00:00Go New York, go New York, go!
00:02It's going to the NBA Finals, but coming back from Cleveland
00:05is our Knicks beat writer for the post, Steph Bondi.
00:09Joining us now, they shut down Spirit Airlines flight,
00:12so he's probably taking James Dolan's private jet to get here.
00:16My man, I see the smiles on your face.
00:1927 years since they've gone to the Finals.
00:22The season has been an absolute rollercoaster of emotions.
00:26Steph, how did we get here?
00:29Well, like you said, it was a rollercoaster.
00:33You know, there were moments during the season
00:35where you thought this team is not capable of the lofty expectations
00:39that's being put on them, and I'm talking about in January
00:42where they had that terrible slide that culminated with losing at home
00:45to Dallas, the tanking Dallas Mavericks.
00:48I think everybody would like to forget that, but since that point,
00:53they kind of revamped the defense,
00:54became somewhat of a defensive juggernaut.
00:59And even then, you know, you still had questions
01:02about their abilities heading into the playoffs.
01:05And once they got there, though, they became, I mean,
01:08they're hitting on all cylinders.
01:09They are the definition of peaking at the right time.
01:12They're on an 11-game winning streak.
01:14That's the longest winning streak for the franchise regular season
01:18or postseason since 2013.
01:21And now they're headed to the finals for the first time since 99.
01:24And, you know, it's beginning with, like you said, quite a rollercoaster.
01:28I will not be riding on James Dolan's jet.
01:31That is never going to happen.
01:33I'm not allowed.
01:34So I am flying United.
01:36There we go.
01:36All right, United.
01:37I got a lot of Roars points with them.
01:39You talk about this team being a defensive juggernaut.
01:41When they hired Mike Brown, we knew his M.O.
01:44He was great on the offensive side of things.
01:47How has this team been able to adapt, change,
01:50and kind of take in what Mike Brown, take in his coaching
01:54and take their game to another level
01:56and being one of the best all-around teams in basketball?
02:00Yeah.
02:01So, like I said, it happened around January
02:03when they were having a rough patch.
02:05And they switched up the scheme.
02:07And Mike Brown has given credit to his two defensive coaches,
02:11Brendan O'Connor and Darren Ehrman.
02:12And what they decided to do was,
02:14instead of funneling the opposing ball handler
02:17to the middle like they were doing,
02:19which actually goes against the grain
02:20of what you're taught in youth basketball,
02:22you don't want the guy going to the middle,
02:24they started doing back to the basics,
02:26which is pushing the ball handler to the side and the sideline.
02:30That helped out, you know, Cat, for instance.
02:32It helped out everybody down the roster.
02:34It's a way that everybody's accustomed to playing.
02:36And so, you know, that kind of unlocked what we're seeing today
02:40with the defense.
02:41On top of that, you have just a guy like Mikael Bridges,
02:44who, you know, wasn't a great on point of attack defender
02:48throughout the regular season, becoming, you know, a monster.
02:52He held down Tyrese Maxey, and he just held down James Harden.
02:55So, give a lot of credit to the schemes that they changed
02:58and also the individual defenders and their improvements.
03:00With the way that Mikael Bridges has played arguably the last two playoffs,
03:06has he shown that he's been worth all those draft picks?
03:10Yeah, I mean, listen, if they win the championship, for sure,
03:13I would have even said that if they made the finals, for sure.
03:16But, you know, that's something that we're going to have to wait
03:20and see down the line.
03:21If they get blown out in the finals, then all of a sudden we're talking about,
03:24well, they need Giannis Antetokounmpo to take them to the next level.
03:27They need somebody else to take them to the next level.
03:29They don't have the draft picks to do that
03:31because they were traded for Mikael Bridges.
03:34But if he's playing like this, if the Knicks are playing like this,
03:36they're winning a championship.
03:37I mean, they've steamrolled everybody, and I get it.
03:41The level of competition, regardless of who they play,
03:45the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs,
03:47is going to go up a notch, that's for sure.
03:49But I've never covered a team that's on this type of hot streak.
03:53I didn't cover Kobe and Shaq's Lakers back when they were at their peak,
03:56but people have been comparing that kind of dominance to this.
04:02And it's not about – the difference is it's not about having a Shaq or Kobe.
04:06It's about having a team that's really working together
04:09and hitting on all cylinders.
04:10So I can't make a determination on whether all those five picks are worth it,
04:16but Mikael Bridges is certainly playing out of his mind right now in a good way.
04:21Another dude that's been playing out of his mind in a good way is Carl Anthony Towns.
04:26This is a guy that caught a lot of heat from a lot of talking news sports news figures
04:31around the nation about if he is a valuable option to Jalen Brunson.
04:36Can he be a championship caliber number two?
04:39My man's went off.
04:40Talk about the importance of Cat's postseason.
04:44Yeah, he's – I mean, he's kind of unlocking himself as a weapon that's helping everybody else.
04:53You know, when you look at Cat's career, you wonder, you know,
04:56is this guy a postseason performer?
04:59You know, you have questions about his defense, all that stuff.
05:02But with the way he's been playing, the way he's drawing the opposing defense to him,
05:08allowing his teammates to be open,
05:10and the way that he's finding them is when he's the hub at the elbow, you know,
05:15this is showing a difference – a different and more efficient
05:19and more impact-winning side of Cat.
05:22And he's been great in the playoffs.
05:24They all have.
05:25It's like a – it's like a puzzle, right?
05:27And they're all fitting their pieces.
05:29Obviously, Jalen Brunson is the biggest piece,
05:31and Cat is the second biggest piece.
05:33And then you got O.G. Ananobi, Mikael Bridges, and Josh Hart,
05:37and they're all fitting together in ways that, you know, like I said,
05:42I haven't seen before.
05:42We're going to get to that big piece in a little bit,
05:45but you mentioned O.G. Ananobi.
05:47He was left off the all-defensive first team.
05:51One, do you feel like O.G. was snubbed from that award or making that list?
05:56And two, what has O.G. brought to this team
06:00throughout the course of the season and the playoffs?
06:04Well, I mean, yeah, he was snubbed.
06:06I would have had him on first team.
06:08I know Chet Holmgren from OKC has gotten a lot of attention for his defense.
06:13He was even runner-up for defensive play every year.
06:16To me, that's ridiculous.
06:17If I look at the Oklahoma City Thunder,
06:20Chet Holmgren is the third or fourth-best defender just on his own team.
06:23And what voters tend to do, and I'm talking –
06:26and I'm being blasphemous right now because they are my media brethren,
06:30what they tend to do is just look at blocks because, you know,
06:36it's an easy stat to calculate.
06:38And, you know, what Chet Holmgren does and what Brooke Lopez,
06:41who was ridiculously runner-up for defensive player of the year not too long ago,
06:46they just – you know, they're allowed to hang out under the rim
06:49and block shots because they have great perimeter offenders on their team
06:54taking care of everything else.
06:56So, to me, OG Ananobi is that type of perimeter,
07:00versatile defender that you want on your defensive – on your team.
07:05And you would pick him above somebody like Chet Holmgren
07:08if I was starting a team and thinking about defense first.
07:11So, yes, OG Ananobi did get snubbed, in my opinion.
07:15I haven't watched him all year.
07:16He's – he was clearly the best defensive player on the Knicks
07:19during the regular season.
07:20You could throw him on a point guard to a center.
07:24You can even throw him on a guy like Joel Embiid because of his strength.
07:27So, yes, OG Ananobi was snubbed.
07:30Last but not least, let's talk about that big puzzle piece.
07:33Jalen Brunson, he was a guy that when the Knicks signed him –
07:36I mean, you know.
07:37Everyone laughed, everyone questioned why this guy.
07:40People talk about how big of a head he has, not how unathletic he is.
07:45But my man just keeps getting it done.
07:47And is Jalen Brunson one series away from being the best Knick ever?
07:53No, he's not one series away from being the best Knick ever
07:56because you still have Clive Frazier and Willis Reed
07:58and those guys won two championships.
08:01Willis Reed was NBA Finals MVP twice.
08:04But, I mean, everything else you're correct about.
08:08Now, granted, nobody was talking about his big head
08:11until Josh Hart started talking about it.
08:13But everything else, you're correct.
08:14Like, I mean, the guy was – you always question when he signed here was,
08:19are they overpaying him?
08:21Is it kind of a nepotism move because you have Leon Rose and who was, you know,
08:25a family friend of the – you know, of Rick Brunson.
08:27And Rick Brunson was Leon Rose's first client.
08:31And, you know, why are they giving him all this money?
08:34Is this just something that they're doing for their friends and family plan?
08:38Well, they all proved everybody wrong.
08:40I mean, give not only Jalen Brunson credit,
08:43but Leon Rose credit for making that move and getting a guy who nobody,
08:48including and especially the Dallas Mavericks, didn't think was the guy.
08:53We've heard it for years now.
08:56And a lot of people probably still subscribe to it,
08:58is you can't win when you have a player who is that small as your best player.
09:02Well, listen, he's four wins away from proving thousands and thousands of people
09:07incorrect over time.
09:10We have not had a player this small as the best player on a championship team
09:15since Isaiah Thomas with the Detroit Pistons.
09:17So it's been that long, and Jalen Brunson has a chance to make history here.
09:22All right, let's look ahead to the finals
09:24and what a potential matchup could look like for the Knicks.
09:28Break down what a finals would look like if the Knicks played okay,
09:32or if they played San Antonio, and who would you call the favorable matchup?
09:38Well, I think the favorable matchup for the Knicks is probably San Antonio.
09:43And if you look at the regular season results, that kind of bears it out.
09:46I don't think the Knicks have beaten Oklahoma City Thunder since 2022.
09:51And, you know, that's because their perimeter defense is pretty good.
09:55I mean, they're going to hound Jalen Brunson.
09:57They are going to hound Mikael Bridges and Josh Hart.
10:02And they have, you know, a big guy in Isaiah Hardenstein who can deal with Cat.
10:07They have, you know, Chet Holmgren to try to deal with Cat.
10:11So, you know, I think the Oklahoma City Thunder, you know,
10:15the defending champs are the more difficult matchup.
10:18Obviously, we saw what the Knicks did to the Spurs.
10:21They beat them in the regular season.
10:22They beat them in the NBA Cup Final.
10:25They've had pretty much had their number the last few years.
10:28They beat them on Christmas a season ago.
10:30So, if you just look at the way it stacks up, experience-wise,
10:36obviously the Oklahoma City Thunder have done it.
10:38They've won a championship.
10:39The Spurs have not.
10:40They're very, very young.
10:42And, you know, the big wild card, he's not really a wild card, though,
10:46is Victor Wembenyama.
10:48I mean, you're talking about probably the most unique player in the history of the NBA,
10:54just in terms of his height and his ability to play make.
10:57So, you know, obviously he'd be a handful.
10:59But if I were to pick the more favorable matchup for the Knicks,
11:03it would definitely be the San Antonio Spurs.
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