00:00All right, so at the end of the last segment, I said, you know, $4,500.
00:04Just like the bare bones get-in price to the Garden tonight.
00:08$4,500.
00:10It's not even a closeout game.
00:12But like Amy said, it is the first NBA Finals game in New York this millennium.
00:19You know, for the Mecca of basketball and the Garden and all the nonsense about the Knicks
00:24who, you know, the entire Carmelo Anthony era won one playoff series
00:28because, you know, he's so great.
00:30This is a huge, huge night for a lot of Knicks fans
00:34because most Knicks fans, like myself, did not go,
00:38oh, we're going to win, we're going to win.
00:39It's like, okay, this is where we get our heart broken.
00:41This is where things go sideways.
00:43This is where it all goes to hell.
00:46The Knicks are just the third team to go up 2-0 on the road.
00:52The other two teams both won the NBA Finals.
00:55The third team, you said?
00:56Wow.
00:56Which means there is at least half Knicks fans who are like, oh, we'll be the ones that don't do
01:01it.
01:02Because we're conditioned to expect pain.
01:07Pessimism.
01:07Makes sense.
01:08We are conditioned that no matter how good things are going,
01:12a spear is about to go right through your freaking eyeball.
01:16I understand why you would feel that way, but not with this team.
01:20And it is tempting to not want to count your knickerbockers before they're sewn together.
01:27But I don't think with this team that we're talking about the same,
01:32even as the team a year ago, right?
01:34Because this team had so much experience together.
01:37We know that it's not just about one dude, right?
01:40If Jalen Brunson's on the bench, the rest of these guys have shown that they can step up.
01:44What we've seen from Cat, from OG and Anobi, from Josh Hart defensively.
01:49Oh my gosh, the shooting from Landry Shamit, right?
01:51What we've seen from these different guys who've stepped up has been incredible.
01:56The level of play does not drop because their captain and their point guard is not on the court.
02:01But also, their experience level, and while I know it's not always a determining factor,
02:06it's made a difference in this playoff run with 13 straight wins.
02:10So I'm trying to be empathetic here, Patrick, and understand that you're a little bit nervous
02:15about how this might go.
02:17But I don't think, first of all, history bears it out that no team has ever lost a lead like
02:22this, right?
02:23After winning the first two games on the road, they've got the home court.
02:26But also, they've got the confidence that we've not seen from a Knicks team
02:31with all the road wins in a row, the 13 straight victories.
02:35This team is playing its best basketball of the year, which is saying something.
02:39So I don't think you need to be nervous at all.
02:42Dear basketball gods, hear Amy and heed her words.
02:47She is smart.
02:48What is it about the Knicks team?
02:50Is it the physicality?
02:51Is it Brunson?
02:51Is it just the fact that cat's stepping up?
02:54Like, what is it that you like about them?
02:56I'll tell you what, number one, their offense is so much better this year.
03:00You know, last year, you know, they fired Tibbs.
03:04And how do you fire this guy?
03:05You go to the East Conference Finals, you're firing him.
03:07Well, they didn't like the offense.
03:09They hired Mike Brown.
03:11And Mike Brown has proven to be the right hire because Mike Brown has made the offense clear.
03:15And the most important thing, and Mike Brown talked about this right before the finals a little bit.
03:20His willingness to be flexible with what his players, especially his star players, ask.
03:31Tom Thibodeau is, look, this is my box.
03:34You either get in the box or you go on the bench.
03:37This is my box.
03:38This is how it works.
03:40Mike Brown is willing to accommodate his stars.
03:43So when, you know, Jalen Brunson says, hey, I think we run better if we do the play this way
03:50than that way.
03:52Mike Brown, okay, well, we'll do it your way.
03:54When Carl Anthony Towns says, I think I'd be better off if you put the ball in my hands at
03:59the top because I'm a mismatch for whoever's guarding me there.
04:03And I can facilitate the offense there.
04:05We can create a mismatch.
04:07And Mike Brown said, okay, well, they haven't lost since they did that.
04:12They haven't lost since Carl Anthony Towns went to Mike Brown and said, hey, let me have the ball at
04:17the top and let me run facilitate the offense and help generate shots for other guys as well.
04:23And what is it now?
04:25The 14 and 0?
04:28Not as.
04:29So, you know, if these are things that just Mike Brown from his, you think about his career, he's coached
04:37LeBron.
04:38He's been fired for, like, going to the playoffs.
04:41Like, Mike Brown has had a really interesting career in that he has success and he still gets fired.
04:46That this is kind of like poetic justice for him.
04:50He had to take over a team where the goal, little if they got hired, tied or bust.
04:57And he's up 2-0.
04:59That's pretty damn impressive.
05:00Let's not forget, he's also a champion coach, right?
05:03He's been with, he was with the Warriors when they won a couple titles.
05:06So this is a guy who's been in some really great systems.
05:08And it's funny because I've asked people who are around the Knicks, what's the difference between Thibodeau and Brown?
05:14And what's the difference in atmosphere?
05:16And actually, Brown's a defensive coach as well.
05:19That's his calling card.
05:20But you're right.
05:21He allowed these guys to leave their own fingerprints on the offense.
05:25And what I hear over and over, he's a player's coach, meaning he listens to us, right?
05:31He takes into account what we say.
05:33But I don't think it's just about the offense, which I do love that.
05:36I think it's the balance.
05:37And I also believe their commitment to defense is as strong as it's ever been, which makes them different.
05:42But have you also noticed how professional they are about what is in front of them, the task in front
05:49of them, how business-like they are?
05:51That loss last year in the Eastern Conference Finals was humiliating.
05:54It was embarrassing.
05:55It was hard for them to eat.
05:57And since then, a year later, they've determined we're not going to feel like that again.
06:02And they go about it like it's their jobs, not just, hey, we're the big, bad Knicks.
06:07We're going to show up and do what we do.
06:08It is so methodical.
06:10It's so focused.
06:11It's so business-like.
06:13And that has been the difference.
06:14It's more up here, although I do agree that Mike Brown has unlocked more of their offensive potential.
06:20But it's a lot of the same guys.
06:21And yet, they're deep.
06:22They're balanced.
06:23They're all in.
06:24And I think that is part of chemistry.
06:27So chemistry is one of those ethereal concepts.
06:29You can't really put your finger on how you get it.
06:33There's not one path to it.
06:35But when you see it, right, it's about caring more about the guy on your left, the guy on your
06:39right, than you do about yourself having this common goal.
06:43And it's clear the Knicks have found that space together.
06:47One of the great things about the NBA is a number of coaches who are like, yeah, I have these
06:52great all-star players on my team, but I don't freaking listen to them.
06:55You know, that's just one of the great things of the NBA.
06:57So many coaches are like, nope, got to do it my way.
06:59And it's the guys who listen to their players that tend to be the most successful coaches.
07:06Now, we said before the game is they are, you know, getting to the anthem here at the Garden.
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