00:00To say the Knicks have been dominant so far in the playoffs would be certainly a valid take.
00:09But in the way it's growing, JY, the way they feel to me a little bit is tournament UConn where
00:20what we knew, right, becomes irrelevant.
00:26And what they're doing puts us all in catch-up mode where, you know, there's a reason Hurley has covered
00:35all but, I believe, one tournament game in the last three years.
00:38And it was an opening round matchup with Furman.
00:41The Knicks feel like they are just getting on this warpath coach.
00:48I know they didn't cover game two against Philadelphia, but listen, I'm not asking them to win every game by
00:54100.
00:55They've done a pretty sensational job winning five of these last six by 14 or more.
01:03The Knicks have really found something here, Coach.
01:06And, you know, I don't take issue with them moving in front of, as somebody who's picking Detroit to win
01:14the conference and did before the postseason,
01:16I don't take issue with the Knicks moving out in front of the Pistons when we talk about the conference
01:24favorites overall.
01:26Well, I think a lot of that, Kevin, has to do with the fact of not that the Knicks are
01:30winning.
01:30It's how they're winning, right?
01:32The dominating fashion.
01:34And obviously the defense.
01:36I think as much as we have and people have knocked Mike Brown throughout the course of the season, and
01:43I was one of them at times, he has righted the ship.
01:46He has gotten them to play high-level defense.
01:49He, middle of a series, which I think he gets good credit, down 2-1, decides that we're going to
01:56run the offense through Carl Anthony Towns at the top of the key and let him deal with, you know,
02:02whether it's a split screen or flex action or back screen flare action.
02:07I mean, they've allowed him to kind of be the hub.
02:11But, Kevin, he's pushing the right buttons.
02:14Mikel Bridges was someone everyone wanted to run out of New York every time he had a bad game.
02:17All of a sudden, Mikel Bridges, folks, has been playing like, I don't know, like an all-star the last
02:24four games?
02:25Come on, folks.
02:26No one saw that coming.
02:27Mitchell Robinson misses the game, comes in, gives you big minutes.
02:31Landry Schammett, who literally got dusted off for weeks on end, comes in last night and gives you a huge
02:39lift.
02:39It's just a team, Kevin, that is really believing in each other.
02:44I think Brunson is allowing the game to come to him more.
02:48What's that makes him more dangerous?
02:50If the Knicks play team ball and then you get late-game situation, okay, JB, now go get it, that's
02:58what happened in game two because other guys got involved.
03:02The biggest question right now for New York, and they're playing with fire with this, is Carl Anthony Towns continues
03:09to get himself into foul trouble game after game after game.
03:12And as the level of competition jumps up, and if they get to the Eastern Conference Finals, he's going to
03:18have to be able to be on the floor for 30 minutes, 35 minutes a night.
03:21If they get to the NBA Finals, he's got to be on the floor 30, 35 minutes a night.
03:26So out of all the greatness of how New York is playing, there still is the cat foul trouble angle
03:34that still is going to be big at some point if he does not fix it.
03:39But cats minutes played in the series, 20, 27, and 26, and that isn't a coaching thing.
03:48Though there was an interesting moment, I thought, J.Y., in the third quarter of game two, where he picked
03:55up another foul, and he saw they were going to bench him, and he was screaming, no.
04:01And sometimes a player does that, and the coach is like, whatever, man, just give him, you know what, maybe
04:06he can figure this out.
04:07And Mike Brown was unfazed and still subbed him out and walked to the locker room.
04:14It's a great point, J.Y., about the town.
04:17Like, that's why, to me, I can simultaneously feel as if the Knicks are deserving of favorite status, yet that
04:25Detroit matchup could be bad.
04:27Now, I don't want to rush ahead.
04:28We're not there yet.
04:29You know, there's still postseason basketball to be played.
04:32Can I ask you, do you feel Mike Brown has saved his job, assuming the Knicks don't become the first
04:41-ever team to blow a 3-0 series lead?
04:43I think if he blows the series lead, obviously, you know, things are going to happen.
04:47But assuming he makes a conference finals year, matching, obviously, what Tibbs did last year in making a conference finals,
04:54do you think Mike Brown's job is safe?
04:57Unless they get absolutely run over in the Eastern Conference Finals, you have to say that, yeah, he's probably saved
05:06his job.
05:07I think, honestly, not only has he saved his job, I think this roster may have saved themselves.
05:13Because now, all of a sudden, this whole talk of Giannis going to New York, Kevin, it's gotten really, really
05:18quiet the last couple of weeks.
05:19Let's go.
