00:00What do you think the keys are to this matchup for the Knicks and the Celtics?
00:02What are you really keeping your eye on in this matchup between these two teams
00:05meeting for the first time on Friday night?
00:07Yeah, I mean, I think the rebounding thing has always been important.
00:10It's an area where it's funny because last year the Celtics started the season 0-3
00:14and two of their first three games were against the Knicks and the Pistons.
00:18And once again, the Knicks and the Pistons are where they start their schedule
00:21and a lot of the challenges are the same with winning those margins,
00:26winning the rebounding battle, which last year they heavily lost.
00:29Joe joked the other day that they were one of the worst rebounding teams in basketball
00:33in his Swedish Heart of the Year last year.
00:34We just had some empty possessions where we missed and didn't get the rebound,
00:37and so we got to do one or the other.
00:39We got to make some shots, and then when we don't,
00:41we got to do a better job of getting the rebounds.
00:43A lot of that happened in Madison Square Garden.
00:45I remember watching Carl Anthony Towns reaching over Jalen Brown
00:47and just grabbing rebound after rebound and being like,
00:50this team's going to have a long, long season,
00:52which obviously they ended up fixing a lot of those issues,
00:54so I know it's in their control.
00:56But even above that, I would say, not to be overly simplistic here,
01:00two superstars had really not the best opening day games in Jalen Brunson and Jason Tatum.
01:06Can Jason Tatum find it, regain some rhythm against some defenders
01:10that have given him trouble in the past?
01:11And then Jalen Brunson has been, obviously, to me, it's like he's one of those guys
01:16where I know it's easier when you're not covering the team,
01:17but I feel like he never has a bad game.
01:19I think just those two guys, like how do you bounce back from day one,
01:22and can they both bounce back, and if so, like how does that fare?
01:25But as soon as I saw the Knicks lost yesterday,
01:27I was like, that makes Friday's game even harder for Boston, I think.
Comments