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00:00There was another New York takeover in San Antonio, Game 1 of the NBA Finals, down 14 in the third
00:07quarter.
00:08Jalen Brunson and the crew brought out that New York grit, and they brought it home.
00:13So we're going to take y'all to school today.
00:14Jeff Johnson of the Knicks Film School hops on to talk about the Knicks' playoff record, 12th consecutive postseason win.
00:23Jeff, appreciate you hopping on, man.
00:25These dudes ain't lost since the first round of the NFL Draft.
00:29That's how long it's been, bro.
00:31And it's all because, well, not all because of this man, but largely and part of this man, Jalen Brunson
00:38took over a game again.
00:40The dagger three made everybody close out their bar tab, finished the night with 30.
00:45At the end, he was the one hearing MVP chants from Knicks fans inside Frostbanks Center.
00:52Did he prove Draymond, Becky Hammond, and the rest of the haters wrong last night?
01:00Brandon, let me tell you something.
01:02He proved them wrong two years ago.
01:05He proved them wrong three years ago.
01:07When we speak about the viability of a player 6'2 or under to be able to lead their team
01:13to the championship, I think you have to talk in terms of possibilities and not probabilities.
01:19Sure, NBA history is against shorter players being the main focal point of their team and leading them to the
01:27title.
01:27You have Isaiah and you have Steph Curry.
01:29You might want to even throw Bob Cousy in there.
01:32And the rest of the NBA history is against them.
01:36But I think they kind of diminished the impact that Brunson has had over the last few years just because
01:43of his height.
01:43I mean, do you want him to put lifts in his shoes in order to respect him?
01:48This guy every year is in a statistical historical category with Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Larry Bird, and the rest
01:58goes on and on.
01:59It's literally like a different day.
02:01There's another Jalen Brunson-Michael Jordan stat.
02:04Like, for example, Brunson's averaging 8.2 points in the fourth quarter and overtime in the playoffs.
02:10Mike is the only one to average more in 9.3.
02:13And it's just his last two seasons with the Bulls because that's when tracking data and all of that began.
02:18This guy has been one of the best clutch shooters in NBA history, regular season, playoffs combined.
02:28He has a calming presence where you'll have a Knicks fan go into the fourth quarter, tied at 76, and
02:36you're relaxed.
02:37You're chilling because you know Captain Clutch is going to bring it home.
02:40It's like falling out of a building in Metropolis.
02:43I know Superman got me.
02:45He hears me.
02:45I just got to call out his name, and I'm not hitting that ground.
02:49That's the type of comfort that Jalen Brunson has afforded Knicks fans, his team, the organization, and the city of
02:56New York since he arrived four, five years ago in the 22-23 season.
03:02So, yeah, man, I think he's already proven that he can lead a team to a championship.
03:09Three more wins till infinity, till forever, until we never have to hear this debate again.
03:17Jeff, there are a lot of grown men walking around New York City with lifts in their shoes, so we
03:22just want to say, Jalen, if you did it.
03:24Not shaming.
03:24I'm just saying.
03:25We're just saying.
03:26We're just saying.
03:27We're just saying.
03:29But, yeah, man, that dude, when we're talking about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, like you said, go
03:35ahead, go ahead, bartender, go ahead.
03:36One more round of shots, and let's close this tab.
03:38Let's get up out of here.
03:39I got to take my kid to daycare in the morning.
03:41This game is over because this dude's going to close it out.
03:45Another dude who caught a lot of heat throughout his time here in New York saying, is he the two
03:52in that duo of Jalen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns?
03:56Cat, 18 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, and most important, no silly fouls.
04:02He was able to stay on the court.
04:04Wimby did drop 26 because that's what aliens do.
04:08But do you feel as though Cat outplayed Wimby as a whole in game one?
04:15Oh, in totality, yes.
04:17What's crazy is a lot of people might not know this.
04:19Wimby and Cat are the top two advanced analytical players in the postseason.
04:25You look across net rating, assist ratio, defensive rating.
04:30Cat and Wimby are the guys who have been leading this entire 2026 playoffs.
04:35So to see them clash was amazing.
04:38And you got to give it to Cat even more so on the defensive end,
04:42whereas the primary defender for Wimby, he was, Wimby went two of 12.
04:47So Cat was able to more than hold his own against Wimby Yama on the defensive side.
04:52And on offense, he was giving Wimby work, okay?
04:57This is one of the best, if not the best, defensive players we will ever see.
05:02And Cat was just doing what he does whenever you put the five on him on the defensive side.
05:08He's blowing by you.
05:09He's getting layups.
05:10Yeah, there were some blocks here and there because Wimby's going to do that.
05:13But Cat was able to wear him down on both sides of the ball.
05:18And here's the thing.
05:19Wimby was out there looking gassed, Brandon,
05:21because he might be the alien.
05:25He might be the Aaron Yeager of Titans, but he's facing a whole lot of other Titans.
05:29There's two other Titans on the other side of that court.
05:32You got Mitchell Robinson, Carl Anthony Towns, seven foot plus, 250, 270 plus pounds,
05:39grown men, 48 minutes of grown man hoops that you got to deal with.
05:44And I think over time that is wearing on him.
05:47I'm looking at a team in the Spurs right now that cannot afford for Wimby to sit.
05:52He played 37 minutes, and I don't think that's going to be enough.
05:55And if he's going to have to bang with those guys throughout the course of the night,
05:59eventually you're going to see the wear and tear,
06:02especially for a team that's played five games in 24 days
06:06and has been the most rested team in NBA playoff history.
06:09I think you're going to see the war of attrition wear on Wimby
06:13throughout the course of these NBA finals.
06:15All right, so take us to school on this one,
06:19because the Spurs don't get to the finals without going on runs of their own,
06:25winning big games of their own, and making adjustments.
06:27So what adjustments do you feel like we're going to see from Wimby
06:31and the Spurs in game two to try and shut down Carl Anthony Towns,
06:35Jalen Brunson, and this hot Knicks team?
06:38Well, first, overall, you probably got to hit the shoot better button, right?
06:43Like, three of 19 for Vassell, Fox, Harper, and Castle are not going to cut it,
06:49along with Champagny, who went five of 10, I believe, from three,
06:53but oh, a four in the second half.
06:54They are going to have to hit threes.
06:56The problem with them is they're streaky shooters.
06:59So if they're wearing down across the game and they don't have it,
07:04this is going to bold pretty badly for them.
07:07The other thing is, I don't know why Wimby was guarding Cat.
07:12Everybody and they mama was expecting him to guard Hart to enact ghost coverage on him,
07:18which is him just sitting in the paint and ignoring Hart on the perimeter
07:21and forcing Josh to beat him from three-point range.
07:25I expect them to eventually go to that as the primary option,
07:28because at some point, you got to try to preserve Wimby's endurance.
07:33You have to try to preserve his win, because he's going to need to play a lot.
07:37I also think they're going to have to clean up the turnovers.
07:40That was something that the Knicks had to do when they got to the first half.
07:43Limit transition buckets, limit the turnovers, and clean up the defensive glass.
07:48They were able to do two of three highly effectively.
07:51In the second half, they were 10-1 on the fast break points,
07:55and 11-2 on the fast break points, and 10-1 the turnover ratio.
08:02So they were able toâone turnover in the second half, which is crazy.
08:05So they were able to do that.
08:06And on the other side, you got these young Spurs who are prone to turnovers.
08:10They're going to have to limit those as well.
08:13So I think those are the two main things they're going to have to do.
08:16Oh, there is one more thing.
08:18I was told that these perimeter demons were going to give Jalen Brunson hell.
08:24And, yeah, 30 points on 30 shots, they wore on him throughout the course of the night.
08:28But they acted as ifâpeople acted as if there weren't attack points on the Spurs.
08:34De'Aaron Fox and Champagny were in hell when they had to guard Brunson.
08:38That needs to change, too.
08:39You got to have Harper or Castle on Brunson at all times if you have any chance of slowing him
08:45down.
08:46But I think, Brandon, we're getting to the point.
08:48If it's close in the fourth quarter, the Knicks have the psychological advantage.
08:52They have the tactical advantage.
08:53And they have the horses, man.
08:55And they have the ultimate clutch player on their side.
08:58And that is going to weigh on a team, whether they admit it or not.
09:03So there's a lot on both sides that needs to be cleaned up.
09:07But that's what I expect the Spurs to do.
09:08When talking about the Knicks, they also have a coach that shows that he listens and make his own adjustments.
09:16Mike Brown's taking a lot of heat throughout the course of the season and sometimes throughout the postseason.
09:20It's about the defense.
09:22What's up with these defensive adjustments?
09:24Knicks go an 11-0 run to close out the final 150 in that game.
09:30We talked about Mike Brown and what he was going to bring to this team on the offensive side of
09:34the court.
09:35But defensively, they have stepped up and been one of the best, not only in the East, but in the
09:40entire NBA.
09:41Does Mike Brown deserve his flowers for his impact in the way that he's been able to work with his
09:50vets, this team, and turn this defense around?
09:55Yeah, I think so.
09:56When Mike Brown was hired, he was hired as a ceiling raiser, not a floor raiser, because Tibbs already set
10:03the foundation.
10:04You brought Mike Brown in to take this collection of talent to the next level and to reach the possibilities
10:11that you thought they could attain through different schemes, through versatility, through using your bench, and to tailoring a system
10:21to the talent that you have, not forcing a square peg in a round hole.
10:26And I think that's what he did, and you heard the talk throughout the course of the season about this
10:32collaboration, where Mike was listening to his coaches, listening to his team to see where they feel more comfortable.
10:38How can we execute a proper scheme that can accentuate your talents but still be fundamentally sound?
10:44And they used the regular season to experiment with all these different types of formations and strategies.
10:52And that's what is most important if you're looking for why these Knicks all of a sudden morphed into the
10:59Juggernaicks and have won 12 straight and are breaking point differential records that we haven't seen in 80-plus years
11:05of NBA history.
11:06It's because brick by brick throughout the course of the regular season, they've been able to figure out all the
11:13different scenarios that they would be able to implement.
11:16They're playing chess on the court.
11:18They have a counter for your counter for your counter.
11:20They have all the answers to the test.
11:23It doesn't matter what question you ask.
11:25Even with a pop quiz, they'll be able to figure it out on the fly because they know the principles.
11:30And that is what Mike Brown wanted to instill from Jump.
11:34Read and react.
11:35Understand what the defenses are giving you.
11:37Understand what their offenses are playing and how you can adjust.
11:41Because he knew in the playoffs, when you're playing a team X amount of times,
11:46at some point you know each other's playbook like the back of your hand.
11:49What are you going to do when a curveball is thrown to you?
11:52Are you going to take it and try to get the ABS call when they call the strike?
11:56Or are you going to swing?
11:57And the Knicks have been knocking it out the park since the NFL draft.
12:02And at this point, I can't blame a Knicks fan for asking, are they ever going to lose again?
12:09Why not?
12:10I mean, why not?
12:11The way that this team is playing.
12:13And there are a lot of people that don't live in New York that's watching right now and is like,
12:17why?
12:18Why are the fans so excited?
12:20Like, why you guys act like you haven't been there before?
12:23You got people climbing up on ambulances, climbing up on light poles after one win.
12:29So articulate to the rest of the basketball world right now what this Knicks impact or
12:36this Knicks winning or this streak, that hope, what does it have on the impact of the city
12:42right now?
12:43Like, how much hope did that game one win bring to the city?
12:48New York City is the greatest city in the world.
12:51But when basketball is good, when the Knicks are good, it's like the soul of the city starts
12:58harmonizing on a whole different level.
13:01Basketball is embedded in the DNA of the five boroughs, right?
13:06And you can feel it.
13:08I'm walking down the street.
13:09It is orange and blue everywhere.
13:11Knicks apparel from sea to shine and sea, right?
13:14Like, it is from Queens to Brooklyn to the Bronx, Staten Island to the city.
13:19It's nothing but Knicks.
13:22That's all it is.
13:24And the team, it's the Knicks fans and New Yorkers in general that unite for this team.
13:30And another reason why the city is humming like they are, it's because New Yorkers are
13:36authentic Knicks fans.
13:38You have generations of Knicks fans from the 70s, 80s, 90s, brothers, sisters, fathers,
13:46mothers who have been invested in this team's success for their entire existence.
13:53And when you have a 53-year championship drought, that means you have hundreds of thousands of
14:00millions of New Yorkers who have been sitting and waiting.
14:04People who have come and go and left this plane of existence without seeing the Knicks win
14:08another title.
14:09So when they get close, when you have the first finals in 27 years, it generates a level of
14:16excitement that is indescribable unless you're just walking in the city.
14:22I'm talking about goosebumps on my arm, chills down my spine.
14:25It just feels good to be a New Yorker in the city when the Knicks are doing well.
14:31I mean, they talk about like, you know, we're kind, but we're not nice.
14:35Everybody's saying good morning.
14:36They see you.
14:37They're saying go Knicks.
14:38I'm like, whoa, am I in the South or I'm in New York?
14:41This is a good change of pace because everybody can feel that this is the best Knicks team
14:47of our lifetime.
14:48And if there was ever a team constructed to end the drought, it's them.
14:53So you got the entire city, 9 million plus people in unison supporting one franchise,
15:00a legacy franchise that is the epicenter of excitement in the city.
15:05So that's why you see everybody going crazy.
15:07That's why we've developed a culture of celebration after every win, because New York is going
15:14to do it better than you.
15:15You know, we're not a college town where we're going to be tipping cows over and burning down
15:20ambulances or whatnot, but we're going to do it in our own way.
15:24And that's what you're seeing throughout the course of time.
15:27So, yeah, man, it's an exciting time to be a Knicks fan.
15:30It's even more exciting to be a New Yorker because nothing screams New York and personifies
15:37New York culture like the New York Knicks.
15:41So that's why they're getting the support.
15:43That's why everybody's excited.
15:44And that's why we are waiting for three more wins until these guys, this team and this city
15:51can finally live forever.
15:53All right, Jeff Johnson, appreciate you hopping on with this, my man.
15:57Thank you, bro.
15:58I appreciate you.
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