June 11, 2026 • 45 mins
Colin Cowherd breaks down the Knicks orchestrating the largest comeback in NBA Finals history after trailing the Spurs by 29 points to take a 3-1 lead in the series.
Colin talks to NBA analyst Frank Isola about the OG Anunoby’s last second tip in to win the game where that ranks in Knicks history.
Plus, Jason Timpf from Hoops Tonight joins the show to tell Colin what the major mistakes the Spurs made as they blew their 29-point lead.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Oh day one World Cup hours away? And what in
the world did we watch last night? I witnessed the
hand of God and it was not Diego Maradona in
nineteen eighty six.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Wow. Wow.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Listen too often in my business, our business.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
People blame coaches. I don't like it. A lot of factors.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
This one though, that loss last night, that's on Mitch Johnson.
Spurs head coach san Antonio was brilliant throwing up threes
in the first half. It felt like they hit all
of them. They raced out to a massive twenty seven
point lead in the garden, and then you have to
coach differently and get into the bonus and take higher
(01:23):
percentage shots. Feed Wemby down low, get him closer to
the basket.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
No.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Instead thirteen threes in the third quarter. Good God, they
were in the bonus with eight minutes left in the
fourth and they took one shot from that point on
san Antonio in the paint. You've got Wemby. By the way,
Wemby played almost the entire second half. He was completely gassed.
(01:53):
You have a double figures lead one day's rest on
the road. Find him three and a half minutes into
the third quarter. I mean, the guy was gassed. He
gives you such an effort on the defensive end, Daron Fox,
that appears to be a problem. Why does Daron Fox
have more touches than any other player on your team?
(02:18):
Why is Dylan Harper attempting no shots in the last
ten minutes? Play Fox lesson Dylan Harper more? What is happening?
Get Dylan Harper on the ball. It's called coaching. I
don't want to pick on Daron Fox. He had a
terrible night. He can't have the most touches. You can't
(02:40):
have Dylan Harper, a sensationally young player not having a
shot in the last ten minutes. And what Daron Fox
did with twelve seconds left is inexplicable and inexcusable. He's
a veteran player, he knows better. I mean, just milk
the clock, go to the free throw line and in
the game. But I mean, I mean, so much of
last night would drive you crazy. Like Wemby is such
(03:03):
a defensive maven, you gotta find him two or three
minutes to rest. He played almost the entire second half.
It'd be one thing if it was a tight game.
You led by double figures, you led by twenty seven
at half. So agent experience matters a lot. And we
discussed you discussed the Spurs youth being a problem. Not
(03:24):
only was it a problem, but we have to remember
Mitch Johnson's also a rookie O. He coached a little
last year, but this is his team. He's a rookie
head coach, first time in the finals, and this has
been ugly. I get blowing leads. It's the three ball era.
(03:45):
I get blowing leads, but we got to contextualize how
you're blowing him. You can't get Wemby a three to
four minute stretch off. You can't get Dylan Harper a shot.
You're in the bonus with eight minutes left, eight minutes left,
you take one shot in the paint and you got
the best seven foot four player in the history of
(04:06):
the sport.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
That's not just.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
And listen, I'm not taking anything away from the Knicks,
but this finals, and I don't think San Antonio can
come back. This finals is going to be about as
much about the Spurs blowing leads as the Knicks winning games.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
And that's just.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
I mean, the Spurs have blown five playoff leads, double
digit lead in the playoffs. That's tied for the most. Ever, again,
they're young, I get it, the coach was young. I
mean they've led in the final two minutes in every
game against the Knicks, and they got one win and
it was a close win. So there were just And again,
we too often blame We do this with football coaches
(04:43):
every week. We blame the refs, so we blame the coach.
It's mostly on the players. But with a young team,
with a super historically young team, they need guidance. Bonus,
eight minutes left, Whenby get to the Wemby get to
the block, I'm up called a time out. I gotta
(05:05):
get Dylan Harper a couple of looks. The Aaron Fox
can't have the most touches. He's having a rough night.
I mean thirty points in the second half, and I
got I mean, I got talent. I've got the best
collection of young talent in basketball on one team. Spurts
(05:25):
have the most young talent in the world. You can't
give me thirty points in the second half. Just not
good enough. Not taking anything away from the Knicks, but
you have a twenty seven point lead at half. Youve
got to coach differently. You can't be taking jacking up
twelve threes. Here was Wemby after the loss, holding each.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
Other accountable, communicating, not putting fingers, and after that we
either got it don't. But you know, we've proven that
we can surpass these difficulties. And even though we haven't
been there before, I'm convinced we're built this way and
(06:10):
we're gonna use the better of this. And he's going
to tighten us up.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
All right, let's talk next. So I have said.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
And gotten some pushback when people ask me the best
Knixt player, and I have been saying this since the
start of the playoffs. It's not Bronson. He's the best finisher.
OG is their best player. I've talked to scouts and
GMS about Og. I think he's the most underrated player
in the league has been perhaps in Toronto as well.
They kind of stolen from Toronto. He is classy, big.
(06:47):
They just don't build humans that look like that. He'll
d you up, He'll d your three up, he'll do
your five up. He can score. He is I mean,
he is just so unique, so good on both ends.
Last night he was magical. Thirty three points, seven threes,
sixty seven percent if you did not see it live.
(07:10):
And they start these games way too late for all
of us. But I just want to give you the setup.
Twenty seven down at half first, he's got the big
three to cut it to forward. Then he's got the
big block, and then there is.
Speaker 6 (07:25):
This Ananobe far sideline inbound from mid court. Shammit bridges,
brunts in towns. All it takes is a two to
make history in New York City, five point seven left,
no timeouts remaining. Ananobe is handed the ball, finds brunting
at midcourt, launches a straight on three. Mister short tip
(07:46):
pay Annobi.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
He put it in.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Ananobe put it in the next take the lead with
one point to go. Sports gives you these moments that
if you scripted them it would feel too contrived. Down
twenty seven Young Spurs crumbling, Josh Hart misses a dunk
and one Guy Og from a three to a block
(08:10):
to the hand of Og. A remarkable kid. What a moment.
I mean, it's like Q the Chariots of Fire music.
It felt like it was in slow mow in real time.
And what I love about this NIXT team is just
like the Nuggets that won a title, or the Celtics,
or the older Warriors or OKC last year. It's not
(08:33):
an all time team. It's an all time run. They've
trailed with two minutes left in every game, but it
is a collection of players. None wants to take the
credit from previously flaky cat to massively undervalue Josh harden
Og to the scrappy and great Jalen Brunson. Even after
(08:56):
that tip the biggest basketball shot in New York in
thirty years.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Listen, how humble this kid is.
Speaker 7 (09:07):
You just hit the game winning shot in an NBA
Finals game in front of your home crowd.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
How does that feel?
Speaker 8 (09:13):
Uh?
Speaker 9 (09:13):
It feels cool. I mean everyone's pretty excited. I'm excited
to I'm excited too. We're all excited. We're enjoying it
right now. But we're just focused on the next game.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Now he has the highest true shooting percentage of any player,
any player in the finals since twenty twelve, fourteen years.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
And that's his reaction. And that tip in was not easy. Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
That should be a poster in every town, home and
apartment in New York City for the next decade. Just
an unbelievable moment. And it's you know what, one of
the reasons this thing works. It's not just because this
the next team is not a draft and developed team.
(10:02):
It's a trade and acquired team. And one of the
reasons it really works is that their best player. If
you went to every GM in the league and said
you get one Nick, I'm telling you, OG is the
one the GMS talk about in a league of three
and D guys, big, strong, physical, humble. The reason this
(10:25):
thing works in New York. I know y'all think it's
Jalen Brunson, and he's terrific.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
It's Og. He's going to win the MVP.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Six 's eight seven to three wingspan, can defend virtually
everybody outside of the point, rebound, tip hit, threes, blocks,
They're just certain times with young athletes you root for him.
And I remember when he got traded and reading a
couple of stories when he got traded from the Raptors
and the Raptors were well run, and people are like,
(10:58):
did they steal him? Yeah, last night validating and that
kind of stolen. So it was you know, it's interesting
about that Jay Mack. When they were even when the
Knicks were down twenty seven at half, it wasn't one
of those where I was like, Okay, I'm gonna give
this five minutes. I just kept thinking, Okay, they've been
down double figures in these games because of the youth.
(11:20):
I mean, everybody including the head coach at young for
San Antonio. So there you get real spikes with san Antonio.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
They're brilliant.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
I mean the first in the first half, if they
threw the ball up from three, it was going in.
They just played a remarkable first half. But as a coach,
you have to realize, even if you had Katie Stephanklan
in their prime, you don't have four quarters a brilliant
three point shooting.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
You know, we got to lead guys.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
We're gonna still be aggressive, but let's get into the bonus.
Let's take higher percentage shots. We'll trade threes for twos.
We're gonna win this game. I thought they almost outthought
the room, and that got to be aggressive. Just keep
shooting threes. It's like, guys, that's as well as you're
going to ever shoot on the road against a good
team three pointers. You had a magical, magical half of basketball.
(12:11):
You're not going to duplicate it.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
In New York.
Speaker 10 (12:13):
It was unbelievable that he Mitch Johnson kept Wemby in
the game. He played forty four minutes Colin. They were
leading by twenty for felt like a third of the game.
Wemby played twenty three of twenty four minutes in the
second half. And we talked about his tiredness. Right, only
one day in between games. Three of fourteen shooting in
the second half. Yeah, he didn't have it. And listen,
we don't like to use the word choked. Those two
(12:35):
free throws. You could see it in his face. He
was nervous. They only missed three free throws as a team,
seventeen or twenty. Wemby missed all three Colins.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Well, I mean again, there are times I could remember
watching when Shaq was a Laker, and Shaq was so big,
and I remember covering like a Blazer Laker series. There
are these moments where, like end of a quarter, minute
and a half left in a quarter, you sit Shack
down with a minute and a half left in the third,
so he gets the minute and a half, he gets
(13:03):
the half break. You keep him out for about a
minute and a half to two minutes of the fourth quarter,
and you give him a real, like an eight minute
break on his body, and then you're like, Shack, I
need you for like nine and a half minutes of greatness.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
That kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
When you get a duncan, when you get a dominant
big you have to find these end of the quarter moments,
two and a half left in a quarter, get Wenby
to the bench, give him like eight minutes commercials, end
of the half, give him eight minutes of just hydrate.
You can't play him that many minutes with that big
of a lead. That's just that's on the staff, all right,
(13:38):
And we're gonna talk a little bit more about Wemby.
People are freaking out. It's the World Cup. What are
realistic expectations with the World Cup?
Speaker 3 (13:47):
We'll address that next. It's the Hurd.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
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Speaker 1 (14:31):
Welcome back here now entering the No Bull Zone, sponsored
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Speaker 3 (14:35):
None of the Bull.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
So the NBA has always been about blunders before banners, right,
failure before the happy ending Kobe Lebron MJ get beat
up NBA in life, give.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
You some licks. How do you respond to it? Now?
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Magic he inherited Kareem a little different. Wehmby inherited twenty
two wins and the legendary coach that was getting older.
So it was a mess and he has been remarkable.
And last night his coach and the staff in San
Antonio did a major disservice to Wemby. No breaks second
(15:17):
half with massive leads. You gotta find four minutes, even
if it's just four minutes.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Of real time.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
But you know, Picasso's best work was not his first doodle.
Their gaps here with Wemby. You know it, I know it.
There are some limitations. In the final nine and a
half minutes of the fourth he didn't have a rebound
or an assist. He was minus twenty one. You know,
it's the best way to put it. He's still beta
testing the prototype, not quite ready for the market. I
(15:50):
do think two days rest at home. I don't know
what the line is. I would absolutely take San Antonio.
I think they've got one last great But I think
what we saw last night is what I've watched my
entire life as an NBA fan, which is this league.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
There's a reason this was.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
The youngest team since the nineteen seventy seven Blazers, who
also fell down to nothing. Okay, there's a reason older
players flourish in the postseason. They can manipulate the refs,
they can manipulate end of game scenarios. There's a reason
older coaches, the late Chuck Daily Popovich, Kerr and spolster a.
(16:33):
Guys that have been around pat Riley can manipulate moments
san Antonio can't. They can just be really, really good.
They just don't have that gear yet. Here's another piece
of sound from Wemby after the loss.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
What's going through your mind right now? What's going through
my mind right now?
Speaker 5 (16:53):
I think he's going to go one of two ways,
one of two ways and a bad one and a
good one.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
And I know if by one.
Speaker 5 (17:01):
Would be giving up, the good one would be getting
stronger through this, getting more together. And I know this
is what we're gonna do.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
By the way, he gets very comfortable in crucial moments,
settling for threes. He hit a jumper, a two point
jumper with three thirty left Spurs by seven, and the
announcers marveled that he actually took a shot inside the arc.
You shouldn't marvel at that. You should question why somebody
(17:30):
seven to four in a close game lead collapsing.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Is shooting threes. And again, he's.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Young, you know, in the absence of great coaching or
parenting or management, young people, we have this in college football.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
They make big mistakes.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Coaching is never more important for a team like San
Antonio or those seventy seven Blazers with Jack Ramsey, Like
this is when you really need great coaching.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
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Speaker 1 (18:04):
You know, I said this, and maybe it's too harsh,
but I'd said whether it was Jokich's championship in Denver,
or the Celtics championship, or the Andrew Wiggins staff coming
back to beat the Celtics title, or Okac last year,
there are great parts to those teams and great moments
with those teams, like the defense or the bench with Okac.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
But they're not great teams.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
And I think what I know through four games of
this series is that these teams are close. Age and
experience matters coachings better on the Knick side. But in
that win last night, it did kind of establish the
Knicks aren't a historically great team. But this is a
historically great run and there is a magic involved to this,
(18:49):
and I thought we saw I'll just start with that.
There's a connectivity between fans, team veteran. A lot of
this is IQ and situational to me. I mean, do
you think this is a great roster, or it's just
a cohesive unit of high eq IQ guys, all at
least B to B plus level players.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
I think what you're saying is true, and I do
think it's a terrific starting five that now has spent
a second year together. You know, Karl Anthony Towns only
one season at Kentucky, but he won there, made it
to a final four. Jalen Brunson won two national championships
in Dallas. I thought he did really well. They have
a lot of winning players. O Jananobi a terrific player,
even though it didn't play much when Toronto won the
(19:33):
championship in twenty nineteen. And I think it's one thing
to have great players. But for me, three plays stick
out in this series. The Jalen bruns An offensive rebound,
the tap out that he had to Keel Bridges they
were down one. He beats Devin Vessel to an offensive rebound,
runs to the corner, Bridges finds him. Jalen hits the
three starts, the eleven er run to close out Game one.
(19:54):
And then last night O Jananobi hustling back, getting the
block on the Aaron Fox and then crashing the last
A couple of seconds later for the tap and so
great players, but those are three hustle plays that they made.
They wanted it a little bit more, and I think
right now that's the difference in this series, those little
plays that teams make. I mean, if you're of San Antonio,
(20:18):
two offensive rebounds have absolutely killed you in this series.
And the way that they played last night and the
second half, especially the fourth quarter, especially down the stretch,
especially the last couple of seconds, awful if you're the
San Antonio Spurst.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Yeah, I mean, I think sometimes it's an epidemic.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Everybody, especially in talk radio sports radio, we always pick
on the coach.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
He's always a bum.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I didn't and I don't do that, but I did
think the second half for Mitch Johnson, first of all,
you can't get wemby four minutes of rest. You had
led by twenty. I thought he looked totally gassed. De
Aaron Fox had the most touches. Dylan Harper didn't have
a shot in the last ten minutes. He's a remarkable
young player. I know it's a big space. I thought
they shot too many threes in the third quarter. Again,
(20:57):
I don't want to nitpick, but there are top Tiames
Frank when I've watched this series and I've said, I
got to remember not only the Spurs young, the coach
is young.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
I think he coached youthfully last night. Is that fair?
Speaker 5 (21:11):
All right?
Speaker 4 (21:11):
So a couple of things. You know, for all you
minutes police out there, you know I come win. Minyama
averages under thirty minutes again, right playing times, So now
in the playoffs, you want him to play more. The
Knicks the last couple of years, their starters log heavy minutes.
The Knicks starters are never hurt. Jalen Brunson played the
entire second half. He's used to that. Go ask Michael
Jordan how you know he used the regular season to
(21:32):
get himself ready for the playoffs. When he knew he
was going to play, be playing forty plus minutes. So
I think you're right, maybe getting him a little bit
of rest, but that's also something that they do during
the regular season. And as for an inexperienced head coach,
I thought a mistake was made in Game two when
they had the time out when when Minyama grabbed the rebound.
That's a young player there, Stefan Castle. You call time out,
it's a tie game. You hope for the last shot.
(21:53):
If you make it, you win. You miss it, you're
going overtime. That was that terrible turnover by wein Minyama.
And then last night I could not help but think
about a game that I attended.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
I covered.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
It was the Spurs against the Lakers Western Conference Finals.
They decided not to guard the inbounds pass. They throw
the ball to Derek Fisher. This game was in San Antonio.
Derek Fisher, remember that with zero point four seconds ago,
hits that famous shot. And last night, so you're not
going to guard the inbounder. The inbounder is o Jananobi.
At that point, he had thirty one points. He was
(22:25):
the xt best player in the second half of a game.
So he's inbounding the ball. He's wide open for Jalen
Brunson to throw in the ball. Jalen doesn't. Jalen takes
the shot misses. It turns out to be the perfect
miss because here comes O Jananoby flying down the middle
of the lane, going untouched. If somebody was guarding him
on the inbounds pass, and at least you could have
(22:46):
prevented him even for a split second, from having an
open path to the basket. That could be the difference
between winning and losing. So these losses for the Spurs
have been absolutely brutal. The nixt to me come across
is the smarter team, oh in those winning moments, making
the plays, and that's the difference column Jalen Brunson. First
(23:06):
of all, Stefan castle Is should have made All Defense.
He's a tremendous young player.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
He's got a ten year run where he's going to
be a multiple time All he may make ten All
Star teams. How and so he's limited, SGA struggled, and
I mean he takes on the number one assignment. He
is a bully, he's aggressive, he was at Yukon. How
would you judge so far Jalen Brunson series overall, how
does it land for you?
Speaker 4 (23:29):
It would go the way that I thought it would go.
There'd be a lot of focus on him. So he
hasn't been shooting the ball great. There have been some turnovers,
but again, what he did in game one phenomenal. What
he did in Game two made that tough shot, and
then what he did last night makes some huge plays
down the stretch. And remember, because it's Jalen Brunson, Victor
(23:49):
win Binyama is guarding him. That means Victor Wein Binyama
isn't anywhere near the basket. On that final play for
the Knicks, Darren Fox, who, let's face it, had one
of the worst fourth quarters you're ever going to see.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Second half, that's brutal. He comes over to help, which
leaves Ogi open.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
What are all the you know, what's the fancy words
now they talk about gravity for all these players, So
he's pulling the defense toward him. So even though he
missed it, reminded me a little bit of the Marcus
Smart miss against Miami a few years back when he
missed it and Derek White wold in there unmolested and
tap the ball in at the buzzer to win. Oji
Ananobi's play with outstanding his hustle play at the other
end to get the block. The hustle play here, But
(24:25):
I think overall, Jalen Brunson just makes winnings play. So
is he having an all time final? Is his team
up three one?
Speaker 3 (24:33):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Frank I soolo for our radio audience. Eight minutes to go,
they're in the bonus and they shoot one shot in
the paint. Is that on Mitch Johnson or Wemby, Like
when you have a seven to four player, you're in
the bonus guys, pound the paint. San Antonio did not.
Is that a coach or a Wemby issue. I think
(24:57):
it's both, and I think it's today's NBA. You know,
the Knicks have done this in the last two years
in the playoffs. If you go back to last year
second round against Boston, games one and two in Boston,
they're down twenty plus points in both games, and Boston
keeps launching threes instead of attacking, and here come the Knicks.
And last night, like you said, that drove you crazy
(25:18):
if you're a Spurs fan watching them just.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
And I get it, Colin.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
That's how they got that's how they took that huge lead.
But that's how you end up losing a lead. That's
how the other team could get back in. These twenty
point leads aren't like they were ten years ago. They
have certainly not like what they were twenty and thirty
years ago. Everyone is shooting three pointers. And I thought
of Larry Brown last night on the play by de
(25:43):
Aaron Fox up one under fifteen seconds ago. Larry Brown,
who used to say, score clock time, and I'm thinking,
how many times did the Spurs take long threes early
in the shot clock when you're in the penalty, I
don't know, post throw the ball into Stefan. So whoever
Jose Alvarado is defending, get him the ball down close.
(26:03):
Let let him try to dress some contact. And by
the way, Alvarado and oj Anobi last night both three
for three in the fourth quarter, both made both their
three point shots. They combined for sixteen points, exactly how
many points as the Spurs had in that fourth quarter. Yeah,
it was we were talking about, we'll let him go
(26:23):
here in a second. How the Knicks respond to this.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
I mean it was like, it's I think you can
in the history of the NBA, I go to great
shots in the NBA Finals. Lebron's block is obviously against
the Warriors. OG has got to be in a short list.
I mean, you're almost a historian encyclopedic on this stuff.
That OG play. I mean there's a lot of finals.
(26:47):
I don't remember a big basket by the Denver Nuggets
in their finals. Yeah, that shot last night, I mean
that is a Willis Reed moment. That's Jerry West getting
the half court shot against the Knicks. I mean, where
is it rank all time in the history of the
next OG's tip?
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Where is it? It's got to be top five, top three.
I think you're one hundred percent right with the Willis
Reed shot, because that's Willis in nineteen seventy limping out
into the court. The first time he touches the ball,
he shoots, and I think in fact he would end
up going two for two in that court or the
crowd is going nuts. Provide a lot of inspiration for
the New York Knicks. You know, Patrick Ewing had a
big tip in dunk against Indiana that was all the
(27:24):
way back in ninety four to send them to the
NBA Finals. Larry Johnson's four point play against Indiana and
ninety nine would be up to Allen Houston's shot against Miami.
But this is Game four of the NBA Finals. You
miss that and the Knicks er that series is now
tied at two to two. What a great And that's
what you love about the game.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
The guys like.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Ojiananobi, who does a little bit of everything, and it's
just wanting it a little bit more. It's not dribling
between your legs step back three over an outstretched armor defender.
It's just getting to the basket. Nobody's putting a body
on you. And speaking of nobody putting a body on you,
why was even Daron Fox in the game. Why didn't
they have a bigger lineup in there? They have two
small guards in the game. Yeah, on that final on
(28:06):
that final Knicks possession, both Dylan Harper and d'aron Fox.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
It doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 10 (28:11):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Frank Isola covered the next for a long time Brooklyn
Nets studio analyst. Yes Network, one of the really truly
talented guys in New York and in our business.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Good see anybody good seeing you enjoy the World Cup? Thank? Yes,
I am.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I'm going to enjoy the World Cup. It's on Fox.
We said it, folks, throw your treaty changer away, put
it on Fox. Frank's so good, he's been doing this
for all He's got memory just rock solid.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
That that's another, by the way.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Great point. Why do the Spurs have two small guards?
You know the Knicks are going to try to shoot
the thing with time on the clock and then get
a tip in What do the Spurs have two small
guys on the floor? Like, it's just it's just margin stuff.
It's little stuff, like just get Wimby with two minutes
left in the third, two or three minutes left in
the third, get him off the floor, you go to
(28:57):
the quarter commercial break, let him set one more minute
in the fourth. Just give him a real time eight
ten minute break, Like I mean, he there was a
point last night where they showed Wemby in the second half.
He was when your wrists are sweating, you need to
sit down. It was just you could tell. And he's
a guy that sometimes can struggle sometimes with a little coordination.
Well like he was at mile twenty five of the
(29:19):
marathon and we got nine minutes to go in the game.
He's done, it's over. You know, he's been better on
two days' rest. So it was just little things over
and over, and that one thing Frank said, The Knicks
have been e q IQ. They've been the smarter team
overwhelmingly in key moments. This is something I talk about
the NBA. We always talk about the talent. You go
(29:41):
back to that Miami Heat team, the Heatles. They had
no real center. There was the smallest team in the NBA,
poor rebounding team, not a true point guard, and d
Wade and Lebron kind of overlapped. They were kind of
just great athletes, not great shooters. That team was so
smart Haslam Battie a Alan.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Wade, Lebron Bosh.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
It's just like they made so many smart plays in
big moments. The Detroit Piston's bad boy teams. How many
of those guys were gms? How many of those guys
were successful executives or coaches? Like everybody thought, oh the
bad boys. So many of those guys were gms and
coaches like this idea that it's all talent in this league,
that the Knicks are making such clever coaching and player
(30:27):
decisions in crisis.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
I mean, the.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Spurs have led every game with two minutes left. They've
led every game they got one win. So I mean
it's like Jimmy JOHNSONOWA says this, you lose more games
than you'll win in sports. And the Spurs have also
dominated first quarters. They've jumped out to leads in every
quarter with their youthful energy, and they've led late. I mean,
(30:52):
if I have just told you the team that takes
the lead in every game, the team that leads late
in every game, and you're like, oh, did they sweep them?
Speaker 3 (30:59):
No, down three to one.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (31:01):
By the way, remember that last series thunder Spurs thunder
go up three two, go to San Antonio for Game
six and get blasted. SGA and company didn't even play
in the fourth. They rested their guys for game seven.
I wonder if we see that the Knicks, you know,
they're getting blown out and they just power down early.
Hey Brunson, rest up, you just played forty some odd minutes.
Og rest up play for game six.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
You know, kind of my theme today and pick your annoyance.
But there's been about four to five things with the
head coach of the Spurs. And I don't bang on
coaches a lot, like I think players win and lose games.
And it's kind of an epidemic in the football season,
you know, like you don't know, you don't watch film,
you don't know who's healthy. A lot of times Andy
Reid will not make he will not make certain adjustments
(31:56):
because he's got a guard that's playing on one leg
and he can and so a lot of times you're
masquerading stuff during the course of a series or a game.
But when you lead it by twenty nine at one
point in the second half and wemby on one day's rest,
you got to get him a break, and you've got
to manufacture shots. You got to call a time out
for Dylan Harper. He didn't have a shot in the
(32:17):
last ten minutes. I mean, there are some things here
that is just casual observers would get Jason Timp, a
host of hoops tonight at the volume, covered the NBA
for a long time former Laker, podcaster and blogger. Okay,
so give me the two things because I think we
agree on this. I was listening to your stuff this morning.
Give me the two thing because I could go give
you about six the two things that are kind of unforgivable.
(32:41):
And again, the Spurs are young, so is Mitch Johnson.
It's really his first year running the show. Give me
the two things that drove you nuts about the coaching
for San Antonio second half.
Speaker 7 (32:51):
So the first piece is the final two possessions, just
simply the double team of Brunson. As soon as you
double team Brunson, you create a four on three rebounding dynamic.
And if you look at those seven players, Ojananobi, Michale Bridges,
and Karl Anthony Towns are literally the three tallest players
out of those seven guys. And so if you're not
(33:12):
matched up and you're not boxing out, it turns into
a jumping contest. And you created a jumping contest where
Ogn Andobi had a runway with nobody standing in front
of him. I thought that was a tactical error there.
Just let Wemby guard him, stay matched up so you
can box out on the ensuing possession. Mike Brown genius
plays both of his centers because he knows one point
two seconds left, they can't pass, so we don't have
(33:35):
to worry about the inbounder at all. So he puts
Mitch on Wemby and he puts Kat on the inbounder.
And I thought Mitch Johnson made a catastrophic error by
having his smallest player who's also a lefty, trying to
throw over the top of a seven footer on a
play that is designed to generate a lob. And what's
(33:56):
crazy is the play design was beautiful because Mitch didn't
want to leave Wemby him setting the backscreen creates the
dynamic where Steph is wide open, but you gotta put
a taller player in there to imbound over the top
of Cat. I thought that was a huge mistake. And
then lastly the Harper piece, the no shot attempts over
the last ten minutes, Like you said, where I think
Mitch keeps overthinking this is play all three of your guards.
(34:20):
There's no reason to have Champagnie out there or Devin
Vassel out there at the same time. He keeps cycling
in two of the guards at the same time. If
Mike Brown is gonna play Jose Alvarado, you gotta play
Dylan Harper alongside your two guards, because then Dylan Harper's
being guarded by Jose Alvarado and he can't guard it.
(34:40):
And then then you have a matchup you can attack. Instead,
you have Deer and Fox attacking one of the best
defenders in the league o Jiananobi over and over again.
And I just think that's a recipe for disaster. Thought
I thought Mike Brown badly out coached Mitch Johnson down
the stretch that.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
I I have no question. Now what's interesting is the
Spurs have been a great first quarter team. The Knicks
are falling into deficits ugly ones. Last night, the Spurs
are heavily favored five and a half points in Game
of five in San Antonio.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Why what is the remedy? Is it just youthful energy?
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Is you know, Mike Brown and his staff, you know
a lot of times you'll see this in the first round.
It's a feeling out process. We want to watch their
you know, we kind of want to watch their offense.
What are they leaning into? But the Spurs keep taking
command of these games.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Does that worry you going forward?
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Because remember when Wemby gets two days rest, he's a
better player, Like he's in his third straight physical series.
Why does San Antonio rush out to dominant leeds in
these first quarters?
Speaker 7 (35:39):
Because of the fact that they do, as you've mentioned
in the show already today, they do have more talent
when they have their best lineup on the floor, they
have more ball handling, the more athletic on the perimeter.
Wenby's the best defensive player on the floor. I'd argue
Wemby's the best player overall and in those groups like
and as you've seen time and time again, when the
Spurs run their stuff, and they set good screens, their
(36:00):
guards look to attack, they get good look set three,
and when they play with that pace and they take
those good catch and shoot threes early in the set,
they are capable of going on these runs where they
knock down a bunch of shots. It's how they beat
Okac in game seven. Then on the other end of
the floor, I thought Mike Brown with the really smart
adjustment as Brunson got worn down.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
By the ball.
Speaker 7 (36:21):
Pressure from the Spurs in game three, he plays Jose
Alvarado next to Jalen Brunson, gives him another ball handling outlet,
puts more speed on the floor, and that was the
story of the tail end of the game. It was
a lot of Jose Alvarado screening for Jalen Brunson and
pulling Wemby away from the basket. That's the chess match.
As we head into game five, the Spurs have to
(36:42):
find a way to keep Wemby at the rim and
on the other end of the floor. They can't settle
for these bad catch and shoot threes early in possessions,
and they have to find a way to get back
to what they did in the first half, which is
getting their guards going downhill towards the rim. Colin, they
had zero points in the ain't in the third quarter.
(37:02):
Zero They got away, They got away from what had
from what This team, when they're at their best, it's
their guards attacking and everything that comes off of that.
When their guards are attacking, they let go of the
rope for a few minutes. They opened up hope for
the Knicks, and then they lost control of the half
court battle down the stretch.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Yeah, the overall, I mean I said it, it's Picasso's
first doodling, wasn't his best work, Like I feel like
Wemby's first final.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
There's gaps here. How would you grade him overall?
Speaker 1 (37:38):
I mean, defensively, he gives you such tremendous effort and dexterity,
But overall, where would you what would you give his
grade as a final?
Speaker 7 (37:45):
So far for Wemby, Everything with Wemby is graded on
this like weird curve where you have to account for
just how impactful he is just by being out there, like,
which is so underrated, Like still in this series of
plus eleven when he's on the floor in minus nineteen
when he's off, so like, there's a certain amount of
like you can't.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
You can't like over focus on the flaws.
Speaker 7 (38:05):
But the bottom line is Karl Anthony Towns has completely
erased him as an ISO player. He has been exposed
as a guy who does not have a reliable over
the top game in one on one situations. That's something
he's got to address this summer. The conditioning is a
huge piece of this. You've been talking about this on
the show all day to day, and I think you're
spot on. Victor Webbinyama looks gassed at the end of
(38:26):
these games, and I think this is on him and
on the organization. If you're gonna manage his minutes, I
totally understand, Yeah you don't. Why would you pay your
player seven and a half foot tall guy thirty eight
minutes a game in the regular season? I get that, fine,
but you've got to ramp him up at some point
before the playoffs. He was averaging twenty nine minutes per game.
(38:47):
Post All Star Break, you were basically ramping him down
when things.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Were about to heat back up.
Speaker 7 (38:53):
Like you got to have him over the final month
of the season playing thirty six thirty eight minutes a
game to prepare him for these fiveirements, because then he
ends up in a big finals game having to play
forty four, and he looks gass and everyone focuses on
the miss free throws. Obviously, he's got to make his
free throws. The miss jump shots. Obviously he has to
hit more jump shots. To me, it's the defensive end.
On the defensive end, when Wemby is lively, he's an
(39:16):
unsolvable problem. But when he's tired, you can get him
in space and you can catch him shifting his weight
the wrong direction, you can catch him lazy on a closeout,
you can catch him not making the extra efforts that
he makes when he has the energy. That conditioning piece
is absolutely massive for his long term development, because, as
(39:37):
you can tell, this entire team, their success in this
whole playoff run has been predicated on whether or not
he's on the floor. When he steps off, everything falls apart.
So the best thing they can do is scale up
his minutes. And by the way, that's not a Wemby
unique thing. That's every star I can remember in my lifetime.
It's like, man, Lebron's got to play forty six tonight.
Lebron's got to play forty four tonight. Steph's got to
(39:58):
play forty four tonite. That's just part of the responsibility
that comes with these situations.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Do you give the Spurs any chance to come back
and win it?
Speaker 7 (40:05):
Absolutely so, I think when you really dig into it
in the half court dynamic, Like, all the complaining about
officiating has been so lame to me. I think this
has been a very well officiated series. I think, yeah,
the Spurs are beating up Brunson, but the Knicks are
beating up Wemby and for Yeah, there was a twenty
four to eight free throw advantage in the second half
of Game three. Well, there was a twenty three to
six free throw advantage for the Knicks in the first
(40:26):
half of Game four. Like, I don't see that as
a storyline at all. The real problem is over the
course of the last several games, the Spurs were getting
better shots than the Knicks for a long time there.
It wasn't until that final lineup with Jose Alvarado where
I was like, oh man, the Knicks are getting some
really good looks there. For about six seven quarters. There
(40:46):
was a long stretch there where the Spurs were getting
better shots. They're home for Game five, they're home for
Game seven, and what I would remind everybody is look
at what happened in the OKC series in the Western
Conference Finals. They were down three to two and they
bet eat them up in game six, and they went
into OKCE in Game seven and threw an excellent defensive
punch and closed the deal. The only reason why I
(41:08):
still view the Knicks as the safer bet is frankly,
I think these games are going to be close, Colin,
and over and over again, in these close games, the
Knicks have proven to be the more mature, the more stable,
the more steady, and the less mistake prone team, and
that ends up being the difference when these games, Like
every one of these games has been a clutch game, Colin,
all four of them, either team could be up four
(41:29):
to zero at this point. It comes down to these
close games, and the Knicks are just a more savvy team.
The last thing I'll say about it is this, when
you look at the Knicks, they know at the end
of the game they're playing through Brunson, and he knows
exactly what he's gonna do. He's gonna look to score
one on one or he's going to draw that second
defender and make that decision and he's one of the
most rock solid ball handlers in the league. The guys
(41:51):
on the broadcast were calling this out last night. Shout
out to Tim Leglear. He did a great job. He's like,
the Spurs don't look like they know what they want
to do. They literally don't look like they know what
action they want to run at the end of the game,
and that, to me is the biggest difference. They're gonna
beat some close games and the Spurs have to win
all three of them, and that's just a lot to
ask against this well executing of a Knicks team.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Well, remember the old Warriors on there, the older, smarter,
more mature team beat a Celtics team when we thought
Boston had more talent, and it was a former T
Wolve Andrew Wiggins who was kind of unreliable, that was
reliable in the finals. Here we have Kat the former
t Wolves sometimes unreliable. He's on the older, wiser team
with less talent, and I think they're going to see
(42:33):
the same thing is there is some value in these finals.
There's a lot of things that matter, and some of
it's just days on task. Like I think, I don't
think that the Spurs look as lost but I think
we have to be honest about this. Mitch Johnson to
this point has gotten He's gotten worked in a couple
(42:53):
of these big games. We just and we don't either
always bang on coaches, but there are times. I mean,
a lot of guys that win championship Popovich Daily, Phil Jackson,
Red Urbach, they're not a lot of young coaches Hoiston trophies.
That's kind of my vibe is it feels like a
Celtics Warriors. I just thought Wisdom iq EQ want it
(43:15):
for Golden State over that Boston team.
Speaker 7 (43:18):
That specific dynamic. We're talking about, how the Spurs don't
know what they want to do. That's where Mitch has
to step in. Okay, here's what we're doing. Guys, Darin,
you got og. It ain't the right matchup for us.
Wemby Cats shoving you around, that's not We're not going
iso here. I want Harper to check into the game. Harper,
(43:40):
you are going to be guarded by Jose Alvarado. Here's
the set we're running to get you into an advantageous position.
We want you to look to attack to your point.
The younger teams need that extra helping hand, that guiding hand,
so much more than the veteran teams. When you're talking
about a veteran team, they got coaches on the floor,
Lebron Salvin, the stuff in the moment. Steph is solving
(44:01):
that stuff in the moment. The veteran teams, they are
kind of coaching on the floor, and it's actually more
important for the coach to step back and let those
guys kind of solve the problem. With this particular group,
Mitch has to take more of a hands on role
in their offensive process. Just spamming Fox against og And Andobi,
one of the best defenders in the league. When he's
(44:22):
got a high ankle sprain, and have you seen the
numbers from before his ankle sprain to after are catastrophically different.
His numbers have fallen off of a cliff. He's not
the same guy. There needs to be more of an
intentionality towards the other Spurs young guards.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
All right, Jason temp hoops tonight at the volume. Great
seeing you, but is always nice insight see you Colin, Yeah,
I mean last night, Daron Fox.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
It's just it's off. You can just sense them. He's
not playing with any confidence.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Sometimes he's just getting the run of the ball too
quickly and you can see it. He's an old injured player.
You know his contract now, it kicks in next year.
It is a massive contract. And dearon Fox. Now, the
good news is nobody else is getting paid. Uh, so
you can you know, it doesn't matter what sport. It
is in NFL, same thing. If you've got a bad
contract on a young team, you can live with it.
(45:11):
So but dearon Fox's contract. He's not healthy and he
was a minus last night. He got in the way
of progress.
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three eastern nine am to
noone Pacific. Find your local station for The Herd at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio
or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Oh day one World Cup hours away? And what in
the world did we watch last night? I witnessed the
hand of God and it was not Diego Maradona in
nineteen eighty six.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Wow. Wow.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Listen too often in my business, our business.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
People blame coaches. I don't like it. A lot of factors.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
This one though, that loss last night, that's on Mitch Johnson.
Spurs head coach san Antonio was brilliant throwing up threes
in the first half. It felt like they hit all
of them. They raced out to a massive twenty seven
point lead in the garden, and then you have to
coach differently and get into the bonus and take higher
(01:23):
percentage shots. Feed Wemby down low, get him closer to
the basket.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
No.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Instead thirteen threes in the third quarter. Good God, they
were in the bonus with eight minutes left in the
fourth and they took one shot from that point on
san Antonio in the paint. You've got Wemby. By the way,
Wemby played almost the entire second half. He was completely gassed.
(01:53):
You have a double figures lead one day's rest on
the road. Find him three and a half minutes into
the third quarter. I mean, the guy was gassed. He
gives you such an effort on the defensive end, Daron Fox,
that appears to be a problem. Why does Daron Fox
have more touches than any other player on your team?
(02:18):
Why is Dylan Harper attempting no shots in the last
ten minutes? Play Fox lesson Dylan Harper more? What is happening?
Get Dylan Harper on the ball. It's called coaching. I
don't want to pick on Daron Fox. He had a
terrible night. He can't have the most touches. You can't
(02:40):
have Dylan Harper, a sensationally young player not having a
shot in the last ten minutes. And what Daron Fox
did with twelve seconds left is inexplicable and inexcusable. He's
a veteran player, he knows better. I mean, just milk
the clock, go to the free throw line and in
the game. But I mean, I mean, so much of
last night would drive you crazy. Like Wemby is such
(03:03):
a defensive maven, you gotta find him two or three
minutes to rest. He played almost the entire second half.
It'd be one thing if it was a tight game.
You led by double figures, you led by twenty seven
at half. So agent experience matters a lot. And we
discussed you discussed the Spurs youth being a problem. Not
(03:24):
only was it a problem, but we have to remember
Mitch Johnson's also a rookie O. He coached a little
last year, but this is his team. He's a rookie
head coach, first time in the finals, and this has
been ugly. I get blowing leads. It's the three ball era.
(03:45):
I get blowing leads, but we got to contextualize how
you're blowing him. You can't get Wemby a three to
four minute stretch off. You can't get Dylan Harper a shot.
You're in the bonus with eight minutes left, eight minutes left,
you take one shot in the paint and you got
the best seven foot four player in the history of
(04:06):
the sport.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
That's not just.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
And listen, I'm not taking anything away from the Knicks,
but this finals, and I don't think San Antonio can
come back. This finals is going to be about as
much about the Spurs blowing leads as the Knicks winning games.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
And that's just.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
I mean, the Spurs have blown five playoff leads, double
digit lead in the playoffs. That's tied for the most. Ever, again,
they're young, I get it, the coach was young. I
mean they've led in the final two minutes in every
game against the Knicks, and they got one win and
it was a close win. So there were just And again,
we too often blame We do this with football coaches
(04:43):
every week. We blame the refs, so we blame the coach.
It's mostly on the players. But with a young team,
with a super historically young team, they need guidance. Bonus,
eight minutes left, Whenby get to the Wemby get to
the block, I'm up called a time out. I gotta
(05:05):
get Dylan Harper a couple of looks. The Aaron Fox
can't have the most touches. He's having a rough night.
I mean thirty points in the second half, and I
got I mean, I got talent. I've got the best
collection of young talent in basketball on one team. Spurts
(05:25):
have the most young talent in the world. You can't
give me thirty points in the second half. Just not
good enough. Not taking anything away from the Knicks, but
you have a twenty seven point lead at half. Youve
got to coach differently. You can't be taking jacking up
twelve threes. Here was Wemby after the loss, holding each.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
Other accountable, communicating, not putting fingers, and after that we
either got it don't. But you know, we've proven that
we can surpass these difficulties. And even though we haven't
been there before, I'm convinced we're built this way and
(06:10):
we're gonna use the better of this. And he's going
to tighten us up.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
All right, let's talk next. So I have said.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
And gotten some pushback when people ask me the best
Knixt player, and I have been saying this since the
start of the playoffs. It's not Bronson. He's the best finisher.
OG is their best player. I've talked to scouts and
GMS about Og. I think he's the most underrated player
in the league has been perhaps in Toronto as well.
They kind of stolen from Toronto. He is classy, big.
(06:47):
They just don't build humans that look like that. He'll
d you up, He'll d your three up, he'll do
your five up. He can score. He is I mean,
he is just so unique, so good on both ends.
Last night he was magical. Thirty three points, seven threes,
sixty seven percent if you did not see it live.
(07:10):
And they start these games way too late for all
of us. But I just want to give you the setup.
Twenty seven down at half first, he's got the big
three to cut it to forward. Then he's got the
big block, and then there is.
Speaker 6 (07:25):
This Ananobe far sideline inbound from mid court. Shammit bridges,
brunts in towns. All it takes is a two to
make history in New York City, five point seven left,
no timeouts remaining. Ananobe is handed the ball, finds brunting
at midcourt, launches a straight on three. Mister short tip
(07:46):
pay Annobi.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
He put it in.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Ananobe put it in the next take the lead with
one point to go. Sports gives you these moments that
if you scripted them it would feel too contrived. Down
twenty seven Young Spurs crumbling, Josh Hart misses a dunk
and one Guy Og from a three to a block
(08:10):
to the hand of Og. A remarkable kid. What a moment.
I mean, it's like Q the Chariots of Fire music.
It felt like it was in slow mow in real time.
And what I love about this NIXT team is just
like the Nuggets that won a title, or the Celtics,
or the older Warriors or OKC last year. It's not
(08:33):
an all time team. It's an all time run. They've
trailed with two minutes left in every game, but it
is a collection of players. None wants to take the
credit from previously flaky cat to massively undervalue Josh harden
Og to the scrappy and great Jalen Brunson. Even after
(08:56):
that tip the biggest basketball shot in New York in
thirty years.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Listen, how humble this kid is.
Speaker 7 (09:07):
You just hit the game winning shot in an NBA
Finals game in front of your home crowd.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
How does that feel?
Speaker 8 (09:13):
Uh?
Speaker 9 (09:13):
It feels cool. I mean everyone's pretty excited. I'm excited
to I'm excited too. We're all excited. We're enjoying it
right now. But we're just focused on the next game.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Now he has the highest true shooting percentage of any player,
any player in the finals since twenty twelve, fourteen years.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
And that's his reaction. And that tip in was not easy. Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
That should be a poster in every town, home and
apartment in New York City for the next decade. Just
an unbelievable moment. And it's you know what, one of
the reasons this thing works. It's not just because this
the next team is not a draft and developed team.
(10:02):
It's a trade and acquired team. And one of the
reasons it really works is that their best player. If
you went to every GM in the league and said
you get one Nick, I'm telling you, OG is the
one the GMS talk about in a league of three
and D guys, big, strong, physical, humble. The reason this
(10:25):
thing works in New York. I know y'all think it's
Jalen Brunson, and he's terrific.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
It's Og. He's going to win the MVP.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Six 's eight seven to three wingspan, can defend virtually
everybody outside of the point, rebound, tip hit, threes, blocks,
They're just certain times with young athletes you root for him.
And I remember when he got traded and reading a
couple of stories when he got traded from the Raptors
and the Raptors were well run, and people are like,
(10:58):
did they steal him? Yeah, last night validating and that
kind of stolen. So it was you know, it's interesting
about that Jay Mack. When they were even when the
Knicks were down twenty seven at half, it wasn't one
of those where I was like, Okay, I'm gonna give
this five minutes. I just kept thinking, Okay, they've been
down double figures in these games because of the youth.
(11:20):
I mean, everybody including the head coach at young for
San Antonio. So there you get real spikes with san Antonio.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
They're brilliant.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
I mean the first in the first half, if they
threw the ball up from three, it was going in.
They just played a remarkable first half. But as a coach,
you have to realize, even if you had Katie Stephanklan
in their prime, you don't have four quarters a brilliant
three point shooting.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
You know, we got to lead guys.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
We're gonna still be aggressive, but let's get into the bonus.
Let's take higher percentage shots. We'll trade threes for twos.
We're gonna win this game. I thought they almost outthought
the room, and that got to be aggressive. Just keep
shooting threes. It's like, guys, that's as well as you're
going to ever shoot on the road against a good
team three pointers. You had a magical, magical half of basketball.
(12:11):
You're not going to duplicate it.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
In New York.
Speaker 10 (12:13):
It was unbelievable that he Mitch Johnson kept Wemby in
the game. He played forty four minutes Colin. They were
leading by twenty for felt like a third of the game.
Wemby played twenty three of twenty four minutes in the
second half. And we talked about his tiredness. Right, only
one day in between games. Three of fourteen shooting in
the second half. Yeah, he didn't have it. And listen,
we don't like to use the word choked. Those two
(12:35):
free throws. You could see it in his face. He
was nervous. They only missed three free throws as a team,
seventeen or twenty. Wemby missed all three Colins.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Well, I mean again, there are times I could remember
watching when Shaq was a Laker, and Shaq was so big,
and I remember covering like a Blazer Laker series. There
are these moments where, like end of a quarter, minute
and a half left in a quarter, you sit Shack
down with a minute and a half left in the third,
so he gets the minute and a half, he gets
(13:03):
the half break. You keep him out for about a
minute and a half to two minutes of the fourth quarter,
and you give him a real, like an eight minute
break on his body, and then you're like, Shack, I
need you for like nine and a half minutes of greatness.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
That kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
When you get a duncan, when you get a dominant
big you have to find these end of the quarter moments,
two and a half left in a quarter, get Wenby
to the bench, give him like eight minutes commercials, end
of the half, give him eight minutes of just hydrate.
You can't play him that many minutes with that big
of a lead. That's just that's on the staff, all right,
(13:38):
And we're gonna talk a little bit more about Wemby.
People are freaking out. It's the World Cup. What are
realistic expectations with the World Cup?
Speaker 3 (13:47):
We'll address that next. It's the Hurd.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
and Noone Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (13:59):
Hey, it's Rob Park and Kelvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio. And in addition to hearing
us live weeknights from seven to ten pm Eastern on
Fox Sports Radio, we are excited to announce brand new
YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
That's Right.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
You can now watch The Odd Couple live on YouTube
every day.
Speaker 8 (14:19):
All you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
again YouTube, Just search Odd Couple FSR. Check us out
on YouTube and subscribe.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Welcome back here now entering the No Bull Zone, sponsored
by Incredible Great Rates.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
None of the Bull.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
So the NBA has always been about blunders before banners, right,
failure before the happy ending Kobe Lebron MJ get beat
up NBA in life, give.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
You some licks. How do you respond to it? Now?
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Magic he inherited Kareem a little different. Wehmby inherited twenty
two wins and the legendary coach that was getting older.
So it was a mess and he has been remarkable.
And last night his coach and the staff in San
Antonio did a major disservice to Wemby. No breaks second
(15:17):
half with massive leads. You gotta find four minutes, even
if it's just four minutes.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Of real time.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
But you know, Picasso's best work was not his first doodle.
Their gaps here with Wemby. You know it, I know it.
There are some limitations. In the final nine and a
half minutes of the fourth he didn't have a rebound
or an assist. He was minus twenty one. You know,
it's the best way to put it. He's still beta
testing the prototype, not quite ready for the market. I
(15:50):
do think two days rest at home. I don't know
what the line is. I would absolutely take San Antonio.
I think they've got one last great But I think
what we saw last night is what I've watched my
entire life as an NBA fan, which is this league.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
There's a reason this was.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
The youngest team since the nineteen seventy seven Blazers, who
also fell down to nothing. Okay, there's a reason older
players flourish in the postseason. They can manipulate the refs,
they can manipulate end of game scenarios. There's a reason
older coaches, the late Chuck Daily Popovich, Kerr and spolster a.
(16:33):
Guys that have been around pat Riley can manipulate moments
san Antonio can't. They can just be really, really good.
They just don't have that gear yet. Here's another piece
of sound from Wemby after the loss.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
What's going through your mind right now? What's going through
my mind right now?
Speaker 5 (16:53):
I think he's going to go one of two ways,
one of two ways and a bad one and a
good one.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
And I know if by one.
Speaker 5 (17:01):
Would be giving up, the good one would be getting
stronger through this, getting more together. And I know this
is what we're gonna do.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
By the way, he gets very comfortable in crucial moments,
settling for threes. He hit a jumper, a two point
jumper with three thirty left Spurs by seven, and the
announcers marveled that he actually took a shot inside the arc.
You shouldn't marvel at that. You should question why somebody
(17:30):
seven to four in a close game lead collapsing.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Is shooting threes. And again, he's.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Young, you know, in the absence of great coaching or
parenting or management, young people, we have this in college football.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
They make big mistakes.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Coaching is never more important for a team like San
Antonio or those seventy seven Blazers with Jack Ramsey, Like
this is when you really need great coaching.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
and noon Easter, not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
You know, I said this, and maybe it's too harsh,
but I'd said whether it was Jokich's championship in Denver,
or the Celtics championship, or the Andrew Wiggins staff coming
back to beat the Celtics title, or Okac last year,
there are great parts to those teams and great moments
with those teams, like the defense or the bench with Okac.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
But they're not great teams.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
And I think what I know through four games of
this series is that these teams are close. Age and
experience matters coachings better on the Knick side. But in
that win last night, it did kind of establish the
Knicks aren't a historically great team. But this is a
historically great run and there is a magic involved to this,
(18:49):
and I thought we saw I'll just start with that.
There's a connectivity between fans, team veteran. A lot of
this is IQ and situational to me. I mean, do
you think this is a great roster, or it's just
a cohesive unit of high eq IQ guys, all at
least B to B plus level players.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
I think what you're saying is true, and I do
think it's a terrific starting five that now has spent
a second year together. You know, Karl Anthony Towns only
one season at Kentucky, but he won there, made it
to a final four. Jalen Brunson won two national championships
in Dallas. I thought he did really well. They have
a lot of winning players. O Jananobi a terrific player,
even though it didn't play much when Toronto won the
(19:33):
championship in twenty nineteen. And I think it's one thing
to have great players. But for me, three plays stick
out in this series. The Jalen bruns An offensive rebound,
the tap out that he had to Keel Bridges they
were down one. He beats Devin Vessel to an offensive rebound,
runs to the corner, Bridges finds him. Jalen hits the
three starts, the eleven er run to close out Game one.
(19:54):
And then last night O Jananobi hustling back, getting the
block on the Aaron Fox and then crashing the last
A couple of seconds later for the tap and so
great players, but those are three hustle plays that they made.
They wanted it a little bit more, and I think
right now that's the difference in this series, those little
plays that teams make. I mean, if you're of San Antonio,
(20:18):
two offensive rebounds have absolutely killed you in this series.
And the way that they played last night and the
second half, especially the fourth quarter, especially down the stretch,
especially the last couple of seconds, awful if you're the
San Antonio Spurst.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Yeah, I mean, I think sometimes it's an epidemic.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Everybody, especially in talk radio sports radio, we always pick
on the coach.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
He's always a bum.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I didn't and I don't do that, but I did
think the second half for Mitch Johnson, first of all,
you can't get wemby four minutes of rest. You had
led by twenty. I thought he looked totally gassed. De
Aaron Fox had the most touches. Dylan Harper didn't have
a shot in the last ten minutes. He's a remarkable
young player. I know it's a big space. I thought
they shot too many threes in the third quarter. Again,
(20:57):
I don't want to nitpick, but there are top Tiames
Frank when I've watched this series and I've said, I
got to remember not only the Spurs young, the coach
is young.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
I think he coached youthfully last night. Is that fair?
Speaker 5 (21:11):
All right?
Speaker 4 (21:11):
So a couple of things. You know, for all you
minutes police out there, you know I come win. Minyama
averages under thirty minutes again, right playing times, So now
in the playoffs, you want him to play more. The
Knicks the last couple of years, their starters log heavy minutes.
The Knicks starters are never hurt. Jalen Brunson played the
entire second half. He's used to that. Go ask Michael
Jordan how you know he used the regular season to
(21:32):
get himself ready for the playoffs. When he knew he
was going to play, be playing forty plus minutes. So
I think you're right, maybe getting him a little bit
of rest, but that's also something that they do during
the regular season. And as for an inexperienced head coach,
I thought a mistake was made in Game two when
they had the time out when when Minyama grabbed the rebound.
That's a young player there, Stefan Castle. You call time out,
it's a tie game. You hope for the last shot.
(21:53):
If you make it, you win. You miss it, you're
going overtime. That was that terrible turnover by wein Minyama.
And then last night I could not help but think
about a game that I attended.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
I covered.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
It was the Spurs against the Lakers Western Conference Finals.
They decided not to guard the inbounds pass. They throw
the ball to Derek Fisher. This game was in San Antonio.
Derek Fisher, remember that with zero point four seconds ago,
hits that famous shot. And last night, so you're not
going to guard the inbounder. The inbounder is o Jananobi.
At that point, he had thirty one points. He was
(22:25):
the xt best player in the second half of a game.
So he's inbounding the ball. He's wide open for Jalen
Brunson to throw in the ball. Jalen doesn't. Jalen takes
the shot misses. It turns out to be the perfect
miss because here comes O Jananoby flying down the middle
of the lane, going untouched. If somebody was guarding him
on the inbounds pass, and at least you could have
(22:46):
prevented him even for a split second, from having an
open path to the basket. That could be the difference
between winning and losing. So these losses for the Spurs
have been absolutely brutal. The nixt to me come across
is the smarter team, oh in those winning moments, making
the plays, and that's the difference column Jalen Brunson. First
(23:06):
of all, Stefan castle Is should have made All Defense.
He's a tremendous young player.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
He's got a ten year run where he's going to
be a multiple time All he may make ten All
Star teams. How and so he's limited, SGA struggled, and
I mean he takes on the number one assignment. He
is a bully, he's aggressive, he was at Yukon. How
would you judge so far Jalen Brunson series overall, how
does it land for you?
Speaker 4 (23:29):
It would go the way that I thought it would go.
There'd be a lot of focus on him. So he
hasn't been shooting the ball great. There have been some turnovers,
but again, what he did in game one phenomenal. What
he did in Game two made that tough shot, and
then what he did last night makes some huge plays
down the stretch. And remember, because it's Jalen Brunson, Victor
(23:49):
win Binyama is guarding him. That means Victor Wein Binyama
isn't anywhere near the basket. On that final play for
the Knicks, Darren Fox, who, let's face it, had one
of the worst fourth quarters you're ever going to see.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Second half, that's brutal. He comes over to help, which
leaves Ogi open.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
What are all the you know, what's the fancy words
now they talk about gravity for all these players, So
he's pulling the defense toward him. So even though he
missed it, reminded me a little bit of the Marcus
Smart miss against Miami a few years back when he
missed it and Derek White wold in there unmolested and
tap the ball in at the buzzer to win. Oji
Ananobi's play with outstanding his hustle play at the other
end to get the block. The hustle play here, But
(24:25):
I think overall, Jalen Brunson just makes winnings play. So
is he having an all time final? Is his team
up three one?
Speaker 3 (24:33):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Frank I soolo for our radio audience. Eight minutes to go,
they're in the bonus and they shoot one shot in
the paint. Is that on Mitch Johnson or Wemby, Like
when you have a seven to four player, you're in
the bonus guys, pound the paint. San Antonio did not.
Is that a coach or a Wemby issue. I think
(24:57):
it's both, and I think it's today's NBA. You know,
the Knicks have done this in the last two years
in the playoffs. If you go back to last year
second round against Boston, games one and two in Boston,
they're down twenty plus points in both games, and Boston
keeps launching threes instead of attacking, and here come the Knicks.
And last night, like you said, that drove you crazy
(25:18):
if you're a Spurs fan watching them just.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
And I get it, Colin.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
That's how they got that's how they took that huge lead.
But that's how you end up losing a lead. That's
how the other team could get back in. These twenty
point leads aren't like they were ten years ago. They
have certainly not like what they were twenty and thirty
years ago. Everyone is shooting three pointers. And I thought
of Larry Brown last night on the play by de
(25:43):
Aaron Fox up one under fifteen seconds ago. Larry Brown,
who used to say, score clock time, and I'm thinking,
how many times did the Spurs take long threes early
in the shot clock when you're in the penalty, I
don't know, post throw the ball into Stefan. So whoever
Jose Alvarado is defending, get him the ball down close.
(26:03):
Let let him try to dress some contact. And by
the way, Alvarado and oj Anobi last night both three
for three in the fourth quarter, both made both their
three point shots. They combined for sixteen points, exactly how
many points as the Spurs had in that fourth quarter. Yeah,
it was we were talking about, we'll let him go
(26:23):
here in a second. How the Knicks respond to this.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
I mean it was like, it's I think you can
in the history of the NBA, I go to great
shots in the NBA Finals. Lebron's block is obviously against
the Warriors. OG has got to be in a short list.
I mean, you're almost a historian encyclopedic on this stuff.
That OG play. I mean there's a lot of finals.
(26:47):
I don't remember a big basket by the Denver Nuggets
in their finals. Yeah, that shot last night, I mean
that is a Willis Reed moment. That's Jerry West getting
the half court shot against the Knicks. I mean, where
is it rank all time in the history of the
next OG's tip?
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Where is it? It's got to be top five, top three.
I think you're one hundred percent right with the Willis
Reed shot, because that's Willis in nineteen seventy limping out
into the court. The first time he touches the ball,
he shoots, and I think in fact he would end
up going two for two in that court or the
crowd is going nuts. Provide a lot of inspiration for
the New York Knicks. You know, Patrick Ewing had a
big tip in dunk against Indiana that was all the
(27:24):
way back in ninety four to send them to the
NBA Finals. Larry Johnson's four point play against Indiana and
ninety nine would be up to Allen Houston's shot against Miami.
But this is Game four of the NBA Finals. You
miss that and the Knicks er that series is now
tied at two to two. What a great And that's
what you love about the game.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
The guys like.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Ojiananobi, who does a little bit of everything, and it's
just wanting it a little bit more. It's not dribling
between your legs step back three over an outstretched armor defender.
It's just getting to the basket. Nobody's putting a body
on you. And speaking of nobody putting a body on you,
why was even Daron Fox in the game. Why didn't
they have a bigger lineup in there? They have two
small guards in the game. Yeah, on that final on
(28:06):
that final Knicks possession, both Dylan Harper and d'aron Fox.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
It doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 10 (28:11):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Frank Isola covered the next for a long time Brooklyn
Nets studio analyst. Yes Network, one of the really truly
talented guys in New York and in our business.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Good see anybody good seeing you enjoy the World Cup? Thank? Yes,
I am.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I'm going to enjoy the World Cup. It's on Fox.
We said it, folks, throw your treaty changer away, put
it on Fox. Frank's so good, he's been doing this
for all He's got memory just rock solid.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
That that's another, by the way.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Great point. Why do the Spurs have two small guards?
You know the Knicks are going to try to shoot
the thing with time on the clock and then get
a tip in What do the Spurs have two small
guys on the floor? Like, it's just it's just margin stuff.
It's little stuff, like just get Wimby with two minutes
left in the third, two or three minutes left in
the third, get him off the floor, you go to
(28:57):
the quarter commercial break, let him set one more minute
in the fourth. Just give him a real time eight
ten minute break, Like I mean, he there was a
point last night where they showed Wemby in the second half.
He was when your wrists are sweating, you need to
sit down. It was just you could tell. And he's
a guy that sometimes can struggle sometimes with a little coordination.
Well like he was at mile twenty five of the
(29:19):
marathon and we got nine minutes to go in the game.
He's done, it's over. You know, he's been better on
two days' rest. So it was just little things over
and over, and that one thing Frank said, The Knicks
have been e q IQ. They've been the smarter team
overwhelmingly in key moments. This is something I talk about
the NBA. We always talk about the talent. You go
(29:41):
back to that Miami Heat team, the Heatles. They had
no real center. There was the smallest team in the NBA,
poor rebounding team, not a true point guard, and d
Wade and Lebron kind of overlapped. They were kind of
just great athletes, not great shooters. That team was so
smart Haslam Battie a Alan.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Wade, Lebron Bosh.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
It's just like they made so many smart plays in
big moments. The Detroit Piston's bad boy teams. How many
of those guys were gms? How many of those guys
were successful executives or coaches? Like everybody thought, oh the
bad boys. So many of those guys were gms and
coaches like this idea that it's all talent in this league,
that the Knicks are making such clever coaching and player
(30:27):
decisions in crisis.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
I mean, the.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Spurs have led every game with two minutes left. They've
led every game they got one win. So I mean
it's like Jimmy JOHNSONOWA says this, you lose more games
than you'll win in sports. And the Spurs have also
dominated first quarters. They've jumped out to leads in every
quarter with their youthful energy, and they've led late. I mean,
(30:52):
if I have just told you the team that takes
the lead in every game, the team that leads late
in every game, and you're like, oh, did they sweep them?
Speaker 3 (30:59):
No, down three to one.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (31:01):
By the way, remember that last series thunder Spurs thunder
go up three two, go to San Antonio for Game
six and get blasted. SGA and company didn't even play
in the fourth. They rested their guys for game seven.
I wonder if we see that the Knicks, you know,
they're getting blown out and they just power down early.
Hey Brunson, rest up, you just played forty some odd minutes.
Og rest up play for game six.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
You know, kind of my theme today and pick your annoyance.
But there's been about four to five things with the
head coach of the Spurs. And I don't bang on
coaches a lot, like I think players win and lose games.
And it's kind of an epidemic in the football season,
you know, like you don't know, you don't watch film,
you don't know who's healthy. A lot of times Andy
Reid will not make he will not make certain adjustments
(31:56):
because he's got a guard that's playing on one leg
and he can and so a lot of times you're
masquerading stuff during the course of a series or a game.
But when you lead it by twenty nine at one
point in the second half and wemby on one day's rest,
you got to get him a break, and you've got
to manufacture shots. You got to call a time out
for Dylan Harper. He didn't have a shot in the
(32:17):
last ten minutes. I mean, there are some things here
that is just casual observers would get Jason Timp, a
host of hoops tonight at the volume, covered the NBA
for a long time former Laker, podcaster and blogger. Okay,
so give me the two things because I think we
agree on this. I was listening to your stuff this morning.
Give me the two thing because I could go give
you about six the two things that are kind of unforgivable.
(32:41):
And again, the Spurs are young, so is Mitch Johnson.
It's really his first year running the show. Give me
the two things that drove you nuts about the coaching
for San Antonio second half.
Speaker 7 (32:51):
So the first piece is the final two possessions, just
simply the double team of Brunson. As soon as you
double team Brunson, you create a four on three rebounding dynamic.
And if you look at those seven players, Ojananobi, Michale Bridges,
and Karl Anthony Towns are literally the three tallest players
out of those seven guys. And so if you're not
(33:12):
matched up and you're not boxing out, it turns into
a jumping contest. And you created a jumping contest where
Ogn Andobi had a runway with nobody standing in front
of him. I thought that was a tactical error there.
Just let Wemby guard him, stay matched up so you
can box out on the ensuing possession. Mike Brown genius
plays both of his centers because he knows one point
two seconds left, they can't pass, so we don't have
(33:35):
to worry about the inbounder at all. So he puts
Mitch on Wemby and he puts Kat on the inbounder.
And I thought Mitch Johnson made a catastrophic error by
having his smallest player who's also a lefty, trying to
throw over the top of a seven footer on a
play that is designed to generate a lob. And what's
(33:56):
crazy is the play design was beautiful because Mitch didn't
want to leave Wemby him setting the backscreen creates the
dynamic where Steph is wide open, but you gotta put
a taller player in there to imbound over the top
of Cat. I thought that was a huge mistake. And
then lastly the Harper piece, the no shot attempts over
the last ten minutes, Like you said, where I think
Mitch keeps overthinking this is play all three of your guards.
(34:20):
There's no reason to have Champagnie out there or Devin
Vassel out there at the same time. He keeps cycling
in two of the guards at the same time. If
Mike Brown is gonna play Jose Alvarado, you gotta play
Dylan Harper alongside your two guards, because then Dylan Harper's
being guarded by Jose Alvarado and he can't guard it.
(34:40):
And then then you have a matchup you can attack. Instead,
you have Deer and Fox attacking one of the best
defenders in the league o Jiananobi over and over again.
And I just think that's a recipe for disaster. Thought
I thought Mike Brown badly out coached Mitch Johnson down
the stretch that.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
I I have no question. Now what's interesting is the
Spurs have been a great first quarter team. The Knicks
are falling into deficits ugly ones. Last night, the Spurs
are heavily favored five and a half points in Game
of five in San Antonio.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Why what is the remedy? Is it just youthful energy?
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Is you know, Mike Brown and his staff, you know
a lot of times you'll see this in the first round.
It's a feeling out process. We want to watch their
you know, we kind of want to watch their offense.
What are they leaning into? But the Spurs keep taking
command of these games.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Does that worry you going forward?
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Because remember when Wemby gets two days rest, he's a
better player, Like he's in his third straight physical series.
Why does San Antonio rush out to dominant leeds in
these first quarters?
Speaker 7 (35:39):
Because of the fact that they do, as you've mentioned
in the show already today, they do have more talent
when they have their best lineup on the floor, they
have more ball handling, the more athletic on the perimeter.
Wenby's the best defensive player on the floor. I'd argue
Wemby's the best player overall and in those groups like
and as you've seen time and time again, when the
Spurs run their stuff, and they set good screens, their
(36:00):
guards look to attack, they get good look set three,
and when they play with that pace and they take
those good catch and shoot threes early in the set,
they are capable of going on these runs where they
knock down a bunch of shots. It's how they beat
Okac in game seven. Then on the other end of
the floor, I thought Mike Brown with the really smart
adjustment as Brunson got worn down.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
By the ball.
Speaker 7 (36:21):
Pressure from the Spurs in game three, he plays Jose
Alvarado next to Jalen Brunson, gives him another ball handling outlet,
puts more speed on the floor, and that was the
story of the tail end of the game. It was
a lot of Jose Alvarado screening for Jalen Brunson and
pulling Wemby away from the basket. That's the chess match.
As we head into game five, the Spurs have to
(36:42):
find a way to keep Wemby at the rim and
on the other end of the floor. They can't settle
for these bad catch and shoot threes early in possessions,
and they have to find a way to get back
to what they did in the first half, which is
getting their guards going downhill towards the rim. Colin, they
had zero points in the ain't in the third quarter.
(37:02):
Zero They got away, They got away from what had
from what This team, when they're at their best, it's
their guards attacking and everything that comes off of that.
When their guards are attacking, they let go of the
rope for a few minutes. They opened up hope for
the Knicks, and then they lost control of the half
court battle down the stretch.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Yeah, the overall, I mean I said it, it's Picasso's
first doodling, wasn't his best work, Like I feel like
Wemby's first final.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
There's gaps here. How would you grade him overall?
Speaker 1 (37:38):
I mean, defensively, he gives you such tremendous effort and dexterity,
But overall, where would you what would you give his
grade as a final?
Speaker 7 (37:45):
So far for Wemby, Everything with Wemby is graded on
this like weird curve where you have to account for
just how impactful he is just by being out there, like,
which is so underrated, Like still in this series of
plus eleven when he's on the floor in minus nineteen
when he's off, so like, there's a certain amount of
like you can't.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
You can't like over focus on the flaws.
Speaker 7 (38:05):
But the bottom line is Karl Anthony Towns has completely
erased him as an ISO player. He has been exposed
as a guy who does not have a reliable over
the top game in one on one situations. That's something
he's got to address this summer. The conditioning is a
huge piece of this. You've been talking about this on
the show all day to day, and I think you're
spot on. Victor Webbinyama looks gassed at the end of
(38:26):
these games, and I think this is on him and
on the organization. If you're gonna manage his minutes, I
totally understand, Yeah you don't. Why would you pay your
player seven and a half foot tall guy thirty eight
minutes a game in the regular season? I get that, fine,
but you've got to ramp him up at some point
before the playoffs. He was averaging twenty nine minutes per game.
(38:47):
Post All Star Break, you were basically ramping him down
when things.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Were about to heat back up.
Speaker 7 (38:53):
Like you got to have him over the final month
of the season playing thirty six thirty eight minutes a
game to prepare him for these fiveirements, because then he
ends up in a big finals game having to play
forty four, and he looks gass and everyone focuses on
the miss free throws. Obviously, he's got to make his
free throws. The miss jump shots. Obviously he has to
hit more jump shots. To me, it's the defensive end.
On the defensive end, when Wemby is lively, he's an
(39:16):
unsolvable problem. But when he's tired, you can get him
in space and you can catch him shifting his weight
the wrong direction, you can catch him lazy on a closeout,
you can catch him not making the extra efforts that
he makes when he has the energy. That conditioning piece
is absolutely massive for his long term development, because, as
(39:37):
you can tell, this entire team, their success in this
whole playoff run has been predicated on whether or not
he's on the floor. When he steps off, everything falls apart.
So the best thing they can do is scale up
his minutes. And by the way, that's not a Wemby
unique thing. That's every star I can remember in my lifetime.
It's like, man, Lebron's got to play forty six tonight.
Lebron's got to play forty four tonight. Steph's got to
(39:58):
play forty four tonite. That's just part of the responsibility
that comes with these situations.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Do you give the Spurs any chance to come back
and win it?
Speaker 7 (40:05):
Absolutely so, I think when you really dig into it
in the half court dynamic, Like, all the complaining about
officiating has been so lame to me. I think this
has been a very well officiated series. I think, yeah,
the Spurs are beating up Brunson, but the Knicks are
beating up Wemby and for Yeah, there was a twenty
four to eight free throw advantage in the second half
of Game three. Well, there was a twenty three to
six free throw advantage for the Knicks in the first
(40:26):
half of Game four. Like, I don't see that as
a storyline at all. The real problem is over the
course of the last several games, the Spurs were getting
better shots than the Knicks for a long time there.
It wasn't until that final lineup with Jose Alvarado where
I was like, oh man, the Knicks are getting some
really good looks there. For about six seven quarters. There
(40:46):
was a long stretch there where the Spurs were getting
better shots. They're home for Game five, they're home for
Game seven, and what I would remind everybody is look
at what happened in the OKC series in the Western
Conference Finals. They were down three to two and they
bet eat them up in game six, and they went
into OKCE in Game seven and threw an excellent defensive
punch and closed the deal. The only reason why I
(41:08):
still view the Knicks as the safer bet is frankly,
I think these games are going to be close, Colin,
and over and over again, in these close games, the
Knicks have proven to be the more mature, the more stable,
the more steady, and the less mistake prone team, and
that ends up being the difference when these games, Like
every one of these games has been a clutch game, Colin,
all four of them, either team could be up four
(41:29):
to zero at this point. It comes down to these
close games, and the Knicks are just a more savvy team.
The last thing I'll say about it is this, when
you look at the Knicks, they know at the end
of the game they're playing through Brunson, and he knows
exactly what he's gonna do. He's gonna look to score
one on one or he's going to draw that second
defender and make that decision and he's one of the
most rock solid ball handlers in the league. The guys
(41:51):
on the broadcast were calling this out last night. Shout
out to Tim Leglear. He did a great job. He's like,
the Spurs don't look like they know what they want
to do. They literally don't look like they know what
action they want to run at the end of the game,
and that, to me is the biggest difference. They're gonna
beat some close games and the Spurs have to win
all three of them, and that's just a lot to
ask against this well executing of a Knicks team.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Well, remember the old Warriors on there, the older, smarter,
more mature team beat a Celtics team when we thought
Boston had more talent, and it was a former T
Wolve Andrew Wiggins who was kind of unreliable, that was
reliable in the finals. Here we have Kat the former
t Wolves sometimes unreliable. He's on the older, wiser team
with less talent, and I think they're going to see
(42:33):
the same thing is there is some value in these finals.
There's a lot of things that matter, and some of
it's just days on task. Like I think, I don't
think that the Spurs look as lost but I think
we have to be honest about this. Mitch Johnson to
this point has gotten He's gotten worked in a couple
(42:53):
of these big games. We just and we don't either
always bang on coaches, but there are times. I mean,
a lot of guys that win championship Popovich Daily, Phil Jackson,
Red Urbach, they're not a lot of young coaches Hoiston trophies.
That's kind of my vibe is it feels like a
Celtics Warriors. I just thought Wisdom iq EQ want it
(43:15):
for Golden State over that Boston team.
Speaker 7 (43:18):
That specific dynamic. We're talking about, how the Spurs don't
know what they want to do. That's where Mitch has
to step in. Okay, here's what we're doing. Guys, Darin,
you got og. It ain't the right matchup for us.
Wemby Cats shoving you around, that's not We're not going
iso here. I want Harper to check into the game. Harper,
(43:40):
you are going to be guarded by Jose Alvarado. Here's
the set we're running to get you into an advantageous position.
We want you to look to attack to your point.
The younger teams need that extra helping hand, that guiding hand,
so much more than the veteran teams. When you're talking
about a veteran team, they got coaches on the floor,
Lebron Salvin, the stuff in the moment. Steph is solving
(44:01):
that stuff in the moment. The veteran teams, they are
kind of coaching on the floor, and it's actually more
important for the coach to step back and let those
guys kind of solve the problem. With this particular group,
Mitch has to take more of a hands on role
in their offensive process. Just spamming Fox against og And Andobi,
one of the best defenders in the league. When he's
(44:22):
got a high ankle sprain, and have you seen the
numbers from before his ankle sprain to after are catastrophically different.
His numbers have fallen off of a cliff. He's not
the same guy. There needs to be more of an
intentionality towards the other Spurs young guards.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
All right, Jason temp hoops tonight at the volume. Great
seeing you, but is always nice insight see you Colin, Yeah,
I mean last night, Daron Fox.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
It's just it's off. You can just sense them. He's
not playing with any confidence.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Sometimes he's just getting the run of the ball too
quickly and you can see it. He's an old injured player.
You know his contract now, it kicks in next year.
It is a massive contract. And dearon Fox. Now, the
good news is nobody else is getting paid. Uh, so
you can you know, it doesn't matter what sport. It
is in NFL, same thing. If you've got a bad
contract on a young team, you can live with it.
(45:11):
So but dearon Fox's contract. He's not healthy and he
was a minus last night. He got in the way
of progress.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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