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00:14welcome back to another edition of new york got game doing these conversations on the off day
00:19dexter henry here if the knicks had a big victory in game two over the six years to take commanding
00:25two oh lead and i'm joined by my guy sal akata host of the sal akata show you can find
00:31that on
00:31youtube he was in the building at msg last night and he joins me now sal what's going on man
00:37not
00:37not much zax i mean it was an exciting night back and forth great energy in the building such a
00:42fun
00:42playoff game you know there's nothing better than playoffs at the world's most famous arena
00:46but we all just wait as we record this live here on this wednesday on this thursday morning we're
00:51waiting for og ananobi that's gonna be the biggest deal even watching the game and getting the knicks
00:56that victory it's still like wait a second where's og what's going on so uh they're obviously their
01:01future hinges on his hammy yeah that is the biggest question like last night when i was doing the live
01:06watch party that's what all the fans wanted to know what's where's the og update as we're recording this
01:10sal and i we're still looking for the og update so you see us looking down looking at our phones
01:15we're trying to figure out what's going on here let's start with that sal um because it's a feel
01:22good win knicks are up too well and i'll get to that more in a second but it feels like
01:27the og injury
01:28scare i'm gonna call it injury scare because we don't know what it is changes everything around this
01:33knicks team if he's limited or if he's out how much does that reshape the knicks defensive identity
01:40in your eyes well i mean i think a lot but i think it also depends on the series in
01:44this series
01:45i don't want to hear any excuses they're up to nothing on the sixers they got to put them away
01:49so even og if og does not suit up again in this series now it's going to be a convenient
01:55excuse if
01:56they don't get the job done but they're better than the sixers even without og ananobi so there's
02:02there should be no excuses in this particular round not that i think it's going to be easy
02:06big as it won't i still think we've yet to see the best of the sixers a healthy and bead
02:11maxi
02:11hitting his shots credit the knicks defense for that to your point but they should be able to beat
02:15them beyond that do i think the knicks can win beat the pistons without og probably not and i don't
02:21i
02:21know they they might not be able to win the championship with og ananobi regardless of who
02:25they're facing in the west so i think for the knicks to maintain the championship hopes clearly they
02:30need to get ananobi back before the eastern conference finals but i do think that even if they miss
02:35him here in this the second round series they should be able to advance past the sixers let
02:40me ask you this because you mentioned the pistons let's say it's the calves in the next round how do
02:45you feel about that matchup without og ah man i mean the calves could still be dangerous i think when
02:50you start getting to that level i look i still think the knicks should beat the calves without og
02:55ananobi and i still think i mean they had their issues against the pistons with ananobi in the regular
03:00season i still think it's different the knicks are so deep and so talented decks that i don't want
03:05to use that as an excuse but i mean og ananobi is their second best player i know everybody talks
03:09about cat behind brunson we understand what cat can do when he's been playing better outside of
03:13the foul trouble he's got to clean that up but ananobi does it all knocks down the threes he
03:18attacks the rim moves it out the ball obviously an excellent defender i think he's taken his game to a
03:23whole nother level in the last couple years as a new york nick so i i don't know when you
03:28when the
03:29opponent the caliber starts to go up and even though you know i think the sixers are a very dangerous
03:34team the pistons the calves well coached teams tough teams i think they're going to need og back
03:40for that series or those yeah listen sap i've said this throughout the season now in the playoffs you
03:45see the way he's playing you're right he's leveled up you can argue he's their most important player
03:50right now wherever you want to rank him cool but you can argue that he's their most important player
03:55and i do think this changes everything now we hope the news is good on og i'm looking at this
03:59still
03:59checking my phone that hopefully we have some good news so i could say say here would be a sound
04:03okay so let's go to this because you were in the building last night 2-0 lead now over the
04:09sixers
04:10two very different kinds of wins in game one and game two um does it feel like control for the
04:17nick
04:17especially when you add an og variable do you feel like this is a series the nicks are in control
04:21of
04:22right now excellent question but i would say yes and here's why the nicks it seems never take a two
04:29games to none lead that is a if you don't want to say commanding it's at least in control usually
04:34they
04:35find a way to sub their toe whether it's the first round against atlanta like we saw how do they
04:39lose
04:39game two the the pacers a year ago blowing game two on the road different because you want to go
04:45one
04:45and one right obviously you want to go two at all but the goal is to just at least get
04:48one before you
04:49come back home but as far as protecting home court yeah i do feel like the nicks did what they
04:54needed
04:54to do and you know look no og and ob down the stretch fine no mitchell robinson i know the
04:58sixers didn't have him bead but the nicks clearly missed mitchell robinson last night especially when
05:04you factor in the foul trouble that towns got in so overcoming that the sixers hot start the sixers
05:09playing pretty well yeah getting that win being up two games to none i do feel like they're in
05:14control because now all you really need is one of the next two games in philadelphia whether it be
05:19friday night or on mother's day on sunday in game four and now you're in a real prime position
05:23to put them away in five games which should happen here i mean the nicks keep messing around six
05:28seven game series no i feel like now even as dangerous as the sixers can be even with the og
05:34injury looming i still think that this should be a five game series yeah it's funny i've picked them
05:41in six i've now kind of moved off of that i think it should be five and you make great
05:44points out
05:45the nicks haven't won back-to-back games at home to start a series since 2013 they haven't done that
05:51you know in a while this is the first time they did it so it was kind of big for
05:54them to do this
05:55let i'm going to talk to you about a couple of players in this series mikhail bridges good game last
06:01night hit his shots 18 points he's played really good defense in this series are you liking where his
06:09game is and how essential is he if og ananobi is out for any period of time where he's got
06:16to level
06:16it up right sal i think that's the best point that this this is what makes the nicks so dangerous
06:22is
06:22that they're deep now bridges is not og ananobi he's nowhere near as complete as ananobi he hasn't
06:29evolved to that level of player he he had he's shown signs of that he's not he's like a poor
06:35man's
06:35ananobi but if you're going to lose ananobi try to replace him with a guy that does have that
06:42potential that can score both inside and out that plays every minute that plays both ends of the floor
06:48he's been a difference maker defensively so even with bridges and all the talk about how he's been
06:52a boss and why give up all those picks that's more about the offensive end and his inconsistencies
06:57there defensively he has been a game changer so that's i'm not worried about that the problem is
07:04now you lose his count is his partner in that with og ananobi so i do think though that they
07:09have
07:09the player that could step up and be asked to develop into a little bit more of a scorer's role
07:16he has
07:16the ability to do it he's done the times most of it before he ever became a nick whether it
07:21was with
07:21phoenix or with the nets he's done it a little bit here with the knicks but yeah i think bridges
07:25is the guy especially now that he's starting to play better in spurts i don't think it's outlandish
07:31to expect that he can elevate his game and fill the void left by og ananobi that's good some knicks
07:38fans still not confident sal you know they're always still going to bring up the picks they're
07:42not going to be as confident about him i think i was confident i said you know what fair point
07:47you
07:47did not you did not but no but but i do believe i maybe believe in him in more than
07:52most and i do
07:52think he could do it and it's starting to show some signs yeah i think yeah and here's it and
07:57i think
07:57you brought up another good point he's been good defensively and even specifically on maxi
08:03in this series he's been really good defensively on him i'll get to maxi in a second now last night
08:09and i don't know how you felt at the garden cat gets the three thousand the first half and i'm
08:13sitting there and i'm watching the game and i'm like ah we're gonna see this again we've seen cat
08:19with the silly fouls again but he bounced back in the second half and only had one foul had a
08:25fantastic third quarter do you think we've seen growth from cat here in these playoffs and did you
08:31like the bounce back ability in game two i do think that we have seen growth from cat definitively
08:37like not even i think i we have seen growth from cat specifically cleaning things up on the offensive
08:43end now the issue last night too you can't get in foul trouble he's got to be better than that
08:47he's
08:47got to be smarter than that especially without uh mitchell robinson available the fourth foul though
08:52i thought was something that mike brown should have challenged the officiating was horrible all night
08:56and it looked like cat went up didn't even touch him so i would have challenged that to prevent him
09:01from getting the fourth foul just because of the importance of having him on the floor without mitch
09:04but offensively going back a year and it's something that i gave up on him i couldn't take it
09:10out of control going to the hoop arms flailing always looking for a foul looking for the contact
09:17and in the process either creating turnovers or offensive fouls and to me that was something that
09:24i just couldn't watch and i didn't think he had the potential or ability to correct that he has i
09:30look
09:30at cat as his greatest asset of being a guy a big who could stretch the floor and knock down
09:34threes
09:34you're seeing that more often when he does go to the rim they can't stop him and he's doing it
09:40much more cleanly or cleaner than he was doing it a year ago with limiting the turnovers and
09:46offensive fouls so from that aspect yes and i feel like he's been playing much better this to his
09:51credit much better on the defensive end oh yeah the effort is just totally different you could see
09:56that in the last month or so where he's really turned it up defensively so we have seen and this
10:01is what the knicks need to win a championship a much better version of carl anthony towns now i gotta
10:05ask you sort of the same thing i asked you with bridges sal are you confident that cat can keep
10:10this up do you feel confident based on what you've seen thus far in these playoffs that he can keep
10:14it
10:14up i think it's another great question i am not the knicks have to earn my trust because they have
10:21not been consistent so it's been better in the postseason certainly the last three games against
10:27atlanta and then game one against the sixers the fact that the knicks could actually take a two
10:30games to none lead and protect home court that's something that builds trust without ananobi lose
10:36a little bit of that trust do i ultimately believe that bridges can carry the torch so i ultimately
10:41believe carl anthony towns can be this player i gotta find within myself decks the difference between the
10:48hope and the true belief i'm still not there that oh i'm getting there the more we see the more
10:55i i can
10:56believe but i need to see more before i definitively say yes i believe the tandem of cat and brunson
11:03can
11:04be a championship duo i am not there yet more so because of cat than jalen brunson all right fair
11:10enough we got to make sure we get sal to become a believer talking with salicata of the salicata show
11:15check that out on youtube here with me on new york got game defense for the knicks it's really good
11:22throughout these playoffs sal um but the sixers two different looks right you saw game one with
11:27imbead you saw game two without imbead philly looks faster but then they look really tired offensively
11:34down the stretch are the knicks and i'm i'm assuming this with og you talk with og or without og
11:41are they
11:41better suited to defend the version of philly that we saw last night that is faster without imbead than
11:48with imbead which version do you think is better for the knicks or the knicks can they defend both
11:52i guess is what i'm asking too my producer brought that up this morning i think it's a great question
11:56i think to me there's no doubt the sixers are tougher with and be there i understand why there
12:01would be some thought that oh they could be tougher because they're faster and they could penetrate and
12:05and bead maybe gets in the way and clog some things up no i think imbead is a problem because
12:10he
12:10could do it multiple ways inside outside and the sixers need to clean their offense up a little bit
12:16because they got weapons all over the place paul george has looked like vintage paul george in
12:20this series maxi hasn't even played his best game yet and you can see how dangerous he could be with
12:25his speed he needs to start knocking down some shots and that is what will have the sixers win
12:29some games if you throw imbead into that mix not to mention vj edgecomb the impressive rookie
12:34they're they're dangerous to me because they have weapons all over the floor that can score
12:39especially in a tight game remember the the first game imbead wasn't really a factor because it was a
12:43big blowout tight game with imbead a potential guy there that can maybe sixers couldn't buy one
12:49down the stretch that was an issue so when you can't buy one down the stretch you like to have
12:54as
12:54many options and weapons as possible and they were missing arguably their biggest weapon in imbead so
13:00i i understand why the question is brought up i will always say that the sixers are far more dangerous
13:07for anybody and in this case we're talking about the knicks far more dangerous when they have
13:11joel and beat on the floor you also brought up i almost forgot to go back to this you brought
13:16up
13:16the officiating a lot of fans not they did not love the officiating in in game two now mike brown
13:22i don't
13:22know if you saw his comments after the game sal he also seemed to not like the officiating he did
13:27his
13:27best to criticize without getting fined okay do you think he had valid concerns and i'm i don't want
13:32to just talk about game two games one and game two because it was 34 to 17 free throw disparity
13:36in game one 28 to 25 in game two did you like what mike brown said is he is he
13:43you know is this
13:44just gamesmanship that we're seeing from yeah i was trying to plant a seed for game three i hated the
13:49way that that game was officiated both sides it was too too many whistles interrupting the flow of the
13:55game too much ticky tacky stuff fan the whistles with the phantom contact so i'm glad mike brown said
14:02we've seen this before dex this is i mean an old playbook from coaches throughout the course of a
14:06series going out there and some do it flat out criticizing some will do it subliminally so i have
14:12no problem with mike brown i thought the game was officiated horribly last night but i don't think it
14:16was one-sided i just think it was for me look you're there at the game i'm not watching the
14:21replays
14:21the way that everybody is i see some of them up there but at the game is being different than
14:25watching it on tv with the broadcasters and all that stuff commenting on it from my perspective
14:29i hated the way the game was officiated really for both sides uh i felt it more from a knicks
14:35perspective because the cats foul trouble and because i'm rooting for the knicks but good for
14:39mike brown sending the message here i don't know how they're going to get the benefit of the whistle
14:42now though going to philadelphia i just hope that the game is they let the game breathe a little bit
14:47more as opposed to calling everything which i hated to see yeah i think most fans want that right
14:51like let the game breathe a little bit more not as ticky tacky that's what most fans really want
14:55you talk about going to philadelphia this is where the series is going to shift now game three
14:58friday night who actually feels more pressure in this game and let's you know what let me just put
15:03it out here like this let's say there's just no og in this game i don't know how long he's
15:07about
15:07let's say there's no og for game three is it more of a desperate sixers team trying to get this
15:12win
15:12or the knicks feeling the pressure of trying to step on their throat and go up 3-0 without og
15:17who feels
15:18more pressure i think in game three to me it's clearly all on the sixers but if the sixers win
15:23then the pressure is even with the 2-1 advantage the knicks clearly would have the pressure on them
15:28because you go up two games to none you got to make sure you maintain that two game lead in
15:33that
15:33series you don't want this thing to get even there so i think that the pressure will be on philadelphia
15:38they go down 3-0 they're not coming back against the knicks that series is over matter of fact you
15:42might as well break out the brooms i'm not so sure we'd see another game at the garden in round
15:46two
15:46if the knicks can get game three i still think philadelphia will get a game i'll probably say
15:51they'll get game three i would assume even if og's injury isn't bad he's probably not going to play
15:57friday night so let's just assume that philly gets that game then game four sunday is really i mean
16:04that's the game is it going to be a 3-1 commanding lead coming back home with only needing to
16:09win one
16:10more game two of the final three if needed at the garden or you have yourself now a best of
16:15three
16:16it goes from feeling great about being up 2-0 all of a sudden 2-2 brand new series plus
16:21like you said
16:21the the balance with the the health of og you know that could be dangerous certain knicks are not out
16:27of
16:27the woods yet they're not into the eastern conference finals yet long way to go i know it feels like
16:31they're in great shape here pressure though in game three to me specifically is on the sixes see i like
16:36that you said that i think there's some fans part of the fan base that they think oh they're cruising
16:40they're good i know they've won five playoff games in a row that is near the franchise record of six
16:44they did back in 99 all that good good vibes but they're not there yet and i think you can
16:50look
16:50at this and say hey we just saw in the last round sal we literally just saw the sixers come
16:55back
16:55against the celtics do you think the knicks are built to not be another comeback victim to the sixes
17:01here just the way they're playing how they're built offensively and defensively are they set up to
17:06not be a comeback victim to the sixes i mean i think the knicks are better than the celtics i
17:11think
17:11the knicks are in better shape than the celtics were i mean even with the ananobi stuff it's still
17:16not tatum going down like if brunson went down that would be the equivalent when you lose jason
17:20tatum in a game seven at home so i i think the knicks are better and i expect them at
17:25this point
17:25i thought the sixes were dangerous coming into this the series and i think people were overrating the
17:30knicks based off of their dominance against atlanta who i don't think was very good so i was a little
17:34apprehensive i also am a law of averages guy deck so like at some point i feel like the sixers
17:39and i call
17:40them the semis sixers because they never get out of the semis round i like that i like that i
17:45feel
17:45like at some point they're going to they're just too good they have too much talent and then i start
17:51to think negatively like oh well of course the time that they get to the eastern conference finals will
17:55be at the expense of my knicks because when have i ever enjoyed anything as a fan but also aside
18:00from
18:01that you look at the talent that they have they are dangerous assuming healthy i mean you could argue
18:06if imbeed was healthy last night they easily could have won that game it's a 1-1 series so
18:09i think there is a an over inflation of what the knicks are because of the dominance that they
18:15showed for four straight playoff games three in atlanta and rent and then game one i'm not there yet
18:20and these two games have been kind of the first game you can maybe throw out because of the sixers
18:24being tired after game seven yesterday you could even say uh no imbeed i think now and look maybe the
18:31sixers never get their feet under them in this series because they were tired because imbeed's
18:36not healthy whatever and maybe the knicks just roll them which i hope is the case i'm still not
18:40sold yet but at this point up to oh it would be a this is not michael jordan here there's
18:46not being
18:46up to oh on the bulls and having michael yeah and then having the charles smiths and having michael
18:52jordan do his thing they they got to be able to put this series away even with og and the
18:57uncertainty
18:57the knicks got even with the sixers and how dangerous they are you go up to oh you make
19:02sure you put them away one one way or another even if it takes seven games make sure you move
19:06on to the eastern conference finals so what was what was your pick before the series what'd you say
19:10i i hated to even be asked this question because i the way i would do picks decks is i
19:17try to take
19:18my fandom out of it and the way that i would be looking at a series unbiased and if i
19:24were just
19:24looking at the two teams i and i usually pick underdogs the knicks are the favorites but i'm
19:29looking at a sixers team that's very dangerous that i didn't want to face i'm on record saying
19:32that was the one team i didn't want to see in the first round was the philadelphia 76ers nick
19:37france like oh what are you kidding me blah blah the sixers sink i said as long as it beats
19:40healthy i
19:41wouldn't want to play them look what happened to the celtics in the first round so that just shows
19:45you how dangerous they can be so i'm i and i feel like at some point they're going to break
19:50through
19:50so my initial pick when i was asked about this was sixers in seven and i that that would be
19:56my bet
19:56betting odds just picking the upset and maybe having the knicks disappoint because i'd rather
20:01go into a series as the underdog as opposed to a favorite just because most times as a fan i
20:06feel
20:06like as a favorite i've gotten burned that being said i know how talented the knicks are i just
20:11couldn't trust that they would play complete games and so far so good now i would expect the
20:16knicks to win this series i don't know how you can't after watching the first two games
20:19but i'm still not a hundred percent sold that the sixers are dead you're really not you i really
20:24hear that when you explain that i hear the trepidation for you would you has your pick
20:28shifted at all would you go knicks and five knicks yeah i think that now the way the series has
20:33played
20:34out it's not being reactionary it's just seeing what has happened here i think the knicks are too good
20:39and i don't expect that they lose two in a row so if that gets me to three one game
20:44five could they
20:46lose that series put it this way if the knicks are who we want to believe that they are a
20:50championship caliber team they should win one of the next two games and beat philadelphia in game
20:56five next week that's what should happen anything especially now anything else i wouldn't have said
21:01that coming into the series clearly but up to oh now win one of the next two and then bury
21:06them in
21:06game five that's what a championship team would do anything beyond that it would be still great if
21:12they advanced but it would be to a point where i could say i don't trust them to go win
21:16the
21:16championship remember the knicks are graded on a championship curve here not a win a first round
21:22win a second round series this is a championship curve championship teams up to oh will put this team
21:28away in five games i think that's i think that's more than fair now before i let you go i
21:33gotta bring
21:34up something you i heard you say the other day you were on the stu got show yeah and i
21:39heard you say
21:40mr lakata that you would not trade jalen brunson for anybody and you were specifically asked
21:48about victor remiama right defensive player of the year one of the best players in the league top five
21:54player in the league and you sir said you would not trade jalen brunson for it and i gotta be
21:59honest
21:59with you sal my initial reaction was like yo what is what's what's up with sal what's what's good with
22:05sal right now you would really wouldn't change trade jalen brunson for victor remiama are we
22:12serious right now oh did they air that podcast i wasn't sure that was getting aired uh especially
22:16yes dex here's here's why and i said this would still i would rather lose with jalen brunson than win
22:27without him i know that that sounds crazy but i and it's not just an attachment to him it's the
22:33player
22:33that he is everything he embodies as a player as a high character individual as a potential mvp candidate
22:41like i know that a healthy wemby can be more dangerous and i have some reservations about his
22:46body type staying healthy but but throw in sga like there's no doubt that sga is the better player
22:52but i think brunson's the better nick he's one of our guys he his father was a nick so he
22:58grew up
22:58around the team i understand that you know grew up in chicago and all those different things but
23:01you know what i'm saying there's a deep connection there he willingly came here turned into a star
23:07here lifted this team out of the out of the abyss so to me having jalen brunson be a part
23:17of the
23:18ultimate success would mean more than just winning a championship with whatever mercenary you go out
23:24there and get i love jalen brunson i've said this years ago i said this on the fan with bt
23:27i would not
23:28trade i know he's not the best player in the league i would not trade jalen brunson for anybody
23:32so you love more of what he means to the knicks and how it would be satisfying for you to
23:38win with
23:39him as the leader that that's what i take it as all of it i'd rather like i'm satisfied as
23:43a 90s
23:44knicks fan right knowing that i had ewing as my guy all those i mean stocks is my favorite but
23:51you
23:51know what i mean ewing as the best player on that team would i have traded ewing for david robinson
23:57or hakeem olajuwon i would not you could say that i would have been stupid and i would have won
24:02a
24:02championship with olajuwon or with robinson but but i'm happy that i got to see my guy the big fella
24:09give everything he had every night embodied this city this town that team more than anything and even
24:17though they fell short of the championship i'm at peace with that so that's why i would not i would
24:22not make that move you know what i'm glad you put that in context with the 90s knicks because i
24:27understand where you're coming from growing up as a knicks fan and i i get i get that i wonder
24:32as
24:32you're saying that do fans still have that same sense of pride with their players and their teams
24:37that they're like hey this is my guy we're gonna rock with him all the way no matter what and
24:42there's
24:43pride in that or it's just that we gotta everything's about winning the ring we gotta do it if you
24:48don't do it it's a failure i you i think a lot of fans do have that look at pete
24:52alonzo and brandon
24:53nimmo so i usually don't i'm able to and that's why it's not just like oh no i love the
24:57homegrown
24:58guys i don't i don't care where they come from who they played for before i care what they do
25:02here
25:03but there are certain players and they are far and few between jalen brunson to me is one of those
25:09guys who you can't find a more perfect new york nick a leader of your franchise a captain than him
25:17it doesn't mean he's the most talented but he's the guy that i want to ride with and i'd rather
25:23ride it out with him in hopes of him getting us over the top as opposed to moving on from
25:28him at
25:29this point i'm not talking about you know eight years down the road or five years down the road
25:32i'm talking about right now if you can make that swap nope nope i i'm not doing it i want
25:37to ride this
25:37out with jalen brunson and see if he can be the guy to get us over the hump because i
25:41think then
25:41it would be even more gratifying than anything you could imagine all right sal is riding with
25:45jalen brunson all the way last word here sal are the nicks going to the finals yes or no
25:51i know you're on the fence that's why i'm asking you this i i it's it's tough i'm torn between
25:57what i'm seeing is there's reason to believe i'm trying to get rid of the pessimistic oh it's not
26:03it's too good to be true i do think when all is said and done cross our fingers here with
26:08og
26:09that the nicks will be in the nba finals this year i think it's got to be this year and
26:13i do believe
26:14at this point the way that they've played so far in the postseason i believe it's going to happen
26:18all right sal i like that the nicks need to get it done because you know who's not going to
26:21get it
26:22done for us the mets that's not going to happen right now we know that's not going to happen with
26:27the
26:27mets that's another show for another time that is sal akata check him out on the sal akata show
26:33hit that like button that subscribe button for him on youtube fantastic show sal i appreciate you
26:37my friend for coming and joining me here on new york got game and uh we'll talk soon thank you
26:41dex i
26:42appreciate having me man anytime man and thanks for watching new york got game boom shakalaka
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