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00:01:02What's good, everybody?
00:01:04Your boy Dexter Henry here alongside my guy, Jonathan Macri, who has been kind enough to join me here on
00:01:11this edition of New York Got Game as we are going to talk about the Knicks.
00:01:15I'm going to preview game six for you and what the Knicks need to do to close out the Hawks
00:01:20here.
00:01:21J-Mac, how are you doing?
00:01:23Because the last time I did something with you on camera, we did a game two playoff hangover on KFS.
00:01:30And let's just say the vibes were not immaculate, is what I'm saying.
00:01:34The vibes were not immaculate, my friend.
00:01:35No, I'm doing quite a bit better now.
00:01:37I mean, look, the reality of tomorrow night and I think the reality of this series is it is yet
00:01:45to be determined whether our postmortem that we did about a week ago after that game two, whether there will
00:01:55still be some payoff from that or whether it's something that we're going to look back on and laugh about.
00:02:00And the Knicks are going to ultimately decide that tomorrow, so we'll see.
00:02:06You said to me before the series when it was me, you, and CP, you brought up the fact that
00:02:13how the Knicks started this playoffs would have such an impact in how we looked, especially in the series, how
00:02:19we looked at them throughout the rest of the playoffs and the series.
00:02:23And this series obviously did not get started off, I think, the way many people would want.
00:02:29Yeah, but it's been it's been interesting because I think this is really like a beauty is in the eye
00:02:35of the beholder thing, because if you look at the playoffs as a whole and you look at the Knicks
00:02:41point differential in the series, the only teams that have a better point differential in the playoffs are the two
00:02:46teams that have already advanced.
00:02:47And they're the two clear, like the obvious favorites, the Thunder and the Spurs and the Knicks are not that
00:02:53far back from from either of them.
00:02:56So you could look at at how, like, you know, the results of the three wins, you could look at
00:03:00how they how certain players have played.
00:03:02I'm sure we'll get into to cat.
00:03:05Obviously, Brunson had the explosion yesterday and say, yeah, I feel great about the potential run moving forward.
00:03:13And yet that could all go by the wayside if they do not take care of business in this game.
00:03:17And we are sitting here sweating out of game seven in the first round, which I don't think any of
00:03:22us anticipated.
00:03:24Yeah. And that's the thing, right?
00:03:25You talk about the point differential.
00:03:26The Knicks have outscored the Hawks with 54 points in this series.
00:03:31And when you look at that number, you're like, this should be over.
00:03:34This should be over.
00:03:35However, there's nothing we could do about that now.
00:03:37Right, Jay Mack?
00:03:38There's nothing you could do about it now.
00:03:39This is where they are.
00:03:41And they've got to close this out.
00:03:43When you look at game four and game five, it feels like that should be the blueprint for the Knicks.
00:03:49Like, it feels like it.
00:03:51But do you think this the blueprint that we saw with cat as the offensive hub, which people have been
00:03:56screaming for?
00:03:57I know. And I won't even say you've been screaming for it because you, like me, have been critical of
00:04:01cat at times.
00:04:03Do you feel like this is repeatable for this Knicks team, not just in game six, but then beyond game
00:04:10six?
00:04:11I mean, I think the answer to that question lies in in two things.
00:04:17I think the switchability of the opponent and I mean, the Hawks have kind of I mean, we're through five
00:04:24games now.
00:04:24They're down in the series.
00:04:26If they were waiting to be more, more, more switchable, I think we would have we would have seen it
00:04:31already.
00:04:32Right.
00:04:32Right. So I think they're hesitant and they're and look, they're hesitant, I think, with good reason.
00:04:36They they have some defenders that they have to play.
00:04:39I mean, it's you know, it's funny.
00:04:42I don't know.
00:04:43I'm sure this has been said, but I don't know that I've said it explicitly.
00:04:47The ding on the Knicks roster construction is that they're two most talented offensive players of their two, quote unquote,
00:04:53weakest defenders.
00:04:54Now, I think you could argue that Towns has has played himself out of that conversation in the series because
00:04:59of how good he's been.
00:05:00But the Hawks are the same way.
00:05:02CJ McCollum and Jalen Johnson, like people don't talk about or think about Jalen Johnson in the way that they
00:05:08think about Carl Anthony Towns.
00:05:10Cat's been appreciably better than Johnson defensively in this series.
00:05:14So I'm going I'm going off on a tangent here.
00:05:16No, that's cool.
00:05:17OK, I think the switchability and then also the physicality and boss, you know, I think the Hawks got a
00:05:26little bit more physical in game five.
00:05:28Obviously, that, you know, just by their own admission and after the game, they were not as physical as the
00:05:33Knicks.
00:05:34I think when you look at Ojan Inobi and the fact that he is involved in so many of these
00:05:38off ball actions and even Brunson, Brunson, you know, he's a small guy, but we know he could get physical.
00:05:43So, like, I think the Knicks have the advantage there.
00:05:45I don't see it turning in a game six.
00:05:48You know, if it is Boston, we know they're more switchable.
00:05:51Are they more physical?
00:05:52You know, I don't know about that.
00:05:54So I think this can be a path moving forward, certainly for at least the immediate future.
00:06:00OK, so you're feeling better than you were a week ago, right?
00:06:06I would say so.
00:06:08But are you confident about tomorrow night?
00:06:12And see, you're ready to turn away.
00:06:16I don't think any of this is crazy to not feel confident about tomorrow night because of what you've seen
00:06:23from this team this season.
00:06:25You know, do I think they're going to win tomorrow?
00:06:28I do.
00:06:29I think they're going to win because we we always talk about how serious are they and are they going
00:06:38to be able to get out of their way?
00:06:39Are they going to engage in silliness and nonsense?
00:06:43I think they've had two really poor quarters in this series.
00:06:47The first the fourth quarter of game two and in terms of how they've played, I think they played poorly
00:06:54in the fourth quarter of game two.
00:06:55And I think they played poorly out of the gate in the first quarter of game three.
00:07:00That's it, you know, they've played what are they played 20 total quarters and to have two out of the
00:07:0520 be poor.
00:07:07If you compare that to the first round last year, I mean, I don't know how many quarters or, you
00:07:15know, total quarters against the Pistons.
00:07:17I would I was like blown away by that.
00:07:18I thought they played like like out of this world.
00:07:21I definitely could have counted them on two hands and I might have been able to count them on one
00:07:24hand.
00:07:24I was just very underwhelmed by how they came out last year.
00:07:27So already I think you're seeing a team that is a different animal than than last year when they, by
00:07:33the way, made it to the Eastern Conference Finals.
00:07:35So I have no reason logically to be skeptical that they will come up with a good performance yesterday.
00:07:42The reason why, you know, I'm always hesitant to be like, oh, 100 percent.
00:07:46They're going to go in there and take care of business.
00:07:49It's 2026 like shooting variants is just a thing.
00:07:53Any team, even the Magic or the Pistons or the even the Raptors, we'll see who they're going to play
00:08:00in a bit, is capable of going out and shooting, you know, 55 percent from three in a game.
00:08:07And if you get that game, it's just that's like you're going to have to overcome that.
00:08:12Now, can the Knicks overcome a hot shooting game?
00:08:13Yeah, they can.
00:08:14But it's going to it would make life a lot more difficult.
00:08:15So I wonder if that's the scariest thing for most Knicks fans, though, what you just said.
00:08:20You haven't seen that game yet from the Hawks.
00:08:23Really, really.
00:08:24When they got one, I think they shot pretty.
00:08:28They shoot over 40 percent from downtown in game one.
00:08:31I'm going to I'll look it up right now.
00:08:32I actually have it right here.
00:08:33So in this series, they've definitely had some some duds that that should go without saying here in from three.
00:08:42This is how things have gone.
00:08:44Thirty eight percent in game one.
00:08:45That was a loss.
00:08:46And then ironically, 30 percent from game two.
00:08:50Just yet another reason why the Knicks had no business losing game two.
00:08:54Yeah.
00:08:54Thirty nine and a half percent in game three.
00:08:56Obviously, the Hawks managed to win that game five, 20, 24 and a half percent.
00:09:02And then game or sorry, game four, 24 and a half percent and 31 percent last night.
00:09:06So they have two games this in this series where they have shot the ball well from outside.
00:09:12So you've got to there.
00:09:13I think the thing is, you look at some guys, kill Alexander Walker because I had his he's had a
00:09:19couple games.
00:09:20He's had a couple some threes and got last night stretches last night.
00:09:23Even he had a couple jail and Johnson, like you said.
00:09:27Spotty has not really had that that extra thing in his bag.
00:09:30With all that being said, all the signs point to Jay back.
00:09:33The Knicks should continue to dominate.
00:09:37But yeah, go ahead.
00:09:39No, no, I was going to say and I'm actually just going to pull I'm literally pulling up the series
00:09:43stats right now.
00:09:44Yeah, because I think what the Knicks have done really well, you talk about Alexander Walker, believe it or not,
00:09:50he's shooting 44 percent from three in the series.
00:09:53So you can't there's no blame to go towards him and even Okongwu 50 percent on four attempts a game.
00:10:01Those are two of their important shooters.
00:10:03It's the three guys in between there.
00:10:05It's CJ McCollum.
00:10:07It's Jalen Johnson and it's Jonathan coming and Jonathan coming obviously had a couple of great games, but he's shooting
00:10:1219 percent from three in the series.
00:10:14Jalen Johnson, 27 percent McCollum, 31 percent.
00:10:18I think, look, McCollum, they're giving a lot of respect for correctly.
00:10:22So but Jalen Johnson and Kuminga are two guys that when they are out there, I think they have helped
00:10:30off of a little bit more liberally in order to put out fires elsewhere.
00:10:35I think that's been a big part of their defensive blueprint.
00:10:38I think that'll change if those guys come out there and shoot, you know, well in game six, then then
00:10:45it could, you know, it could it could turn the game.
00:10:48Could for sure.
00:10:49Do you have one of the things I was talking about thinking about last night when we did our postgame
00:10:54was, OK, do the Hawks have an adjustment they can make here?
00:11:00Or or have we seen everything that they can do and they just have no, OK, clear is clear.
00:11:07They have no answer for the Knicks and cat, right?
00:11:09Particularly, they have no answer for them.
00:11:11But do the Hawks have an adjustment?
00:11:13Is there one last adjustment they could play here in game six that you are looking for?
00:11:17I just don't know that they have the bodies like you're already playing Tony Bradley and Corey Kispert.
00:11:25Those minutes have not gone well.
00:11:27No, Mo Gay, I just don't think you I don't think the upside is there with Mo Gay.
00:11:32Like in theory, you know, a guy who could has I mean, he has hit some threes against the Knicks.
00:11:38I forget what game it was over the last couple of years.
00:11:40Like but he's he's not hitting shots.
00:11:42You're leaving him open.
00:11:42It's clocking up the offense defensively.
00:11:44It's not like it's any great shakes there.
00:11:46Risa Shea has been mothballed.
00:11:48I cannot imagine they go back into that.
00:11:50Well, although his minutes were not good at all.
00:11:52No, I mean, if they're down 15, you know, tomorrow night, maybe, you know,
00:11:57Quinn Snyder gets desperate.
00:11:59So you're looking at, you know, where are you going to go?
00:12:02I mean, you're going to put a buddy healed like we said.
00:12:05Hey, listen, we saw buddy.
00:12:07He can't be worse than Corey Kispert.
00:12:08Well, we saw him almost flip a game six two years ago against the Sixers.
00:12:15Like we know the one thing that that guy could do is he'll put up shots and he'll probably make
00:12:20a few.
00:12:20Like, but seriously, the fact that we're sitting here talking about as the adjustment buddy healed, who is, you know,
00:12:2733.
00:12:27And I don't know that he's a is he a minimum player at this point?
00:12:30Probably not.
00:12:31But so it's like you're kind of stuck with your your top seven and of your top seven, there's like,
00:12:39you know, Alexander Walker and McCollum are the guys that you're really worried about and Johnson.
00:12:44But again, you've been able to contain Jalen Johnson.
00:12:47So, you know, I just don't know what else like defensively.
00:12:51There's there's no answer defensively that they have on the roster and given how well the Knicks have done, you
00:12:59know, to and specifically the fact that now Brunson has gotten going.
00:13:04You know, I don't see that as a one game blip on the on the on the radar here.
00:13:08OK, so let's let's get into that then how Brunson had not had a good series before this.
00:13:15He's just by his standards, by his standards.
00:13:18He's not not been good.
00:13:19And I was really bothered by some of the turnovers we saw from him in game four.
00:13:22Clean that up.
00:13:23Clean it up.
00:13:24Eight assists.
00:13:25One one turnover last night.
00:13:27Thirty nine points, obviously.
00:13:29How encouraged are you by what you saw from him last night, particularly what he was able to do in
00:13:34the paint?
00:13:35Twenty two of his thirty nine points coming in the paint last night.
00:13:37Was that more encouraging to you than anything in terms of his shot selection and being able to get him
00:13:42going?
00:13:42Yeah, I mean, you know, just to.
00:13:44So to put it into context, I had this in the Knicks Film School newsletter today.
00:13:49Over the last four years, there have been, I think, was four.
00:13:55Yeah, four total games in the playoffs where a player has scored at least thirty nine points, dished at least
00:14:00eight assists and had one or fewer turnovers.
00:14:04Brunson has three of them after last night.
00:14:06The other one, Nikola Jokic, who did it once.
00:14:09He'd be one.
00:14:10I think against the Wolves.
00:14:11So, like, you know, it was a brilliant game.
00:14:15I think more importantly, can they can it translate moving forward?
00:14:18So I spent some time for tomorrow's newsletter rewatching all of his shot attempts last night.
00:14:25And, like, the shots that get that have gotten a lot of the play on social media are the two
00:14:31buckets in the fourth quarter.
00:14:32One where he faked out Jalen Johnson.
00:14:33One where he faked out Dyson Daniels with the footwork.
00:14:36Crazy.
00:14:37And that stuff is don't get me wrong.
00:14:39That stuff is cool.
00:14:39And it's going to be a big part of like, obviously, it's always going to be a big part of
00:14:42what he does.
00:14:43Because what I was more impressed by was how so many of his other baskets, I think almost all of
00:14:51his other baskets, you could group into two categories.
00:14:55Playing with pace, getting the ball up the floor pretty fast to the point where he was able to attack
00:15:02without needing to like, as opposed to like just getting the ball top of the key or whatever foul line
00:15:08extended and trying to like beat someone off the dribble.
00:15:10There's a lot of pace in both in getting the ball up fast and in the half court sets.
00:15:14And also utilizing what they've been doing with Cat and the off ball screening stuff, working with Cat, working with
00:15:21Cat as a screener, you know, using the gravity that Cat provides to just be able to, you know, kind
00:15:28of tip over the first domino and make him make it easier for him to score.
00:15:33Like, I thought all that stuff was present in spades last night.
00:15:37And so if he could just continue to do that, and I see no reason why he would not want
00:15:44to do that.
00:15:45Yeah, I would not see any reason why he could do that.
00:15:48It feels like it's sustainable and he can continue to do it.
00:15:51I think the Knicks offense has gotten so much talk in the series.
00:15:56But I don't know about you.
00:15:58I'm more impressed with what we saw from this team defensively the last two games, particularly even last night.
00:16:02Like, that's been the more impressive thing to me because I think if they defend like that, J-Mac, and
00:16:07they defend on that level, I've kind of been saying this all season.
00:16:11The defense is there.
00:16:13The ceiling for this team is a lot higher.
00:16:15And I think the way they play defense is sustainable, but they've got to bring that effort every night.
00:16:23And I think I'm looking for that again in game six.
00:16:25Is this going to continue?
00:16:26Is this defense that we've seen in games four and five going to continue?
00:16:31Are you impressed with the defense in the way I am or more impressed with what we've seen from them
00:16:34offensively?
00:16:35Well, I'm more impressed with the defense, but it's because of the who, not the what.
00:16:41But and it's it's Carl Anthony Towns like I think defensively, I think me and you, I think you'd agree
00:16:47with me.
00:16:47Like Mitch has been good defensively in the series, right?
00:16:50Yeah.
00:16:50You know?
00:16:51Yeah.
00:16:51And yet I'm just look that up on cleaning the glass.
00:16:54164 minutes for cat in the playoffs.
00:16:56I looked there.
00:16:57I know where you're going.
00:16:59There's seven and a half points better on defense.
00:17:02I don't know.
00:17:03I mean, they're 10 points better on offense with cat.
00:17:05Cat's been looking.
00:17:06He's been one of the five best players in the playoffs, but there's seven and a half points better on
00:17:09defense when cats in the game.
00:17:12That's like, I mean, I don't know that there was any universe where I would have would have foreseen that
00:17:17being a reality.
00:17:18No, but that is funny because I looked that up on cleaning the glass today, too.
00:17:23I was looking at some of the individual defensive stats.
00:17:26That's nuts, but it also adds more to the frustration of where you're like, damn, this last team probably should
00:17:31be done with this series.
00:17:32I mean, they absolutely should.
00:17:34The one thing I will say, though, and we've been talking for whatever, 17, 18 minutes, and we have not
00:17:42mentioned the word Josh Hart once.
00:17:45He's questioned.
00:17:46Well, look, he's questioned.
00:17:47Well, everybody watching this expects Josh Hart to play.
00:17:51Yeah, and he will play.
00:17:52He will if he could if he can move, he could play.
00:17:55But how how effective will he be?
00:17:58Because I think, you know, offensive.
00:18:01That's like you just said.
00:18:02We always talk about offense.
00:18:03It's really about the defense.
00:18:04We always talk about offense when it comes to Josh Hart.
00:18:06Right.
00:18:06So there's this there's this thought.
00:18:08But and I actually said something to this effect on the one of the shows I did earlier today.
00:18:14I'm I do too many things.
00:18:16You know, you put that today, right?
00:18:19I was on the putback, but I was also with Andrew.
00:18:21So I forget what I was doing.
00:18:22One of the shows.
00:18:23One of the one of the shows I mentioned, you know, you slide in deuce and you go to a
00:18:27more true five outlook.
00:18:29And like that's, you know, you benefit from that.
00:18:32I think for as nice as that would be for obvious reasons, what you would lose defensively if Hart is
00:18:41not Hart, because they have come to rely on him so much to just shut off the water, whether it's
00:18:48on Jalen Johnson or CJ McCollum.
00:18:50If he is not moving, if he can't move like he's capable of like when he's at full strength and
00:18:57he becomes someone that the Hawks sniff out early or like, oh, we can we can attack him.
00:19:04You know, that's a huge deal because I look we're I'm huge.
00:19:09Deuce McBride McBride fan.
00:19:11You're using Deuce McBride fan.
00:19:12We love Deuce McBride here defensively, just the size like he's not Josh Hart defensively.
00:19:19He tries and he's talented and he's great.
00:19:21He's really good for what he is.
00:19:22But so that would be a drop off.
00:19:25And then you're looking at, all right, is I mean, does Shamit go back into the rotation?
00:19:29Are they going?
00:19:30Do they just go very small and lean into Alvarado more?
00:19:32It's like, you know, you start to ask some dicier questions.
00:19:35Now, one of the answers to those questions might be, oh, sorry to have to do this.
00:19:42Jay Mack, you don't have to do it.
00:19:44But I know the guy.
00:19:47I think this would be a situation where the guy that you gave up a whole lot of draft
00:19:52fix to get, if you tap him on the shoulder and say, hey, McHale, we need you tonight.
00:19:59We need you to step up and we need you to we need you to do your best Josh Hart
00:20:03impersonation.
00:20:05In theory, he should be able to do that, right?
00:20:09Right.
00:20:11Right.
00:20:11Are you sure?
00:20:12Are you are you sure?
00:20:13Are you looking for me for confirmation?
00:20:14He said he says into the void, you know, I look, I want to look, he's he's come up big
00:20:23in in big spots, obviously, for the Knicks in the playoffs before I'm if there are worse
00:20:30fates than having to ask McHale Bridges to step up and be, you know, do a little bit more
00:20:36specifically on the defensive end than he has done in this series.
00:20:39So we'll see if he's if it look, if it comes to that baby heart, it'll be fine.
00:20:43And this is a whole waste of time.
00:20:44No, but I'm glad I'm glad you brought that up.
00:20:46I was going to talk about that.
00:20:47But since you brought up Bridges here.
00:20:52Should.
00:20:54Should we feel good that we've seen this turnaround?
00:20:58Your face is like, should I feel about what turn what turnaround?
00:21:01Sorry.
00:21:02Well, not from him, not from him specifically.
00:21:04Let me let me let's I'm looking at his on offs.
00:21:07There's a blue one next to his name, which is better than the blue zero that was next
00:21:13to his name was his name five.
00:21:15But what the the Knicks turn around from game three, the last two games that we've seen
00:21:21for them, where they played much better offensively, defensively.
00:21:24Should we be encouraged that they've done this basically without McHale Bridges?
00:21:31And we look at this as this is just not a series for McHale Bridges, or should we be discouraged
00:21:38because you want him to get right before the next round if they get to the next round?
00:21:42Like, where are you on McHale Bridges right now?
00:21:45He wasn't terrible.
00:21:46We didn't have to talk about him the last couple of games, but he hasn't done much still.
00:21:49Well, I think the reality is that it really comes down to a question of like, if they
00:21:58get 25 to 30 minutes a game of of the version of Bridges that we've seen in this series,
00:22:03can they beat Boston?
00:22:07That is a good question.
00:22:10And I, I think the answer is yes, only because, and again, we sometimes we have selective memory
00:22:20with this stuff.
00:22:21McHale Bridges had some massive fourth quarters against the Celtics.
00:22:25He, there were games that they won where he was dreadful for the first three quarters
00:22:31in that series last year.
00:22:33And now he was dreadful on offense.
00:22:36He would like, couldn't, he was like, I think there was a game where he had like,
00:22:39he was like, Oh, for eight or one for eight or something like that going into the fourth
00:22:41quarter.
00:22:41Now he made up for it late or, but defensively I think is probably, he's going to be more
00:22:48important against the Celtics because they just need him against their, against their
00:22:54personnel.
00:22:54They need him against those wings.
00:22:55They need him against, you know, Jalen Brown.
00:22:59Um, and I think he'll be fine there.
00:23:03The good thing with McHale is I don't think like, I don't think he carries this stuff
00:23:09with him.
00:23:09Like, I, I, I do think he's pretty good at a fresh game, fresh opportunity.
00:23:15I just think he, he, like, he needs to see some shots to go down and maybe the fact that
00:23:19a few shots did go down in game five, maybe that's going to get him going in the right
00:23:22direction.
00:23:23So do you think he's, do you think he's lost confidence at all in this series?
00:23:28And have you liked how Mike Brown is handled?
00:23:31I kind of wanted to get with you on the Mike Brown part of stuff too, because that was a
00:23:35interesting part of our conversation a week ago.
00:23:37I love how Mike Brown's handled the, the, I think it was the right move not to mention
00:23:41because I, and I, this, I did say with, with Ian earlier today, that would have become
00:23:45a national story.
00:23:46Like, I think it would have almost overshadowed like wins and losses.
00:23:51If like they benched the guy that they traded all this stuff for Mike Brown is like, wait
00:23:55a minute, I could have my cake and eat it too.
00:23:57I could, if I, if I think he shouldn't be playing major minutes, I'm just not going to
00:24:01have major minutes, but I'm not, I'm going to continue to start him.
00:24:04And I think the, the beauty of how well the Knicks are playing right now is they don't
00:24:12need Macau Bridges to be great.
00:24:14I don't need, they don't really honestly even need him to be like above average or above
00:24:18average for the rest of the starting unit to be good because the rest of them now, especially
00:24:24with Brunson getting going, they're all just operating at such a high level.
00:24:27Um, and, and, and again, to credit where credit is due defensively, look, there've
00:24:34been some, uh, situations where they asked them to guard CJ that didn't go so well.
00:24:38Other than that, defensively, he's held up in the whole series.
00:24:42So, you know, that's a big, that's a big part of it because we know with other players
00:24:47who have come through here, you know, um, Julius comes to mind and cat, you know, let's
00:24:52call a spade a spade like they, when their defense drops off, it's like, Oh my God,
00:24:58how are we going to survive?
00:24:59That's not, that has not been anywhere close to the case with, with Bridges.
00:25:02It's a good point.
00:25:03It has not, um, a couple more things.
00:25:05Well, I want to get into the specifics of game six with you and how the Knicks can close
00:25:09the Hawks out.
00:25:11When I was on your playoff hangover show after game two, and you tried to have me on as the
00:25:16voice of reason or calm after I hope I did good.
00:25:19I did great.
00:25:20You did great.
00:25:20I tried.
00:25:21I tried everybody.
00:25:23I feel like you were calm, calmer than you were the night before, but calmer.
00:25:26I will say, um, coach Brown was such a hot button topic last week.
00:25:33I haven't heard much fans talk about it much in the last couple of days.
00:25:37Um, do you like how he's handled things rotation wise?
00:25:41We haven't, you and I both did not like the timeout situation in game two.
00:25:44You and I were both.
00:25:45That was just bad.
00:25:47There's nothing about that.
00:25:48But yeah, if he could go back in time and just like, literally it's just call the use
00:25:54it or lose it.
00:25:55Don't call the timeout with under three minutes to go, have the timeout at the end of the
00:25:59game.
00:26:00You call the timeout, get fronts in the last shot.
00:26:01He makes it, he misses it, whatever.
00:26:03We're still probably critical of, we are still critical of Brown for the, how long he left
00:26:08to the, the no Brunson, no cat lineup out there to start the second quarter, which is
00:26:12where the game kind of the momentum of the game kind of flipped, but it would, it would
00:26:15have been a different, the tenor of the conversation would have been different.
00:26:19It were, we would not be looking at a coach asking ourselves, does he know the rules of
00:26:24like timeout usage, like having that timeout and like being able to, you know, know, knowing
00:26:29that it goes away if you don't use it under three minutes.
00:26:32That's it.
00:26:33Like, I don't know how you watch their offense the last few games and not think really highly
00:26:40of this guy because, you know, as, as listeners of this show probably know, you're not going
00:26:46to find a bigger Tibbs fan than me, you are not, their offense never looked like that.
00:26:51Never looked anything close like this under Tibbs and the, the level of sophistication,
00:26:57the, how, you know, how often, you know, if look, not every possession is going to end
00:27:03great.
00:27:03It's playoff defense.
00:27:04You know, you're, you're going to get stuff where, all right, you're going to have to,
00:27:07someone's going to put up a tough shot at the end of the clock, but the, the actions
00:27:11that they're running and how these guys, it's like the back of their hand, they know
00:27:16where to move, when to move like, Oh, okay.
00:27:19I'm going to go from, you know, I'm going to, uh, you know, there was a play, the first
00:27:24play of the game.
00:27:25Now, obviously first play of the game is you're, is you're going to have that all set in stone,
00:27:29but like Brunson sets the screen for OG.
00:27:33Yeah.
00:27:34I remember.
00:27:34And then in a split second, it's like, Oh, that didn't work.
00:27:38Okay.
00:27:38Great.
00:27:38Now, Oh, geez, going to set the screen for Brunson and Brunson gets a clean look and
00:27:43he, it, it, it misses the shot, but it was a great, it was a great play.
00:27:46And they had so many plays like that where, you know, suddenly the guy screening becomes
00:27:51the guy who the play is for and just purposeful movement.
00:27:55And, um, and it's all revolving around cat.
00:27:58And that's the part that's most interesting because, you know, we didn't know how those
00:28:03guys were getting along during the year and here they are.
00:28:07Now, is this, again, the series is not over.
00:28:10We're going to get to how they can close this out.
00:28:12Is this something to be learned for all of us?
00:28:14Me, you, fans, rest of the media that maybe sometimes these things take time and not as
00:28:23quickly as we want it to be.
00:28:25Cause there's going to be people that I'm sure it's been said to you in your shows,
00:28:28Jay Mack, where it's like, yo, well, why didn't this happen?
00:28:31Game one, game two, why didn't this happen before?
00:28:33I tend to look at things and say something, does that really matter if you get to the
00:28:38part where you figured out whenever it comes, but you figured it out, what do you say to
00:28:44that?
00:28:45That's an impossible question for me to answer because the, the implication is that it was
00:28:52just something that you needed to figure out.
00:28:56I, if I, if I thought that's what it, all it was throughout the majority of the year,
00:29:00I would sit here and I would, I would probably feel differently, but I know I suspected during
00:29:05the year that it wasn't just about learning Mike Brown's system or anything.
00:29:08It was about, it was about buy-in.
00:29:09It was about selflessness.
00:29:11It was, if it was about all those sorts of things.
00:29:15And was that the, like, was that the reason?
00:29:18Was it guys just like, all right, it's a regular season.
00:29:21I'm going to kind of do things more my way when it comes down to it.
00:29:24Like we'll, we'll get, we'll, you know, we'll buy in when we need to buy in.
00:29:27I have no idea, you know, but it's, it's just crazy that like with a couple of weeks
00:29:32left to go in the season, you were still getting these quotes and, you know, and soundbites
00:29:36where it's like, man, are these guys on the same page?
00:29:39Like what, you know, and now the, I mean, the proof is in the pudding now.
00:29:44So I don't, I really don't know how to answer that.
00:29:46I don't know that I, I will take any, many lessons from this regular season, but maybe,
00:29:52maybe we should.
00:29:53I'm not sure I do either.
00:29:55I'll reiterate something I said yesterday, which is, you know, we had that quote come out
00:30:00was from Danny green said he heard right before the playoff start.
00:30:03The team is fractured and you and I have talked about this, some stuff off the record.
00:30:09I'm not going to fully share, but like, we've heard things about the team and that, you know,
00:30:14that we've heard and different things.
00:30:17I never thought the team was fractured.
00:30:19I want to be very clear about that.
00:30:20I never thought.
00:30:21No, I don't think so either.
00:30:22To be clear.
00:30:23And, and I think that fractured teams do not respond the way the Knicks did after losing
00:30:29games two and three.
00:30:30No fractured team.
00:30:31You don't, you don't have that kind of bounce back in you.
00:30:34You know what I mean?
00:30:35You did.
00:30:35This is not, this is not what you have now.
00:30:39How sustainable is this bounce back?
00:30:41How long does it last?
00:30:42I can't tell you, Jay Mack.
00:30:43I wish I could.
00:30:44I wish I could sit here and say, Hey man, tomorrow night, you're not going to be stressed.
00:30:49Um, I, I, I, you might want to tell you.
00:30:51Yeah.
00:30:52It's just crazy that I'm, I'm saying this.
00:30:54You, I feel, I feel good about it.
00:30:58I'm scared now.
00:30:59I know I'm scared.
00:31:01I'm scaring myself.
00:31:01I feel good about it because, you know, if you combine what we're seeing on the court,
00:31:07which is all great, most pretty much all great.
00:31:11And then you're, and then you're looking at what these guys are saying and, and, and, and the everything that
00:31:17they said after that game five win was exactly what you wanted to hear in terms of the appropriate amount
00:31:22of urgency that they will still carry forward into game six.
00:31:25Cat talking about it's the toughest game to win, you know, to a man, everybody talking about, look, we got
00:31:31like they, they, they did.
00:31:33It was not the sense at all of a team that felt like it had accomplished a blessed thing.
00:31:37Like it's go, you know, going to game six, take care of business.
00:31:42I'm not, I'm not worried about what Nick team is going to show up for game six.
00:31:49I'm merely, I'm more just worried about like, you know, like I said before, basketball is a funny game.
00:31:54You could catch a team that just gets hot from deep on a given night.
00:31:57You may be cold from a given night.
00:31:59You know, it's like, it's basketball, like crazy stuff happens.
00:32:03Stuff happens.
00:32:04Are you, you talked about the shot variance and I heard you say that you're right.
00:32:10Stuff happens in basketball.
00:32:13Do you feel like, let's say, say the Hawks come out and they're on fire in game six.
00:32:19I don't go crazy from downtown.
00:32:21They get up.
00:32:22Let's say I'm going to put it at 10 to 12 points, put it around that range.
00:32:25Let's say it's, let's say it's that at the end of one.
00:32:27Sure.
00:32:28Right.
00:32:28It's possible.
00:32:30You're sitting there, you're doing your watch along.
00:32:32You're not feeling good or great about it.
00:32:35Do you think this team can respond from that kind of punch?
00:32:38And does what was, what happened in games four and five, make you feel better that if
00:32:42they take that punch early, they can respond from that.
00:32:44I guess that's my question.
00:32:46When you get to that point, how would you, how do you think you'll feel about the team
00:32:49taking a punch like that early in game six?
00:32:51Yeah, no, I, I, I, I will still think they have the capability of winning the game.
00:32:56I mean, they went down 18 in Atlanta in game three and they came back and they took a three
00:33:01point lead.
00:33:01And I don't even think they played great basketball to come back and take that three point lead.
00:33:07Like they had obviously some nice moments, but I didn't think that was their best ball.
00:33:11I think they played their best ball the last two games.
00:33:13Um, you know, ultimately I think it, I don't think anything the Hawks are going to do offensively
00:33:23are going to get the Knicks to break so severely from what has worked now, obviously they will
00:33:33continue to hunt Jalen Brunson and they will trust, you know, um, you know, things like
00:33:38Tyson Daniels trying to make plays in that situation, because if, if Brunson's going to
00:33:43continue to hide on Daniels and then if you want to do a hard hedge with Brunson, all
00:33:47right, you, you're putting Daniels in a four on three situation.
00:33:50Like they could pivot off of that.
00:33:52Like they pivoted off of that in game five, where it was more having, you know, DJ talked
00:33:57about this on the post game last night, shifting Brunson into more of a shallow drop, you know,
00:34:01and the Hawks don't have the sort of pull up, like, let's say the hook, let's say they
00:34:06do that out of the gate and the Hawks hits CJ, you know, or even Jalen Johnson hit some
00:34:11pull up threes.
00:34:12I think if you're the Knicks, you're going to trust that like those pull up threes are
00:34:16not going to continue to go down for the rest of the game.
00:34:18That's not, they don't have a lot of good pull up three point shooters.
00:34:21Yeah.
00:34:21Yeah.
00:34:21So, so I think you just kind of stay home, you stay sound.
00:34:26And, and you, and you, again, not to use the Sixers term, but to trust the process.
00:34:32And then, you know, on, on offense is where it's always more interesting to me with the
00:34:36Knicks, just because there's always going to be that inherent push and pull of, for everything
00:34:44I said about how, what I loved about Brunson's game in game five, like the, the, the temptation
00:34:49to just, all right, Jalen, take the ball and go and go kind of dig us out of this.
00:34:54That's always going to be there.
00:34:55So that to me is the most interesting, you know, inherent, like, um, Jekyll and Hyde part
00:35:01of, of the team that's left at this point.
00:35:03I can't say I disagree on that.
00:35:05All right.
00:35:05So when we look at game six, man, um, you and I've watched a lot of basketball closing
00:35:14out series is hard.
00:35:16They're hard.
00:35:17It's hard.
00:35:17I don't want, it's not easy.
00:35:19Now we've seen the Knicks close out some series on the road in the last last three,
00:35:23three, they closed out, right.
00:35:25They closed out game five in Cleveland.
00:35:29Yep.
00:35:29Game six in Philly.
00:35:31And then game six in Detroit.
00:35:33Yep.
00:35:33So we've seen the Knicks do this recently.
00:35:35Um, and that was a tough and ugly and tight game six in Detroit last year that took a iconic
00:35:41Brunson shot, um, to get it done.
00:35:45What's your, what's your couple of things you're looking for where you're like, this
00:35:48has to happen for them to close this game out and not play with their food.
00:35:53Um, because we've seen the Knicks play with their food already in this series.
00:35:56What do they have to do in game six and not play with their food here, man?
00:35:59I mean, putting aside the heart question mark, um, about how hard it's going to look.
00:36:05I mean, that's the first thing I'm going to be looking for right out of the gate is how
00:36:07does heart look?
00:36:08Um, and then the right alongside that in, in terms of what I'm going to be looking for,
00:36:15like, do they switch more liberally on defense?
00:36:18And if they do switch more liberally on defense, um, does that throw the Knicks off?
00:36:23You know, um, how do the Knicks respond to that?
00:36:26Do the Knicks just try to take what is given and like, all right, you're going to, you're
00:36:30going to switch your weaker defenders onto towns or Brunson or whoever, you know, we're
00:36:34going to, we're going to trust them to, to make plays and make buckets out of that.
00:36:38Um, the other thing that I will just say in the last two games, which obviously have both
00:36:43been wins, Jose Alvarado, 14 minutes in game four, almost 12 minutes in game five, um, two
00:36:52of three from downtown in both of those games.
00:36:55They, that has been a big component of them survive, not surviving, thriving really in
00:37:02the non Brunson minutes, including a couple of more, you know, a couple of stints here
00:37:06without Brunson or cat, you know?
00:37:09Uh, and, and it's, again, it's like a little thing, but like, you know, for, for, for Alvarado
00:37:14to give them six points and then 12 points last night, that was like, his buckets felt
00:37:19big in the moment when they happened, when he came in, in the second quarter.
00:37:22Um, so can that continue or does, you know, does the faucet shut off, um, for him?
00:37:29And then I guess the, the last thing, you know, it feels like they're going to need
00:37:37one of these, like OG, I think OG is going to be great.
00:37:41Cause OG has been great.
00:37:42You know, I trust cat to play big.
00:37:45I trust Brunson.
00:37:46I, I think Brunson is going to have a huge game and he's going to play very well.
00:37:49Someone else, whether it's bridges, whether it's deuce, um, whether it's Clarkson, like
00:37:55one of these other guys is going to need to, to step up and, and I think put forth a
00:38:00nice
00:38:01scoring performance.
00:38:01Oh.
00:38:01And then the last thing, I, you know, the Hawks talked a lot.
00:38:08Now they talked about this after game four too, so maybe it's not really worth anything,
00:38:12but they talked a lot about how they were out physicaled in game five.
00:38:16I mean, it's not often you see a team get beaten by 20 or more on the boards in a,
00:38:20in
00:38:20a playoff game, you know, especially a team as well coached.
00:38:24And as you know, I think they were like, I have a lot of respect for the Hawks, despite,
00:38:29you know, the last couple of games, do they really make an effort to, to, to clean up on
00:38:37the offensive glass, because maybe they're at the point where like, look, our first shot
00:38:42offense is just, it's not going to be great, but we are going to, we, if we're going to
00:38:48go down, we're going to go down swinging and we're going to make every effort to, to, to
00:38:53grab offensive rebounds because we have seen them hurt the Knicks with offensive rebounds
00:38:57this season.
00:38:58Um, so, well, you know, that is, and then look, there'll be energized by the home crowd.
00:39:04Like the Knicks are absolutely going to need to, um, to pay attention to that.
00:39:10Otherwise they're going to, they're going to suffer because of it.
00:39:12Yeah, I think so.
00:39:13I think the Knicks are going to have to try to weather the storm here.
00:39:16I think, I think for me, um, one, you're right.
00:39:21Will Josh Hart play?
00:39:22Um, that's a big thing for me because of how good he's been defensively, um, in, in this
00:39:29series to, and there's been some talk about this.
00:39:32I don't give a damn about how many shots Carlton Towns takes.
00:39:35I do to some degree.
00:39:36Just want to be very clear, but I don't generally for me, it's about touches and flow in the
00:39:40offense.
00:39:40And does that continue?
00:39:42For example, last night, cat only took seven shots in game five, but I loved how he played
00:39:48with an offense.
00:39:49I loved how he was looking for guys.
00:39:50Yeah.
00:39:50He missed OG in a couple of turnovers and get three turnovers, six assists in the game.
00:39:55But to me, is, is he still getting those touches?
00:39:57If he's still getting the touches, I feel good.
00:39:58I feel good about things.
00:40:00Um, you think Brunson is going to have a big game.
00:40:02I think Brunson wants to have a big game on the road too, which is crazy.
00:40:05Cause he just had a big game at home.
00:40:07However, to your point, J Mac, you've seen this man have big games on the road and close
00:40:12out games before we've seen this movie before from him.
00:40:15I could totally see that you and I a hundred percent agree on this.
00:40:20OG has been, you could argue OG has been the most important neck in the series.
00:40:24He's been great.
00:40:25He's in the conversation.
00:40:27Yeah.
00:40:28He's, he's, he's been, he's been, I think you go with him or towns.
00:40:30His rebounding has been tremendous.
00:40:32And they've needed it.
00:40:34And they've needed it.
00:40:35The physicality he's brought has been tremendous.
00:40:37Mm-hmm.
00:40:38I don't want to get too much Draymond Green here, J Mac, but OG is a guy I trust as
00:40:44a 16 game
00:40:45player.
00:40:45I trust he's going to be there.
00:40:47Okay.
00:40:48Yeah.
00:40:49Mikkel Bridges needs a good game.
00:40:51Let's just, he, he needs a good game.
00:40:53My friend, he needs it for himself.
00:40:56And what, okay.
00:40:57Go ahead.
00:40:58Yeah.
00:40:58What are we talking about?
00:40:59What if he's not having it?
00:41:01And like, let's go back to the scenario you pitched before they're downtown in the first
00:41:04quarter and bridges, you know, has, has a few moments where, you know, maybe like he's
00:41:10trying to dribble and he turns the ball over.
00:41:13Or Mike Brown will not hesitate to pull.
00:41:16I like that.
00:41:17And I don't think you should, because, you know, you, you, you, you trust that he'll
00:41:22be able to recalibrate before the next series.
00:41:24Like, you know, win the game.
00:41:26Like, I don't care who, you know, if it's dusting off Landry Shamit, if it's, you know,
00:41:30obviously playing deuce more is the obvious one, but like win the game.
00:41:34That's all that, that's all that matters tomorrow.
00:41:36I'm with you.
00:41:37I don't think Mike Brown hesitates there, but I think it'll be a nice time.
00:41:40And again, I'm not asking for a great Mikkel Bridges game.
00:41:43I'm not asking for what he did against the Spurs at the garden this year.
00:41:48It was five.
00:41:49Yeah.
00:41:50Could you give me 12 points?
00:41:51Right.
00:41:52Couple assists, you know, it's, it's not about the numbers.
00:41:58It's, it's not about the numbers with him.
00:42:00It's about, you know, the role that he's in right now.
00:42:06Opportunity, like there will be opportunities that will find him one way.
00:42:11And it is about, is he aggressively trying to take advantage of those opportunities as opposed to shying away from
00:42:18them?
00:42:19And that's up to him.
00:42:21It is going to be up to him and how he plays.
00:42:24And then, you know, listen, if he doesn't have it, I think you got to, I think you trust Deuce
00:42:28McBride.
00:42:29I think the real question is, what would you do for the starting lineup if Josh Hart can't go for
00:42:35game sakes?
00:42:37I mean, I think the obvious, well, I was going to say the obvious answer is start Deuce.
00:42:44Um, and yet, as I say that, the, the, the issue is starting Mitch is it creates because he is,
00:42:56he is not someone that I'm, I'm just sitting here right now.
00:43:00Are we sure that Mitchell Robinson can give them more than 20 minutes?
00:43:03And if the, if one of the players that you're starting, you're unsure if you could, if they could give
00:43:09you more than 20 minutes in a game and, but you also need them to be the backup five to
00:43:17your, to your, to, and, and, and, and you, and it's going to be delicate to manage the cat minutes
00:43:24as it is.
00:43:25I think if you start Mitch in, in Hart's place, I think you're just opening up a can of worms
00:43:30that you don't, you don't need to open up.
00:43:34Like you, you could, if you want to play Mitch and cat a lot, you want to play, like, if
00:43:38you want to try to push Mrs. Ben, you could still do that.
00:43:39You don't need to start him.
00:43:40I would, I would start with Deuce and then to just play that.
00:43:45But then that's tricky because if you're just, if you're playing it out, um, if you want to still have
00:43:51Brunson on Daniels,
00:43:53which I think is the way that you would want to go there, then I think you're putting Deuce.
00:43:59I think you have to put Deuce on CJ McCollum because McHale on CJ McCollum did not go well.
00:44:05I mean, and you're not going to put, you're not going to put OG on CJ, uh, because then it
00:44:11just, there's, then Deuce is left guarding someone that is, is much, much bigger.
00:44:15Because again, I think you, I think you need to have McHale on Nikhil Alexander Walker.
00:44:19I don't think you want to start going nuts and like, Oh, Nick, McHale, you know, you guard Jalen Johnson.
00:44:23That's going to kill you on the boards if nothing else.
00:44:25So I think you would have to challenge Deuce to, to, to, to guard CJ.
00:44:31And that's, that's a little dicey.
00:44:35That's a little dicey.
00:44:36I don't know.
00:44:36Maybe even I would, does he consider Shamit?
00:44:39That's what I was about to ask you.
00:44:41Cause I'm like, Shamit's been one of the better on ball defenders for this team all season.
00:44:45And he has a little bit more shot just doesn't look right right now.
00:44:50And yet I would like, if, if Landry Shamit, like is in the starting lineup and he's gets opportunities, he's
00:44:57open.
00:44:58I would trust him.
00:44:59Like I would trust him.
00:45:00And I think the Hawks, you know, that's, you talk about danger, dangerous game to play.
00:45:05If the Hawks are like, gosh, it's been out of the rotation.
00:45:08We'll let him shoot.
00:45:08And we'll, we'll hope he doesn't know.
00:45:10I don't know if I'd do that.
00:45:11If I was Atlanta, you know what?
00:45:12I think I may have talked myself into it.
00:45:14I think I may have talked myself with Shamit.
00:45:16I'm with, you know, I'm with it too.
00:45:18Because it keeps, it keeps everything else where it is.
00:45:20Yep.
00:45:21That's, and I think that's what I like.
00:45:22Keeps deucing the role.
00:45:23He knows it keeps the defense pretty similar.
00:45:25And I think, I don't know.
00:45:28Shamit, I trust him in the spot.
00:45:29I think he'll be motivated out of the rotation.
00:45:31I think he's, he's not going to mess it up.
00:45:33You know what I mean?
00:45:34You know what I mean?
00:45:35J-Mac, he's not going to mess it up.
00:45:36Shamit's not going to go out there and fall on his face.
00:45:39Like he's going to.
00:45:40And look, if it's, if he commits two fouls on CJ McCollum in the first four minutes of
00:45:45the game, guess what?
00:45:47It's no harm, no foul.
00:45:49Like he was a guy that was out of your rotation already.
00:45:52So now you just, all right, well, let's, we'll bring in Deuce, who was probably going to
00:45:55have to play 35 minutes without Josh Hart in this game anyway.
00:45:58Again, let's hope Hart plays.
00:46:00Let's hope they don't have to, let's hope they don't have to do any of this.
00:46:03Because I'm happy we had that conversation because I, my inclination was Deuce and now
00:46:08you've, you've turned me, I think I would go Shamit.
00:46:10Yeah.
00:46:10I was even trying to convince you.
00:46:11I thought about Shamit too.
00:46:13I mean, again, I wouldn't be mad if it was Deuce, but I just think it keeps everything
00:46:15the same at all whatsoever.
00:46:19I would not, I would not go Clarkson or Alvarado because I want those guys.
00:46:23I want both of those guys in there during the non-runs and minutes.
00:46:27And I, I think, and I think you don't, that is one thing that I don't,
00:46:32want to mess with.
00:46:34I agree.
00:46:35I'll be, I'll be inclined to agree.
00:46:37Let's hope the Josh Hart plays.
00:46:39We know Mike Brown will have a quick, a quick leash.
00:46:43What are you also rooting for tomorrow night in terms of Philadelphia and Boston?
00:46:47I know you're going to have your eye on that.
00:46:49What do you think?
00:46:51I think you're, I think you've become a Sixers fan for that game.
00:46:54I think that, I mean, I look, the Celtics are just better on the road in the playoffs.
00:47:00Um, the numbers are crazy with their shooting, shooting variants at home and supposed to
00:47:05run.
00:47:05I mean, they're crazy.
00:47:06They're favored by, I think six or six and a half points, whatever it is tomorrow in
00:47:09Philly.
00:47:11Um, yeah, of course I hope Philly wins that game.
00:47:14I just want that series to go seven and more, more.
00:47:16It's more about giving the Knicks a little bit of extra rest potentially than, um, than
00:47:21it is.
00:47:22The Sixers actually winning that series, but, um, no, that'll be, that'll be interesting.
00:47:27And then, uh, you know, we got some, I think, uh, one of the games already got started,
00:47:30uh, as we're recording this.
00:47:32So, uh, big, big night of basketball tonight.
00:47:35Um, I, you know, outside of the Knicks series, I just, I root for chaos in the playoffs.
00:47:40That's all.
00:47:40That's all it comes down to.
00:47:42Well, we've seen some chaos in the East and we, we had some comments, uh, in the chat that
00:47:46I'm gonna get to before we get out of here.
00:47:47Uh, GS five from the Bronx said this series is over.
00:47:52We took the Hawks soul in game four.
00:47:54I hope so.
00:47:56Hey, that's a lot of confidence that I necessarily don't have.
00:48:00Um, but if you have that confidence, God bless.
00:48:04This is what, is what I'll say.
00:48:05You should bring that confidence there.
00:48:07I don't think it's wrong to have that confidence, um, going into this game.
00:48:10You know, is it over?
00:48:11I don't, I don't, I don't know.
00:48:13Again, I'm not sitting here saying there's going to be a game seven and the next round kind
00:48:17of win or the next can't win or anything, but like, I, I don't know that momentum in
00:48:23the playoffs is a real thing.
00:48:25Like I'm thinking back to, I mean, did you think about some Knicks here?
00:48:29I mean, look at last year against Boston.
00:48:31They got their doors blown off in game three and then came back and played their best game
00:48:37of the season in game four.
00:48:38And then they got their doors blown off in game five and came back and played their best
00:48:42game of the season in game six.
00:48:43Think back to the, remember that warriors?
00:48:46Um, Grizzlies series, I think went down to one and I think Memphis beat them by like
00:48:53a, it was a record or they beat them by like 50 something points and they didn't win another
00:48:57game.
00:48:57The whole, the whole series, like one game sample sizes, you know, night, look, none,
00:49:05neither or none of those situations was like, if you don't win this, there is going to be
00:49:09a game seven.
00:49:09So I, I, I don't want to speak out of turn too much, but like, I just go back to
00:49:15what
00:49:15I keep saying.
00:49:16It's one game, anything can happen in the NBA, especially when you have a talented team
00:49:19like the Hawks.
00:49:20No, you know, you're right.
00:49:21You're right about that.
00:49:22Got another one here from Charlie.
00:49:24Nick says Dexter, uh, what's, I assume you mean, what's up brother?
00:49:27Nick's is six, not satisfied yet.
00:49:29Job's not done.
00:49:30That consistency needs to remain.
00:49:31But as I studied the post season, the East, the way we played games four and five, we
00:49:35are the best team in the Eastern conference.
00:49:38I mean, to your point, J Mac, when you look at the chaos that we've seen, especially in
00:49:44the Eastern conference, what's going on with Detroit, checking on that game in a little
00:49:47bit.
00:49:49Um, I can understand why you look at the Knicks in the way they played.
00:49:52I think if the Knicks play this way, they could be the best team in Eastern conference.
00:49:56I will say that.
00:49:57Um, I, I think you have to feel better about the Knicks chances today than you did before
00:50:06the playoff started.
00:50:08Ooh, I thought you were just going to go to even a week ago before.
00:50:12And so, okay.
00:50:13So say to people more about why that is for you.
00:50:17I think I might know, but why is that for you?
00:50:19Why do you feel better today than you did when me, you and CP did our playoff round table?
00:50:24Why are you feeling better right now?
00:50:25I think that, I think there's been consistency.
00:50:27I think there's been more consistency with how they've played.
00:50:30And I think in particular, you look at cat.
00:50:34I think you look at how, how cat has performed.
00:50:37This is, I mean, we haven't said it on this show.
00:50:40I've said it over the last, you know, 24 hours.
00:50:42This has been the best playoff series of cast career.
00:50:45You know, you're going better than the series against Denver.
00:50:48It's better.
00:50:49It's better on an individual basis because he came up huge in a way that his team needed
00:50:55him to come up huge in that series.
00:50:57And he had obviously some, some big moments.
00:51:00Yeah.
00:51:01Some massive moments, but he is, I mean, he's been the best player.
00:51:06I mean, all due respect to OG and, and, and Jalen and, and everybody, he's been the best
00:51:10player on the floor.
00:51:11I mean, he's controlling the entire series on both ends of the court.
00:51:14Like it's, it's crazy what he's done.
00:51:17Yeah.
00:51:17The consistency is you're, you're right.
00:51:19I, I understand why you, Knicks fans, let us know how you feel.
00:51:22You feeling better about this team than you did at the start of the playoffs.
00:51:24I think that's an interesting point.
00:51:25We have a poll up in the chat.
00:51:27Who should the Knicks start?
00:51:28If Josh Hart can't go in game six, uh, we, J-Mac and I are on the Landry Shamit train.
00:51:35Let us know what you think.
00:51:37Um, we'll, we'll talk about that again.
00:51:39Again, uh, yo, Dex, Knicks can't play with their food anymore in the series going forward.
00:51:44Well, look, G5.
00:51:46I hope not.
00:51:47They sure can.
00:51:49They shouldn't.
00:51:50Anything can happen.
00:51:52They should not.
00:51:53But I, and I guess we could kind of down close on this, J-Mac, cause we got to run.
00:52:00Um, do you, cause it sounds to me like you feel like there's a shift with this team.
00:52:06You just mentioned the word consistency more.
00:52:10This is like, I'm looking at you and I'm talking to you and I just talked to you a little
00:52:13over a week ago and your face wasn't like this.
00:52:16You look like you was going through it after game two.
00:52:20And, and now it's, it's, now it's a different vibe and you really feel there's a shift.
00:52:24I like hearing this.
00:52:25It's famous last words probably because I've never felt as good about a Knicks team as I did with what
00:52:35six or five minutes to go in, in game one of the Eastern Conference finals last year.
00:52:40And then they took my soul out of my chest and then they stomped all over it.
00:52:47So like, and, but that's not a Knicks thing.
00:52:50That's like, you know, that's the NBA in, in, in 2025, 2026 when comebacks like are, are, you know, prevalent
00:52:59and no lead is safe because of the three pointer.
00:53:04Um, I don't want, I'm not trying to sit here and be certainly not trying to be cocky.
00:53:08Like, as everybody said, take care of business in game six.
00:53:11Don't mess around.
00:53:13They're just, I'm seeing how, like what I'm seeing, it doesn't feel like fool's gold.
00:53:19It feels like they have found something at both ends.
00:53:22It's like, you know what?
00:53:24I'll go back to the best teams.
00:53:27If you turn them on, on any given night, you're like, I feel confident that I know what I'm going
00:53:31to get from this team tonight.
00:53:32Whether they have a good shooting performance or a not good shooting performance, whether the team they're playing shoots or
00:53:36doesn't shoot well, I know what I'm going to get.
00:53:39It feels like you now know what you're going to get from the Knicks.
00:53:43If you, if you watch them on both ends of the floor.
00:53:46And I don't know that I have felt that way a lot this year, this season.
00:53:51No, I haven't heard this from you this season.
00:53:54I've talked to you a lot through the season.
00:53:55And a big part of that is the starting five, because even during stretches of the year when they were
00:54:01playing well, the starting five was not necessarily a big part of their success.
00:54:05It was often they were winning despite the starting five.
00:54:08And that has changed.
00:54:10You know, that has changed.
00:54:11The starting five is playing well.
00:54:13Their best players are playing together.
00:54:15We're talking about a great series from OG, a great series from Kat.
00:54:18And like now we could, we could kind of start to tip the scales for Brunson too.
00:54:24That's, that's such an anomaly given how they've played the season.
00:54:27Josh Hart is also having a good series.
00:54:28Oh, I mean, yeah.
00:54:30But Hart's always, you know, he's going to bring it.
00:54:32Right.
00:54:32He's a 16 game player.
00:54:33We know what he's, what he's going to bring.
00:54:36This is good to hear from you.
00:54:37We got one, we got one last comment in here.
00:54:39Uh, this from my guy, Greg film stuff.
00:54:44Uh, my guy, my guy too.
00:54:45Yeah.
00:54:46If the Knicks finish off the Hawks on Thursday, who would you rather play between the Celtics
00:54:51and the Sixers?
00:54:51Me personally, I want the Celtics.
00:54:53I fear, fear Greg fear Philly PG 13 is their fourth option.
00:55:00So it is fear.
00:55:01Uh, who do you want?
00:55:02Uh, Jay, but we, well, first thing we both want a long series for that, for those other
00:55:06two teams, uh, the two Atlantic division rivals.
00:55:08But who would you want between the Celtics or, or the Sixers Philly?
00:55:15I want Philly that's, and that's not, it's just the Celtics have like when they are hitting
00:55:25their threes, they don't lose.
00:55:28And you can say, well, great.
00:55:30They're not going to hit, like, I don't think they're going to hit their three.
00:55:32Like that, that team is, um, it's just, they're, they're scary when the, when the shots are
00:55:38going down, there is nothing, the Knicks or any other defense can do to stop them.
00:55:42That's just the reality.
00:55:43Like the Sixers.
00:55:45I know the Knicks are capable of slowing down the Sixers offense.
00:55:49Um, now the Embiid piece of it is a little bit scary because you know, how would, how
00:55:56would that series go from a town's perspective?
00:55:59Um, but I would rather face Philly for sure.
00:56:03It's interesting.
00:56:05I like Philly.
00:56:06I'd like it.
00:56:07I wonder how Philly's confidence would be.
00:56:09They get past the Sixers.
00:56:10I'm sure it'd be high.
00:56:12The Knicks have home court advantage.
00:56:13That'd be nice.
00:56:14Well, let's see.
00:56:15Oh, I didn't even mention that home court.
00:56:16Yeah.
00:56:16Yeah.
00:56:16Home court would be nice for the Knicks.
00:56:19Uh, the basketball lover in me would want to see a little bit of Nick Celtics round two
00:56:25after last year, but you know what?
00:56:29Sending, sending some more misery down the I-95 to our, uh, brothers and sisters in the
00:56:35city of brotherly love would not necessarily be so bad either.
00:56:38I, I just, whatever gets the Knicks to the finals, I don't care how it happens.
00:56:43I just, you know, it's been, well, speaking of that, 27 years, we did have one comment
00:56:48that said, once the Pistons lose their series, G five from the process, the East got a lot
00:56:52easier for the Knicks to make the finals.
00:56:55We'll see.
00:56:56I I'll say this.
00:56:58Yeah.
00:56:58If the Knicks, if the Knicks.
00:57:00Well, take care of business against the Hawks series is not over yet.
00:57:03Yeah.
00:57:03If the Knicks win this series and the Knicks get passed to whoever they play in the next
00:57:07round, they will go to the finals.
00:57:09The same thing that happened last year will not happen again.
00:57:11They will make the finals.
00:57:12They are not, this Knicks team is not losing in the Eastern conference finals.
00:57:16I like this.
00:57:18So you see, they win this series.
00:57:21They're going to the finals.
00:57:22No, I didn't say that.
00:57:23They got to get past the next round.
00:57:25Oh, that's it.
00:57:25You said, oh, you're saying once they, as they reach the ECF, they're going to the
00:57:28If they reach the Eastern conference finals, they will make the finals.
00:57:31I, I, I, the boss, a, a theoretical Boston series to me is a coin flip because I think
00:57:38that is a series where the Knicks could go out and play well.
00:57:42And there is still a world where they lose.
00:57:44Lose.
00:57:45I can see that.
00:57:46Yeah.
00:57:46And I had David Shepard, a serious SM NBA radio tell me on the show.
00:57:49He said, he doesn't think the Knicks have much of a chance in that series.
00:57:52I strongly disagree with him, but that's insane to me that they wouldn't have much
00:57:56of a chance.
00:57:57No, he, he even said, what do you, he said to me a puncher's chance.
00:58:00I said, they've got more than a punch.
00:58:02Oh, I think that's crazy.
00:58:03I think I agree.
00:58:04If you want to say the Celtics should be favored, that's fine.
00:58:06Um, they have home court, you know, I'm not going to begrudge that, but like, you
00:58:12know, I don't, you said he thought it would be a pretty easy series for the
00:58:16Celtics, but you know, is he a Celtics guy?
00:58:19He is not a Celtics fan.
00:58:21Oh, interesting.
00:58:21Okay.
00:58:22He's not a Celtics fan.
00:58:23He also didn't like Mike Brown and thinks Mike Brown talks too long in his press conferences.
00:58:28Okay.
00:58:29That's interesting.
00:58:31I'm just, I'm just telling you, I'm just telling you what happened.
00:58:33Uh, we, we are out of time here.
00:58:35Jay Mack has been kind enough to give me about an hour, uh, to talk about this one.
00:58:38Thank everybody for joining us.
00:58:40I will mention we did have our poll, which we just asked not many votes, but if Josh
00:58:46Hart can't play in game six, who should start in his place?
00:58:48And 50% of you guys said Mitchell Robinson.
00:58:52Really?
00:58:53Okay.
00:58:53Love double big 38% for Landry Shamit and 12% produce McBride.
00:58:58So I, I'm glad to see the Shamit love a lot of Mitch love there.
00:59:01You know, people will love the double big lineup.
00:59:03I wouldn't throw that out there to start personally.
00:59:06I would, I would let that be a last word here.
00:59:09Jay Mack mix.
00:59:12What's your prediction?
00:59:13Next one.
00:59:14Yeah, I'll predict they win.
00:59:15I think they'll win.
00:59:17Um, again, I'm never confident going into any game, but I feel like they're going to
00:59:22play well.
00:59:22And if they don't win, it's going to be because the Hawks play outstanding basketball.
00:59:28Um, you know, probably have a hot shooting night, but I feel good.
00:59:32I think, I think they, and I think the next, uh, they've given me a reason to be as confident
00:59:37as I am ever going to be.
00:59:38So, Hey man, you may never see Jay Mack disconfident again, especially if they lose game six.
00:59:43I'm not saying they will lose game six.
00:59:45I think the next win too.
00:59:46I'm going to predict it.
00:59:47I do not think it'll be probably as easy as game four and five, but I'm going to say
00:59:51next win game six.
00:59:53In the end, they get a little comfortable.
00:59:55They win by 12 or 13 points.
00:59:57I'm going with Nick's, uh, 12 or 13 point victory down in Atlanta.
01:00:00I, where do I sign up for that?
01:00:02I'm sure you will sign up for now.
01:00:04If it's bad, you will be pulling out your bourbon of choice or whatever.
01:00:08I got it right here.
01:00:09Listen, only a Nick fan like you would keep it close by.
01:00:12I wouldn't expect anything less.
01:00:14My friend, you got to keep it close by.
01:00:16I got to, Hey, you ain't got to get ready.
01:00:18If you stay ready, you know what I mean?
01:00:19You stay ready.
01:00:19You stay ready with the bourbon.
01:00:20So I appreciate that.
01:00:21That is my guy, Jonathan Macri, the Dean of Nick's film school.
01:00:24Check him out, uh, with KFS.
01:00:26They do a fantastic job.
01:00:28You have to do the next J Mac.
01:00:29I'm sure we will talk, uh, plenty more through this playoff run, which we hope will be longer.
01:00:34I appreciate you, my friend.
01:00:35I hit you with a bad signal today.
01:00:37You were able to come through and join me for this conversation.
01:00:40I thought you would be, I'm going to put the, give the love back.
01:00:42I thought you would be level-headed as well, too.
01:00:46Talking about what the Knicks have to do to get a win in game six.
01:00:49I thought you would be just, just a bit.
01:00:51I thought you'd be a bit, uh, anything else you want to plug for the people?
01:00:53No, no.
01:00:54Just, uh, check out all the stuff we got going on at Knicks film school.
01:00:57Uh, DJ and Benji are doing, uh, great stuff on the KFS Patreon.
01:01:01If you're a Knick fan out there who is like, feels like I can't get enough, uh, content
01:01:06and wants just like really high level X's and O's, um, stuff in terms of both film work
01:01:12and, and written stuff.
01:01:13Um, Knicks film school, Patreon is where it's at.
01:01:16And then, uh, you know, my newsletter that I have to finish up as soon as I'm getting off
01:01:20with you, that's on Substack.
01:01:22I'm going to break down, uh, Jalen Brunson's game, uh, five performance for tomorrow.
01:01:30And yeah.
01:01:31And then we'll, uh, we'll be live.
01:01:32We're doing a watch along and then post game show.
01:01:34So, um, yeah, but great stuff.
01:01:36Dex, appreciate you having me on as always.
01:01:38Always my friend.
01:01:39Hopefully that both of us tomorrow, we're doing our post game shows are a little bit
01:01:42happier and you're not reaching for that bourbon.
01:01:44I'll be having a bourbon either way.
01:01:46I'll just be honest.
01:01:47If they have a bourbon, if they, we don't have, it depends on how enjoyable that drink
01:01:51is.
01:01:51Is it to, uh, drink away your sorrows or are you, is it a celebratory drink?
01:01:56It can be either or that.
01:01:58I hope it is the latter for you.
01:01:59That is, that is my hope.
01:02:00I hope for you.
01:02:01Uh, thanks everybody for watching in the chat.
01:02:03Hit that like button, hit that subscribe button.
01:02:05Subscribe to the New York post sports YouTube channel.
01:02:07We'll be back with a lot more content this week, uh, about the next.
01:02:10We'll see if they can win game six.
01:02:11We will talk to everybody on Thursday night as Nick's play the Hawks down the ATL peace.
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