00:12all right the banners going up the rings they're coming out the target on the Knicks back is going
00:17to be bigger than ever and after ending a 53th year championship drought the New York Knicks
00:21they are back and this time they are the hunted but waiting to crash the opening night party at
00:28Madison Square Garden is LeBron James Jalen Brown and the completely reloaded Philadelphia 76ers team
00:33looking to make a statement so can the Knicks put the celebration aside and start their title defense
00:38with a win and just how big of a threat are these new look Sixers to break it all down
00:43for a Knicks
00:43Sixers opening night preview I'm joined by New York Post Knicks beat writers the one and only
00:48Stephan Bondi here with me now Steph what's going on my guy how you doing what's up man season's
00:52upon us season is upon us we are done with the scrimmage games as you like to call them and
00:58here we are Steph so Steph for the first time 53 years the Knicks they're entering a season as
01:02defending NBA champions they're going to raise the banner on Tuesday night they're going to receive
01:06their rings before facing one of their biggest Eastern Conference challengers so how difficult
01:11do you think it's going to be for this group to balance the emotion of that celebration with the
01:15business of winning a basketball game it should theoretically it shouldn't be hard listen I can't
01:21get in their heads but you have first of all you have two people that's done it before you have
01:24Mike Brown who won championships with the Spurs originally and then he was the lead assistant
01:30with the Golden State Warriors when they won multiple titles so he understands what ring night
01:35is about the emotions and stuff like that OG Ananobi won a championship with the Toronto Raptors
01:41returned for ring night and played that same day we actually spoke to him yesterday about it he said
01:45you know initially it's tough but once that you know once the first quarter starts rolling
01:50like you just forget about it so you know we've met we've talked about this before the Knicks are
01:56experienced team they should have a lot of chemistry the Sixers on the other hand uh they have a lot
02:02of new pieces that they have to incorporate so you know I I think I give the edge to the
02:07Knicks just
02:07because you know they know how to play with play with each other right now yeah they have that
02:12continuity going for them here let's talk a little bit about the games you love the preseason games
02:17because the Knicks they had a uneven preseason some people actually disappointed I don't know
02:22why but they finished with a 122 to 120 win over Toronto now that the games actually count which
02:28I know you're happy about what did you feel like you saw during training camp in the preseason that
02:32encourages you about where this team stands and also maybe is there something that concerns you the
02:37most heading into opening night I mean they played three terrible games and they played one good game
02:44um and fortunately for them the one good game was when they were actually trying with the starters
02:49and the starters played bigger minutes and we saw a heavy dose of cat as a facilitator now Mike Brown
02:56said that wasn't on purpose he didn't design it that way it was just the flow of the game uh
03:00he
03:01purposely did not put it in any plays during preseason and so the Knicks were just playing off
03:05instinct in that last game against the Toronto Raptors and I thought they looked really good I thought
03:09you know Carl Anthony Towns as the hub was back in full force we saw obviously saw what he was
03:16able
03:16to do in the playoffs with that um that's going to be a weapon that the Knicks are going to
03:20go
03:20time and time again so if I were going to take one thing away positive wise it would be that
03:25Toronto
03:26Raptors game and and Cat at the hub and then when they brought in so you know in the second
03:31half they
03:31switched Scotty Barnes their best defender they put him on Cat so Cat was kind of neutralized
03:36uh then they started rolling with Jalen Brunson originally the Kawhi Leonard was on Jalen Brunson
03:41uh but then Kawhi got subbed out and then Jalen Brunson had somebody else on him and he was just
03:46cooking so you got to see how this team can be versatile we know that they have multiple scorers on
03:52their team uh and Cat at the elbow like we saw in the first half against the Toronto Raptors is
03:57certainly a weapon that they're going to use definitely a weapon they want to use there for sure let's
04:02go on to Nick Sixers because the Knicks we know swept Philadelphia out of the playoffs last year
04:07early in the spring I should say but the Sixers they've completely changed the equation they've
04:11added LeBron James and Jalen Brown to a team with Joel Embiid Tyrese Maxey VJ Edgecombe how much more
04:16dangerous is this version of Philadelphia and are the Sixers in your eyes the biggest threat to the
04:20Knicks in the east no they're not but um they're better you know I think the problem with with the
04:26Sixers is still Joel Embiid I can't rely on him I think he's going to get injured at some point
04:32um I don't if I'm the Sixers I want to move away from the Joel Embiid experience and maybe they're
04:37going to do that you know maybe it becomes Tyrese Maxey Jalen Brown with you know sprinkles of LeBron
04:44James I think that's the best recipe for the 76ers maybe Nick Nurse can figure it out but if they're
04:50still relying on Joel Embiid and they're not at all they have no depth at center we saw what happened
04:54to Ariel Hook-Porty and within the first five minutes of the preseason game he tore his Achilles
04:59they have no depth at center so I think that's going to be a big problem with for them I
05:04don't
05:04think Joel Embiid is somebody you can rely upon but get just the talent top to bottom obviously
05:10you can say there's a threat I do think it's ironic that the the Knicks are hanging their banner and
05:16getting their rings while LeBron James is in the building because for so long and I covered this
05:21team during this era for so long he looked he was the only answer towards getting this championship ring
05:25towards getting the this banner they um they got rid of all their caps they they created a lot of
05:31cap space in 2010 to sign him he went to Miami instead um they chased them after that they hired
05:36David Fisdale because you know he was the LeBron whisperer that obviously didn't work out they watched
05:41him win go to the they go to watch him go to the NBA finals nine straight times um and
05:47now he's saying
05:48I want to I wanted to go to the Knicks but the only reason I couldn't go is because they
05:51won the title so
05:52to me that's just the ironic subplot to what's going on and I find that part amusing oh that there's
05:58some irony there I thought a good point by you there on Joel Embiid with experience a guy who's
06:02not played more than 40 games in the last three seasons and look I had a uh fantasy draft the
06:08other
06:09night and I didn't wasn't able to partake in it so I had it on auto draft and my team
06:12got Joel Embiid
06:13and I want to move off of that experience too so I understand exactly what you're saying there uh
06:17Steph you talked about LeBron James him and Jalen Brown on the floor together they do they can
06:23possibly present some serious matchup problems for the Knicks the Knicks do have two elite
06:26perimeter defenders in OJ and Anobi and Mikael Bridges how do you expect Mike Brown to handle
06:30those defensive assignments and which of those two Philadelphia stars presents the most difficult
06:35challenge for New York uh all right you if you want to go through it VJ Edge then Jalen Brunson
06:41on VJ
06:44um Mikael Bridges on Tyrese Josh Hart on um um Josh Hart on LeBron or J I don't know where
06:55he's
06:56going to go with OG and Josh Hart it could one or the other I don't know LeBron or Jalen
06:59Brown but um
07:00you know that's obviously the one to watch and then you have Kat on Joel Embiid yeah you would think
07:06maybe possibly OG on Jalen Brown that's to start it feels like it would make sense but
07:11interesting that I mean LeBron is LeBron I agree I think LeBron LeBron's obviously a lot bigger than
07:17Josh Hart um so that might be a problem but at this at this stage in LeBron's career I think
07:22Josh
07:23Hart can um can do a good job against him so Steph Mitchell Robinson critical part of the Knicks
07:28championship defense we've talked about him a lot throughout particularly as a rim protector and a
07:33rebounder now with Andre Drummond here taking over their backup center role how concerned should
07:37the Knicks be about their interior defense especially when their first test comes against
07:42a guy like Joel Embiid who can play strongly in the paint how concerned do you think they should be
07:46about that in this matchup yeah I mean it could be a weakness um you know if we if we
07:52were going to
07:52judge anything by the preseason their three-point defense was atrocious so um you know I predicted this
07:59in the in my preview that they're going to have a top five defense because of the way that they
08:04finished the regular season and the way they played in the playoffs they just need to recapture that
08:09because they were in elite defense after you know starting in February or mid-January and if they can
08:16recapture that and there's no reason they shouldn't I get Mitchell Robinson isn't around but it's not
08:19like Mitchell Robinson first of all he wasn't playing every game second of all he was only averaging 20
08:24minutes so um if they're if they're able to replicate um what they were doing in the second
08:31half of last season and then in the playoffs they're in good shape and to me there's really
08:34no reason they shouldn't um I Andre Drummond is not as good a defender as Mitchell Robinson I get it
08:40uh but if Cat was going to take up the majority of the minutes at center if he plays the
08:44type of
08:44inspired defense that we saw in the playoffs the Knicks are in good shape either way yeah it's a really
08:49good point about Cat who played very well defensively in the postseason that's Mike Brown
08:54I want to talk to you a little about the bench stuff because Mike Brown's talked about giving
08:56his bench players more opportunities this season so when you look at guys like Jose Alvarado Miles
09:01McBride I'll even throw Tyler Kolek and Muhammad Diawara in there who do you think can have the
09:05biggest impact in this game one against the Sixers and how much deeper do you think this Knicks
09:10rotation can become this season so sorry what are my options say that one uh I went through with
09:16Kolek Diawara Deuce and Jose Alvarado of those four who do you think could have the biggest
09:23impact against the Sixers in this one and do you think the rotation will become even deeper this
09:27season I think Deuce is I'm gonna pick Deuce just because he's the best player that you mentioned in
09:34the bunch and on top of that um the one for he had a disappointing playoffs but if you remember
09:39the one
09:40great game he had monster game was against the Philadelphia 76ers and I get it they're a totally
09:45different team um but I'm just going off talent Deuce is gonna have the biggest impact tomorrow
09:51tomorrow night and um do I think they're gonna go deeper you know it's tough for me to say I
09:58think
09:58Mike Brown understands where his team is at he they're we're they're focusing on the playoffs he did
10:03a good job of that during the regular season last year um he kept their minutes down compared to what
10:09Tom Thibodeau had them I think he's going to continue that trend whether or not it's you know
10:14individually they're going to play a few minutes less I you know I that's tough to predict but I
10:19think Mike Brown has a goal to play as many players as possible and keep the starters minutes down
10:24yeah keep those starters fresh we saw that last year and it worked out well for the Knicks
10:28on their way to the title let's finish with this Steph opening night tomorrow night the Knicks they're
10:33going to have the emotions we talked about raising the championship banner LeBron James and the Sixers
10:37they're going to be looking to spoil the celebration trying to make an immediate statement
10:41what do you feel are the two biggest keys to this game for the Knicks and also you know I
10:46like to ask
10:46you for a prediction who do you have walking out of MSG with the first win of the season here
10:51uh the biggest keys are if Joel Embiid is in the game and we saw this time and time again
10:58with New
10:58York Knicks and Jalen Brunson attack him attack him attack him in the pick and roll so you know what
11:05is going to be the Sixers counter to that I don't know we'll see what to me that's the big
11:10adjustment that the Sixers need to make not the Knicks because every single time Jalen Brunson
11:16plays against Joel Embiid he cooks him in the pick and roll he whoever is you know they they have
11:21whoever's Joel is guarding run them up for the screen Joel can't do anything about it because
11:26he's too slow um he's not a good defender anytime he gets away from the rim so you know we've
11:33seen it
11:34time and time again uh that's going to be the key what how the Sixers combat that because certainly
11:39Jalen Brunson has shown that he can cook the 76ers that's a good that's a good key right there we
11:43did
11:43see that all right you're not getting off easy you got to get that prediction out of you
11:46Steph who's winning this game one Knicks or Sixers who you got
11:50Knicks go Knicks Knicks winning on opening night you heard it from Stephan Bondi he is happy the games
11:56are real now and there are no more scrimmages I'm happy about that too that is the fantastic
12:01Stephan Bondi does a great job covering the Knicks for us here at the New York Post Steph always
12:05appreciate you and everybody we'll catch you next time on new york.game
12:11and thanks for watching new york.game boob shakalaka
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