- 2 hours ago
Category
đĽ
SportsTranscript
00:00:16Welcome back to another edition of New York Got Game, a great edition where we can say
00:00:21the Knicks are NBA champions. It's your boy Dexter Henry and I'm joined by two gentlemen
00:00:27who I had to talk to after this. There was nobody else I wanted to talk to and do an
00:00:32episode with
00:00:32other than to my left, the great dean of Knicks Film School, my guy Jonathan Macri,
00:00:38and the head of Knicks Fan TV, my guy CP the Franchise. Guys, I would ask how you're doing.
00:00:43I know the answer is tired, but we're also all happy too. I feel like we're all happy too.
00:00:48How's everybody doing? Through the moon, man. I came on, I said, what up, champ?
00:00:56Yeah, just an emotional night, man. You know, it was just an emotional night. It's just all the
00:01:03memories of the past and to see what this team has accomplished, the ultimate in the sport,
00:01:10led by, you know, I mean, it's just a New York story, man. It's a New York story. It's what
00:01:16all
00:01:17these championship teams in New York have been made of and Jalen Brunson has added to that law.
00:01:21It was a beautiful night, bro. So you said, like, I would ask you how you're doing,
00:01:25but I know because you guys are tired. I, so I got to sleep or I laid down to go
00:01:32to sleep
00:01:32this morning. No, at 1230 PM. After, after I had gotten up at 430, the previous yesterday,
00:01:44I think it was yesterday. Yeah, sure. Yesterday to take my daughter to a field hockey tournament
00:01:47in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, which I didn't know, not know was a place that existed.
00:01:51I heard of it. I have heard of it. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Nice little place. Anyway. And I grabbed
00:01:57a 45 minute nap yesterday. So anyway, I laid down 1230 and I set my alarm because my daughter
00:02:03had a gymnastics show. Shout out to both of our daughters. Yes, my daughter's gymnastics. She
00:02:09had hers yesterday. There you go. Okay. So you got it. Anyway, so I set my, long story short,
00:02:15I set my alarm for, I had to, I think three 15, I had to get up and get in
00:02:19the shower and
00:02:20I was asleep for like barely an hour, like an hour and a half. And I just, I was, I
00:02:26woke
00:02:27up and I was, I was like vibrating. I just could not stay asleep. I was like, it was just
00:02:32all
00:02:33of everything was still like flowing through me. It sounds like very vague and weird, but
00:02:38it's just like, I don't really know how to describe what the last, what has it been
00:02:43now? 20 hours, 21 hours, whatever it is. I don't know how to describe it. It's unlike
00:02:51anything I've ever felt before as a, as a sports fan. Certainly it's, it was crazy for
00:02:57me too. And I, J Mac, I'll say this to you. I saw CP two. I literally got home at
00:03:02four
00:03:0330 and both of you guys were still, we're still alive. I was getting started and I was
00:03:11like, I don't know if my guys are going to come on with me tomorrow. I got to see if
00:03:14this is going to happen. I have no idea. And I couldn't sleep. I couldn't sleep after
00:03:18that. Like it was, oh man, it's crazy. I couldn't sleep. I ended up working from home
00:03:23today, but what a, what, what a night, what a ride. I guess that's kind of where I want
00:03:29to start with you guys. Um, and the reason I thought it was important to have you both
00:03:34on here to talk about this, we always have good conversations, but we, the three of us
00:03:40have done a lot of content around this team and have done shows around this team. We're
00:03:45all native New Yorkers. And so I think all of this means something to us. We all grew
00:03:51up rooting for the Knicks. Um, they have a very special place in our heart. What does
00:03:56this championship mean to you? Cause we are fans of other teams. We have rooted for other
00:04:00sports, but there's something at least I'll talk about it too, but there's something different
00:04:05about this. Right. And when the final buzzer hit yesterday and you knew the Knicks were champions
00:04:10on Saturday night, um, could you talk to me about where you were emotionally and what this
00:04:16means to you to see this team win this for this city? What is it? What does it mean
00:04:20to you? Um, I broke down and cried, man, like a baby. And, and I started it like the journey
00:04:29of emotion started when they first won the East and in the way that they won the East
00:04:33and how they got there and taking the East. I saw it getting a little emotional that week
00:04:37leading up to finals. Like this is a legitimate finals contending team. This isn't, you know,
00:04:4299 where it's like, okay, we're happy to be here, but we're going to get stomped out.
00:04:46Right. But this was like legit. And then when the Knicks dropped that, that Clyde video,
00:04:51the hype video, I must have watched that about 30 times getting more and more emotional.
00:04:56Like this is real. This is really real. But yeah, I said it on, on, uh, on KFTV and we're
00:05:02all around the same age. No, no, uh, you know, gatekeeping the fandom, but the older generation,
00:05:09they got to experience with Clyde. Then there was the next generation, the Bernard generation,
00:05:15the dark ages leading into Bernard and then ultimately into Patrick. And that was our era,
00:05:20but our era was filled with so many what ifs and coming up short in 94. What if stocks, you
00:05:27know,
00:05:27what if Briley goes to Orlando Blackman? What about the finger roll? You know, what, you know,
00:05:32what if Carmelo would have waited and Lintani, like we had all of these, what if things,
00:05:36and we always came up short, but those were the, the memories that we clung to that was filled with
00:05:42so much disappointment. So to see Jalen bring this franchise back after 53 years and for our
00:05:51generation, that what if generation that never got it. And we always loved those players, but they
00:05:57never got it. So to see him break that ceiling, break through, that's how I broke it. Yeah. Um,
00:06:04look, I've been, I've, I've shed some tears throughout this, uh, playoff run as, as people
00:06:10have probably seen, uh, through our watch alongs on social media and whatnot. Um, and then last night,
00:06:16um, primarily I just felt like a weight was lifted, um, that a weight where, and, and it was a
00:06:26weight
00:06:27that like, uh, I'm not going to say that it like came into focus over the last few weeks, but
00:06:33I know
00:06:35I, uh, like, I think this is not to disparage the Spurs. Um, and it's certainly not to unnecessarily
00:06:47prop up the thunder who lost to the Spurs. But when the, when the Spurs beat the thunder,
00:06:52I think there was something in my mind where I was like, okay, that makes it a little bit more
00:06:58possible. It, you know, like we don't need to get into the X's and O's of like, what it would
00:07:02have
00:07:02been like if we had faced Oklahoma city, but that team, not that they had our number, like three of
00:07:06the last four games were very close, but they had specific things to throw at us that we saw.
00:07:11And like, we're like, man, and it was frustrating. And yet we had specific things to throw at San
00:07:16Antonio. So, and I think we saw that over the course of these five games. And so when that happened,
00:07:21I was like, oh my God, it has to be this year. It has to be this year. It has
00:07:27to be before this
00:07:28Spurs team, you know, before these guys age up when they're not 20 and 21 and 22, or, you know,
00:07:34because I, you know, and, and, and like, look, I don't need to tell you guys, you guys know the
00:07:38history of the sport, especially the recent history of the sport parody is where it's at. Now
00:07:41you haven't even had a repeat conference champion in eight years, let alone a repeat NBA champion.
00:07:46So the notion that like, eh, get them next year. I, again, I'm not putting that past this next team.
00:07:51I hope they win 10 more championships. But once, once the Spurs made it, I was like,
00:07:56this is their best shot. And, you know, I'll never forget how I felt after game one against
00:08:01the Pacers last year, where it's like, I was like, man, did we just, was that our shot?
00:08:06Did we blow it? And, and, and then I knew I never wanted to feel that way again. So I
00:08:11was just,
00:08:12you know, it's like, I, I put all this weight on this series, unnecessary, it's unfair. It's not
00:08:18that's, but I did. And, and so I just watched these last three games, especially with, uh, like, uh,
00:08:26it was, I said to Jeremy, we just did a show a minute ago. I was like, these were not
00:08:29fun
00:08:29viewing experiences for me. Cardiac of cardiac. Oh yeah. Yeah. So that's, I don't know if I
00:08:40answered your question, but that's, that's where I'm at. No, it does answer it. Cause it says,
00:08:45you know, for you, it meant that you had that weight off. I think saying, you know, when you
00:08:50hear what CP just said about, you know, what fans of our age for early forties have, you know,
00:08:56that range, you, you sort of went through watching this next team. There was a weight of,
00:09:01is this team going to do this? Um, there, there, there was it for me. I, it was interesting. Cause
00:09:07I try not to think a lot about, and I was telling this to Jay Mack and I were talking
00:09:11about this
00:09:11before we started recording. I tried not thinking a lot about what it would be like if they, they
00:09:15won. Um, but I knew for me there was going to be, and I got a little emotional about this
00:09:21during the,
00:09:22uh, live stream last night. I knew, I thought about my parents who were both no longer here.
00:09:27Particularly my dad, who was a huge Knicks fan. I mean, it's part, it's hard to separate
00:09:33anything of your family and your relationship with the team and all that stuff together.
00:09:38And my dad was a huge Knicks fan. We watched a lot of games together, started off listening to Clyde
00:09:43and bring on the radio. Um, there's a lot of basketball love there for me. And it also is personal
00:09:52because I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing if it wasn't for my love for the Knicks starting out
00:09:58from seven years old. There's no way that that was before I even thought about being a sports
00:10:01journalist, the sports broadcast. I never thought about that at seven years old. So the fact that
00:10:06I rooted for this team so hard, I saw the ups and downs CP is talking about. I felt the
00:10:11weight that
00:10:11Macri is talking about. The fact that I even do a show on the Knicks is not lost on me.
00:10:16And I think
00:10:17that's what I thought about a lot through this playoff run was like, man, this is so dope that
00:10:21you get to do this. Like they're like, this is a blessing. And I know we all feel the same
00:10:25way
00:10:25about that, but I think the wave of that hit me. And, um, you know, I thought a lot about
00:10:30my dad
00:10:30because he would have loved this Knicks team. Cause he was always about, he wanted to see guys play
00:10:36nine, 10 deep. He would have loved how Mike Brown coached. He would have loved what this team was
00:10:40about with their resiliency. And so all that came flooding through. And, and I think, you know,
00:10:44for all of us who've been watching this team for a long time, you think about your childhood,
00:10:49you think about, um, watching you and Mr. Finger roll. Um, somebody who's now a friend and went to
00:10:56the same school as me, Charles Smith, when he missed the layups. And you think about that. Um,
00:11:01you think about all the moves that this team has made and, and it's weren't good. Um, people
00:11:06worried about the five picks from Mikael Bridges, all that came flooding too. So for me, it means
00:11:13if you would have told, I guess the way I look at it is if you would have told me
00:11:17in 1994,
00:11:17I was 11 years old, that it was going to take 32 years to see this. I would, and it
00:11:24would feel this
00:11:25good. And to see the joy of people in the streets last night, I would have said, yes, worth it.
00:11:30It's, it's, it's absolutely worth it. And I know that both of my parents, um, who are very proud of
00:11:37what I've done in my career are their, their energy is around and they're happy about that now.
00:11:43So for me personally, it means a lot, um, to see this team win. I wish they were here to
00:11:47see it,
00:11:49but they were the first people I thought about first people I thought about last night. Um,
00:11:54and the emotion came through and I was talking about this earlier, uh, today. And it was like,
00:11:58that just came through. It's hard to separate your childhood, your journey. We have journeys with
00:12:04teams, but it's personal too, right? Like all that stuff comes through. So for me that that's,
00:12:10that's definitely what it meant is it was beautiful hearing you guys say what it meant for you guys
00:12:14too. I think one of the things I've seen come up a lot after last night is talking about Jalen
00:12:19Brunson,
00:12:20his 45 piece, the way the captain closed here is legendary. And a lot of people are going to say,
00:12:28is he the greatest snake ever? There's now talk about that, but I wanted to ask you guys something a
00:12:32little bit different. I got a shout out my friend Kavitha Davidson cause she brought this up. Um,
00:12:36and I thought it was a better way to phrase the question. Is Jalen Brunson the most meaningful
00:12:41Nick ever? And, and I, I've used that word because of what he did in resurrecting this franchise.
00:12:50If you want to use that word resurrection, um, I think there's a, there's an argument. He could be
00:12:56the most meaningful ever. What do you guys say? Is he the most meaningful Nick of all time?
00:13:02I mean, to break the 53 year drought for sure. And, and if this is a second round pick
00:13:10who leveled up, he didn't come in with fanfare. He didn't come in as, yes, he won with Nova and
00:13:15all
00:13:15of that. And, and you always knew that with the Nova guys, very safe, very high floor, you know what
00:13:21you're going to get, but he got here and jumped on a rocket every year. He got us further and
00:13:28further.
00:13:29And like his brand ascended along with his game. You know, he makes an all-star, they makes all NBA.
00:13:36Then the conversation becomes, can he win it all? Is he the guy that, that can, that you can win
00:13:41with
00:13:41the small guard topic and all of that? Well, meanwhile, the guy just went about his business
00:13:46and he handled it, man. 15 points again in that fourth quarter. Is he the most meaningful? Yeah,
00:13:53I would say so, man. He broke a 53 year drought in the, in the league with the heaviest Jersey,
00:13:59the pressure to do it. And he never folded on the pressure in game on the pressure outside of the
00:14:06game, always held himself accountable, win or lose. No question about it. It's a,
00:14:14I'm really struggling with this one because my first thought honestly went to Willis Reed
00:14:20because it's a billion years ago now, but like the, you want to talk about a franchise that was
00:14:25in a state of disarray and disrepair when Willis Reed was drafted. They had been the laughing stock
00:14:33of the league for a decade, pretty much in the, in the, again, nobody cares about the fifties,
00:14:37but like this, you know, it was, that was the reality. Now, if you want to tell me nobody cared
00:14:42about the league back then and how could someone, and again, to be clear, the reason I thought of
00:14:47Willis was thinking about shout out to what you said about Clyde CP. Every times Clyde talks about
00:14:54the old teams, what's the first thing that comes out of his mouth? Willis was our leader. Willis set
00:14:58the tone. Willis was, he was our example. He was our shining light. He was everything. And to hear
00:15:05a guy who in his own right is arguably the most meaningful player in NBA in franchise history,
00:15:09talk about Willis in that way, I'm like, oh, okay, maybe I should listen to what he's saying.
00:15:14And at the same time, basketball, the NBA wasn't like, we were 20 years away from games not being
00:15:22taped delayed, you know? Um, so I don't actually know if with all like the, the lack of weight,
00:15:30the lack of outside weight, you can, you can have the same amount of meaning that Jalen Brunson has
00:15:35now in this day and age with social media and all the different things that we all engage with on
00:15:40a
00:15:40daily basis. So then the only other name that comes to my mind is Patrick. And I often struggle,
00:15:48uh, as listeners of mine will know with how to balance, uh, uh, length of time with ceiling or
00:15:55with accomplishment or whatever. And Patrick being a warrior for 15 years, never scaled the
00:16:04mountaintop, but he was a warrior for 15 years, you know, in the NBA, obviously I was under, you
00:16:09know, that was Michael Jordan's era. So a lot of spot, big spotlight. It's, it's one in one a for
00:16:15me in some order between Brunson and Ewing. Um, that's something I would really have to sit and
00:16:20think about. Uh, it's a great question though. It really is a great question. Yeah. I like that.
00:16:25Listen, I think if somebody wants to go Patrick Ewing, I think you're fine with that. Cause
00:16:28I do weigh that too. And this is why the, with the greatest conversation, look, you're
00:16:32going to be hard to Clyde's got two rings. Um, Ewing has so many of the records for the
00:16:39Knicks in, in a bunch, in a bunch of categories. Who's fourth in that list? Like you have to
00:16:43put someone fourth on that list. Clyde Reed Ewing Brunson, like who else? Right. Um, that's
00:16:49a great question. I'm not, I'm not asking. I just, I just, it's a good point though, because
00:16:54the top three is so solidified, right? Like I don't, I don't know. I got a dad. I
00:17:00have to think about Jay Mack. I got that. I have to think about that. That's a conversation
00:17:03for a conversation for another day. I kind of lean with CP on this and maybe it's, I
00:17:09don't try to get into recency bias, but I will say, I do think what Brunson has done.
00:17:15I I'm with CP on this, the weight of the Jersey, man, the weight of the Jersey, especially
00:17:19and you talked about it today, today, you're talking about today's times, Jay Mack, social
00:17:23media, everything that's out there, the outside noise that was around this team. You know,
00:17:28players like to say all the time, they don't hear the outside. They do. They got people
00:17:33around them that are telling them what's being said. No, I heard this on KFT TV. I heard
00:17:38this on KFS. I heard this on God game. They've heard these things come back. Um, so I think
00:17:44that weight and to do what he did in game five, man, when nobody else had it, but it
00:17:53is, I mean, I'll say this, even whether you want to talk about where he's most meaningful
00:17:58Nick or not, you can argue. That's the most meaningful performance by a Nick in a postseason
00:18:05game and a finals game. I think, I think Clyde's 36 and 17. I was about to say, there's only
00:18:12one other there's right. It's those two. And then I don't care what third is. It's way
00:18:16far down the list. Yeah. I would say those two definitely. So however you want to feel
00:18:22about that, it's fine. But I think because of the 53 year drought, man, I think that
00:18:28that number is just so heavy and he's the guy that you can think of the face of ending
00:18:32it. I think we all are going to say right now, I think we felt this way before his Jersey
00:18:36is going to be up top there with the rest of those names you mentioned. And the man might
00:18:40get a statue. Okay. He, he should get a statue. Um, yeah, I, I'm going to lean to it, but
00:18:48I have no problem. If somebody says that Patrick, you, the one I've been, the one I've been the
00:18:52the accolade that I've been thinking of and I've said it for a few times over the last few
00:18:56weeks is where 20 years away from NBA 100, obviously NBA did top 50 list at 50, the top
00:19:0375 list at 75. I think with this Brunson has solidified his place as he will be on that
00:19:09list. A hundred percent agree. A hundred percent agree with you, but you want to talk about
00:19:14a guy that five years ago, his team was like, yeah, you know what? Mid-level money. We're
00:19:21not, we're not, we're not comfortable going there right at this time. Can't do it right
00:19:26now. Can't do it right now. Right now. Maybe you know what? Check back in a few weeks.
00:19:30We'll come back to you. We'll come back to you. Yo man. How'd that work out?
00:19:35Add it in. Yo, Nico Harrison, man. Tough times. Tough times. Tough times. I can laugh about
00:19:45that now. It's tough times for them. That's tough. That's tough. No, it's a great point,
00:19:50J-Mac, because the stuff with the NBA 100 and all that stuff, you can't, it's like the
00:19:55Hall of Fame. I say all the time you had, you can't tell the history now of the NBA without
00:19:59Jalen Brunson. There's, there's no way you can do that with this championship, with his
00:20:03impact. Right. I agree with you. He's 20 years from now. He's absolutely going to be
00:20:08on that NBA 100 list. I'd love to, I'd love to hear you guys talk about Mike Brown
00:20:13because I remember J-Mac, J-Mac moves back. After game two against Atlanta, J-Mac asked me
00:20:24to come on the KFS morning hangover and CP, I know you remember too. That's
00:20:29was a rough time for Mike Brown. A lot of fans wanted him up out of here. They thought
00:20:33he wasn't going to survive the series. This man had all the coaching stops that he's had
00:20:38guys and gets it done. If we even go back a little bit over a year ago, the Knicks get
00:20:43Tibbs up out of here. They make the coaching change. Some people didn't like the process
00:20:47of it. They hire Mike Brown. Now he's a champion, a champion who was down to one in the first
00:20:55round to the Atlanta Hawks. And people were frustrated with him. But I think he deserves
00:21:04a ton of credit here. I just want to say that number one, a lot of credit for what he's
00:21:08done
00:21:08with his team. I was a big fan of how he managed the team throughout the season. I've said that
00:21:11multiple times. I've been on record of saying that. Um, I think his process of what he did
00:21:17mattered guys. And I, as much as I'm happy for the players, I'm actually really happy
00:21:23for him. There's a lot of people I'm really happy for with this next team, including the
00:21:27front office, but I'm really happy for Mike Brown because I think he's proof that it shows
00:21:34that you do not have to be what you always once were. You can evolve. It's like a good lesson
00:21:38to learn a life. And I think he did evolve. And I think evolution was a huge part of Nick's
00:21:42process here in the playoffs. But what did you guys make of his championship journey for
00:21:46him? Not just with the Knicks, but to get to where he is now at the top of the mountaintop
00:21:50and man, he, he out coached Mitch Johnson in this final series. It wasn't even close, but
00:21:56what do you guys make of Mike Brown's championship journey?
00:22:00You have to give him a ton of credit for taking on the job in the midst of immense pressure.
00:22:09And succeeding and look, the Knicks were the butt of all jokes in the whole process. I mean,
00:22:14they went deep into the off season and the thought was like, what's the plan? What's the
00:22:18plan? They're going after guys that are already on the contract. This was just retribution against
00:22:23Tibbs, no plan. And, you know, when Mike Brown was hired, a lot of people were, this wasn't
00:22:30the splash that people were looking for. This wasn't the young upstart coach. It was just
00:22:34this X's and O's whiz. And, you know, this wasn't the championship caliber. Some people
00:22:40wanted Mike Brown. So, but I always felt like you can't, as you said, Dex, you can't cast
00:22:47him away just based off of past failures. Everything is different. When you go to a new team, the
00:22:53players, the roster construction, the front office, everything is different. You have to
00:22:58give these guys an opportunity to go through a full season, maybe two, and see where you
00:23:04are. I use Rick Carlisle as an example. Mike Malone, prime example. You know, it doesn't
00:23:11just because they had failures in the past doesn't mean they're a bad coach. Every opportunity,
00:23:15every situation is different. He's came in and checked off all the boxes that the Knicks
00:23:20were looking for in their new coach. The collaborative approach, going deeper into the bench. And as the
00:23:27playoffs went on, he seemed to press every button correctly. Towns goes in, hey, run it
00:23:34through me. Okay, we got it. Success. They end up historically washing the Hawks into Cancun. You
00:23:40know, the Alvarado adjustment, adding in extra ball handling against that stingy Spurs defense
00:23:46in game four. When Alvarado was in and out of the playoff rotation, jamming in and out of the playoff
00:23:52rotation. Like Mike Brown, not being afraid to experiment deep into this run and not just
00:24:00sticking to his guns. I mean, this is well-deserved, man. Look at his resume now. Two-time coach of
00:24:04the
00:24:05year and NBA champion. And you have to think that he used a lot of the experience that he had
00:24:11gained
00:24:11over the years, coaching under Popovich, coaching under Steve Kerr, getting to the finals as an
00:24:17assistant. As you said, he ran laps around Mitch Johnson in this series. So you said you were really
00:24:24happy for Mike Brown. And I don't know if you mentioned Leon Rose, but like, I look at those
00:24:32two as an interesting contrast because Leon, let's say they got waxed in this finals. Leon's already,
00:24:39even if that was the case, at worst, the second greatest executive in the history of the franchise
00:24:44behind Eddie Donovan, Eddie Donovan, who built the two title teams. And again, it was a very,
00:24:49it was a different, completely different animal back then. You have to deal with the fricking
00:24:51salary capital. It's nonsense. Well, Leon Rose did to build this team and he had already had
00:24:57a quote unquote hall of fame career as a, as an agent. So like, I'm not saying Leon Rose didn't
00:25:02need, I'm sure he wanted it more than anything, but I don't think he needed this. Mike Brown was looked
00:25:07at
00:25:08as a guy who was like, Oh, he's just good enough to fail with, or like, just let me rephrase
00:25:16that
00:25:16just good enough to not climb the mountaintop with. And yet, if you look at his, if you look at
00:25:23his coaching resume, he gets, he has consecutive 60 win seasons with the calves and then gets fired
00:25:30after everybody in the world knew his best player had one foot out the door in that last season,
00:25:38still guided them to 60 wins and they lost to a better Celtics team. And then he got fired for
00:25:43that. Go goes into LA coaches, a team that was on the stepping already stepping onto a slippery slope
00:25:51down that would careen into utter buffoonery for the next better part of 10 years with the Lakers.
00:25:57They fired him for that, even though it was not his problem situation at all gets rehired and
00:26:02claving for one more year, a disaster of a team at that moment gets fired again. What was he going
00:26:06to do? And then shout out to the Kings, man. Uh, who just brought up Mike Malone?
00:26:11TB did had Mike Malone and then goes and fires him and watches him win a championship with the
00:26:17Denver nuggets. He has Mike Brown and fires him and watches him now go do that. Talk about a
00:26:23situation that was completely a raw deal. So he had been to all these stops and had gotten fired
00:26:31repeatedly, even though you could argue in every single circumstance, like what did, what else did
00:26:35you want the man to do? And so I think this win completely changes the narrative on his career
00:26:44and justifiably. So, and I was talking about on the post game show last night, like I got it. I
00:26:49think
00:26:50he's a hall of fame coach. Like if you look at the wind percentage, if you look at the playoff
00:26:54wins,
00:26:54if you look at now the championship, as you said, the two-time coach of the year, like you stack
00:26:58him
00:26:58up against pretty much every, all the other coaches who were in the hall. I think he's going to get
00:27:03there, you know, coach a few more years, like rack up a few more wins. Like I think it's, I
00:27:08think
00:27:08it's a good shot. Yeah. I mean, you talk about Brunson and the weight and the 53 years, it's hard
00:27:15to be
00:27:15the coach of the Knicks that helped end the 53 year drought. You dad also doesn't get you into
00:27:19the hall of fame as well too. You're right. Probably need some more wins too. You're right
00:27:22about that. Jay Mack, but he's got, he's got over 500. Like that's, that's, that's typically the
00:27:28barometer. You need at least that. And then you could start being a part of that conversation.
00:27:33He has that. So I think he's in, I think he's in, um, I think it's, I think it's a
00:27:40good point.
00:27:40And you mentioned, I will just piggyback off this before we move. You did mention Leon Rose
00:27:45and hiring him. And I do think that I am happy for this front office because
00:27:50they made a lot of moves that people questioned. We were all, we were all together when they made
00:27:55the OG trade. We were all in the same studio when that trade went down and the joy from you
00:28:01guys
00:28:02that day cannot match the joy that we all have now from seeing the Knicks win. But I think we
00:28:08all
00:28:08felt then that was a P another piece to where they were going to dex.
00:28:13That was for me. And I'm curious how you guys feel about that. Yeah. That was the moment where
00:28:19I'm like, Oh, now they mean business. And that, and, and look, I, I agree. I feel the same way.
00:28:25Like to, to make that move and to go for that and to trade to, to find me to, but
00:28:32more well,
00:28:33liked, loved young players on the last 30, since Patrick, since a young Patrick Ewing or a young
00:28:40Mark Jackson than RJ and IQ and to ship both of those guys out for a guy who was kind
00:28:46of looked
00:28:46at as like a mercenary, you know, he's like, he's this, he's this robot that was built in a lab
00:28:51to
00:28:51be a two way, you know, power forward wing. Um, that was the moment for me, man, where I was
00:28:56like,
00:28:56Oh, okay. They're, they're really doing this.
00:28:58Yeah, I do. But I remember people who didn't like that trade. I remember people who did not like
00:29:03the cam reddish for Josh Hart trade, right? I, I'm not going to say the friend's name as a friend
00:29:09who's a Nick fan. It was like, ah, I don't know about that trade. I don't know. It's Josh Hart
00:29:13a winning player. He loves Josh Hart. Now I'll tell you that much. He loves Josh Hart. Now,
00:29:17right. We could talk about, obviously the biggest swing is going for Mikkel Bridges and the five
00:29:22picks. And now nobody gives a damn about those picks except for the nets. Nobody cares about
00:29:28that. Right. Was it a bigger swing than cat? I think so. I say so because of the, of what
00:29:37they
00:29:37gave up and how you, I say it because of, we know that people have the perception, not you guys,
00:29:44but people have the perception of when you give up a whole bunch of picks, you're supposed to be
00:29:47getting back to superstar player. I think people who know and understand basketball very well
00:29:53understood the piece they were trying to fit into what they were trying to do. And I think that's
00:29:57how you're probably looking at it. Well, no. And that's why I asked the question. Cause
00:30:01obviously look, the opportunity cost was the opportunity cost. That was more than the picks,
00:30:04but with cat, once the moment you brought him in and even we saw it when there were some rumors
00:30:11in this trade deadline, it's not like you, if it didn't work out, you'd be like, that's all right.
00:30:14We'll just ship him out for it. No, like you were pot committed when you made that. The only
00:30:19reason to ask a question. Cause I think it's a, but I don't want to divert. No, it's a good
00:30:22question. And if you guys remember, that's the one move. And I texted both of you after that trade
00:30:28went down and I was like, ah, I don't know about this. I didn't like the cat move. I didn't,
00:30:32I was
00:30:33not a fan of it at first. It's the one move in this whole regime that I actually was probably
00:30:37least,
00:30:37I did not like the most. And I obviously changed my tune on that. And cat deserves a lot of
00:30:43credit
00:30:43for how he's played in this role. But I think Leon Rose in the front office deserves a ton of
00:30:46credit
00:30:47because they made a lot of moves that weren't popular. I don't think they got enough credit for
00:30:51people believing that they had a vision and understood their vision of what they were doing
00:30:55guys, but they did have a vision. And I did think they were serious. And I don't think any of
00:30:59these
00:31:00moves were necessarily terrible moves. The moves were not like the moves of old. They were not going
00:31:05for just the free agent, the big name. They, they, they were well thought out. They were pieces to a
00:31:10puzzle that obviously eventually fitted fit in the right way. And so that's it. Something I did want to
00:31:16ask you guys, because I think the Knicks that more people aren't talking about this Knicks. I know
00:31:21Jay Mack, I know you don't care about the NBA cup, but I love the NBA.
00:31:29The Knicks are the first team to win the double, right? First team to win the cup title in the
00:31:33same year. I think it's dope, but what I thought at the NBA cup, I thought there was a, I
00:31:43was like,
00:31:43okay, this team could do something, but was there a moment during the season or the playoffs
00:31:48where either of you were like, okay, this team actually can win the championship.
00:31:53This was the moment where you said, okay, I see where they could do it all. Was there a moment
00:31:57for you where you were like, this could happen? I think I know what the moment was. I had two
00:32:01moments in that. I know it was for me, but I'm curious. CP, what was that moment for you?
00:32:04When I thought like they could legitimately win it?
00:32:06Legitimately win it all. Yep. I would say after that Philly game four.
00:32:13After Philly game four.
00:32:14In the way that they were easily able to dispatch them. After that, I was like, you know, the Hawks
00:32:19one was like, the Hawks, I didn't really think they weren't even on the same level. You know,
00:32:23Philly was a, I thought, I picked Knicks in six. I thought Philly would have been a bit more formidable
00:32:29just based on all the weapons that they had offensively. But to see the Knicks just quickly,
00:32:33just discard them. That's when I was like, okay, this is a juggernaut right now. You know,
00:32:40this is it. And they roll into Cleveland, they do the same thing. And then at that point,
00:32:46well, like Macri said, once the Spurs beat the Thunder, then it was like, okay,
00:32:54we're cooking now. This is the matchup that we wanted.
00:32:59Um, man, uh, I'm trying to, cause you said during the regular season too, it could be
00:33:04the regular season on the playoffs. Maybe somebody had it earlier. That's why I wanted
00:33:07to give the whole gamut of watching the team this season, regular season and playoffs.
00:33:12Did you have a moment where you said, okay, they could do this.
00:33:15I'll go to early March and they, it was a stretch. I'm looking at it right now. So they were
00:33:22coming
00:33:23off of a bit of a rough patch, um, to put it lightly out of the all-star break that
00:33:28the Detroit,
00:33:29uh, game, which, uh, I'll always remember that one. Uh, remember that one, the Houston comeback in
00:33:37the fourth quarter, which was impressive, but boy, did they play poorly for the first three quarters of
00:33:41that one? Um, barely beating a terrible Bulls team, getting smoked when they couldn't do
00:33:45anything on offense in the second half against the Cavs. And then after that, they smoked Milwaukee,
00:33:51they smoked the Spurs for the second afternoon game. Yep. You know, uh, where everybody says,
00:33:56you know, Oh, well, obviously because San Antonio was out at, uh, you know, studio 54 or whatever
00:34:01the night before. Spurs won an 11 game winning streak. It's heading into that game. If I remember
00:34:04correctly, but of course we got no credit for that because Spurs didn't come to play. Um, always funny
00:34:09how that works out. Then we not smoked Toronto, but like pulled away from them convincingly in the
00:34:14end, barely lost that OKC game. And then they went into Denver and put the smack down on the
00:34:22nuggets at a time when we were, I, I viewed, I personally was still viewing the nuggets as like,
00:34:26okay, this is a real team. And at that moment I remember, I'm like, okay, maybe they've actually
00:34:31gotten past all of their nonsense. Maybe they could really do it. And then of course they go into LA
00:34:36and
00:34:36have two of the most like blah. Oh man. I remember that as blah as block, you know,
00:34:43there weren't disastrous losses, but it was like, you know, and then they beat a bunch of terrible
00:34:47teams and, and, and then eventually went into the playoffs. So like, that was probably the moment.
00:34:51And then, and then for fast forward to like the, the, the post, the post season, I'll actually push
00:34:57back on what, not push back on what CP said, but when they, when they beat Atlanta, like they did
00:35:02in game six, I know like the Hawks for shell shock, but man, when you go up by like, whatever
00:35:07it was, 60 points on a team, I was like, I raised an eyebrow that day. I was like, oh,
00:35:14okay.
00:35:14I've never seen this before. I've been watching basketball for 30 plus years. I've never seen
00:35:17this, you know? So that got my attention for sure.
00:35:22I think for me, cause I liked that stretch. You mentioned, um, J Mac and I was at a bunch
00:35:27of
00:35:27those games, the Rockets games, the Spurs game. That was impressive. I did sense something in the
00:35:34cup run, something of the togetherness of the team. I liked there was something I liked then,
00:35:38but I don't think I was at the point. I was at the point where I said they could make
00:35:41the finals
00:35:42the point where I said they could win this all. I came a game later from CP game one against
00:35:49Cleveland.
00:35:50When they came back from 22, I said, this team could do it. They could win the whole thing.
00:35:54That's the moment I felt they could win the whole thing. I said, I've seen them blow out
00:35:59people from Atlanta game six, all through Philly, but to come back when they got punched in the
00:36:06mouth there in that and the way they played that first three and a half quarters in that
00:36:10fourth quarter, that told me everything. And, but if you would have told me then that would
00:36:15have been then topped by game four in the finals, I would have said, you're crazy. There's no way
00:36:19you think that nothing's going to top that. Can I ask you guys quick? Did you guys have a
00:36:23boogeyman during the season? A team that you were just like, no, I don't, I don't want to deal
00:36:29with them. Um, probably OKC, but I don't think there was anybody in the East for me with that
00:36:35even as badly as they played against Detroit. Yeah. I thought, I thought if the Knicks saw
00:36:39Detroit in the playoffs and I think after you saw what they did here in the playoffs, I don't think
00:36:43it would have mattered. So all the Detroit fans and the Celtics fans that, and the people that have
00:36:48made excuses, I don't think it was going to matter against this Knicks team. Yeah. And I'll be honest
00:36:52with you guys, I'll take it a step further. While I thought OKC was the boogeyman, I would
00:36:57have been wrong. They would not have been the boogeyman. Fumes. They were running on. I still
00:37:00think the Knicks would have, would have beat them. The, well, I, you know, does a healthy
00:37:05J-Dub change things a little bit? I think it would have, it would have made it a lot tougher.
00:37:10Um, but in the East, there was no boogeyman. I didn't believe in the Celtics. I thought the,
00:37:14I didn't think the Knicks, um, would have had any trouble with them. And the weaknesses that
00:37:19we thought, or that we felt Detroit had came about in the playoffs. They almost lost to
00:37:25the magic, right? Like without that secondary consistent score, without the outside shooting.
00:37:32And now you hear that they're going after Austin Reeves and things of that nature, like
00:37:35all those vulnerabilities that Detroit had going into the playoffs, it showed itself.
00:37:40So I, even though they handled the Knicks in the regular season, I still felt like the
00:37:44Knicks would be able to come out on top if they played each other in the playoffs.
00:37:47It was really okay. See, obviously with the shape factor, the experience, the closer,
00:37:54you know, does a healthy J-Dub change things, sway things in their direction. I think it
00:37:58was really okay. See, that's fair. What do you guys think comes next for this franchise?
00:38:03Because I know what comes next? Yeah. Well, yeah. Yes. Yes. We got, I think they should
00:38:10cancel every other NBA season. They should right now. And we should just do content about
00:38:17this playoff run until we all retire. You know, it's funny. I think maybe you guys will disagree
00:38:24with me, but I think for you guys, for sure next and for a lot of Knicks fans, next season
00:38:29is going to be the most stress-free season that Knicks fans have had in ever in a long time
00:38:34since 1974. It'll be the most stress-free season they've had since then. I guess what I mean
00:38:40when I asked what comes next for this franchise is now that this drought is over and the NBA is
00:38:48full
00:38:48of parody right now. We haven't seen anybody go back to back. We haven't had a repeat champion
00:38:52in eight years, been a new champion straight for eight years. Do we think this is just a magical,
00:38:59I don't even use the word magical because I hate that because the Knicks, I think played really
00:39:04well. There's nothing magical about this. Might feel magical at points, but this is a team that
00:39:09just believed in themselves and that was their identity. Do you think this is the beginning of
00:39:13something bigger for this franchise? Can this group become a dynasty? Oh my God. I know dynasty is a
00:39:20word that you don't want to think about in this era of parody. And it's crazy for Knicks fans because
00:39:24Knicks fans are like, man, I just was trying to see one. I just needed to see one. And you
00:39:29saw one,
00:39:29but I think there is going to be a thought for people after the parade in a couple of days,
00:39:34after the off season gets started, is this the beginning of something bigger? What do you guys
00:39:38think for this franchise? Are we in this new era where the Knicks could be flourishing even more
00:39:42for a while? Or what do you say? Yeah. Yeah. When you look at the core, you know, I said,
00:39:48we got to keep this core together, man. That was in the regular season as it neared an end. I
00:39:52said,
00:39:52I don't care what happens in the postseason. Keep this core together. You have Jalen in his prime.
00:39:57You still have Carl in his prime. McHale bridges. Oh, gee. Like you still have a ton of guys there
00:40:01that can, in this era of parody, still compete in the East as long as they're healthy. So, you know,
00:40:08I was, I was way off on the honest train. I said, forget that. I'm not dealing with depleting the
00:40:13depth to go chase Giannis after another calf injury, after another calf injury, forget about that.
00:40:18That's going to be Boston's problem. And I think if they trade Jalen Brown for him,
00:40:21I think that that would be a huge mistake for them, but we'll let them handle that.
00:40:26The challenge is going to be in this second apron era. How do they keep, you know, some of the
00:40:31back end together? I think Mitch is a priority. Does, do they let Shamit go and draft his replacement?
00:40:38Is Deuce a casualty here? How do they handle the Diawara situation? You know, I think that's going
00:40:43to be fascinating to me. Leon Rose is the best executive in the sport. He's done what no other GM
00:40:48could do
00:40:49right now in terms of not having the luxury of building, using your homegrown top draft pick.
00:40:55Like they have to deplete a ton of assets to get here. So now the challenge is going to be,
00:41:00you know, Brock with the calculator. How do they squeeze these guys in under the second apron,
00:41:04you know, and how do they handle the draft? Like that's going to be fascinating to see.
00:41:09Um, I think CP hit on all of like the logistical things. Although actually the one thing you didn't
00:41:14mention, which I would argue is the, the biggest domino to fall in the summer is, is the cat
00:41:20extension. Um, and obviously that's a big, it's a big multiple that is out there and, and he can
00:41:29get, you know, he could become, I don't know, like the most expensive player in the sport, but like
00:41:33it's, it's a, it's, and look, he's an NBA champion. And, and I know his stat line for game five
00:41:39wasn't
00:41:39great. But like, if you wanted to sit here and argue with me that, or argue to me that Carl
00:41:44Anthony
00:41:45Towns was the most important Nick of this entire post-season run, I wouldn't have a lot of smoke
00:41:49for you. I'd be like, all right, that's fine. Um, so that's a big one as far as moving forward,
00:41:56like run it back, keep this group together. I would love, it would be cool. Like it's been,
00:42:02it's been a four year run now, right. With Jalen Bronson. Like that's a nowadays in the NBA,
00:42:09like if you're a really good team, oftentimes like that's it, that's all you get. You don't
00:42:13really get, I mean, look at the box with Giannis, you know, how, how quickly things fell apart
00:42:17there because it's just so hard to keep these teams together. And as you said, CP Leon is the
00:42:22best in the sport and he has Brock by his side and other people that are very talented. So I
00:42:26have
00:42:26no doubt that they will figure this thing out. I just want to see this group together for another
00:42:30few years, give them another couple of runs at it. Um, you know, I, I, can they get back
00:42:37to a finals again? Yeah, for sure. They can, because look, look in the East, like you said
00:42:42it before. It's kind of why I asked the question, like, we'll see what Detroit does. We'll see
00:42:45what Boston does. We'll see, you know, does Giannis end up in Miami? How does that work
00:42:50out? But there's all these balls in Indiana is going to be back with a vengeance, you know?
00:42:55So like, it's not Cleveland, like what's Cleveland going to do? You know? So it's like, there's
00:42:59going to be a lot of competition. I just, I just want to see them get a couple more runs.
00:43:05That's what I want to see. I want to see them get a couple more runs and like, whatever
00:43:08happens from there happens. They've earned that now. And if they, if that happens and
00:43:13it's like, if we get to look back on this era and it's like, man, that the Jalen Brunson
00:43:17era, right? Like if we look back on it, it's like an eight year thing or a nine year thing.
00:43:21Like how cool would that be? That doesn't happen anymore. You know, it doesn't. So I think
00:43:26that, that for me is like the reward of, is like a, is an ancillary benefit of the championship
00:43:32is that now we'll get to see this team kind of get to do its thing for a little while
00:43:36longer.
00:43:36J Mac, do you want, uh, do you want Mitch back? Oh yeah. You want him as part of the,
00:43:41part
00:43:41of the, the run back too?
00:43:43Oh yes. I know. I I've, so again, I'm not coming at this from a place of, of rationality.
00:43:50I never want to see Mitchell Robinson wear another uniform and that's not, that's, I mean, look,
00:43:55there's a world where shout out to the guy that drafted Mitchell Robinson, Scott Perry's
00:43:59running the Kings right now. They, I don't know what they want to do. Make a king type
00:44:05signing. Yeah. Yeah. You can bet on that. You know, you know, there's some other teams
00:44:11with some, with some needs at center and some cap space. Like I, but no, I never, Mitchell
00:44:17Robinson has been a Nick for eight years. I've, I've, I've gone down the list. I'm not
00:44:20gonna go down the list now, but anybody can look it up on basketball reference. The list
00:44:23of guys who have spent 10 or more years with the Knicks franchise is it's less than 10 names
00:44:28long, you know? And I, how cool would it be to see him spend the rest of his career
00:44:35with the Knicks? It's just not something again, it's not something that happens anymore. Not
00:44:39with role players. I've said, I've made this point, Steph Curry, Nikola Jokic, um, even
00:44:45with superstars, it's rare, right? It's like, yeah, but, uh, I I've, I've said this before.
00:44:51I'll say it on here. There is no player in the league who has among non all-stars players
00:44:56who have never been on our team. No player has been with his franchise for longer than
00:44:59Mitchell Robinson. So that means something to me. Yeah. And he was, I mean, 10, 10 boards,
00:45:07six offensive in game five. He was tremendous offensive rebound. I think in the NBA finals,
00:45:13since the offensive rebound that led to the Ray Allen shot. That's a, that's, that's a great
00:45:19one. A couple, a couple more things for you guys. He bodied Wemby just like he did in the
00:45:22NBA cup. You look at the replay of that offense. Oh yeah. He out muscles them under the rim,
00:45:28which is a mid specialty. Wemby's hugging him because he's trying to get him out of there.
00:45:33And bitch snags the rebound being held down by Wemby. And then the emotions afterwards,
00:45:38man. How many guys in the league can you not game plan against?
00:45:44Very few. It's a, it's a handful or two. You can't game plan against him. It doesn't matter
00:45:50what you do. You can't keep them off the boards. That's such an advantage. It's such an advantage.
00:45:56Yeah. It's a huge advantage. He was, he was tremendous. Do we think that this Knicks,
00:46:01when we look at New York sports history, is this 2026 Knicks championship team? Is it the greatest
00:46:07team in New York sports history? Is it because they ended the drought? It's a, this question has
00:46:12been going through my mind since last night, right? Like J-Mac, every time I ask these questions,
00:46:18he has to take a seat back because they're big. They're questions I'm pondering. It's what I'm,
00:46:23that's how my mind is now. My mind is pondering all these, where does this team rank? And I mean,
00:46:30like they're in the conversation. How could they not be? This is one of the most dominant runs
00:46:37in NBA playoff in New York sports history. I know with football, you only could play up to three games,
00:46:43right? Before you get to the Superbowl. So I understand that that's a little bit different,
00:46:47right? But if you look at the fact that in the finals, the Spurs led for 70% of the
00:46:52finals,
00:46:53the Knicks won, right? We talked about the weight of the Jersey. We talked about the 53 year drought,
00:46:58right? The average margin of victory was 14.9 points. That's the largest margin of victory
00:47:04ever by NBA champion, right? So this is how dominant it was. We didn't even mention 13 straight
00:47:08playoff wins, 15 wins in their last 16 games, 16 and three overall in the playoffs. Their losses were
00:47:14only by combined six points. So all that, all that is true. And yet my favorite two words
00:47:22in New York sports, just in the last 40 years, let's start it in, let's not include the Mets
00:47:27in 86 because that's their own thing. Just since then, you've had a Ranger team that ended
00:47:33a 54 year title. 54 year drought. You had a Yankee team that set the record for most wins that
00:47:40also won
00:47:40a world series, correct? 98. Yep. You had a giant team that beat the first team to enter a Superbowl
00:47:49without a loss and with this many games on the schedule. So those three right there, like are all
00:47:57in competition, I think. And I'm not a giant fan. I'm not a Yankee fan. I'm not a Ranger fan.
00:48:02I don't
00:48:02give a damn about any of those teams, but I like, it's tough. It's just, it's tough. It's a tough
00:48:07field.
00:48:08It's a tough field. I, I just, for all the stuff I mentioned, I think about how dominant their run
00:48:14is.
00:48:15I'm just like, they gotta be in a conversation. Uh, CP, you're a Giants fan, right? And I'm sure for
00:48:21you,
00:48:22that 07 run is as special as you're going to get. That is as, that's as good as a run
00:48:28in football
00:48:29because they knocked off the Patriots to Mike's point, undefeated. And, and not only that, like
00:48:34they weren't expected to be there. They were a wildcard team. Yep. You know, the Knicks had
00:48:38expectations to get here, right? They didn't just come out of nowhere. They've been building towards
00:48:42this. The Giants, nobody expected it. And they beat the number three, the number two, the number one
00:48:48seeds in the NFC first, right? Remember the frozen, the frozen tundra game in green Bay.
00:48:55Eli out slings Brett, Brett Favre on his own turf. I mean, that was incredible. And then you go in
00:49:00and beat the Patriots, you know, it's, I don't know, man. I look, I think the Knicks breaking the
00:49:06drought is still going to be there because the Giants still had chips prior to, and they went to the
00:49:11Superbowl in 2000. The Knicks, the Knicks, the Knicks are going to take that Giants right under that 07
00:49:17Giants right under that. I think the better question is, what's the greatest play of the
00:49:25last, let's say 50 years in New York sports history? The David Tyree catch or the OG Ananobi
00:49:30tip? Okay. That's the question. That's a great question. And CP might be the most qualified
00:49:39because he is a Giants fan and a Knicks fan. I'm going to say, I remember, I'll never forget
00:49:46where I was for both. The David Tyree catch was so crazy, right? Like to get up there,
00:49:56pin it on your helmet, come down. That's like, you know, we're talking about with both of those
00:50:01plays control. That's the, that's the thing about it. OG Ananobi with the speed athleticism
00:50:06going up and controlling that tip in is nuts in itself. So was the concentration for David
00:50:11Tyree? I lean, my basketball bias probably has me lean to OG because had the Knicks not
00:50:20won that game, think about how all of our shows would have been.
00:50:24Oh my God.
00:50:25Right. Like, like our lives might be different right now. We might not be doing this right
00:50:31now. We wouldn't be doing this right now. Actually, we wouldn't be having this conversation
00:50:34right now today. As we are recording, we literally would not be having this conversation in an alternate
00:50:39universe and the vibes around, you know, this, the fans that would have been in the chat on all
00:50:45of our shows would have been like, ah, they lost two in a row at home. Ah, now they got
00:50:50to go back
00:50:50to San Antonio. They're going to blow it. They're not going to win the finals after they went up 2
00:50:54-0.
00:50:55The weight of that, because we keep talking about the weight, the 53-year drought, the Jersey weight,
00:50:59the weight of all that would have been so enormous. And that's why I think the tip is more enormous
00:51:04because I can even say this as much as I believed in the Knick team. I don't know if they
00:51:09survive
00:51:10after that. I don't know. I don't know, man. I don't want to know.
00:51:15And we don't have to know. And we don't have to know.
00:51:18Don't want to know.
00:51:19But you know what? That is a great question because I do think those are clearly the two
00:51:26most iconic moments in the last, what are we talking about? 19 years we're talking about?
00:51:30So 2007 to 2026, that's almost two decades.
00:51:35Yeah, and you can even, and if you just want to look at NBA, like recent NBA history, just
00:51:40like I'm scanning finals, there's like the Giannis alley-oop to close, I forget what game
00:51:47that was in the finals.
00:51:48Five, right? Because before six.
00:51:50But yeah, it might have been five. You know, you want to talk about the, it wasn't in the
00:51:54finals, but you want to talk about the Kawhi game seven shot against the Sixers en route
00:52:00to that title. I mean, but we're talking, the Ray Allen shot, obviously, you know, we're
00:52:06talking the last 20, 25 years NBA history, like it's a, it's a, I think Ron Artest had
00:52:12a big three in the late game seven, Lakers, Suffix, right? Like, but that's the, that's
00:52:17the list. We're talking, it's on, it's on the list of like four or five shots in the
00:52:21last 25 years. That's it.
00:52:23I agree. I, I, CP, I'm going to let you get a final word on that. What do you, are
00:52:27you
00:52:27going with the OG tipping? OG, it won the game, you know? Yeah. It won the game. It's
00:52:32a good question. There was still a series of more plays for them to win the game. I
00:52:37mean, that was the most miraculous for sure. Right. But you know, you still had to get
00:52:41the, the Plaxico touchdown and things of that nature. They still have to execute a couple
00:52:45more plays, but the OG tipping from a 29 point deficit.
00:52:51That's the thing. It, you had, you had come all the way back and you had the lead and
00:52:57then you lost the lead.
00:52:59Yep. And usually I get nervous when that happens because usually when you grab the lead from
00:53:02that kind of a comeback, well, we didn't see it like that, 29 points. If you usually let
00:53:06it go, usually don't get it back again.
00:53:08And, and you had the heart miss.
00:53:12Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. And the heart, I don't, I haven't talked to you guys about this, but
00:53:19when Josh Hart missed that layup, all that went through my mind was Patrick, you were
00:53:24missing the finger roll. I just, that's all that went through my mind. And I said, that
00:53:29was the play to get you on top from the comeback. And I was, and I had a little, I,
00:53:34I hate to
00:53:35admit this in me watching the game, doing the live show. I was like, ah, I don't know if
00:53:40they're going to do this. I don't know. I don't know what he said. Yeah. Yeah. I
00:53:47would be lying if I said to you, yeah, I had the faith. I was like, yeah, they're going
00:53:50to do it. Like, yeah, I was like, I don't know, but you see what I mean? What I said
00:53:54when I, when we started the show, what this championship means, because now all of that
00:53:58is erased. All of that is gone. It's into the ether vaporized the stocks game seven, Charles
00:54:05Smith, the finger roll, all those dark things that we clung to that triggered our PTSD every
00:54:10time we watch Nick game, because it just signaled them ready to choke every time. That's all
00:54:16gone. It's all gone. I think it is. And I think when you talk the former players, like
00:54:20I had John Starks on with me last week and he talked about it. And I asked, that's the
00:54:25last thing I asked him. I said, well, what is this going to mean to you? I've talked to
00:54:27him about a little bit before. And you can tell for those guys, especially those nineties
00:54:32guys that we grew up watching, this means a lot to them. Starks, I was really happy for
00:54:36Patrick Ewing this to see these guys win it. They're happy. I know they know what
00:54:40it means. So I guess this brings me to the last thing I have for you guys, because J
00:54:44Mack brought this up. He said 20 years from now, Brunson is going to get in that top 100.
00:54:50And I, I agree with him on that, but what do you think the story is you're going to, you
00:54:57guys are going to tell people 20 years from now, when somebody asks you where you were at,
00:55:02it's just crazy. 20 years from now, we might be grandparents in our 60s, early 60s, sitting
00:55:09around talking about the Knicks, might be talking about this episode. What do you think the story
00:55:14is that you're going to tell people about where you were, how you enjoyed this time during
00:55:19the spring of 2026, when the Knicks finally won the championship? What's the story or one
00:55:24piece of this that you think you're always going to tell people 20 years from now?
00:55:29Well, for, I'm going to tell them I was at the OG game and recounted like people recount
00:55:33the Willis, you know, when the OG tell me about the Willis, you know, and it's going
00:55:37to be you. That's going to be you. My eyes are just like, oh my God, tell me more, you
00:55:40know, and everybody's speaking from where they were and where they were in the garden. That's
00:55:45how I'm going to tell the, the, the OG story. But man, just, just sharing the story
00:55:50of this team and Jalen Brunson, the, the tale is, is it's the Jeter tale. It's the, you
00:55:56know, the unsung hero, the blue collar worker that New Yorkers cling to. This team became
00:56:03part of the fabric of the Knicks, right? When we were always thinking about, you know, what
00:56:07is their identity? That is it. It's the, it's the no quit Knicks, the cardiac Knicks.
00:56:13It wasn't pretty. They went through three series pretty, but they got the championship being
00:56:18gritty. Come from behind down, double digits every single night. 29, the biggest one. And
00:56:25that by 15 in the fourth quarter of, of this one. And their guy, the six foot two point
00:56:31guard, second round pick that his former team did not want, came in, threw on the Cape against
00:56:39a stingy elite defense and conquered it. David and Goliath, as they say, man.
00:56:45Uh, CP nailed it. It's the, it's this, well, it's the weird dichotomy of this team that had
00:56:53to come back so many times. Like they had to come back from double digit deficits in every
00:56:58finals game, every single one. If you, I did it before. If you add up all the points that
00:57:03the Spurs were up in all five games, add up to 83 points, the maximum Spurs leads in all
00:57:08five games and they came back and they, it's not like they won the series in seven games.
00:57:13They won it in five games despite that. And then you throw in the Cleveland comeback.
00:57:17But so you had this team that needed to come back all these times. And yet they're also
00:57:2016 and three with the best net rating in the history of the sport in the playoffs. How does
00:57:24that make sense? It doesn't make any sense. So I'll, I'll say, I'll talk about the, that
00:57:29weird dynamic. And, and of course with Brunson. And then for me, I think I'm, and I'm sure
00:57:35this is the case for CP2. I'm never going to be able to extricate this run from the, what
00:57:43we're doing and what we've been lucky enough to be able to do at next film school. And just
00:57:47all the people that I've heard from over the last day, days, weeks, you know, and how much
00:57:53this run months, this run means to them and how they've been waiting and waiting and waiting
00:58:01and they're hoping and praying and, and, and pleading that this is finally the time.
00:58:07It's kind of goes back to what we opened the show with and just all of those comments and
00:58:11conversations and things and, um, how this team really did unite a fan base and, and, you
00:58:22know, we're not always a United fan base. I don't have to tell you guys, we're not always
00:58:29a United fan base. This team brought this fan base together and it brought New York together
00:58:35in a way that I personally don't know that I've ever seen before. And that to me, that's,
00:58:41that's part of the story of the 2026 New York Knicks.
00:58:45Yeah. I, it's funny. I think I have a combination of what you said. I think for me, when I
00:58:50think
00:58:50of telling the story about this, it's going to be 20 years from now, the word's going to
00:58:53be resilience for me. It's going to be the most resilient team I've ever had to cover.
00:58:59watch on a day to day. I've never seen anything like it. Um, and then I think it ties back
00:59:04to the beginning of what I asked you guys about what it means. Cause it's always, it's
00:59:10going to be hard for me as some, you know, my professional career and as a fan for something
00:59:15to top this, I just don't see it. I just, cause even if the mix and I know this will
00:59:20probably
00:59:20make you guys laugh. If the Knicks win three out of the next four and become a dynasty, nothing
00:59:25will feel like them breaking this drought and it will be, you know, I've talked to people
00:59:30who have Red Sox fans. I've talked to people who are Cubs fans. Um, I even know this as
00:59:35a Met fan for people of that fans in 40 years, since the team has won a world series, the
00:59:41Knicks is just different. Cause they're sort of my first sports love. So seeing my first
00:59:44sports love win their championship, that's, that's it for me. It's, it's the, the, the
00:59:51love stories completed. The, the, the childhood me is, is, is happy because he saw his team
00:59:58win. And so I think that's the story for me. And then watching the joy and every other,
01:00:02all the other people, because I get joy about seeing, I'm happy that you guys are happy.
01:00:06I'm happy that the fans that send us super chats and comment on us and are happy. You know,
01:00:12sometimes we'll hear musical artists say that people tell them about, Oh, they're going through
01:00:16tough times. I had a fan tell us last night he had got laid off and, you know, New York
01:00:21got game, helped him get through watching it. He just loved watching the shows. And it's
01:00:24like, that stuff hits you. It's kind of dope, you know, that we're in that position to do
01:00:28it. And then, um, all the people, like all the people we work with on our teams, um, that
01:00:34make this so possible to, to do it with you guys. Um, when I hit you up to have a
01:00:38good
01:00:38conversation like this, it's a blessing, you know what I mean? We're, we're, we're all
01:00:41blessed to do it. And we, it's funny. I don't know if I think that was what, uh, almost three
01:00:46years ago, we were in the station when the OGN and OB trade went down and you guys went
01:00:51nuts and my phone decided to stop working that day, but I don't know. I think we all
01:00:57hoped as a Knicks community to this content, we can get to this moment. We thought about
01:01:02this day and now we're here, man. And it's, it's, it's pretty dope, man. I'm just, uh, blessed
01:01:08to be able to do it with you guys, man. So I got to thank y'all, man. Every time
01:01:12we
01:01:12have conversations good, it's fun to have a conversation where we didn't have to talk
01:01:15about a game. We didn't have to talk about strategy. I know we talked a little bit about
01:01:21the future, but not too much, but it was, it's, we just talked about the journey and
01:01:27about the Knicks being on top now, which is amazing, man. It's amazing. So, so thank you
01:01:32both, man. I, I, I appreciate a lot. I appreciate you guys joining me for this
01:01:35conversation and, um, I'm sure we'll have many more throughout, throughout, throughout
01:01:39this off season, everybody. Um, that is Jonathan Macri on the left does a fantastic job with
01:01:44Knicks film school. Please check those guys out. And my guy CP the franchise with KFTV
01:01:50hit that like button, hit that subscribe button for you guys. As always guys, seriously, thank
01:01:56you. Both of y'all need to get some rest. Yeah. I need to get some rest. Um, I appreciate
01:02:01and love y'all. Um, but yeah, shout out to everybody out there. Let us know in the comments
01:02:05what you think about all our, all our thoughts and, uh, we'll catch you next time on New York
01:02:09Got Game. Peace.
01:02:12And thanks for watching New York Got Game. Boom shakalaka.
Comments