00:00Mike Brown's Knicks have absolutely dominated the last three games,
00:04and this team has the city believing again.
00:07But is it too early?
00:09Let's talk to another Mike that has everyone believing.
00:12Mike Beccaro, our New York Post sports columnist,
00:14is hopping on with us to talk game one.
00:16And, of course, if this is the year that the Knicks have the best chance
00:20to raise a banner.
00:21And a real championship banner, too, Mike, not a play-in banner.
00:26But let's go straight into this.
00:28How important was it historically for the Knicks to win game one
00:33the way they did at the Garden last night?
00:36Well, really important, Brandon, because, you know,
00:38the seven times they've lost game one at home in the playoffs in their history,
00:42they were 0-7.
00:42That's not a really great percentage.
00:44And so, look, winning game one was important, I think,
00:47just to set a tone for the series,
00:49to show that the momentum they picked up against the Hawks is a real thing.
00:54They looked every bit as good against the Sixers as they did against Atlanta.
00:58And, look, I mean, it wasn't 17-22 or whatever it was in game six against Atlanta,
01:03but it was still an impressive enough assault on a Sixers team
01:07that was coming in on a pretty big run of its own.
01:09So, a very impressive night at the Garden for the Knicks, no question.
01:12Let's talk about the coaching matchup in this series.
01:15Nick Nurse, Mike Brown.
01:16Mike Brown caught a lot of heat after the losses in game two and three
01:20in that Hawks series.
01:21They have looked like a completely different team since.
01:25So, where have you seen Brown ball the most?
01:28Let's talk about some adjustments that have stood out to you.
01:31Well, look, I think that full credit to him for empowering Mikael Bridges.
01:36There were a lot of calls to knock Mikael out of the starting lineup
01:39when he had his struggles against the Hawks.
01:41You know, when he seemed to find his groove in game six against Atlanta
01:44and was terrific in game one against the Sixers, both sides of the floor.
01:48Most importantly, defensively, where he really neutralized Tyrese Maxey,
01:52which is going to be a huge advantage for the Knicks
01:54if they can do that three more times, if they want to win the series.
01:58And so, I'm going to give him full credit for that.
02:00But, look, it's clear that the more they go on,
02:02the more they see success with the way that Brown wants to do things.
02:05You know, he talks about spraying the ball.
02:07He talks about the defensive commitment night after night.
02:10The longer they seem to be together now as a group under Mike Brown,
02:14the more they seem to buy into what he's selling.
02:16And it's really starting to bear fruit now.
02:19One thing we saw game one that was a little, I guess, weird,
02:23the whole hack-a-Mitch thing in the first quarter.
02:26Like, Nick Nurse, I mean, I don't know why he would revert to that
02:29in the first quarter, but that's something a lot of people
02:32are kind of keeping their eye on for the rest of this series.
02:35How do you think Mike Brown counters that?
02:39Well, he reverted to it because it worked.
02:42Sadly, Mitch still has his struggles from the free throw line.
02:44And look, you know, obviously it didn't work in the long run
02:46because the Knicks wound up winning by 39 points.
02:48But in that moment, you could really sense the guard.
02:51It kind of shifted because it was already raucous and loud.
02:55And all of a sudden, you know, Mitch goes to the free throw line.
02:57He misses four straight free throws.
02:59And there's a little less energy in the building.
03:01And I mean, so like I said, it didn't work out long term for the Sixers,
03:04but it certainly worked out well enough to where I think the Nick Nurse
03:07and anybody else the Knicks might face, you know, the rest of the way
03:10is going to utilize, is going to keep utilizing him.
03:12It's until Mitch makes his free throws more consistently,
03:15that's going to be a thing.
03:17How does Mike Brown combat it?
03:18You know, sadly, the way he did last night, he's going to have to take Mitch out.
03:22If Cat's not available because he doesn't want to get in deeper foul trouble,
03:26they're going to have to go to 40.
03:28And that's just the way it's going to be because you just can't afford,
03:31especially because, you know, yesterday they,
03:33it only happened on two possessions.
03:35But, you know, it can happen on longer than that.
03:38It's the one benefit for a team to get the bonus so quickly
03:40when you're playing the Knicks is that you can put Mitch on the foul line
03:43and use that as a strategy.
03:45And it really did benefit to the Sixers.
03:47It was a temporary fix, but it was an obvious, you know,
03:50right move by Nick Nurse.
03:53I went outside of the garden last night after the win, Mike,
03:56and I don't know why I did that.
03:58The scrum was absolutely crazy with all the fans out there.
04:01I'm not 20-something anymore.
04:02I can't hang.
04:03But you can feel the energy both inside the garden and outside.
04:08A lot of people are believing in this team right now
04:10because of what they've shown the last three games.
04:13And I don't want to get ahead of myself
04:14because there's still a lot of ball left to be played in this series.
04:17But with how the Knicks have been playing versus the rest of the East,
04:22I'm kind of falling into that trap of believing that this could be the year.
04:27Can you confidently say that the Knicks are the best team in the East?
04:33Well, I can confidently say that they're going to keep playing
04:35the way they played the last four games in the last 16 quarters.
04:40Absolutely.
04:41Because they've been that good.
04:43Now, can you replicate that across the next two months?
04:46I mean, we'll see.
04:47But look, I mean, and I wrote about this today.
04:49I mean, I understand the reluctance of fans to get too far ahead of themselves.
04:54Look, the Knicks themselves are very, very adamant about saying,
04:58hey, look, the next game we started 0-0.
05:00We've got to do it over again.
05:01You know, today's not going to matter unless we do it three more times.
05:03And that's exactly the way that players should feel.
05:06Now, I don't think fans are given the same constraints
05:10and you have to follow the same protocols.
05:12They can get as excited as they want to.
05:14And it's exciting to watch the Knicks now because they're not just winning.
05:17They're just playing so well.
05:19You know, yes, the scores are gaudy.
05:21And it's always a lot more fun of a night when you're not worrying
05:24about the outcome of a game when it's not life and death.
05:26But the fact of the matter is what that reflects
05:28is a team playing at a very high level.
05:31Now, if they can sustain that, I mean, absolutely,
05:34they're the favorites in the East.
05:35I mean, why wouldn't they be the favorites overall?
05:37Or at least, you know, an eye-to-eye favorite with the guys coming out West
05:41because that's how well they're playing.
05:42I mean, that's what you have to look at.
05:44Forget the results for a second.
05:45Just enjoy the basketball and the level of basketball.
05:49And that tells you why you should be excited.
05:51Final thoughts, Mike, going into game two.
05:54And can you predict the series for us?
05:57Well, I picked Knicks in seven.
05:58I'm going to stick with that.
05:59Look, I mean, it's one game.
06:01You know, the Sixers, you know, came in.
06:05I think they were probably more tired than they let on.
06:07And I think certainly once the Knicks got out to the big lead,
06:10they let go of the rope a little bit.
06:11But, look, I don't think you can expect Tyrese Maxey
06:14to have that kind of a low-impact game
06:16and Joel Embiid to have that kind of a low-impact game four straight games.
06:20So it's not going to be a short series by any stretch.
06:23I mean, the Knicks are going to take their lumps in the series.
06:24I do believe that.
06:25Even if there's 40% Knicks fans in Philadelphia in games three and four,
06:29I just think that the Sixers are a proud team, a good team.
06:32Look, I mean, right up until the Knicks started taking Dumbledore's lead last night,
06:36people were worried because the Sixers just knocked off the Celtics, you know,
06:40and did so by winning three straight elimination games.
06:42So, look, I think the Knicks are going to win the series.
06:44I'm not going to move off that yet.
06:47You know, maybe if they win another game by 39 points on Tuesday,
06:50maybe I'll shorten the series and my prediction is going forward.
06:52But for now, I'm going to stick with the Knicks in seven,
06:54and I think that's fine.
06:55All you got to do is win it in seven.
06:56Just survive in advance, as the man said.
06:59And right now, the Knicks seem to have the kind of thing
07:01that would allow that to happen.
07:03Thank you, Mike, for hopping on with us.
07:05And I'll see you at the Garden Wednesday night for game two.
07:08Sounds good, Brandon.
07:09We'll see you there, my friend.
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