defenders at him.
07:04It's when Cat has an opportunity to really take over, and he did that, as we saw in the second
07:09half.
07:09And also, as you know, one of the more interesting adjustments, especially defensively from Mike Brown
07:14and the coaching staff, was having Cat guard Dyson Daniels, which allowed him to play a little bit of a
07:21free safety,
07:21roam the floor a little bit, protect the paint, and also keeps the big guy out of foul trouble,
07:27which certainly is an added benefit.
07:30And that strategy paid dividends, certainly in Game 1.
07:35Dyson Daniels looks uncomfortable.
07:36Confidence is sagging, was just 2 of 7 from the floor, shot below 20% from three-point territory.
07:42To his credit, dished out 11 assists, grabbed 9 boards, so it wasn't a huge net negative.
07:47But him being such a huge part of that offense and having that high usage rate,
07:51that's exactly what the Knicks wanted.
07:53It played into the Knicks' hands in Game 1.
07:54Yeah, it did. That was definitely something I liked from watching a Game 1,
07:58seeing that Mike Brown went to that in terms of putting Cat on Dyson Daniels.
08:02And the Knicks are going to be very comfortable letting Dyson Daniels shoot if he is open from three.
08:06We saw a couple of air balls that didn't look good.
08:08So not a rough day for Dyson Daniels, although you do make a good point.
08:12He found other ways to contribute offensively with those 11 assists and the 9 boards there.
08:17Now, you spoke about Mike Brown here, Tommy.
08:19If you're Mike Brown, what's the ideal version of Cat usage that you want to see over the next few
08:25games
08:25to maximize his upside without exposing his weaknesses?
08:29Because it doesn't seem—he was attacked by Atlanta in this game, right?
08:34But the weaknesses of Cat weren't that exposed.
08:36I know he had five fouls, but it didn't feel like that kind of Cat game where the fouls were
08:39loud,
08:40where you're like, oh, man, he's really killing momentum.
08:42But what kind of Cat usage do you want to see?
08:45Because that's been another big talking point among the fan base.
08:48How should Cat be used? How much should he be used?
08:51How much Cat usage do you think Mike Brown should use without exposing the weaknesses of Carl Anthony Towns?
08:57Yeah, I think it's going to be a situation-by-situation basis, a series-by-series basis.
09:02And this is a particular matchup where I think we're going to see a high Carl Anthony Towns usage rate
09:06going forward.
09:08It's one of those situations where—and Elkongo, I just saw today, was actually listed as questionable.
09:13I assume he'll suit up for Game 2.
09:17The Hawks are already very thin at center without Jock Landale.
09:21So they obviously desperately need Elkongo to suit up, and I assume he'll play.
09:26But again, and he's a good defender, obviously good length, can knock down the three-pointers.
09:31Cat has to do a better job adjusting to that instead of going to drop.
09:34He gave up some open three-pointers against Elkongo, who's had plenty of success this season and against the Knicks
09:39in particular.
09:40So that's—you know, Cat's got to do—I thought that was the one kind of flaw I saw from Cat on
09:44the defensive end,
09:45was giving up too many open threes to Atlanta's big man.
09:49But yeah, as far as the offensive goes and usage rate, I thought the second half was a perfect example.
09:56Brunson had plenty of shots, didn't knock him down, but got some good looks.
09:59He'll make those going forward.
10:01You know, OG got his shots in the corner.
10:04Bridges had a couple buckets.
10:06But when Cat was on the floor, he was a focal point of the offense, as he should be,
10:10because the Hawks just don't have anybody to stop him.
10:13You know, next series, should they play the Pistons and Jalen Dern down the line?
10:17Those are all, you know, complicated.
10:20You know, those are things that we'll have to—that Mike Brown and company will have to figure out once they—if
10:26they advance.
10:26But as far as this series goes, this should be a series where Cat could arguably play some of his
10:33best basketball as a Knicks,
10:34certainly in the postseason.
10:35Yeah, well, we saw him play some of his best basketball there in the second half.
10:39Knicks fans are hoping that will continue.
10:40And Tommy, in Game 1, I want to talk about defense here a bit, because we talked enough about offense.
10:45But on defense, the Knicks, they really set the tone, particularly in that third quarter.
10:49I thought that was their best defensive quarter of the game.
10:52What stood out to you the most about how they were able to disrupt Atlanta's offense in Game 1?
10:58Yeah, I want to give a big shout-out to Josh Hart.
11:00I thought, you know, his numbers don't jump off the screen other than rebounds.
11:05Dude had 14 defensive rebounds, and that's hugely important.
11:09We talked about Cat guarding defensive—guarding Dyson Daniels.
11:14What that means is he's going to float more towards the perimeter,
11:17and obviously he's not going to be in and around the rim as much as he typically would be
11:22when he guards the other team's center.
11:25So I'm sure that was a focal point for Mike Brown going into the game.
11:29Listen, Josh, we need you to protect the glass.
11:32We need you to clean up the defensive backboards.
11:34And Hart did that in a big way with 14 defensive rebounds.
11:38OG chipped in eight—I believe eight or nine defensive rebounds.
11:42Cat only at eight, but again, the Knicks won the rebound battle by 5-45-40, and Josh Hart.
11:49So not only was he great on the defensive blast, he surprisingly took the defensive assignment on Jalen Johnson.
11:55The incredibly, you know, all-around—great all-around player, first-time all-star,
12:01you know, really developing into an all-NBA caliber player is Jalen Johnson.
12:05He's Atlanta's top gun and facilitator, leads the team in assists, rebounds, points.
12:10He really does it all for that club.
12:13I assumed OG Ananobi because he, you know, he was the primary defender on Johnson during the regular season.
12:19Would he get that assignment?
12:21But OG instead was guarding Okonwu, and that left Hart to deal with Jalen Johnson.
12:26Did a terrific job.
12:28So big credit to Josh Hart on that end.
12:30And I thought the other player that played really well defensively,
12:34another guy that tends to be a punching bag for the fan base,
12:37when he's not putting up a lot of points, as McHale Bridges only had 11 points in game one,
12:43but did a great job on Nikhil Alexander-Walker, who entered the postseason as hot,
12:47you know, shooting as well as any player in the NBA.
12:50Over the Hawks' final 20 games, averaged 24 points,
12:54slashing, shooting 54% from the floor, 48% from three, and over 90% from the free-throw line.
13:00So this guy's not only a high-volume shooter, he's a really efficient scorer.
13:04I thought Bridges did an excellent job putting the clamps on him.
13:09According to NBA tracking data,
13:12Nikhil Alexander-Walker didn't score a single field goal when defended,
13:16when Nikhil Bridges was his primary defender.
13:19So that speaks to just how well Bridges played when Alexander-Walker had the ball,
13:24and just as importantly, denying Alexander the ball.
13:27Coming up brush screens and fighting around picks.
13:31So big credit to Harden Bridges, I think, on the defensive end.
13:34That's a good stat you brought up there from the NBA tracking data about Bridges.
13:37Didn't realize that on Nikhil Alexander-Walker.
13:40Yeah, Bridges was solid in this one.
13:42Yeah, got to give props to Josh Hart.
13:43He was the defensive player of the game, and he did a tremendous job on Jalen Johnson.
13:46You talked about how Jalen Johnson, you know, leads the Hawks in assists,
13:51only three assists for him in game one.
13:53You know, so he was not able to create for others in the way that we've seen him done.
13:56You got to credit Josh Hart.
13:58He was great and fantastic point by you about why Josh Hart was so effective on the glass
14:03in terms of Cat being pulled away from the basket when he's guarding Dyson Daniels.
14:07So his defensive rebounding numbers are down a little bit,
14:10but Josh Hart was tremendous there as well.
14:12Now, when you look ahead to game two, Tommy,
14:15what offensive and defensive adjustments do you expect from the Hawks?
14:20Because we've been watching playoff basketball for a long time.
14:22There's going to be adjustments.
14:24What offensive and defensive adjustments do you expect the Hawks to make here in game two?
14:29Yeah, I'm sure Quinn Snyder was surprised to see, you know,
14:32Hart on Johnson and OG on Okonwu and Cat on Dyson Daniels.
14:36So now we got to see how Quinn Snyder, who's a quality coach in his own right,
14:41responds and how the Atlanta coaching staff.
14:46I certainly expect them to try to put Cat in more action, get Dyson Daniels more movement,
14:52you know, to draw Cat away from the basket as much as possible,
14:56run some more pick and rolls, and get Cat isolated.
15:00And also going into the series, going into any series against the Knicks,
15:04the opposing team is going to want to attack Jalen Brunson as often as possible
15:09and spam any action that involves him, you know,
15:13being forced onto, you know, one-on-one situations where he's on an island at the top of the key.
15:20We know we can draw some charges.
15:22We know what he does.
15:23He calls himself the below-the-rim rim protector.
15:26But in terms of, you know, keeping guys in front of him on the perimeter
15:29has never been his strength, won't be his strength.
15:32So you're going to want to see.
15:34And to their credit, the Hawks did a good job, decent job,
15:38getting McCollum some looks against Brunson, tried to get.
15:41They didn't get Alexander Walker as much as they wanted to.
15:43The Knicks did a good job switching.
15:45You know, they had Jalen Johnson, you know, Brunson got trapped down low on Johnson a couple times,
15:51and the Hawks obviously wouldn't take advantage of it.
15:54But that's the key. No surprise there.
15:57The one thing the Hawks did really well was limiting Mitch Robinson's impact via the hack of Mitch.
16:03Since it works so well, I assume they'll implement it in Game 2 as well.
16:09But, yeah, that's going to be the key, is just try to evolve.
16:13Now I think they have a better sense of where Cat and Brunson, respectively, will be on the floor.
16:18Now let's try to get those guys involved in more action and, you know, get them in foul trouble,
16:22wear them out.
16:23It's really all win-win if you make the Knicks' two best offensive players work defensively,
16:29because that's where the holes are.
16:31That is the goal.
16:32That's going to be the goal for Atlanta.
16:33It'll be interesting to see exactly what adjustments they make.
16:37Now, you mentioned one part of the strategy that we saw from Atlanta in Game 1,
16:41and that was the hack of Mitch strategy.
16:42Now, Mike Brown, before this series, he said he was going to be ready for it,
16:46and we saw that he was.
16:48He was ready for the hack of Mitch strategy.
16:49Did you like his decision to go small with OG at the five when Quinn Snyder employed this,
16:55and do you still think this is a series where Mitchell Robinson can actually have a huge impact
16:59if the Hawks are going to go to the hack of Mitch strategy?
17:03Yeah, I think so, because if for no other reason, the benefit of the hack of Mitch is it gets
17:08your team in the bonus.
17:09You know, midway through the first quarter, seven minutes left in a quarter, the third quarter, as the case was
17:14in Game 1,
17:15and that led to actually to Jalen Brunson free throws, you know, shortly after Mitch checked out.
17:20If Mitch can shoot even 50% from the free throw line in those situations, that's going to be huge.
17:28If he continues to make one out of four, if he's two out of eight, something along those lines,
17:33then you're going to force Mike Brown's hand.
17:36But I also thought it was interesting and noteworthy that Mitchell Robinson, when he checked in in the first quarter,
17:42came in for OG Ananobi, about five minutes left in the first quarter.
17:48I looked it up this morning.
17:50Mitch and Cat had only actually played, were on the floor together,
17:55that double big lineup for 52 minutes over the entire 82-game regular season.
18:01So I thought it was interesting that Mike Brown went to that big, big, double big lineup in the first
18:06quarter.
18:07You know, basically his first substitution pattern was those two guys playing together.
18:11So we'll see if that continues, because Mitch can be a massive X factor.
18:18He's definitely going to keep getting opportunities to have an impact.
18:21And I think it's only a matter of time before we will to directly answer your other question,
18:26if and when Mitch gets in foul trouble or, you know, the hack of Mitch is successful
18:31and they've got to bring him to the bench.
18:33I do like that OG Ananobi at the five going small, especially when you have surrounded by shooters.
18:39You know, Shamit's going to, you would assume, is going to have a better game.
18:43He'll bounce back.
18:44Duke's knocked down those two big fourth quarter threes.
18:46Hopefully he builds that momentum.
18:47And then Jordan Clarkson, to his credit, really reinvented himself remarkably over the second half of the season.
18:54Chipped in with eight points in the second half in game one.
18:59You know, when they needed an offensive spark, you know, especially during that opening stretch of the fourth quarter
19:05when Brown had both Cat and Brunson on the bench at the same time.
19:10A strategy which I don't love, but credit to him.
19:13He bought those guys some rest and they were fresh down the stretch.
19:17And McBride responded with two big three-pointers.
19:21Clarkson had a lob to Mitch for an alley-oop.
19:25So those are the things that I think we'll see from Brown.
19:28And also, of course, is just the idea of putting Mitch at the start of the second quarter,
19:32at the start of the fourth quarter.
19:34That really limits Atlanta's options because you don't want to hack the foul of a guy four times
19:39in the first minute of a quarter.
19:41That really puts you behind the eight ball for the rest of the quarter.
19:43So we may see a slight adjustment from Mike Brown in that respect.
19:49Instead of bringing Mitch Ropp in, you know, with four minutes left in a quarter,
19:53wait those four minutes and bring him in at the start of the following.
19:56Yeah, that might be the play for him with Mitch in terms of how he brings him in.
20:00It's going to be very interesting to see.
20:01Chess matches in these playoff series, always interesting.
20:04Now, you mentioned earlier O.J. Ananobi, and I also want to get to the bench in a second.
20:08You just talked about some guys off the bench.
20:10It was really good.
20:10But we saw O.J. Ananobi come back after tweaking his ankle in game one.
20:14And I know a lot of fans were holding their breath on that one.
20:17Came back.
20:18He was all right.
20:18Still made a great two-way impact, as we know he can do.
20:21How important is he to what this team wants to be defensively in the series?
20:26Because you talked about the job that Josh Hart did guarding Jalen Johnson.
20:30But O.J. sort of playing in that free safety role in the way he can switch on different offensive
20:37players that the Hawks can throw at him.
20:38How important is he to what this team wants to do defensively against the Hawks?
20:44Yeah, it's really difficult to overstate O.J.'s importance on both ends of the floor.
20:50You know, the stat from the regular season was in the 27 games in which O.J. scored at least
20:5620 points.
20:57The Knicks were 23 and 4 in those contests.
21:00And if you look at his splits, you know, in between wins and losses, you know, he averages, you know,
21:06shoots above 50 percent from the floor in wins, below 39 percent in losses, you know, five more points per
21:12game to win.
21:13So there's a stark contrast.
21:14That's why O.J. is really a barometer, can be a true barometer of the Knicks' success.
21:19And obviously, defensively, I mean, the guy's a monster, certainly deserves to be all NBA, if not first team, at
21:26least second team this season.
21:28Both he and the coach have talked about how that's an honor he deserves.
21:32The good news for O.J. is Brown said at practice early this afternoon, early Sunday afternoon, that O.J.
21:40was able to practice.
21:42This crowd has no concerns for him going forward.
21:45And then later in the afternoon, Sunday afternoon, the Knicks listed him as probable.
21:49So good news.
21:50We'll get to see O.J. suit up Monday night.
21:53Yeah, that is that is huge.
21:54Need O.J. on the floor.
21:55We know how impactful he could be.
21:57Want to talk about Josh Hart, because you mentioned him defensively.
22:00Want to talk about him offensively, because he had a strong game with the double-double.
22:03We know what he did on defense.
22:04I think for both of us, he was our defensive player of the game.
22:07What did you make of his game offensively, where he only attempted 1-3, and I thought
22:13he played well in the flow of the game of what the Hawks gave him, and then also attacked
22:17really well.
22:17But do you think the Hawks will change how they guard Josh Hart in this series going
22:22forward?
22:23Do you see any change in that with Josh Hart, maybe try to force him to put up some more
22:27threes?
22:29Yeah, I think they could.
22:30Certainly, other teams have used that strategy.
22:34But as you know, it's what the defense gives you.
22:36And a lot of those games earlier in the season, when we saw Josh Hart have six, seven, eight
22:41three-point attempts, is when teams dare to shoot.
22:44You know, when they'll stick a center on him that does not leave the restricted area.
22:49So Josh Hart is nobody within 15 feet of him and can let it fly.
22:52More often than not, Josh Hart made those guys, made that defensive game plan pay.
22:57You know, shockingly, shot above 40%, a career-high 41% from three-point territory.
23:02You know, think back to October coming into the season.
23:05That was a major question mark.
23:08One, it was assumed he'd be back to the bench, which he was to start the season.
23:11The other was, should he just sit out three months and get that surgery on the ring finger
23:16on his shooting hand?
23:16How can he possibly contribute?
23:19Wasn't a great shooter before that fractured ring finger.
23:22For him to come back and, you know, shoot a career-high from three-point percentage,
23:27you know, make the most threes he's made in a season as a Knick, speaks a lot to the work
23:33he put in.
23:34Knick's shooting coach, Knick's coaching staff deserves a lot of credit.
23:38Knick's medical staff as well.
23:40David Smith, so a lot of credit to go around.
23:43So, you know, if the Hawks do implement that strategy, as we talked about,
23:48a little more difficult for them because with Okonkwon Kat,
23:53they don't have the same opportunities to kind of, you know, hide their center
23:57or let their center play free safety.
23:59So, you know, we'll see.
24:01I certainly think given the success that both Brunson and Kat had,
24:04there's going to be other strategies that Quinn Snyder's going to employ,
24:07And we may see them really sag off Hart and dare him to shoot.
24:11And then it's on Josh to take and make those shots.
24:15And as Mike Brown has said time and time again,
24:17they need Josh Hart to at least take those shots to keep defenses honest.
24:22You know, we'll see how it plays out going forward.
24:24Yeah, I'm very intrigued to see how that plays out.
24:26And my thing with Josh Hart, who I've said,
24:27I thought it was my X Factor coming into the series.
24:30He's got to be willing to take the shot if it's there.
24:32But I like the process of how he played in game one.
24:35And I think he took what was there for him, didn't force anything.
24:38And it was huge for the Knicks on the glass and just also pushing the ball in transition.
24:41So you like that.
24:42You mentioned the Knicks bench, Tommy.
24:46And when you look at the Knicks depth and the contributions they got in game one off the bench,
24:50to me, it felt very different from last postseason where you were wondering,
24:55okay, where's the offense coming from off the bench?
24:57We often wonder this a lot in games.
25:00Now you look at this bench and you look at Atlanta's bench
25:03and there's a world in which you could look at it and say,
25:05oh, they should win the bench battle most of the times.
25:09Do you see the bench as one of the biggest advantages
25:11or maybe one of the biggest advantages that they have over Atlanta in the series?
25:18100%.
25:18You know, we saw yesterday Atlanta just does not have the bench depth
25:23that a good quality playoff team should have.
25:25Reese's shade looks lost.
25:27Obviously, he missed all three of his field goal attempts.
25:29You know, Kaminga looked good in spots.
25:33We'll see what he can chip in.
25:35Gabe Vincent's decent.
25:37You know, he's a veteran.
25:38He can knock down some big threes.
25:39But, you know, Atlanta trading away Luke Kinnard really has to stick in the craw.
25:44Hawks fans, you would think, especially given how well Kinnard played in the Lakers game
25:47with victory over Houston, et cetera, right?
25:50But, yeah, you know, when you think about what the Knicks can bring to the table,
25:55you know, even if one of those guys doesn't have it one particular night,
25:58there's Alvarado on the bench if they want to bring in a, you know, defensive spark blow.
26:03Mo Diawar if they want a little versatility.
26:05Tyler Kolick if they want some, you know, playmaking, you know,
26:08and not just in this series but, you know, going forward.
26:11And I think that's one of the real benefits of having Brown on the bench this season.
26:16That was obviously one of the things that the front office wanted him to do
26:19was kind of experiment with different lineups, different rotations.
26:22We talked about the OG at the five.
26:24That's something we saw during the regular season.
26:26You know, we didn't – it wasn't necessarily due to a hack of Mitch,
26:29but on the second night of a back-to-back when Mitch was out
26:31and or Carl Anthony Towns was sidelined, you know, by an injury or something.
26:36We saw a lot of different variations, you know,
26:39so there was a lot of different things in the Knicks tool chest that Mike Brown can employ
26:45and feel comfortable with because we've seen him experiment
26:48over the course of the 82-game regular season.
26:51So that really has to be encouraging, you know, from the Knicks' perspective.
26:55And, yeah, I think that the start of those second quarters,
26:59start of the fourth quarter is when the Knicks can really make some hay
27:02when they have the opportunities to kind of take advantage of the Atlanta second unit.
27:07Because make no mistake, even, you know, the Knicks bench badly outplayed Atlanta,
27:12and that's with Landry Schammett going one from six.
27:14That's with Jordan Clarkson having two offensive rebounds,
27:17which was two more than Mitchell Robinson.
27:19What if I would have told you that going into game one?
27:21Clarkson would have two more offensive rebounds.
27:23Wouldn't have believed you.
27:23Wouldn't have believed you.
27:24Wouldn't have believed you at all whatsoever.
27:26Right.
27:27And even with that, the second unit for New York was still dominant.
27:31So I think there's a lot of reasons to believe that that gap between the Knicks' second unit
27:38and the Atlantic's second unit can be even increased going further.
27:41You know, Landry knocks down some shots.
27:43Deuce knocks down some shots.
27:45Mitch Robb gets some boards.
27:46There's a lot of meat left on that bone.
27:48I would agree 100%.
27:50Yeah, they outplayed him, but there still was a lot of meat left on their bone.
27:53Before I ask you this question where I was going to go next,
27:55I should have asked this before, and I realize I don't know this.
27:57What was your prediction coming into the series?
28:00What was your prediction?
28:02Went Knicks in six.
28:03Okay, so you went Knicks in six.
28:05I had Knicks in five.
28:07All right, so I think we both would agree game one,
28:11while you should be encouraging for a Knicks fan,
28:13it wasn't the Knicks at their best, right?
28:15So if we can agree that it wasn't them at their best,
28:18how high is their ceiling in this series knowing that we can play better
28:22than they did in game one?
28:23And did the first game change your expectation at all for how this series plays out?
28:29A little bit, but, you know, one, I think it's important to note
28:34that the Knicks, even despite not playing their A game,
28:37were still up double digits for most of the fourth quarter.
28:41So that's obviously an encouraging sign from the New York perspective.
28:43But the other thing is, the other team's going to make some adjustments as well.
28:47Nikhil Alexander-Walker's probably not going to go six for 17.
28:50I mentioned his numbers, his efficiency over the second half of the season was off the charts.
28:55You know, can, you know, CJ McCollum played well?
28:58Can they continue that over the second half?
29:00Jalen Johnson's, you know, likely going to have a triple-double at some point in this series.
29:04You know, he's that talented of a player.
29:08They'll find more ways to, you know, increase his use of trade and bring Dyson Daniels down.
29:13Dyson Daniels is going to make his impact defensively,
29:15even if he doesn't knock down three-pointers.
29:18Okongwu has done a good job.
29:19So I think there's certainly a reason to believe from an Atlanta perspective.
29:24Like, we played our C game, and we were still only down two points at the half.
29:29We made that nice little run.
29:30Let's figure out what we did in that little three-minute stretch when we picked up the pace
29:34and got back within almost, I think it was 11 points,
29:38when Nick Vann started having PTSD at the end of game one.
29:42I'm thinking of Aaron E. Smith and Tyrese Halliburton's shots scraping the ceiling at MSG.
29:48But too soon to talk about.
29:49But, yeah, I think from an Atlanta perspective,
29:53a couple things to just keep an eye on in terms of going forward into game two.
29:56And Atlanta wants to play at a much faster pace.
29:59They were top five in the league in fast break points this season.
30:02They were top four in the league in pace,
30:05whereas the Knicks are middle of the pack, fast break points, and 27th in pace.
30:09So this was a game in which I believe there were only 98 possessions or 99 possessions.
30:14That's a relatively slow pace in today's NBA, and that favors the Knicks.
30:18If it's a half-court game, that's where the Knicks want it to be.
30:21Brunson dribbling the air out of the ball, setting up some plays,
30:24letting Cat get involved, taking shots from the corner, et cetera.
30:28Atlanta wants to run up and down the court,
30:30as we saw those first couple minutes of the first quarter,
30:32and at the end of the fourth quarter, get up plenty of threes,
30:35get the ball in transition, even off makes, even off misses,
30:38push the ball, don't let New York's defensive shell get set,
30:42because once they do, they're very difficult to score on.
30:45So that's kind of going to, I think that's certainly one of the things I was looked,
30:48I looked at going into the series.
30:50I thought the team that won the rebound battle,
30:53the team that won the turnover battle, the Knicks won both of those,
30:55and what pace the game is played at would probably be determinative of who won the series.
31:01All three boxes were checked in the Knicks' favor in game two.
31:05Hawks are going to try to speed things up,
31:07get a little more active on the glass, crash the offensive glass,
31:10especially with Cat, not near the rim,
31:13and try to do what they do best and take advantage of those opportunities.
31:17So I looked at some of the same things, Tommy,
31:19that I thought were going to be determinants of who would win this game
31:23and who would win the series.
31:26Atlanta, you know, losing the fast break,
31:28battle, fast break points, I thought was interesting.
31:31The Knicks, if they're going to win games where they are winning in fast break points,
31:35that's going to be huge for them because they're not going to win the pace battle.
31:38Atlanta, I think you're going to accept fifth in pace.
31:40The Knicks are 25th in pace in the league.
31:42So with all that being said, we expect Atlanta to make adjustments.
31:45We expect them to play faster, where game two is Monday night at the Garden.
31:49With all that being said, Tommy,
31:51what are the keys to the Knicks getting a victory in game two
31:54and taking a commanding lead down to the ATL after Monday night?
32:01Yeah, I think a lot of things we talked about starts with taking care of the basketball
32:05and it's winning the possession battle.
32:06So that's taking care of the basketball, very sloppy early on,
32:10did a much better job in the second half.
32:12And that's a big reason why they were up 19 points with, you know,
32:17seven, you know, midway through the fourth quarter.
32:20Far fewer turnovers.
32:21They only had 11 for the game after I think it was four within the first seven minutes or so.
32:26Rebound battle is obviously going to be important.
32:28Some Mike Brown talks about a lot.
32:30You know, again, they didn't get a lot from Mitch.
32:32We'll see how Robinson responds.
32:35Can Josh Hart continue to do, you know, that amazing work on the glass?
32:40Or is that an opportunity for Dyson Daniels to crash in?
32:44And, you know, some of the other Hawks that are good offensive rebounders.
32:50And obviously Jalen Johnson, they got to unlock Jalen Johnson.
32:52A decent game, put up, you know, solid stats across the board.
32:56But, again, one of the keys for the Knicks was not only limiting Jalen Johnson's offensive production in terms of
33:02points,
33:02but he only had three assists in the contest.
33:05That's something that Atlanta needs to change.
33:07They need him to be a facilitator, the hub of their offense, just as he has been all season.
33:12Knicks did a great job of denying he and Alexander Walker from getting comfortable, from getting in their spots.
33:17And that's why you saw Dyson Daniels with that high usage rate.
33:21That's why you saw Dyson Daniels with 11 assists, because he had to make all those passes to shooters.
33:26And, again, that plays into the Knicks' hands if Dyson Daniels is a major part of the Atlanta offense.
33:32Going to be interesting to see those are the keys for Game 2, which is going on Monday night at
33:36the Garden.
33:37Knicks are going to try to take a commanding lead 2-0 over the Hawks.
33:41Everybody, that is Tommy Beer.
33:43Check out his sub-stack, Knicks-centric.
33:45It is a fantastic one.
33:47That's somebody who does a great job covering the Knicks, breaking everything down.
33:50And also check out his podcast, What's on Tap with Tommy Beer.
33:53Tommy, man, first time I had you on the show.
33:55It's been long overdue.
33:57Glad to have you on.
33:58Got to have you back on throughout the playoffs.
34:00Keep up the good work.
34:02And hopefully, you know, maybe the Knicks win this a little bit earlier than you predicted.
34:06You said Knicks in six, and that's why I had to ask you that question.
34:09I said, did this change the way you think?
34:11Are you shaving a game or maybe two off your prediction, or are you sticking with Knicks in six?
34:16Yeah, I think it's more likely that you'll be right here with the Knicks in five,
34:23especially playing that game five at the Garden.
34:26But we'll see.
34:26This is a good Hawks team.
34:28There's a reason they were, you know, top three in the NBA in terms of net rating over the final,
34:33you know, 20-plus games of the season.
34:36Their quality on both ends.
34:38Again, I think the Knicks can win.
34:40I think the Knicks should win.
34:41And the other thing is the Knicks don't have the best track record when it comes to dealing with success.
34:46They tend to let, you know, they tend to let teams hang around, whether it's series or games.
34:51So we'll see.
34:52Can this be, you know, this is a good opportunity to put the foot on the throat of the Hawks.
34:57Don't settle.
34:58You know, the Hawks just want to come in and get one of these two games in the Garden.
35:00So if they win, you know, they didn't win game one, obviously.
35:03But if they get game two, they're contends.
35:06Knicks saying all the right things after game one in practice on Sunday.
35:09We'll see if they establish should come out with the right focus and take this game as serious as they
35:15need to.
35:15Yeah.
35:16I think I'll feel a lot better about my prediction if they take care of business in game two.
35:21We'll see if they do.
35:22You're right.
35:22There's a track record of going up game one, having some success and playing with their food is what I'll
35:28say.
35:28Playing with their food.
35:29But everybody, again, please go support my guy, Tommy Beer.
35:32Check out his sub stack, Knicks Centric.
35:34Also check out his podcast, What's On Tap with Tommy Beer.
35:37Tommy, first time on New York Got Game.
35:38I appreciate you coming through.
35:40Like I said, we will have to definitely do this again.
35:42We'll see how the Knicks do in the playoffs.
35:45Everybody, like I said, support Tommy.
35:47Thank you for watching this edition of New York Got Game.
35:49Game two, Monday night.
35:50We will have a watch-along party.
35:52Until then, catch you next time in another edition of New York Got Game.
35:56Peace.
35:58And thanks for watching New York Got Game.
36:01Boom shakalaka.
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