00:00Hello, everybody.
00:01Hello, everybody.
00:03Definitely feeling a little punchy from a late-night NBA game.
00:07At least the next one's Friday night.
00:09That's true.
00:10I'm feeling punchy, too, because I got up and watched the second half this morning.
00:14How about that fourth quarter for Jalen Brunson?
00:17I was listening to NBA radio today, and Sam Mitchell, of course, was a pretty good coach in the NBA,
00:24been around the NBA for 40 years.
00:25He says that if Brunson wins the NBA championship, he could be the greatest Knick of all time.
00:32And I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:34They've got a lot of storied players, huh?
00:36They've got a lot of really good players.
00:37Over the years, yeah.
00:38But he said he's going to put, even though Patrick Ewing was an 11-time All-Star, maybe a 12
00:42-time All-Star,
00:43he's going to put him above Patrick Ewing because he won a championship.
00:47Yes.
00:48And Ewing never did.
00:49Carries a lot of weight.
00:50But, you know, a long way to go.
00:53But that's how good Brunson has been as a Knick.
00:55And especially in fourth quarters of the postseason.
00:58Only two other teams in the history of the NBA have won 12 consecutive postseason games.
01:04The Warriors did it a few years ago when they won the NBA championship.
01:08And the Spurs did it in 1999 when they won the NBA championship.
01:11And now the Knicks have done it.
01:13If you were watching the game live and you're watching the game in the third quarter,
01:18I believe the Spurs at one point had a 14-point lead.
01:2214-point lead, yep.
01:23And by the way, that was without Wemby doing much.
01:26I mean, he went 27 minutes without scoring a bucket.
01:28You're watching that game and you're looking at it thinking, man, the Knicks,
01:32it just seems so much harder for them to score.
01:35That's what I was thinking.
01:37And I was thinking, all right, let's go big picture.
01:40The Spurs was a better team in the regular season.
01:43They just defeated OKC.
01:46They got arguably, you know, people are trying to say Wemby's the best player in the world.
01:50I don't know if he's there yet.
01:53And you're thinking, all right, the Knicks, nice story,
01:56but they're going to get bounced in five or six.
01:58And I guess that's still possible.
02:00But, man, they got some sort of magic formula where, you know, a guy like Josh Hart.
02:07Josh Hart was plus 22 in the game.
02:09He scored three points.
02:10He played a great game.
02:11So why was he plus 22?
02:12He had 15 rebounds.
02:14I believe he had six assists.
02:16Six helpers.
02:17He had a bunch of steals.
02:17And he had four swipes.
02:19Four steals.
02:20I know.
02:20He was awesome.
02:21Like, they just, they personify team,
02:25and then they have the bus driver who can bring it home
02:28in Jalen Brunson.
02:30And maybe Wemby was tired.
02:33I heard Brian Windhorst kind of postulate that Wemby's energy wasn't there in this game.
02:40You know, they went seven games against OKC.
02:43Yeah.
02:43Because Wemby, a lot of times, influences shots that are in the lane.
02:48And Brunson, you know, he hit a three-pointer down the stretch
02:53when he had eight points straight.
02:55Yeah.
02:5613 in the fourth quarter.
02:57But a lot of his shots were in the lane,
02:59and Wemby wasn't there to contest.
03:00He was getting there, yeah.
03:01Because Wemby maybe was tired.
03:03And credit Carl Anthony Towns played good defense on him.
03:06I've been saying it of late,
03:08because I've been watching every game that the Spurs have played in the playoffs.
03:13As great as he is, he doesn't have a go-to move.
03:15You can't just dump the ball in to Wemby,
03:18and he's going to hit a turnaround jumper.
03:20Right.
03:21That's the next level of Wemby.
03:23And he can get physicaled at times.
03:24He had a bunch of free throws, but Wemby had six turnovers, I believe.
03:29Yeah.
03:30And he had a couple bad ones in the fourth quarter.
03:32Six turnovers.
03:33He had a couple shots that hit the side of the backboard in the fourth quarter.
03:36He was six for 21 from the field.
03:37Yeah.
03:38I mean, he didn't play a great game.
03:40He said it afterwards.
03:42You know, overall, he had, you know, decent points.
03:45He had 26, but he took a lot of shots, missed a lot of shots,
03:48and he got 12 of those from the free throw line.
03:52So, he wasn't very good.
03:54I thought the entire team looked kind of dead in the fourth quarter.
03:57I mean, they just looked like they were out of energy.
03:59Fox missed a couple bunnies.
04:01They were down two with about two minutes left.
04:04Well, Fox and Vassal gave you 16 total points.
04:07The Fox had a couple easy shots in the lane.
04:09Five, six footers, seven footers, and he just missed them.
04:12Surprising thing is, Dylan Harper didn't play much in the fourth quarter.
04:15I thought he was pretty good.
04:16He was really good in the first half.
04:19I didn't see him in the first half.
04:20And Keldon Johnson, who was sixth man of the year, only had eight minutes.
04:24So, they'll make some adjustments.
04:26The Spurs, I believe, will win game two.
04:29And then it'll go back to New York 1-1.
04:32I mean, it's demoralizing when the road team comes in
04:35and steals the first game of your building.
04:36When you're up 14 on the third, yeah.
04:38I think it was, I think they flashed the stat,
04:40and I think it's 70% or higher win the series when they take game one.
04:45Oh, really?
04:45So, okay.
04:46Well, there you go.
04:47And I'd like to see what the number is when you take game one on the road.
04:50Right.
04:50Yeah, but the Spurs have been down.
04:53The Spurs have been down, and they've won big games on the road.
04:55I get it.
04:55Yeah.
04:56OKC Series, they're down 3-2.
04:58I'm not counting them out.
04:59They win the last two, including a game in Oklahoma City,
05:02to move to the NBA Finals.
05:05I think they'll be fine.
05:08I mean, again, I thought they were the,
05:10when I'm watching that game, I'm like,
05:12they're just better than the Knicks.
05:14But Jalen Brunson,
05:16they looked it for two and a half quarters, three quarters.
05:18He's as clutch as anybody in the NBA.
05:21I agree.
05:23Second round pick.
05:25Yeah, 33rd pick overall.
05:27Second round pick.
05:28In his draft class.
05:29And he could go down as a top five New York Knick of all time.
05:32And he left the game to go to the locker room with an apparent knee injury.
05:37We had a listener who is a physical therapist,
05:41and he was like,
05:41oh, that looks like a sprained MCL or something serious, right?
05:45Then he comes back, and they roll his ankle.
05:49Luke Cornett stepped on his ankle.
05:51Saw that.
05:52And then he's just a warrior.
05:54He's fourth quarter.
05:56You got to play 48 minutes, man.
05:57And he does.
05:59Played 37 of them.
06:00And he is,
06:02I can't believe what he's done in the fourth quarter.
06:04His overall scoring average for the regular season
06:07is 10 points less than his playoff scoring average.
06:12That's a huge difference.
06:14Well, he's also not gun shy.
06:15He took 31 shots.
06:17Yeah.
06:17He took 31 shots.
06:18Kind of wanted to.
06:19In the fourth quarter, took over.
06:21But they're just rolling right now.
06:24I mean, they're a good team.
06:26Because on paper, I would say they're greater than the sum of their parts, right?
06:33If you just look at them individually, good players.
06:37But they play so well together.
06:39As a team.
06:39Yeah, I agree.
06:40They're really good.
06:41And they've got role players.
06:42They've got guys that come off the bench.
06:44Mitchell Robinson had the finger injury.
06:45He didn't play a ton, but he was really good defensively in the fourth quarter.
06:53And you're right.
06:55They just play well as a squad.
06:57And they showed it last night in the fourth quarter.
06:59But Brunson just finds ways to get into the lane and get easier shots in the fourth quarter.
07:05Especially with a 7'5 guy there.
07:07His footwork is so good.
07:08They did a good job with Robinson and with Towns of kind of isolating Wemby.
07:13Now, Wemby looked like he was a little gassed.
07:15But they were kind of keeping him out of the lane as much as they could.
07:18Keeping a body on him.
07:19Keeping their asses on him.
07:21And Brunson was able to get to the rack a little bit easier.
07:25But Hart, guys like Josh Hart, I mean, what he did, three points.
07:29He used to go, well, what he didn't do anything.
07:3015, 6, and 4.
07:3413 defensive rebounds.
07:36He had more rebounds than Wemby.
07:38This guy's a foot shorter.
07:39He's a stud.
07:42Is he a Virginia guy?
07:43Or am I getting him mixed?
07:45What do you mean, college?
07:46No, no, no.
07:46Where is he from?
07:47Yeah.
07:48I think he's local.
07:49Yeah, I think he's a local guy.
07:50Yeah, because he went to Nova.
07:51Pretty sure he is.
07:54But he was really good.
07:55I mean, he played a great game.
07:57He was born in Brunswick, New Jersey.
07:59Where did he go to high school?
08:00That kind of takes the wind out of my sails from being local.
08:03Oh, he grew up in Silver Spring.
08:04Yeah, there you go.
08:05So he may have been born in Jersey, but he's a D.C. guy.
08:08Where did he go to high school?
08:10He says Sidwell Friends.
08:11Oh, he went to Sidwell.
08:12He went to Wheaton and then went to Sidwell Friends.
08:14Oh, you're talking about Josh Hart.
08:16Yes.
08:16Yeah, yeah, Josh Hart.
08:17I thought you were talking about Jalen Brunson.
08:18No.
08:19Oh, no, no, no.
08:20No, Hart is just the heart and soul of that team, I guess.
08:24But they are led by Jalen Brunson, who, I mean, there was a little moment there where
08:28you're thinking, oh, man.
08:30Could you imagine if Jalen Brunson did hurt his knee and was out for the series?
08:34Then they have absolutely no shot.
08:36Yeah, and then they get swept.
08:38But, you know.
08:39But he's out there.
08:40It's fun to watch.
08:41I've talked about this when we've talked about the Wizards and what they should do.
08:45When you have a guy as good as Jalen Brunson has a ball in his hands all the time, that's
08:51kind of what I want to drive my NBA team, which is why I lean Darren Peterson over A.J.
08:57DeMonsa.
08:57And it's not to say DeMonsa can't dribble, but Darren Peterson sees himself as a point
09:02guard, but he would be a scoring point guard, a la Jalen Brunson.
09:06Like, it's really hard to stop.
09:07Because even if you have a great defender, you just run pick and roll.
09:10That's what they do in the NBA now.
09:12They'll just run a pick so that you'll get the defender of your choice.
09:16Because I think Stephon Castle's the Spurs' best on-ball defender.
09:20But more often than not, Brunson was beating Champagny, or he was beating Vassell.
09:25Well, I mean, just, it was just, it was, it's weird.
09:29In the third quarter, I was watching, I'm a huge NBA fan, especially in the playoffs.
09:35And I was kind of getting a little bored.
09:37I was like, eh, I don't really care who wins in this series.
09:40Eh, the Spurs are up by 14.
09:43Yeah.
09:43I think they're just a better team, and they're just going to mow through them.
09:47I was, I was thinking, yeah, Spurs in five.
09:50Like, the Knicks will be lucky to get one.
09:52You've seen enough games to know better than that.
09:54I know, but.
09:55You can't just turn away.
09:56But were you, especially in NBA.
09:57Now, I know you were playing poker, but.
09:58I mean, I was watching between hands.
10:00Yeah, it's just, it was just my, my, my sense of it.
10:03Yeah.
10:04And, yeah, of course, I've seen individual games, but they just looked far superior,
10:11and then the tide just turns.
10:12Well, then, yeah, I mean, when, when a home team is up 14 in the playoffs,
10:17you're thinking, okay, they're going to close it out.
10:19That's going to be a winner, especially in a game one.
10:21But they, they just looked, I thought they looked tired.
10:24I know Fox had the ankle issue, but I just think that the rest of the team and Fox just
10:30looked tired in the fourth quarter.
10:31You're welcome to weigh in throughout the show on the NBA Finals as the Spurs drop game one
10:37to the Knicks on the road.
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10:51You can talk NBA Finals.
10:52You can talk Commanders, OTAs, and more here on the Junk's on an Open Line Thursday.
10:57Stay.
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