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00:00:15welcome back to another edition of new york got game if you're a knicks fan you got to be
00:00:20happy maybe a little bit relieved as you start this week it's because the knicks they delivered
00:00:24a big statement game on saturday in game four against the hawks a 114 to 98 victory over the
00:00:31hawks and even their series in the first round against atlanta at two games apiece but now we
00:00:36shift to what could be the beginning of a defining moment of this series game five at madison square
00:00:42garden on tuesday night we know that both teams want to get the edge in the series and it's going
00:00:48to be a really simple question here did game four show us who the knicks really are and who they
00:00:54can be for the rest of these playoffs so we are going to try to answer that question and a
00:01:00lot
00:01:00more this week on new york got game i got a special guest i got my guy he is a
00:01:05host on sirius xm nba
00:01:07radio does a fantastic job covering the league there it's my guy david shepherd who joins me on
00:01:12new york got game right now shep what's going on man how you doing dexter henry man one of the
00:01:17best
00:01:18guys in this business uh been a friend for a long time and always always a pleasure be on with
00:01:22you
00:01:23i'm doing well man how about you i'm doing i'm doing okay i'm doing okay you and i were just
00:01:27talking a little bit uh before we started recording you know i'm doing okay i'm recovering from the
00:01:31achilles surgery a month out progressing well so you know i can't claim just celebrating my 43rd
00:01:36birthday you know it's i'm doing okay we're breathing we're here get to enjoy see basketball
00:01:41you and i love to talk basketball i'm talking with you on another radio network i would talk with
00:01:48you all the time about it but yeah you know what lebron calls age 43 what does he call age
00:01:5343
00:01:53calls it you're 25 that's right that is what he calls it hey maybe we'd be blessed to do what
00:02:02we
00:02:02love as long as him and right at a high level with the lakers and lakers up to a 3
00:02:07-1 series lead
00:02:08is uh very interesting of something that we probably maybe didn't expect heading into these playoffs but
00:02:14we're here to talk about the knicks yes sir i am very intrigued to hear what you have to say
00:02:19about the knicks particularly after this game four so dave after game four in this series
00:02:25the big question i think a lot of people have is who are the knicks actually are they the team
00:02:30that
00:02:30dominated in game four or are they ones are they the ones that looked i guess i'll say disconnected
00:02:36earlier in the series who are the knicks right now dave in your opinion yeah so we don't know
00:02:42nobody knows um that's dexter henry i'm always gonna keep real with you yeah with tips they're
00:02:50a limited team from a depth perspective but they don't beat themselves and they play hard
00:02:56that's who they were with tips in the few years he was the knicks head coach
00:02:59you don't know what knicks team is showing up with mike brown you just you just don't are you
00:03:04going to get carl anthony towns that shoots two times in the first half or are you going to get
00:03:09carl anthony towns that is the best player on both sides in the first half are you going to get
00:03:14you know an individual in michael bridges who was a deer in headlights when it comes to making a five
00:03:19foot mid-range shot or are you going to get the michael bridges like we saw in game four who's
00:03:24going
00:03:24to go after it and attack in transition and play loose and play with swag and play with toughness
00:03:32those two guys are so inconsistent you know what you're going to get with jalen brunson you know what
00:03:37you're going to get with og and an obi but the problem is this knicks or this next starting lineup
00:03:43is not consistent like we've seen in years past and i specifically cite 2024 2025 because they
00:03:51weren't going to be disjointed they weren't going to be discombobulated at the end of games the way
00:03:55we've seen in both games two and games three in this playoff dexter henry you're an optimistic
00:03:59knicks media member because you're the only person i said that we should be somewhat happy with the
00:04:042-2 series at this point it should have been over it should have been a sweep man we get
00:04:09well no
00:04:10there's no doubt about that yeah listen there's a you're right sweep is sweep absolutely could have
00:04:16been you know i said this the other day the knicks were a couple of possessions away before game four
00:04:21from this being a 3-0 series at a minimum 2-1 and now if you take game four in
00:04:27fact it could have
00:04:27been 3-1 so i don't i don't think that you're wrong they felt very unserious in games two and
00:04:34games three right they don't know yeah yeah they don't have a i mean do they not understand that
00:04:38cj mccullum has scored nearly 17 000 points do they not understand that this is without question
00:04:43their best offensive option in the half court offense and what do the knicks do dexter henry
00:04:49well we'll just guard you in single coverage and hope for the best and then listen they did a
00:04:54better job against cj in game four oh yes okay okay so if you're not sure about this next team
00:05:00because i just said you saw in games two and games three they were unserious dave right what does
00:05:05what does game four tell you about the knicks ceiling though right because we know this there's
00:05:11very talented team sure we team in the east what does it tell you about the truth their true ceiling
00:05:15and how often can they reach that height realistically in the playoffs however long this run goes yeah i mean
00:05:23you know i've said this on multiple platforms and and i'm just gonna keep it real with you like
00:05:28they're the most talented team in the east and that's saying something considering how jason tatum
00:05:35has looked as of late considering what peyton pritchard has done as of late considering there's
00:05:40a reigning finals mvp not named sga in jalen brown who is the most recent finals mvp from the east
00:05:46yeah the knicks from a talent perspective is there a better guard in the east than jalen brunson
00:05:53i don't know if kate is there yet i don't know he's had a better season but i trust jalen
00:06:00brunson
00:06:00more than i trust any guard in the eastern conference at this point carl anthony towns
00:06:05is there a more talented big that we have in this sport there's definitely not a better shooting big
00:06:11in this sport he's without question the most talented big we have in the eastern conference it's
00:06:17not even close and then og and anobi who all he does is let his game speak for itself that's
00:06:23another
00:06:23individual that can go out on any given night and give you 20 and 10 i think he had 22
00:06:29and 10
00:06:30in game number four if memory serves me correctly and dexter it was the quietest 22 and 10 you've ever
00:06:35seen in the history of a postseason game because he just doesn't do it with pizzazz he doesn't do it
00:06:40with style but it's all substance with him um you know you talk about a jordan clarkson you talk about
00:06:47a jose alvarado you talk about a mitchell robinson man those three guys could start for most teams
00:06:53even jordan clarkson who hasn't had quite the year that i know many knicks fans would have anticipated
00:06:58he's not close to the guy he was in utah but he can still go out there and give you
00:07:0210 15 on any
00:07:03given night landry shaman is is another one that's dexter that that's nine guys that can go out
00:07:10oh how did i mention deuce mcbride like that's another guy that is instant offense i mean you'll
00:07:16get this reference he's the vinnie johnson of his generation microwave the microwave yes yes so you
00:07:22asked me what the ceiling is of this next team they are the most talented team in the east and
00:07:30if
00:07:30they're playing and clicking on all cylinders to their capability they can beat anybody in the east
00:07:35and they can definitely run with san antonio which we've seen in the regular season and they
00:07:40can play with okc they can play with anybody if if if that team for the majority of game four
00:07:46shows
00:07:47up for the rest of the playoffs but as i've alluded to we just that's just an unknown okay i
00:07:55i agree
00:07:55with you and we know how talented this team this next team is but we haven't always seen it
00:08:00consistently now knicks fans they're gonna hope that game four is a true turning point for this
00:08:07team and not just a one game spike that they saw and then they come back to what we saw
00:08:12before in
00:08:12games two and three however you and i both have watched the nba for a long time covered it for
00:08:18a
00:08:18long time and we have seen teams have a game like the knicks had in game four only for it
00:08:23not to carry
00:08:24over to game five we have seen this movie before dave we know what it looks like so as somebody
00:08:30who's covered the nba for a long time like yourself what separates those teams where it doesn't carry
00:08:36over from game four to game five and a great performance to the ones that actually build on
00:08:41it what's the separation there for you man you're gonna think i dislike mike brown but uh-oh there's
00:08:49been a lot of that through this series i'll tell you that much well as there should be because
00:08:55dexter he was set up to fail like unless you get to the eastern conference in year one
00:09:02you're seen as a glaring disappointment because you told the guy who just got you to an eastern
00:09:07conference finals for the first time in a quarter of a century that that's the benchmark and so you
00:09:14asked me the the the difference between a team from game four to game five that's inconsistent
00:09:19versus a team that's going to build off that momentum it sees the moment and ultimately use
00:09:25that as the catapult for them being that team for the rest of the way it's it's the man in
00:09:31charge
00:09:31whether it's a pat riley a phil jackson doc rivers in his heyday and eric spolstra a greg popovich
00:09:39i don't think mike brown has that dog in him like dexter when i listen to mike brown speak
00:09:46he goes on for like two three minutes with one answer and it's just peaches and roses it's
00:09:53everything that's good about the knicks he's not holding these guys accountable there's not that
00:09:58dog in their head coach there's not that level of accountability you feel like they have planned for
00:10:03him why has carl anthony towns regressed dexter henry this season why has even the great jalen brunson
00:10:09to some degree regressed why is mikhail bridges looking even worse than he did under tom thibodeau
00:10:15and that's saying something considering it was mikhail bridges who was the biggest critic
00:10:20for tom thibodeau at the end of the regular season in 2024 well i'll we'll get to bridges too but
00:10:26i'll
00:10:26say maybe that's a bridges problem right brunson has been down i thought cat was really good in the
00:10:33second half of the season cut down on the fouls what's figuring out his role i i want to say
00:10:40that
00:10:40it's a lot to your point it's a lot of change for everybody though right like and the team had
00:10:45the
00:10:46mandate they had i'm probably higher i click can see i'm higher on mike brown than you i'm higher than
00:10:51you why what what is mike brown done for dexter henry that makes you so certain that here's the answer
00:10:57here's what here's what i like okay i'm not saying i think that he's the greatest coach and not saying
00:11:02that i think he's without fault in the series because i think right room to criticize him
00:11:06what i've liked about him is his willingness to not be as rigid as the previous coach i look at
00:11:13game
00:11:13four right dave and you saw in game four where he got great minutes out of jose alvarado great also
00:11:21i
00:11:22love the fact that he's willing to bench mikhail bridges in the second half when he's not playing
00:11:26good the only mikhail bridges played four minutes second half the previous coach was a lot more rigid
00:11:31would stick with it he made changes i think that stuff matters in the playoffs the coaches who i
00:11:36look at and will admire and call great coaches we want to say eric spolstra and rick carlisle
00:11:41two best coaches in the eastern conference you want to put joe mazula up there yeah i i was about
00:11:46this
00:11:46and and jb bickerstaff might have something to say about that too spotty playoff record with jb
00:11:50bickerstaff but i fair but but he's been good in the regular season yes i think all those coaches are
00:11:56willing to make adjustments and i think that stuff matters in the playoffs so that matter in the
00:12:00regular season experimenting with guys now he also made an adjustment with the lineup
00:12:05in game four right had cat and brunson play more minutes together staggered them with some bench
00:12:11guys i liked what he did there he made the adjustment now you could say you wish it came
00:12:15sooner he should have done it after game two i think all that is fair but he's willing to make
00:12:19the adjustments we saw tom thibodeau last year stubbornly refuse yeah to get out of his eight-man
00:12:25rotation now mike brown has a better bench than he did last year i have right there right but i
00:12:32think
00:12:32his strength is not saying he's the greatest coach but i think his willingness to expand the rotation
00:12:38to have a good feel for who's got it on his team and forget the feelings for guiding me or
00:12:43kel
00:12:43bridge doesn't have it he's not caring about them picks sit on the bench i like it that's a fair
00:12:49point
00:12:49about mike brown obviously that is the biggest disparity between him and tom thibodeau that he has
00:12:55a much longer bench and not as much strain being put on the starters that's all well and good but
00:13:01you
00:13:02look at game two that corner shot that cj mccollum had at msg that never should have happened the play
00:13:11before that they doubled cj they took the ball out of his hands it was an empty possession yeah that
00:13:16is the
00:13:17that is the dna that is the blueprint to beating this hawks team you take cj out of his game
00:13:23and
00:13:23take the ball out of his hands the hawks can't convert in the half court set game three forget
00:13:29not having that final timeout which you should have had which i think he wasted on something that never
00:13:34should have happened in the first place but even with that being said everybody at state farm arena
00:13:39knew where the ball was going but if you look back on that play dexter henry and i know
00:13:43you really pay attention to details in the sport og ananobi was wide open against jalen johnson
00:13:53all all the inbounder has to do is lob it over the top i think josh hart took it out
00:13:58of memory
00:13:59surgery correctly but og ananobi is wide open under the basket they didn't even think of that all they
00:14:05tried to do was force feed it to jalen brunson when you know the hawks were going to double him
00:14:10and
00:14:10try to take the ball out of his hands and they forced him baseline that was it a good coach
00:14:14is
00:14:14saying look if it's not there if brunson's not available we got it we got to force feed it to
00:14:20him
00:14:20look at the other options because okongwu was not applying any ball pressure whatsoever that would
00:14:26have been the game right there so you asked me the difference is a very long-winded way of saying
00:14:32mike brown failed in los angeles he failed in sacramento he failed in cleveland not once but twice
00:14:39sacramento failed him i would say that but yeah fine you got a game seven on your home floor
00:14:45and you lose in the first round i can't kill i can't kill him for that season i can't kill
00:14:51him
00:14:51for that that was a season the kings were way better than any of us thought because they're the kings
00:14:55the fact that he got the kings back to the promised land and they are the kings the promised
00:15:00land of dexter henry's mind his first round for the kings yes for the kings it is yeah for the
00:15:06kings
00:15:06for most other people i agree with you okay okay okay okay so so maybe i'm going to curve a
00:15:11little
00:15:12bit but if you want to give him an out for the sacramento kings he's got kobe and pow kobe
00:15:17in his
00:15:17prime this is before the achilles injury yeah he's got pow in his prime that was it that was that
00:15:22was
00:15:23the kobe pow that was the team where they had dwight howard was that dwight no was that no that
00:15:27was
00:15:27that was that was that was a couple years because dwight was 2000 dwight was 2012 2013 yeah sorry i
00:15:32was
00:15:32i was a couple years off that was the 2011 2012 team season yep and and and how did that
00:15:39lakers
00:15:39team do in the second round they got they got they got their behinds hands they got their asses kicked
00:15:44they won one game so by the way how did how did mike brown do with cl in cleveland when
00:15:49he didn't have
00:15:49lebron not not good okay so everywhere he's gone minus a 25 point fourth quarter game by lebron in game
00:15:58five to essentially save the cavaliers because he's the greatest player of his generation mike
00:16:03brown is underachieved everywhere he's gone okay everywhere he's gone do we not think that he's
00:16:08learned some things do we not think he's learned some stuff from his time and in golden state day
00:16:12you know and and things do you not think that no no because because remember sacramento was after
00:16:17golden state yeah and and game two game three dexter henry i'm i'm dead serious when i say this
00:16:22this is an exaggeration if you or i were coaching in that game two or game three don't do that
00:16:28i'm
00:16:29gonna do it no i'm gonna i'm gonna you know we but we know wait wait wait a second wait
00:16:32a second
00:16:32yeah on when we have that coach when we have that that that coaching board okay and we're using that
00:16:38marker you're telling me we don't have a plan b if jalen brunson doesn't get the ball
00:16:42but see this is i'm glad we're having this kind of conversation so am i this is something that
00:16:49i've been talking about a lot through this series and i don't i it's hard for me to believe
00:16:56that the coaching staff including mike brown did not have a plan b on that play i just don't think
00:17:01that then why aren't they flabbing it over the top to a wide open og and anobi so here's my
00:17:06thing
00:17:08i talk about this all the time my guy brian fonseca on the show players have agency and
00:17:12sometimes it's personnel issues you brought up michael bridges and how he's gotten worse
00:17:18sometimes a player is that bad you can't get anything out of it doesn't matter who the coach
00:17:21is they don't got you they don't have it in them i'm not questioning michael bridges ability to play
00:17:26on the court but he has not been good in this 10 years in new york nick players have to
00:17:29recognize
00:17:30that i one of my critiques of jalen brunson as great as he is and the nicks is sometimes the
00:17:36ball can become too too much isolation basketball jalen brunson to save the day that play when he
00:17:44was going to the right and then eventually drove baseline and hawks did a great job we got to give
00:17:48him credit they forced him baseline was amazing with his lateral quick absolutely for a big
00:17:54unbelievable back in the ship you saw this back in the middle of the floor he could have swung it
00:17:58back the other way to josh hart josh hart was there in the middle floor now he tries to drive
00:18:02baseline and force that pass to josh hart now it's terrible that's on the players
00:18:06too you have to have the agency i do not believe that the players and say this is that the
00:18:11coaches
00:18:11and say this is taken away this is where we're going to go i that play did not look to
00:18:15me like
00:18:15they did not have a plan they just didn't execute so players to execute so so okay so what about
00:18:21the
00:18:21game winning basket by cj you have a guy in deuce mcbride that i that was generously listed at 6
00:18:28-2
00:18:28right that here's why people will say because it's what's the move you want there the hawks
00:18:34and quinn snyder rightfully got the knicks biggest wing defenders out of the action og mikhail are out
00:18:41of the action as the coaching staff on the other side you got to know they're going to try to
00:18:44do
00:18:44that 100 so are you going to put some other sides on the floor another switchable side switchable guy
00:18:49on the floor a lot of people talked about mitch some people talked about jeremy sohan there were bigger
00:18:53guys you could have put on in case you know you got switches off there and your guys were not
00:18:58in
00:18:58the action so you can have it deuce is a good defender but as you said limited size that to
00:19:02me was a
00:19:04coaching error the other my major coaching error that irked me in the series was going back to game
00:19:10two when mike brown did not use his user to lose a timeout before the three minute mark then took
00:19:18the
00:19:18time i believe it was two minutes and 43 seconds left when jalen brunson was driving to the basket
00:19:22and i was like what is that and that just killed any momentum the knicks had of trying to win
00:19:26that
00:19:27game i just thought that was that was terrible use of a timeout that that to me is on the
00:19:31coach
00:19:31there's no there's no ifs and the buts but but but but here here's the thing yes you know
00:19:38they may get by the hawks they and and and they're like and they're more than likely to get by
00:19:43the hawks
00:19:45but this wear and tear that they're going to have to play two extra games at least that stuff
00:19:51it's going to show up against boston who's going to come in fresh as a daisy off of their gentleman
00:19:56suite playing with all the confidence in the world so i mean it's why you can't play with your food
00:20:03man
00:20:03i know but you and let me tell you something dexter henry there is not a more motivated team to
00:20:09face
00:20:09the new york next than the boston southpicks for many reasons but this is why i will get to that
00:20:14series this is why we want to see that series you want to see it i want to see it
00:20:19new york wants to
00:20:20see it new york wants to see it this is why we want to see that see that this is
00:20:24good i'm glad
00:20:24we got to talk about the coach for a little bit let me ask you this what is the one
00:20:28thing from game
00:20:29four in the nick side that you're watching the closest to see if it holds up in game five what's
00:20:34the one thing that you're really looking for the first half yeah easy easy cat the first three games
00:20:42of this series did not have more than six points in any of these first halves this is again a
00:20:48guy
00:20:49who can go out there with his eyes closed and drop 20 off talent alone he's that skilled he's got
00:20:56that
00:20:56kind of range he's got that kind of touch and so for him to be absent in the first three
00:21:03halves
00:21:03of this series has been inexcusable so to his credit i'm sure he heard the critics i'm sure he heard
00:21:10the naysayers i'm sure he heard the murmurs hey cat you're gonna show up in the first half for once
00:21:16and he did that and he set the tone because there is no cover for him because he can beat
00:21:23you from
00:21:23three and he can take it off the dribble at seven feet i think he's a legit seven feet by
00:21:27the way
00:21:28so that's the thing that i am so encouraged by as someone that follows the knicks covers them
00:21:37fell in love with them as a kid if cat can do that that's why they got a second half
00:21:43lead where they went
00:21:44into you know the third quarter knowing that they had this wrapped up it's because of the aggressiveness
00:21:49of carl anthony towns now is he gonna have to do an interview with dexter henry or shank or whomever
00:21:55to get him fired up maybe that's the key but because dexter there's no listen i love jaylen brunson
00:22:02i love jaylen brunson he's the greatest nick since carmelo or patrick ewing depending on how you gauge
00:22:10but he's limited he's limited great the hawks are going you know this they're going after him
00:22:16on defense mike brown had to take him out and i know he had to take cat out too but
00:22:21that's more
00:22:21for foul trouble but he had to take jaylen brunson out of the game because he can't play defense
00:22:25and he's not even 30 yet like what's gonna happen as he ages jaylen brunson has not had it i
00:22:31mean we can
00:22:32say he is not a good series and we'll yeah we'll we'll get into that too he's he's not but
00:22:37this is
00:22:38but this is why the comparisons with him and patrick ewing have to stop patrick ewing was never a
00:22:43liability on defense ever no no no no no no right yeah but but if but if you're going to
00:22:50be the captain
00:22:50of the new york knicks you've got to be at minimum a two-way player and i know he's the
00:22:55captain
00:22:56but from a theoretical standpoint right from a moral standpoint you got to inspire the troops
00:23:04you got to be able to get it done on both sides of the floor the guy who is traveling
00:23:08to state
00:23:09farm marina that looks about 55 that you've interviewed before even though he's in his 80s
00:23:13is the great wall clyde frazier yeah the reason the knicks won that series against the lakers for their
00:23:21first world title back in 1970 we could talk about the four points that willis reed had at the
00:23:26beginning of game seven we could talk about the amazing offensive performance of walt frazier we
00:23:30can't forget that but it was his defense on jerry west it was his defense on gail goodrich like
00:23:37that's what made walt special that's what made them champions it wasn't just the fact that they all
00:23:41played together as a unit and it was so cohesive and it was poetry you know in motion it was
00:23:47their
00:23:47commitment to both sides of the floor and i thought mike brown was supposed to be a defensive
00:23:51ace i'm not seeing that with jalen brunson he he is i've crit i've criticized him on that and i
00:23:57thought that was important i think a lot of people look at the shot selection we'll get to this more
00:24:01in a second but i have been critical of the defense series i said look he's got to be better
00:24:06he's got
00:24:06to be better at a lot of things series this has not been a good jalen brunson series we can
00:24:09call it
00:24:09what it is before we get to that let's just go to the other side for a second if you
00:24:15are the hawks dave
00:24:16yep what do you target from game four that you believe from the knicks you're looking at the
00:24:21knicks say i don't believe this is going to hold up in game five what do you think the thing
00:24:25is that
00:24:25the hawks will target that they don't believe that the knicks didn't gain four that won't hold up in
00:24:29game five a good question i think i think they're gonna i think they're gonna attack cat i think they're
00:24:39gonna try to because cat was disciplined in game number four i mean he his mentality his mindset how
00:24:45aggressive he was on offense and then how disciplined he was on defense but i think what
00:24:51the hawks are gonna be thinking is that cat's not showing up in game five we're gonna take advantage
00:24:57of a cat that's coming in off you know his first career postseason triple double in 35 career playoff
00:25:03games the fourth triple double of all time in postseason history for the new york knicks and he's
00:25:09feeling a little bit good right now he's probably on a high he's probably not exactly looking at this
00:25:16game five as desperation the way the knicks would have if they went down in game four and came back
00:25:22to msg down one three so i think what they're gonna do what a lot of teams do is they
00:25:27get cat not moving
00:25:29his feet being slow footed when it comes to his coverage in health defense and also his laziness when it
00:25:37comes to going after the ball on the glass and i i think that's the individual who along with jalen
00:25:43brunson they are going to attack but but dexter to add one more thing to this you're not asking me
00:25:49this yeah i think the knicks found out very very clearly jalen johnson doesn't have much of a half
00:25:55court game like it's just he doesn't have that bag yet if if they can stop the hawks in transition
00:26:01this this game which they did zero transition points i know i know i know and then and then
00:26:08look nikhio alexander walker most improved player but but he's limited in terms of creating his own
00:26:15shot right right he plays more in the flow of the offense yeah he's a great three-point shooter
00:26:19but but he's not he he can't put you on skates the way that cj can and dyson daniels i
00:26:25don't think he
00:26:26find the basket of his life depended on him in this series so onyeku kongu you know he was out
00:26:32playing cat for the first three games of the series but if they can bite the head of the snake
00:26:36off and cj mccollum in the half court there's no hawk that can do any damage so it's a really
00:26:42good
00:26:42point here let's zero in a little bit more on game five shep because all right it's funny because
00:26:49you've talked about some players you've liked maybe disliked here so in a swing game like game five
00:26:54who's the most trustworthy player on the knicks and why easy og andernobi oh without question
00:27:03he had the quietest 22 and 10 i've ever seen in a playoff game the game before that and i
00:27:09know you
00:27:10reference this because i because i i see your content you do a great job covering the new york
00:27:14next extra henry the the two three-point miracle shots that he had as time expired you want to talk
00:27:22about having ice in your veins you want to talk about not being afraid whatsoever not weathering
00:27:28no matter what the situation is no matter how bright the lights are that's og andernobi that's
00:27:33the guy who plays with the ultimate confidence has the ultimate swag and you see it ooze out of him
00:27:39because he does it on both sides because he can struggle on the offensive end but you know he's
00:27:43going to lock up the team's best offensive player on the other end he played 40 plus minutes last game
00:27:48so i know with og andernobi he's always going to do what is asked of him to do and that's
00:27:56play hard
00:27:57play for 40 plus minutes and get it done on both sides and he's just the ultimate warrior man i
00:28:04i still
00:28:05contend to this day if he's healthy in that game seven two years ago it's the knicks not the pacers
00:28:10moving on to the eastern conference finals and we saw what the knicks did to boston a year later
00:28:16they would have done that to boston in my humble opinion in 2024 so og to me is without question
00:28:23because he does it on both sides of the floor and he never beats himself cat beats himself he takes
00:28:30himself out of games just with his reckless decision making at times jalen brunson doesn't
00:28:36have that in his game where he can defend guys on the other end of the floor because if he's
00:28:40struggling
00:28:40on offense he becomes a liability because he can only do it on one side at this point of his
00:28:44career
00:28:45never have to say that about og andernobi and i and i love i love josh hart's tenacity
00:28:49um but he's just he's just not he doesn't have the size you know he doesn't have the shot making
00:28:54of og andernobi and and i'd like to say you know jose alvarado i don't know if i'm going to
00:29:00get the
00:29:00magical three-point shooting that we got from him in the second half of the game number four when
00:29:04jalen brunson unfortunately went out for a little bit but i do know you're going to get the ultimate
00:29:08toughness from a 511 guy who acts like he's 611 on the court yeah he does he does he does
00:29:16not bring
00:29:16you uh the 511 or lower and no when when he's on the court at all you mentioned jalen brunson
00:29:22dave
00:29:23um listen we don't have to sugarcoat this here he struggled offensively through these four games
00:29:30i thought he was not good in particular in game four six turnovers that's what bothered me a lot
00:29:37the six turnovers sure just that was really that really stood out for me um a lot of people going
00:29:43to zero in on the shot selection but you got to take care of the ball as a point guard
00:29:46where are
00:29:47you with jalen brunson's performances in the series and do you trust him to bounce back and basically get
00:29:55his stuff together on tuesday night where are you on jalen brunson right now yeah i i do um trying
00:30:02to
00:30:02think i think he's got 22 30 point games in his next postseason career which is either 32 or 22
00:30:11but
00:30:11i know it's four or five more than patrick ewing and patrick ewing by most people's nicks accounts
00:30:20will tell you that's the greatest nick in franchise history without the championships i mean it was jalen
00:30:26brunson in that game three that had the big basket to give them that three-point lead with the old
00:30:32fashion three-point play right and i don't know what carl anthony towns was thinking but he allows
00:30:38jalen johnson to get his own putback and that gave the nicks a one-point lead as opposed to the
00:30:43three-point
00:30:43lead they had when jalen brunson put them up if if they just simply box out the nicks win that
00:30:50game
00:30:50three jalen brunson's the hero you know we're not we're not having the same conversation about jalen
00:30:55brunson struggling because it was jalen brunson that had that shot rim out in game two dexter
00:31:00remember when that game was i think tied and cj ended up hitting that game winner in the left corner
00:31:06but before that it was jalen brunson who had a 15 foot shot that he makes nine out of 10
00:31:12times
00:31:13probably eight out of 10 times with his eyes closed they just happened to have a a bad spin out
00:31:17but
00:31:18that looked good yeah i i i trust i trust jalen brunson to bounce back with without question
00:31:25there's no question also that this is a tough matchup for him right more than any other nick
00:31:31star because of the tenacity the quickness the defensive prowess iq that dyson daniels has
00:31:40nikio alexander walker you're not guarding him with cj cj was guarding him it'd be 40 point jalen
00:31:47brunson to the rescue but you got younger bigger guys who are roughing him up who are making life
00:31:53difficult who are not giving him anything easy and it's it's paying off can you imagine by the way
00:32:00think about this for a second dexter henry yeah this is this is the amazing thing about the nba draft
00:32:06can you imagine what this hawks team would look like with stefan castle
00:32:11uh and you know exactly where i'm going with this right well yeah and you know it'd be very
00:32:16the defense would be scary i mean dexter you want to talk about swinging a miss
00:32:23i mean have you how many times have you heard zachary richard's name in this series
00:32:27the number one overall pick in 2024 we saw a stint from that man in game one for about three
00:32:34minutes i
00:32:34believe i believe he was oh three from the field that did not go well that and we haven't seen
00:32:39him
00:32:39since people who have surpassed him in the rotation dave shepherd i know uh cory kispert tony
00:32:45i know it's crazy it's you know because i'm just thinking about this like because you and i we're i
00:32:49mean
00:32:49we're really we're really get into the details on like the next talks like i love it we are yeah
00:32:54we're
00:32:54getting into the nuances and the subtleties and it's great because we're basketball you and i are
00:33:00basketball savants if i if i may say so humbly but it doesn't sound humble coming out of my mouth
00:33:06but you are a basketball savant and i like to think i am there as well but we're not having
00:33:11this
00:33:12this this series would be at least 3-1 in favor of the hawks if they had stefan castle and
00:33:19it's just
00:33:19like and we will be a scarier series for jalen brunson oh right of the question like like we talk
00:33:24about bus all like anthony bennett always gets the bad rap in this kwame brown um
00:33:30um you know i'm trying to think of the biggest number one overall picks that were
00:33:33bus michael or candy yeah no you're you're a basketball guy he had a better career than
00:33:39people realize he played for i think like kwame played for 12 years kwame played for 12 years
00:33:46right candy might have played for 9 or 10 okay i could be wrong on that i could then it
00:33:49was
00:33:49bennett was out of the league after a cup of coffee though i know i know i know we didn't
00:33:53plan
00:33:54to talk about zachary researche but like he was he actually had a good stints towards the end of
00:33:58not more than stints he's playing well towards the end of last year yeah no he's no he's without
00:34:04question regressed yeah without without question and but this is the ultimate this is the ultimate
00:34:10example of addition by subtraction because you wave goodbye to the face of your franchise who has
00:34:15been without question the star in atlantic and atlanta sports i would say even beyond the falcons
00:34:21in trey young and you say look we got a guy in jalen johnson like he's he's the guy and
00:34:29he has been
00:34:30except the first round where he has been exposed because he doesn't have it in him to really go
00:34:37after you with a hesitation move with a inside out his bag right not even close yeah cj cj has
00:34:45it
00:34:46and by the way that's right that's i hope that's a lesson to everybody watching your episode right
00:34:51now dexter henry it doesn't matter where you go to college it matters once you what you do once you
00:34:57get to the nba just how many other like i will give you i will give you a month's salary
00:35:05right now
00:35:05if you can name me another lehigh basketball player i cannot i can tell you off top that i cannot
00:35:12okay okay that's fine dexter henry i could ask that question to tim lakeland i don't know if
00:35:18there's a better analyst in today's sport than tim he's or i would say the same thing for richard
00:35:26jefferson he's great too if i asked those guys between them to come up with another basketball
00:35:32player from lehigh they would absolutely go blank that's the point and and the knicks right now
00:35:39for three of the four games have gotten beat by a four-year letterman from lehigh
00:35:46yeah hey but he did a good job against him in game four you gotta keep that up in game
00:35:49five i want to go
00:35:50i want to go back real quick to og because you talked about him being the most trustworthy player
00:35:58in this game five and i and i found that interesting you talked about his two-way impact dave
00:36:06forget just the game five is he quietly the most important player in the series would you would you
00:36:13say that it's always going to be jalen brunson just because the ball is always going to be in his
00:36:22hands at the end of games um i'm sure you saw that statistic jalen brunson in the last two years
00:36:30has 13 made baskets that gives his team the lead in the last minute of either a regular season or
00:36:39playoff game it's 13 no one else in the nba has done that more so that's pretty elite company to
00:36:48be in
00:36:48by yourself and have more clutch shots than some guy named nikola jokic and sga and anthony antman edwards
00:36:56so while og is the foundational piece because the knicks don't get there without og locking up
00:37:08the opposing team's best player finishing in transition doing the dirty work it's jalen brunson
00:37:15that is the closer and to me when you get to the postseason and the game slows down and the
00:37:22whistles
00:37:23get swallowed and you need that x factor to take it to another team and put that team on his
00:37:30back
00:37:31down the stretch of these games in the half court offense it always comes down to the closer you know
00:37:36like jalen williams was great for the thunder last year because he did it on both sides of the floor
00:37:43but dexter henry no one talks about jalen williams being the key to the thunder it's always going to be
00:37:49sga right sga is not as much of a liability as jalen brunson is but he's not going to be
00:37:53confused
00:37:54for gary payton city moncrief you know john stockton anytime soon raise on rondo by the way i hope
00:38:00raise on rondo gets that pelicans head coaching job that'll be our next conversation for another time
00:38:05but that but jalen brunson is always going to be that guy when everything is on the line
00:38:10he is going to be given that responsibility to push the knicks over the hump and through the finish
00:38:18line so og is underrated he's undervalued but he's never going to be the key it's always going to be
00:38:28the star that's how the nba has worked since the days of bird magic then to jordan then to kobe
00:38:36and to lebron it's always going to be about the star all right still going with brunson is the
00:38:41most important player in this yes let's get back to your boy mike brown okay what did you make of
00:38:48him
00:38:49especially going into game four still starting mikhail bridges yes but not closing with him
00:38:55is that adaptability that you look up on the part of mike brown or do you look at it as
00:39:01a concern
00:39:03that he still is starting mikhail bridges not closing with him some people may say
00:39:08mikhail bridges playing is a concern so how do you look at the move by mike brown he stuck with
00:39:12starting lineup didn't make any changes stayed with mikhail bridges but he did adapt and he
00:39:17didn't close with him so so how is it are you concerned about that or you do you applaud mike
00:39:20brown for having the adaptability there no i'm gonna i'm gonna surprise you and say i applaud
00:39:26mike brown look at you giving some love to your boy look at you there well because i mean you
00:39:30got
00:39:30to keep credit where credit is too and listen the guy knows basketball there's no question about that
00:39:35but the his biggest problem is the guy he's replacing that that's mike brown's biggest problem
00:39:40if he replaced and i don't mean to disrespect this guy because he's a great basketball mind but mike
00:39:46woodson right mike woodson didn't really do a whole heck of a lot with the new york knicks nor did
00:39:51larry
00:39:51brown nor did mike d'antoni but tom fibido got the knicks the best result they've had in a quarter
00:39:57century that's what's working against mike brown but you give him credit because it's a balancing
00:40:03act right when you're the head coach of a pro team it's all about managing egos it's all about catering
00:40:12to individuals with a lot of pride and the best thing that he could do is a juggling act which
00:40:20is
00:40:20how do i make mikhail bridges feel like he's not getting a demotion while at the same time putting my
00:40:26team in the best possible spot to close the game the way it needs to be closed and to give
00:40:33us the
00:40:34best chance to ultimately prevail and win and that's the job of a head coach where you're not losing
00:40:40this guy who is getting paid what he's getting paid so you got to keep him happy but you also
00:40:47got to
00:40:47worry about the bottom line which is the w and ultimately advancing in the postseason and in that
00:40:53respect i think mike brown is doing a damn good job i just wish he didn't give four minute answers
00:40:59for
00:40:59every single question of postgame press conferences but other than that come on i got dexter we we like
00:41:07when coaches give us a little bit more too much players it's too much what's your what's your time
00:41:12limit for i don't i don't need to know his theory on life and relativity and i don't need to
00:41:18know what
00:41:19the sound of the sneaker makes when that play design is is coming off the clipboard just answer
00:41:24the question move on i don't need as i don't need an oscar speech every single time he's being asked
00:41:31a question listen i host the sirius xm nba radio postgame show we got to play these guys i can't
00:41:37get
00:41:37more than one answer out of him during these postgame shows because one answer is seven minutes
00:41:43that's never that long but i oh no time it next time time is it that long dexter he's writing
00:41:51theses up there at the podium i'm never gonna doubt this man's intelligence and by the way when i
00:42:01whenever if he decides to get out of coaching that's the first guy i hire as an analyst problem
00:42:06is the play-by-play is not going to get awarded except when you're doing analyst work you got to
00:42:10be
00:42:10tight you got to get in you got to get out i know i know that's that's i know you
00:42:13know this
00:42:14well wait a minute now wait a minute now yes but if you're if you're the exception that rules not
00:42:19need
00:42:19apply because the late great bill walton he could he could go man well he could go but i think
00:42:26he's
00:42:27will walton rest in peace bill walton was good at that and he couldn't get off on the topic but
00:42:34he
00:42:34could bring it back he was a master driver to bring it back to free to play by play guy
00:42:38hey can i
00:42:39ask you can i ask you a question sure i was talking to scoop jackson the other day okay yeah
00:42:45and great long time nba columnist chicago sometimes and i said scoop it just seems like the knicks
00:42:56they just can never ever get over that hump and he said he said i know i say so so
00:43:03what's the problem
00:43:04they got the talent they got a decent head coach they got an amazing fan base like am i too
00:43:11naive
00:43:11to just say and i don't want to get you in trouble when i say this next year because i
00:43:14don't know what
00:43:15kind of relationship you have with this with this man but he said look they're not going to win as
00:43:21long as games dolan is the majority governor i don't know how you feel about that there's a
00:43:27that there's a lot of knicks fans there's a lot of nicks fans to agree with that and i think
00:43:34that
00:43:36um you know this smartly from watching around the team i don't have a relationship with james
00:43:41donan just to be clear but there's a lot of you're the only person in the media that doesn't have
00:43:45relationship with him by the way yeah yeah well i'm the only person yeah there's there's i think it's
00:43:51listen he has meddled a lot in the affairs of the team over the years there has it has appeared
00:43:59and i'm talking about through this era of knicks basketball talking about the last seven years or so
00:44:04that he is not and the knicks have had some success however i will say depending on what happens this
00:44:13postseason we will find out because i think there'll be changes if they don't get to where they believe
00:44:19they should go but we'll find out how much either meddling there is or how much the front office
00:44:27guys leon rose and company are going to do what they need to do if they have to make changes
00:44:31and
00:44:32whatever we'll find out really soon if things have changed but for people to have that sentiment based
00:44:37on what they've seen from the knicks historically considering their ownership i don't think that's
00:44:42crazy i don't think what scoop jackson is saying is crazy at all i don't i don't think that at
00:44:46all
00:44:46whatsoever i think it's fair based on what you've seen a lot of times chef you know this and you've
00:44:54covered a lot of sports and hosted a lot of shows in sports a lot of times ownership can't get
00:44:59in the
00:44:59way of team success we've seen it in plenty of places um we'll see the point is what does ownership
00:45:06do when a team hits adversity especially when there's expectations that's the thing to me yeah what do
00:45:11they do and do they let the basketball people be basketball people and do basketball things
00:45:16or do they try to get in the way we're gonna see i mean because because i don't i don't
00:45:20think
00:45:21the tom thibodeau firing and let's call it what it is to fire it was a firing yeah i don't
00:45:27think
00:45:29that that was leon rose i i think that was from the very top could be and i also think
00:45:35from the very top
00:45:37i i think a more shrewd owner would have said hey we got a great thing going with dante di
00:45:42vincenzo
00:45:43and julius randall why are we getting carl anthony towns for those two because dexter i know that
00:45:51carl anthony towns has more talent than both of those guys of course he does but there's something
00:45:59to be said about being a nick and randall and di vincenzo it fit like a glove for those two
00:46:09and it's not their fault that half the roster was depleted in the eastern conference semifinals
00:46:15it's not that series should have been three nothing do you think that's he do you think that
00:46:21team is constructed could have won it all what we saw from yes 2024 you think that next team could
00:46:26have won it all yes okay because i mean they pushed a pacers team to seven that arguably would
00:46:36have beat a thunder team if tyrese halliburton stayed healthy in game seven i mean it could
00:46:41have gone either way and they pushed that pacers team to seven with half the roster wait you're
00:46:47talking about last year's team or you're talking about your team the same pacers team that pushed
00:46:51the thunder to the nba finals in game seven last year's team last year's team is the same right
00:46:58is the same knicks team the year before that pushed them to seven with half their roster not available
00:47:05to play that's the pacers team didn't get much better from from 2024 to 2025 i thought it was i
00:47:13think
00:47:13for them it was the experience of playing boston in the conference finals and then losing that series and
00:47:19you know just experience is what i'm saying right but but but let's say let's say the quiet part out
00:47:25loud the minnesota timberwolves make a conference finals for the first time in 20 years yep right for
00:47:32the first time in 20 years i don't even think i don't even think they won a playoff series by
00:47:36the
00:47:36way between 2004 and 2024 so you have by a mile the most success you have had as a franchise
00:47:46and a couple months later you trade away the number one overall draft pick the face of your
00:47:52franchise the last nine years when you just made a western conference finals that's not a good sign
00:48:00the trade was probably it's probably even for both teams when you look at it now it's been fine
00:48:06i had concerns about it to start i didn't i was not a fan of the trade at first i
00:48:11was not a fan of the
00:48:12trade to start i've warmed up on it i guess a little bit more the way cap has played but
00:48:17i did
00:48:17not like it to start i've been i've been filled out that on the show but there's certain guys dexter
00:48:23that they just they don't have that championship dna are you saying that we're gonna get to cat in a
00:48:30second are you saying that about that oh i'm not saying it i'm emphatically shouting it even
00:48:35all right hold the carthy towns thing because i got one more thing for you on your boy mike brown
00:48:39okay and we've kind of talked about this because there was a lot made about his coaching the games
00:48:45two and three right dave at this point in the series if you're mike brown putting you in the
00:48:52shoes of mike brown head coach of the knicks do you prioritize stability that you've seen from this
00:48:58team through the regular season or do you continue to adjust like you did in game four
00:49:03based on the flow of the game how are you coaching the rest of the series if you're mike brown
00:49:08the
00:49:08latter the latter because the momentum of a series the direction of a series the hot hand in a series
00:49:19it's all about matchups and it's all about the moment you got to kind of throw out what happened
00:49:25in the regular season you know the talk of the basketball world less 24 48 hours is i i'll assume
00:49:34who saw that coming he hasn't had a 30 point game in two years he drops 43 with ease on
00:49:43efficient
00:49:44shooting by the way this wasn't like a 43 point shooting where he was the only option and he chucks
00:49:48up 30 shots my point is there are certain guys that just play better when the lights are brighter
00:49:55and they'll rise to the occasion and they live for that moment and so you got to throw away the
00:50:02scouting report if you are the denver nuggets and say damn like he's their i was their number one
00:50:09option and i say that to say in this knicks hawks series it's not about the tenant season the regular
00:50:15season that's the regular season now you got to think about who's hot now cj mccullum wasn't wasn't
00:50:22doing this in the regular season he was coming off the bench at times for atlanta right now he's their
00:50:27primary offensive weapon so you got to go from game to game it can't be what worked in the regular
00:50:34season yeah you got to factor that but the main thing that you got to be aware of as a
00:50:39head coach
00:50:40is what's trending now because as dexter as you've alluded to multiple times in this
00:50:45conversation the mckell bridges in the regular season is not the mckell bridges we've gotten
00:50:49the last four games no no no now we've seen that man come up with some big plays in the
00:50:55postseason
00:50:55we saw last year against boston and we will see but speaking of coming up big carty towns who you
00:51:03might have just alluded to you don't believe he has championship dna in him doesn't doesn't you said
00:51:08you said that but there's an argument that he has been the best and most efficient player
00:51:15in the series and i use the word efficient here because there's been a lot of talk from nicks fans
00:51:20throughout the season oh you got to get cat more shots you got to get cat more shots you have
00:51:24to get
00:51:24more shots for me especially when you watch these last couple of games especially game four
00:51:30this man had a 20 point triple double on 10 shots it's not been about shots for me it's been
00:51:38about
00:51:38touches and what he can do in the flow of the offense that's been the thing for me right so
00:51:43how
00:51:43imperative is it that the nicks make sure that he gets consistent touches that's all the word i should
00:51:49put in front of it consistent touches yeah throughout the remain not just game five but the remainder of
00:51:54the series however long it's going to be six or seven games how important is it that that man
00:51:58gets consistent touches so it's a fair question and the answer is significantly imperative monumentally
00:52:06imperative that they absolutely target cat and make sure he is the vocal point of this offense
00:52:13because to your point jalen brunson is getting ragged on by dyson daniels and akil alexander walker
00:52:22and his life is being made extremely difficult because clearly the hawks are designed to stop him
00:52:28first and foremost so no disrespect to anyeko kongu but carl anthony towns is a better basketball
00:52:34player and what you know about the nba is you can't stop a good offensive player they're always
00:52:43going to have the advantage but the real question is why is does it take game four of a postseason
00:52:49series
00:52:50for him to play a complete game in year number 11 that's the question that i believe also needs to
00:52:57be
00:52:58asked because it shouldn't take a guy in year 11 to want to really give maximum effort for an entirety
00:53:08of
00:53:08a game in game number four and that's the problem with the next dexter henry is it takes game four
00:53:16for him to wake up and play a complete game that's the frustration i feel like a lot of nicks
00:53:22fans have
00:53:23because we're not having this conversation about nikola yokich he may have an off night dexter henry
00:53:29but he's going to attack from the jump yannis when healthy is going to attack from the jump
00:53:36when b is going to attack from the jump you see what he did in game number one 21 first
00:53:42half points
00:53:42set that tone all-time great mark for any postseason debut this century you hit the nail on the head
00:53:48right there set the tone why does it take game four of a postseason series for carl anthony towns
00:53:55to set the tone that's the problem because this series should be over now they are significantly
00:54:04better than atlanta carl anthony towns jalen brunson og and anobi is it fair to say those are the best
00:54:12three players on the court in this series well jalen brunson has not played like it but talent wise yes
00:54:17right i would agree yes how is it to two you know why it's two two it's very simple for
00:54:23me
00:54:24you played around with your food in game two right this is how a series we've been watching
00:54:29basketball for a long time chep this is how a series turns like it literally comes down to game
00:54:34two because you played with your food in game two you didn't execute you didn't get stops you
00:54:38sloppy with the ball and you gave atlanta a game they had no business happening then in game three
00:54:44you almost came back and got the game you had no business getting but you didn't execute down the
00:54:49stretch right this is how these this is how a series ends up two two that should be you said
00:54:55sweep earlier i don't necessarily disagree with you or at the minimum should have been three one
00:55:00you played with your food that's what it comes down to and speaking of playing with food
00:55:05it was game one when the nicks were up by 20 and they allowed thank you a 13 to 2
00:55:12run
00:55:13which there was i didn't like anything about it chef i said it on the live show we were doing
00:55:18i
00:55:18didn't like it it didn't feel yeah some of that carried over i didn't like it you're 100 right
00:55:22listen if you want to talk dynasties in this in this sport what we've been alive for i i was
00:55:28i
00:55:29just missed i just missed the lakers celtics but i caught both versions of the three people's
00:55:35yep caught the lakers obviously warriors spurs uh and then i would say the warriors of the last
00:55:43dynasty in the nba the thunder might have something to say in a couple months from now
00:55:48but what do they all have in common they don't give you any breathing room once they have that lead
00:55:56they're never letting you off the hook they're never relenting they're never ever giving you any
00:56:03slither of hope they are taking their foot and they are absolutely putting that foot on the
00:56:09opponent's neck and they are not letting up and the nicks and the nicks don't have that and that's
00:56:15that dexter in a nutshell is why even though they will likely get through this series against atlanta
00:56:23you see how you see how hungry jason tatum is right now playing off of that achilles 11 months
00:56:30removed you see how hungry jaylen brown is right now peyton pritchard man they got it they got to
00:56:36show they got to show that hunger so with that being said dave in your mind who's got more pressure
00:56:41going into game five is it the nicks with the home court or is it the hawks trying to respond
00:56:46off of
00:56:46that game four loss who's got more pressure going to game five hawks haven't been this far in a
00:56:50postseason in five years hawks hawks haven't had this many wins was it 46 46 memory serves it
00:56:57correctly you haven't had that many wins in a decade dexter henry pressure's on new york you
00:57:02made the eastern conference finals last year you fired your coach you upgraded the bench you're the
00:57:09team that has all the pressure to get at least back to the eastern conference finals you're the team
00:57:15that's the higher seed you're the team that has 53 wins atlanta's playing with house money
00:57:24atlanta most people didn't even have them in the first round of the postseason who'll be kidding
00:57:30because they look night and day from the first half of the season to the second half of the season
00:57:35and you get rid of trey young and jaylen johnson in his early to mid 20s is now the face
00:57:42of the
00:57:42franchise and you're now 2-2 in the first round of a series this has exceeded most expectations
00:57:48i think atlanta will tell you even if they lose the next two games this is still a successful
00:57:53season there is not anybody anybody who roots or follows the knicks that will tell you if they
00:57:58lose this series or lose game five somehow this is going to be a season that they can be positive
00:58:05about and take a silver lining about for the next and up and coming season not a chance and you
00:58:09know
00:58:09what mike brown may be gone if they lose this first round series all the pressure is on new york
00:58:16in game
00:58:16five yeah i i 100 100 agree a couple more things for david shepherd our guest with us from sirius
00:58:23xm nba radio does a great job hosting there two more things for you here dave one is i like
00:58:29to always
00:58:29look at the start of these games especially in a swing game like this in game five so what's the
00:58:34one thing for you that you're gonna be watching first six to eight minutes of the game yeah that
00:58:38tells you okay this team is taking control of the series what do you keep your eye on early on
00:58:44in game
00:58:44five cat demanding the ball cat making sure that he's getting the ball at the elbow and taking one
00:58:54dribble and not letting onyeku kongo off the hook and just going right to the rim every single time
00:59:03that jalen brunson is making the right reads and he's not turnover happy that josh hart is pushing the
00:59:14ball in transition because he's one of the best finishing guards the sport has in transition
00:59:19and those are the three things that i'm looking for i i think my mikhail bridges and i this is
00:59:25crazy to
00:59:26say about a pro athlete especially someone of his caliber because i mean this was the fourth best
00:59:31player on his son's team that made the nba finals five years ago i think his confidence has shot this
00:59:36series i i just think it's one of those series you're just thinking yourself okay he's just got to
00:59:41survive and then move on to in all likelihood boston and then we're going to see a better
00:59:46version of michael bridges but i just think against the hawks it's just it's just not it's just not
00:59:52there for him right now and he's a human being you know you look at these guys as machines and
00:59:57robots
00:59:57they're not they go through slumps like everybody else he's just in a slump and i think there's going
01:00:03to be more pressure for him playing at home because the last moment he has playing at msg
01:00:07is missing a shot that should have gave them a two nothing lead that let's be honest you and i
01:00:13could probably make i'm not saying we would have made it under those circumstances but i i'm also
01:00:20not saying that we wouldn't have made that shot like that was a bunny shot that was a bunny shot
01:00:27also should have went to the rim but mikhail bridges doesn't do that so i agree well i mean and
01:00:33i know you've heard this a million times about mikhail bridges but like the the shots just gotta
01:00:37stop leaning can you just go fading away i know i know i know i know but those dexter those
01:00:43are the
01:00:44three things i'm looking for but what's paramount above anything else carl anthony towns getting his
01:00:49butt in the paint sealing his defender commanding the basketball commanding it and going to work
01:00:59cat's got to go to work in game five so you know you know i'm not going to get you
01:01:03out of here
01:01:04without a prediction so my final thing for you mr david shepherd is who do you think walks out of
01:01:11game five at the garden on tuesday night with control of the series who does it and why the knicks
01:01:18are
01:01:18going to win game five look at you being all positive because well i gotta give i gotta give credit
01:01:24where credit is due and i'm always going to keep it real with you they are significantly more talented
01:01:29team to your point jalen brunson has not had a typical jalen brunson like series and they've
01:01:36essentially blown games two and games three and it's still tied to two with home court advantage in
01:01:42favor of new york he feeds off that crowd and because of the talent i i just can't see the
01:01:51hawks
01:01:52staying with the nicks in game five and also to their credit if if they limit the transition points
01:01:59of the atlanta hawks and they just keep it to a half court set they're going to win by 20
01:02:05points
01:02:06we saw that in game four and i think it's going to give carl anthony towns a lot of credit
01:02:12that to your point he has the first triple double of his postseason career in 35 playoff games
01:02:18and it's the fourth nick to ever do that i think he's going to have a special bounce in his
01:02:22step
01:02:24again playing with the food is a theme that seems to be common in this conversation
01:02:29i do think it's going to hurt them long term that this series is going longer than necessary
01:02:35and dexter a lot of people are bringing up the comparison of the celtics in 2008 how that series
01:02:42went seven with atlanta and then seven with cleveland but but the difference is the celtics
01:02:47weren't giving away games at the end they were just getting outplayed by atlanta every single time
01:02:55in atlanta in games three four and you know six six yep that they did but yeah that is the
01:03:03difference
01:03:03it's how you lose kind of matters how you feel about this stuff right yeah the fact the nicks gave
01:03:09away two in this series that i think fans really feel truly about that's what that's what burns
01:03:15because if this series should be over as you've said multiple times but it's not right and we have
01:03:19a game five on tuesday night and it should be fun game fives can be stressful they can also be
01:03:26fun
01:03:26yeah we'll see but listen if the nicks if the nicks win these next couple games in convincing fashion
01:03:33the way they won game four i think people will feel a little bit better about them going to next
01:03:38series i do agree with you though there still will be that lingering thing in the back of your mind
01:03:43that says ah they should have wrapped this up a little bit earlier hey wrapped it up can i make
01:03:48a
01:03:48suggestion sure tell me what you think of this okay you were such a big part of infinity sports network
01:03:54and cvs sports radio and you killed it on there man i love the back and forth that we had
01:04:00it was
01:04:00always great we had a lot of good conversations yeah we should do something like a game five or a
01:04:06game six of the nba finals on a weekend because i host monday through friday but you me jr ej
01:04:15bart
01:04:18perloff maggie like we should get as many people as possible from the network and just do like a live
01:04:28stream on a saturday or sunday i'd be down for it it'll be fun wouldn't that be cool watch a
01:04:33little live stream watch along it'll be fun yeah like like we'd have like the chat going and it'd
01:04:37be like a like a fun reunion if the nicks are not in it because i have my obligations to
01:04:43do live
01:04:43streams oh no no i do it i'd absolutely do it but this is okay you're gonna kill me for
01:04:48saying this
01:04:48but i gotta keep it real with you they're not making the nba finals see see you're not you have
01:04:54to come
01:04:55you you just said they're the most talented team in the east why can they not make that
01:04:58of course they are but why can they not make the nba finals because talent doesn't win championships
01:05:04i don't know you're right it's chemistry it's compatibility right those are the two biggest
01:05:14things we always go back to 2011 the heat should have run circles around the mavericks from a talent
01:05:20perspective yeah right they should have left them but the mavs they were a lot more cohesive
01:05:27they were a lot more on the same page and they beat them in six and the nicks they're just
01:05:33they're
01:05:34just too they're too inconsistent i mean i don't i don't think let me just because that's going to
01:05:40sound like i'm pushing back against you and i'm not if people watch the show have heard me say
01:05:44i could see the nicks getting to the finals or i could see them losing in the second round
01:05:48i've said it all i've said it all year long the variance is there so i don't think you're crazy
01:05:53for saying that right i just think there's i think there's a variance with this team there's a world in
01:05:58which they get their stuff together and they look a lot like they did in game four and they move
01:06:02towards the finals and there's a world where they lose in the second round yes it's it's the latter
01:06:08you feel more that it's the latter if they get past the second round i'm caught you got to come
01:06:12back on the show you can't dust the smoke well i'd always i'd always i'd always talk basketball
01:06:16with you man anytime but but dexter like you know i'm happy happy to do that anytime but like yes
01:06:24like removing all the great coverage you do of the nicks i know how embedded you are to that fan
01:06:29base and and the media group that covers this team and you've been a part of it for so long
01:06:34if
01:06:34you remove yourself from that and you look at the way this nicks team has played in the postseason
01:06:39versus the boston celtics just just and how they've looked with jason tatum you really
01:06:45truth serum give the nicks a shot against boston oh yeah they have a shot i wouldn't say really
01:06:51don't have yeah i wouldn't say really yeah yeah absolutely i'm not talking like a i'm not talking
01:06:55like a jim carrey one in a million dumb and dumb no no they can't can they everyone has a
01:07:01shot
01:07:01can they beat boston against the thunder to come back it's funny i'll say this i will if the nicks
01:07:07play the celtics i think that series is going seven i will say that much yeah i think it's
01:07:11gonna be seven game series i think you're really confident in this next team man i'm not confident
01:07:16i'm not did you see pay did you see payton pritchard did you see payton pritchard have
01:07:21one less field goal than the entire 76ers starting lineup did combined in the first half he comes off
01:07:29the bench i will say this i think the celtics in a way are a better matchup for the nicks
01:07:36and the nicks may be looking a little bit ahead here now the nicks got to get to the celtics
01:07:40first
01:07:41but i do think they will they will if the nicks celtics play and i'll save my pick for down
01:07:45the road
01:07:46yeah but i do think that it's going to be a damn good seven games you really think it's going
01:07:50seven
01:07:50i do i do you don't think kate is gonna be a you know what to carl anthony towns and
01:07:57what i mean
01:07:57is like you know like i don't know if that's a cat here's the thing i don't know if that
01:08:02series
01:08:02will be a cat series and we all have plenty of time to talk about that okay i wonder what
01:08:05cat can
01:08:06use if you get if a lot of it depends on talk text me and text me at the end
01:08:10of the week if this
01:08:12is when the series is over and how i feel about it because so much of it has to do
01:08:15with how do they
01:08:15close this series out right and i might feel differently i do like that matchup for the nicks i
01:08:20think it's going to be great for the nba all this other stuff we'll see yeah but that's it we're
01:08:26out of time we do have to go but this was absolutely fantastic everybody please check out my guy david
01:08:31shepherd on sirius xm nba radio he's a guy i love talking to nba with now some of the nicks
01:08:36fans out
01:08:36there you might be mad that he criticized mike brown you might be mad that he said the nicks didn't
01:08:40go to
01:08:41the finals but follow this man who nicks fans are are pleased and so enthusiastic about me
01:08:47keep it real about mike brown oh we want you to be real this is not this is new york
01:08:52got game this
01:08:53is not new york wave the pom-poms right we are here to talk about the truth we are here
01:08:58to talk
01:08:58about things and have beautiful different perspectives and discuss them that's what we do
01:09:02so please check out my guy david shepherd sirius xm nba radio fantastic shep it's your first time
01:09:07on new york got game i appreciate you coming coming through my friend through the playoffs and
01:09:10talking some nicks basketball me we'll do it again soon love you brother you're the best man really mean
01:09:15that no man everybody uh stay tuned we got a lot more content coming this week we gotta have a
01:09:20couple more watch parties for game five and game six we'll have more details on that that is david
01:09:25shepherd i'm dexter henry we'll catch you next time another edition new york got game
01:09:32and thanks for watching new york got game
01:09:35boom shakakalaka
01:09:36you
01:09:40you
01:09:42you
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