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00:00How much will Mitchell Robinson's broken right pinky change the vibes in the Knicks approach to
00:05the NBA finals? Are you guys hitting the panic button on this latest injury? Let's get the vibes
00:10of Knicks Nation after the injury news with Alex Chitaros and Knicks Fan TV. Alex, appreciate you
00:17hopping on with this morning, my man. I haven't spoke with you in a while. We obviously got to
00:22jump straight into this Mitchell Robinson pinky issue. How much do you think this injury is going
00:28to impact the lineups, the team chemistry, and the squad's whole vibe as a whole?
00:35I think when you're looking at the lineups itself, we know who the starting five is going to be. I
00:40mean, even we saw Carl Anthony Towns play extensive minutes when Mitch wasn't necessarily right as he
00:45talked about on social media saying he was going through it mentally, but then he was able to get
00:49back into it in the final game, game four against Cleveland. I think we're going to still see good
00:54Towns minutes. Obviously, what is a big concern with Mitchell Robinson if he can't go in game one
00:59is Carl Anthony Towns is going to have to be damn near perfect when it comes to foul trouble, man.
01:04We saw what happened against Philly. You cannot allow whoever is the winner of this, you know,
01:09game seven, whether it's Wemben Yama, Luke Cornett, or is it, you know, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah
01:14Hartenstein, you got to be very dialed in. You cannot get in foul trouble because then when you're
01:19looking at your backup center, it's Ariel Huckporty. Are you then going with Jeremy Sohan at some of
01:24the five minutes as well? And not nothing against those guys, but it's different than when you have
01:28somebody like Mitchell Robinson, who's your most elite offensive rebounder, one of your best shot
01:32blockers, best when it comes to pick and roll coverage because he can recover at such a great rate.
01:37So the drop off from Mitch to Ariel Huckporty will be significant, but for Carl Anthony Towns,
01:43then it's going to have to be, he's got to be so dialed in now for like lineups outside of
01:47that.
01:48Like, I still think it's going to be the same rotation. You're just replacing Mitch with Ariel
01:51Huckporty or Jeremy Sohan. So it's going to be that same second unit with those guys out there.
01:55Those guys, Ariel Huckporty or Sohan will have to be ready and play some massive minutes if Mitch
02:00can't go in game one, but I look at more so at Carl Anthony Towns. And then on top of
02:05that,
02:05the rest of the team, man, the rest of the team is going to have to just step up too.
02:08I mean,
02:08there's a potential that we see OG and an OB gain some five minutes as well. So all those guys
02:12got to be
02:13ready if Mitch can't go game one, but you know, I'm hopeful that Mitch can just tape up the finger
02:17and be out there for game one, man. There's that cliche saying in sports, you don't have to get
02:23ready if you stay ready. And you mentioned a lot of guys that can get some increased minutes
02:27in the biggest moment or the biggest series of their lives with this Mitch injury. But you know
02:33what? It's almost like this team has been prepared for this, Alex. I feel like the same thing
02:38with the OG news when he went down with the hamstring. OG missed what three, four weeks of
02:44the season because of the hamstring. And now with Mitchell Robinson, you saw it in the Cavs series
02:50where Atkinson was going for the hack of Mitch. Mike Brown ended up having to have to put Mitch on
02:56the bench and not even put him on the floor. So you've seen these rotations in these different lineups
03:02without Mitch in them. But if you got Wimby, that's a different beast. And that leads me to
03:07the next question. Does Mitch's injury change who Knicks fans want this squad to see and play in the
03:14finals? No, I don't think it changes anything on who you want to see in the finals. I mean, both
03:20teams have good front court depth. I mean, you're looking at Isaiah Hartenstein, Chet Holgren with OKC.
03:26Isaiah Hartenstein can't miss a photo right now. Chet defensively is a very tough guy.
03:31Depending on the night, he could have his offense going. Then you look at the Spurs.
03:34You got Wimby Nyama, who's just, you know, the alien, as everybody is saying, right?
03:38Just his ability to score, shoot from downtown, have some ball control, you know, and just be
03:42able to attack the rim to some degree. And then you got Lou Cornette right behind them, right?
03:47And so it doesn't matter who you're playing against in these matchups. I think the center
03:51position is still going to be a vital position just because of the guys that we're talking about
03:55right here. It doesn't really change from that. It goes back to what I said for your first
03:59question, Brandon. It's just going to be focused more so on Carl Anthony Townsend and the rest of
04:03the guys to be ready for whoever they face. Both of them pose different challenges because,
04:07you know, for San Antonio, it's going to be Victor Wimby Nyama, who's going to be showcased at the
04:12five position, getting the bulk of the scoring and the opportunities to control the rock and get
04:16his guys set up. When you're looking at OKC, yeah, Hartenstein can set guys up. Chet can set guys up.
04:22But they're utilized differently, right? They're still defensive center.
04:25So if I'm going into this, if I'm going against OKC, the benefit of having Mitchell Robinson out
04:31there is that you can go toe to toe when you're trying to get second chance opportunities and
04:34battling. That's the biggest thing that Mitchell Robinson would help in that series because,
04:39you know, it's going to be focused on SGA. If J-Dub is healthy, anybody else, because they got a
04:43lot
04:43of guards on OKC that can get downhill. And so you got to think about boxing them out,
04:48limiting their chances for second chance opportunities and just controlling the possession game.
04:52When I'm looking at the Spurs, I'm then looking at Victor Wimby Nyama and saying,
04:56all right, now you're going to need somebody who's going to like be defensively there,
05:00locked in to slow him down rather than just, yeah, you still got to focus on getting rebounds.
05:04But it's a different it's a different challenge when you have to be the primary defender,
05:09focusing on a guy and trying to slow him down. So two different challenges,
05:12but still very impactful without Mitchell Robinson if he's not set to go, man.
05:17Breaking news as you were just breaking this down. It's like you and this guy were in
05:21sync just now. Sean Sharania just tweeted that Mitchell Robinson has undergone surgery
05:26on his broken right pinky finger and fully plans to play in the next game. One of the NBA finals
05:33against OKC or San Antonio next Wednesday. Alex, you said to wrap that thing up. My man say he's
05:40just going to put the bandage out there and get out there and try and get some sort of buckets
05:45or get
05:45busy on the offensive glass. Now this brings me into the next thing because our our very own
05:52Stefan Bondi, our Knicks beat writer for the post, people know him, they love him, had his has an
05:56exclusive insider with the 1999 Knicks. And they told him in the post about their NBA finals run and
06:04why this year's team has a better chance to win it all going into this finals. Take us back to
06:111999.
06:12Alex probably had the jirly curl, the I'll be smooth chain, all that. Are the vibes different
06:19going into the 1999 finals as they are the 2026 NBA finals for Knicks fans and a man like yourself?
06:29Totally different vibes, man. I mean, we were an underdog in 1999. Cinderella story. You're talking
06:34about an eight seed team getting all the way to the NBA finals and then facing off against the San
06:39Antonio Spurs. And then, you know, it's fortunately you lose Patrick Ewing in that Pacer series and then
06:43you're without your best player. Yeah, we know Patrick Ewing was on the tail end of his career at
06:48that point, but still you needed your guy. And this was finally the most complete team that the Knicks
06:53had with Patrick Ewing at the center of it. I mean, you had Latrell Sprewell, you had Alan Houston who
06:58had the shot against the Miami Heat. You got LJ, right? Even though he was at the tail end of
07:02his
07:03career, you're talking about the four point play against Indiana. You had the squad, man. And so it was just
07:08like, there was a lot of hope and like what could happen. And then all you could do is just
07:11believe
07:11going into that finals against the Spurs that maybe some way without Patrick Ewing, we can get
07:16this thing done. The, the vibes still like on 10 right now, 10, I would say it's even like 20
07:22with
07:22the way that the Knicks are playing right now, because what they've shown is that one, they were a top
07:26end team. They're not, they're not a seed. They were just a dormant giant, right? The inconsistent giant
07:31that you just saw during the regular season, the, the expectations has been heightened, right? In 1999,
07:36it wasn't finals or bust going into this season. There was a finals or bust mentality. Now you're
07:41looking at this team who was awakened by the Atlanta Hawks moving forward. They've just shown how
07:47dominant they've been. I mean, Brandon, we're talking about closeout games with 30 plus points,
07:53every single closeout game, Atlanta, Philly. And then you're talking about Cleveland. The Knicks are
07:58showing that they're just a different team that we saw during the regular season. It's a different
08:03level of composure. It's a different level of status. It's a different level of expectation
08:08for this team right now, because when you've shown that you've been so dominant through this run and
08:13not necessarily grinding it out and winning by like the margins, like I'm talking about, we're talking
08:17about an Allen Houston shot. We're talking about LJ four point play. The Knicks are not leaving it to
08:21like the final minutes. They're just saying, look, man, we're going to molly whop you and then keep it
08:26moving because we got bigger plans ahead. So for this one, I would say that the vibes are still like
08:31on 10, probably even higher just because of the expectation. But the way that the Knicks are
08:37playing right now, man, it's just, it's, it's similar, but it's extremely different because
08:41the position the Knicks have put themselves in by their performances every single round.
08:47Since you use the term molly whop, which I haven't heard in quite some time, like triple world,
08:53triple word score for you just now taking this back. Has the, has the vibes changed from finals or
09:00bus to win the finals or bus. And I need your prediction for the NBA finals, man. I got to
09:06put you on the spot. Yeah. I think, I think at this point, man, you got to look at, you
09:10got to
09:11win the finals at this point. This is the greatest opportunity the Knicks have had, man. And just by
09:15the, by the dominant performance, I think you got to go out there and do it just because you're looking
09:20at both these teams. OKC, you'll get the San Antonio Spurs. And when you're looking at both those
09:25teams, these teams are going to be so great for so long. I mean, OKC won the chip last year.
09:31They
09:31got the two time MVP, the depth, they got their core together. You know, whether it's JW, Chet,
09:37SGA, you know, you got Lou Dort. They got so many options. And then you look at the bench,
09:41the depth, plus the draft picks that they got for the future, man. They can consistently rotate guys
09:46in and out, move off the young guys on contracts based on how the CBA is structured moving forward.
09:51Like they can have this continuous run based on how young these guys are and the ability just to
09:56retool on the depth of the bench and have these guys on low contracts, which will be like so,
10:02so critical based on, like I said, how the CBA is structured. So there's OKC. So you got to think
10:07about them moving forward and they kind of look normal right now because Jalen Williams, he's not
10:12looking healthy. SGA, not looking like himself. The man only had 140 game, one game where he shot over
10:1840% from the field. Everything else has been under that. And he's kind of look, you know,
10:22a little bit mortalized, right? Chet, not doing that great. You lost AJ Mitchell. Now,
10:26is he going to be back for the NBA finals? And then you just see Jared McCain looking a little
10:31bit more pedestrian, right? A little bit more back down to earth in game six. So the OKC Thunder are
10:37showing some chinks in the armor where you can go in there and go and still attack and potentially
10:43have the opportunity to win because moving forward, you never know, man, they could be extremely
10:47healthy for years to come based on the depth that they got. These guys don't have to run that
10:50that long. So this looks like a perfect opportunity right now if you go against them. When you look
10:55at San Antonio, you look at how inexperienced, how young they are. Look at all these series that
11:00they've had to play against, man. Portland, Minnesota, now OKC. These games, these series
11:06are going a little bit longer than they probably would if this team just had a little bit more
11:10experience. And look, I know they got Lou Cornett, they got Harrison Barnes, they got guys who've
11:14gone deep playoff runs, champions also as well. But when your core is so young, there's still
11:22going to be lapses. And you see that with the San Antonio turnovers on a night-to-night basis.
11:26So with that, this is a prime opportunity for the New York Knicks because they've been feasting
11:31off of turnovers. They've been feasting off of mistakes. And San Antonio, because of their youth,
11:35you see that on a regular basis. I mean, even with their star, Victor Webinama, man, like he's still
11:40very young. He still hasn't matured. He still hasn't filled into his body. He still looks
11:45white out there. And even when you try to see him post up and really work the paint,
11:49he doesn't have that ability on a night-to-night basis to really set up and go attack from the
11:53post, man. And so when I look at that matchup, it's youth that is really going to be the critical
11:58factor if the Knicks face them as well. So the Knicks have a very good opportunity with either one of
12:02these teams, Brandon. They have a great opportunity. I'm not saying that it's easy. I'm not saying that
12:08they're going to go in there and sweep anybody. That's not what I'm saying whatsoever.
12:12But the Knicks have a prime opportunity right now. And so while they made the NBA Finals,
12:17while it was Finals robust, I think right now with the way that you're watching what's unfolding in
12:21the Western Conference, you got to be thinking, look, and especially if you're the Knicks, this is
12:25good. This is a prime opportunity, man. We can't let this go to waste because you never know what the
12:29future holds. And so, and then, oh, I forgot. You did ask. I'm sorry to cut you off, man, but
12:37you did
12:37ask, what's my prediction for the series, right? Whoever we meet? Is that what you're asking? Is
12:42that what you're asking? Is that what you asked, man? I'm going to say this right now. You asked for
12:47it, man. Do you want for both teams or do you want for either one? Do you just want for
12:51one?
12:52Both. If it's OKC, Knicks. If it's OKC, I got Knicks in six. If it's Spurs, Knicks in five.
13:01Ooh. Let's see how that holds up, man. Alex, appreciate you hopping on with us this morning,
13:06man. Brandon, appreciate you as always.
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