00:00Did we just watch the greatest comeback in the history of professional sports?
00:05Tom Brady and the New England Patriots 28-3 comeback against the Falcons in the Super Bowl
00:10has nothing on the Knicks 29-point comeback win.
00:14Jeff Johnson of Knicks Film School is representing Knicks Nation,
00:17and he's on to talk about being one game away from being crowned champions.
00:24If I am sleeping right now and I wake up, I'm going to be so upset
00:31because, boy, last night was absurd, it was ridiculous,
00:38and it was monumental, chaotic in all the best ways.
00:43I was in the building, and I've never experienced an event
00:49like I've experienced at the Garden last night.
00:53This transcends sports, concerts, whatever have you.
00:59Like, I've seen the best perform.
01:01I've never been in an environment like that in my life,
01:04and I think it is going to be a moment that's going to be indelible,
01:09encased in ember in time forever.
01:12Everyone's going to know where they were when they saw the hand of OG
01:17put the Knicks one game away from the title.
01:19And because of that energy, because of just the Knicks basketball gods from all over,
01:28being in that arena, this team was able to walk down a 29-point deficit.
01:35You have to choose one on this one, Jeff.
01:39Did the Knicks come back and take that game, or did the Spurs choke?
01:46So, I always give the credit to the team that has to complete the comeback
01:50because you have to make shots, you have to make the key plays.
01:54But if you look back in that fourth quarter, Brandon,
01:57the Knicks did not play the perfect game that you thought they were going to have to play
02:03in order to erase that deficit.
02:05They had turnovers.
02:06They had missed shots.
02:08They couldn't score for the first couple of minutes in the fourth again.
02:12So, if you're putting me on the spot, in this instance, I have to say the Spurs
02:18choked that game away.
02:20This was the biggest choke in the history of the NBA.
02:24And I don't think this is hyperbole.
02:26You were up 29 points in the second half, and you continued to shoot three-point shots.
02:33I've been screaming from the top of the mountain since this series began
02:37that the Spurs are streak shooters.
02:39Now, the problem with that is when you're on the wrong side of the streak,
02:42you get a 29-point lead.
02:44You get everybody knocking down threes.
02:46But their offense, jump shooting-wise, is not sustainable.
02:51And they thought they could sustain it over the course of a whole game.
02:55They got comfortable.
02:56They made young and dumb mistakes.
02:59And it came back to bite them.
03:02You have to take the game, but someone else has to open the door
03:06for you to go through and take that game.
03:08And the Spurs, they sent the code.
03:11They didn't just open the door.
03:13They sent you the key code.
03:15They sent you the garage door code.
03:17And they said, walk right on in and stay for a while if you want.
03:20This is what I saw, Brendan.
03:22It was just...
03:23I still can't believe that the Spurs let that happen.
03:28But I got to give credit to the Knicks guard, the guarding crowd.
03:33I saw some people on social talking about how,
03:36oh, we don't think that they're so loud.
03:39They paid all this money and they're sitting on their hands.
03:41Well, guys, the team has to give them something to cheer for.
03:44And they cut the lead, cut the lead to 20.
03:48That crowd stood up and started chanting, let's go, Knicks.
03:52This is the first time in a long time that I've seen the Knicks
03:56ride the wave of the crowd to be able to overcome a deficit.
04:00And it was even different than the 22-point comeback against Cleveland
04:04because that felt more like the rucker.
04:06Once you saw Brunson cooking Harden, we just knew it was a matter of time.
04:10It was a matter of time.
04:12And it was inevitable.
04:14This was improbable, unconscionable.
04:17But it was reality, and I was blessed to witness it.
04:21That energy in the garden, it can feed you if it's for you,
04:25but it can cost you if it's against you.
04:29De'Aaron Fox not running out the clock at the end.
04:33Would you call that the biggest playoff blunder, bleep up,
04:37whatever you want to call it?
04:39Is that the biggest mess up in basketball playoff history?
04:43No, we've seen, I mean, if we're talking basketball,
04:47you can go to Chris Webber's timeout.
04:49You can go to a bunch of other things.
04:51It's up there, though.
04:53Like, it's competing.
04:54It's definitely on the podium.
04:56But I'm not going to put it 100% on Fox because in order for a house of cards
05:02to fall, there has to be a bunch of things to happen first, right?
05:07The house of cards doesn't just fall because one gust of wind blows it down.
05:12All the individual cards, the foundation starts shaking,
05:15and then eventually it topples.
05:17And it just looks like one event happened
05:19because the house of cards falls at once.
05:21But if you watch it in slow motion,
05:23there's little tiny vibrations at the bottom,
05:28and then it falls one by one.
05:30But it just, to the naked eye, it looks like it's together.
05:33Together, they allowed, their series of events allowed them to blow the lead.
05:40And you even think about how the Knicks were thrown off, Brandon,
05:44in this whole game.
05:46Questionable calls to get Cat out of the game early.
05:49Then you had the concerted effort to give Wemby a stack of receipts
05:55for what happened in game three.
05:56They made the effort to knock him on his behind.
06:00And they had to deal with a Spurs magnet ball.
06:02All of that led to 29 points, and they were all out of sorts.
06:06You needed a team that has a never-say-die attitude.
06:09They say, work hard.
06:11I think Brunson says, work hard so that you're ready for the miracle.
06:16And we saw a miracle on 34th Street.
06:19It's still incredible to think that the series of events
06:22have folded the way they did.
06:24Like, Brandon, this is what the Knicks were doing to other teams
06:26during that 13-game win streak, smacking them by 20, 30, 40.
06:30But the difference is the Knicks were the resilient team that they never had to face
06:35when they were dominating as the Juggernaicks.
06:38So it's just an incredible juxtaposition of both sides of a team of destiny.
06:44You talk about miracle.
06:45You talk about destiny.
06:47This takes me back.
06:48And you mentioned OG.
06:49So I'm glad you mentioned all three of these factors
06:53because this takes me back to 2007 with David Therese's helmet catch.
06:57It took a miracle for the Giants to pull off a Super Bowl.
07:01It took a miracle for the Knicks to complete that comeback.
07:06OG with the tip in, had 33 last night, averaging almost 24 a game.
07:11Is OG Ananobi your finals MVP favorite right now,
07:16up 3-1 going into a closeout game?
07:19Listen, at one point, OG was like 35-1 to be finals MVP after game three.
07:29If somebody placed that bet, you might be cashing out crazy.
07:34He's been the most consistent Knick throughout the course of the entire playoffs,
07:39if we're keeping it real.
07:41He's shooting like 60% from an effective field goal percentage.
07:45He went 5-5 from 3, 33 points.
07:49And let's not let the block on De'Aaron Fox.
07:53Yeah, it was a big dummy play, but he still had to sprint down and block.
07:58That block and that tip are going to be two of the most monumental plays in NBA history
08:04when they run this game back over and over again until the end of time.
08:08He is one of the best two-way players in the league.
08:13This playoff run has done better PR than any A-list actor you've ever known in your life.
08:22He's going to go into next season with an all-star tag on him
08:26because he's elevated his game and he is who he said he was.
08:31He thought he was an underrated offensive player.
08:34He knew he was a fantastic defensive player.
08:37They snubbed him on defensive second team.
08:39He should have been defensive first team.
08:41And he's not being recognized for his offensive.
08:44Like, I had people tell me that he took too many threes and that wasn't his game.
08:49What you going to tell me now?
08:51What are you going to say now?
08:52OG and Inobi has emerged as one of the best players on the floor.
08:56You could argue he's the third best player on the floor in this series
09:00and possibly the first.
09:02So I love it for him.
09:04I think this is a great emergence on the national stage.
09:07And if he has, I mean, he's consistent.
09:11He's old, reliable at this point.
09:13One more solid performance like that.
09:15Yeah, I think at this point he would be the clubhouse lead for finals MVP.
09:21In order for somebody to emerge,
09:23that means someone disappears or vanishes.
09:26Who do you need to see more from?
09:29Whether it's production, energy, hustle, just overall points.
09:32Who needs to step it up game five
09:34that really hasn't played up to their true potential this series?
09:39I mean, prior to yesterday, that might have been Jalen Brunson
09:43because he was having one of his worst shooting playoffs
09:47and shooting series in his career.
09:50But as we know, Jalen Brunson is the Floyd Mayweather of basketball
09:55where during a series, he's the first couple of games.
09:59It's like Floyd in his first couple of rounds.
10:01He's measuring his opponent.
10:02He's getting his time.
10:03And together, he may give up a couple of rounds here and there.
10:05And then once he has you figured out, it's a wrap.
10:09That's how Jalen Brunson is,
10:10especially when he's getting pressured the way
10:12Stephon Castle and those wings are up on him the entire game.
10:16It took him a while, but he may have finally figured it out.
10:20But the guy that I'm looking at right now is Mikael Bridges.
10:24Back-to-back subpar games being kind,
10:27he did a lot to repair his playoff reputation for this season.
10:33You know, playing stellar defense throughout.
10:35But the last couple of games on offense has kind of been a revert
10:38to what he was doing in the Atlanta series before he got back on track.
10:44They're going to need some offense.
10:46They're going to need his mid-range game as a release valve
10:50for that San Antonio defense.
10:52And if he can find his offensive rhythm again,
10:56listen, man, game five might be a coronation, Brandon.
10:59It may not be a game.
11:01So I'm looking at him to get back to his two-way play and to step up.
11:06Also, hey, Nick's bench, this is not the series to fade.
11:12Landry, I know, the star man has to run out at some point, right?
11:16Even Mario doesn't have the star man forever.
11:18We've got to get back to some efficient shooting.
11:20I'd love to see Deuce McBride arrive in this series.
11:25He's had a horrible series thus far.
11:27And Mitch to be more consistent on the defensive side.
11:30They cannot afford for this bench to fade.
11:34Because if it wasn't for Jose Alvarado,
11:36I don't know if we'd be sitting here talking 3-1.
11:39All right, last but not least, one more left.
11:43One more win.
11:45And the New York Knickerbockers are champions of the world, Craig.
11:50So what's it going to take for these dudes to close it out in 5 and hopefully not 6 or
11:577?
11:59Killer instinct.
12:01When they played Game 6 against Atlanta,
12:04when they played Game 4, the Mother's Day Massacre in Philadelphia,
12:09when they played Game 4 in Cleveland,
12:12they had a bloodlust in their eyes.
12:15They went for the head.
12:17They were the ones who said,
12:20this series is ending tonight and there ain't anything you can do about it.
12:25They need to carry that mentality.
12:27They say they play a 0-0 mentality.
12:29Now this is a total elimination mentality.
12:34They tell you, they'll tell you over and over,
12:37eliminating a team from the playoffs is the hardest game you're going to play.
12:40But every game this season, in the postseason,
12:44they've risen to the occasion.
12:45The time for games is over.
12:48The time for doubt has long since passed.
12:52Now it's time to finish your story and go get what's yours.
12:57End this 53-year drought.
12:59Do not bring San Antonio back with you to New York.
13:04End it.
13:05End it on Saturday.
13:07And live forever.
13:09And eat for free.
13:11Jeff Johnson, appreciate you stopping on with us.
13:14Boy, I'm telling you,
13:16somebody's going to have a line of car dealerships
13:19that's going to keep their great-grandchildren eating.
13:25Jalen Brunson Chevrolet.
13:27Here we go.
13:28Listen, John Starks got hands out here.
13:31Anything is possible.
13:33Do it.
13:33Do it.
13:34Hey, appreciate you, man.
13:36Love you, bro.
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