00:00Who would the Knicks rather play?
00:02Secretly, who are they rooting for in Game 7?
00:05Between the Pistons and the Cavs,
00:09I will say this, Coach.
00:12I think the answer is pretty obvious.
00:15I think you'd much rather play Cleveland.
00:18The Pistons have home court advantage.
00:20And I think that alone makes the Cavs a more tempting team to face
00:27because so far, obviously, the Knicks have done a great job
00:31in Madison Square Garden.
00:32They've also done an excellent job on the road.
00:33Again, they've been fantastic in this postseason.
00:35But you'd much rather have home court advantage if you are the Knicks.
00:40And then when you just factor in,
00:42it feels like no team had the Knicks number more than Detroit
00:46during the regular season, Coach.
00:48I think, again, outwardly or not,
00:51they have to be rooting for the Cavs to pull off a Game 7 upset.
00:55Well, I also think there's two other reasons
00:59why you're going that way.
01:00And I tend to agree because I've been bouncing it back and forth.
01:04I also think, respectfully,
01:07when you have two guards that are dynamic,
01:11and Mitchell, obviously, and Harden,
01:15I think the Knicks have the level of defenders,
01:22Bridges, Deuce, Hart's played exceptional defense.
01:26I don't think he's gotten a lot of credit during this playoff run.
01:30And then OG looks like, according to folks,
01:33that he's trending towards playing in Game 1.
01:36He was a full participant, did everything in practice yesterday
01:38to the Knicks, according to our guy Ian Begley of SNY.
01:41So there is that factor because Kane presents a different dynamic
01:47because of his physicality, right,
01:50and his ability at 6'6'' to give Bridges more trouble
01:55because he's got muscle and he's torn in Josh Hart.
01:58So, you know, then it gets weird.
02:00Like, do you now put OG on him?
02:02So, to me, I think that's where it is.
02:05I also think that Detroit can give you more defensive pressure
02:08in regards to a sore being put on Jalen Brunton
02:13and just hounding him.
02:15When it comes to the Knicks, it's all about how they play.
02:22There was a talk that obviously, and it's starting to come out now,
02:25the Cardinal Anthony Towns is the one that went to Tibbs,
02:27not the Tibbs, but the Mike Brown said,
02:29put me in the high post topic area and let me work from there.
02:33And it's worked.
02:36But did it against the Congo, decent player,
02:39and then did it against Joel Embiid was compromised.
02:43Jalen Durant is far more athletic,
02:47and Paul Reed is secretly athletic.
02:49I think he can also give more of a problem.
02:54I also think when Mitchell Robinson gets in front of Jared Allen,
02:58Jared Allen looks like he just saw the boogeyman
03:00because he just can't deal with Big Mitch.
03:03So to me, yeah, if you're in New York, you want to play Cleveland,
03:06but if the New York Knicks is what we saw in the last seven games,
03:15I don't know if it matters because it's different.
03:21The ball is not getting stuck in Jalen Brunton's hands.
03:26They're going through Cat.
03:27Now you're using Brunton off-ball, which he's really crafty,
03:32and it creates movement, and you have cutters.
03:35So I do think New York's style of play is going to be better,
03:40which that's why they're the favorite.
03:42But I also think if there's a team that's going to rough it up
03:45and rough up the series and be physical
03:47and not let you get off those cuts,
03:49to me, it's more likely to be Detroit than Cleveland.
03:53I will add to your point of it might not matter.
03:59I think the Knicks have more pressure on them this year
04:05in the Eastern Conference Finals than, right, JY?
04:10Like, I think than any question they had last year against Indiana.
04:18And I think part of that is just the simple math of the Knicks
04:26have been off for a week-plus.
04:28The Cavs and the Pistons, doesn't matter who they play,
04:32have – and we're going to – you know, we'll get to the lottery
04:35after the break.
04:36I know that's coming up.
04:39The Cavs and Pistons have each now played seven-game series
04:43in both rounds one and round two.
04:46It takes a toll.
04:48Playoff games are hard.
04:49These guys are playing 40 minutes a night if they have it going.
04:54As somebody who picked Detroit to make it out of the East
04:58and certainly thought they could have faced the Knicks, right,
05:01in this round,
05:02I've lost a lot of confidence simply through the game edge
05:09that the Knicks have gained.
Comments