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Nick Wright reacts to Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks. Has Jalen Brunson entered the best player in the world conversation after another clutch performance? And what is wrong with Victor Wembanyama after a disappointing Finals debut? Nick breaks down Game 1 and shares his predictions for the rest of the series! #Volume
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in What's Driving the Grid Episode four sixty three.
This episode of What's Driving the Grid has brought to you,
as always by our friends at boost Mobile. Uh. Not
only do we have an NBA Finals, not only do
we have an upsetting game one, but a fact that
I absolutely could not believe. And then when I read
(00:25):
it on Twitter, I fact checked it. It is correct.
I wish I could credit who I where I saw it.
I again, I should have written it down I did,
I didn't. This is the spurs seventh time in the
NBA Finals. This is the first time ever they have
(00:45):
trailed in a series. Wow ninety nine finals they won
for one, never trailed OH three finals. They swept the
nets oh five finals. They won in seven against the Pistons,
but never trailed those seven finals. They swept the Cavs
thirteen finals. They lost in seven, but never trailed. Fourteen
(01:07):
finals they won in five. And now. So two things
happened today that either haven't happened in decades or have
never happened. The Spurs trailing in the finals and the
New York Knicks waking up as the favorites to win
the championship. That hasn't happened since mid June nineteen ninety four,
(01:28):
and there have only been There's only been one day
in the last fifty two years that the Knicks have
woken up favorites to win the title prior to today.
They are the favorites, they should be the favorites. We
will get into all of what this is a game
exclusive Game one show and a few housekeeping things before
(01:52):
we get into it. One is remindered everybody you can
drop in questions, comments, thoughts in the chat. We will
do a mailbag episode tomorrow which will also be a
little World Cup and a little eighty too and oh
game in the show tomorrow, so drop your questions in
the chat. Another note is Demanse's still out on his
special project, so in for Demonse is the great Ty Butler.
(02:17):
You can follow him on Twitter at ty d Butler.
You can listen to him on ESPN Radio in New
York City from eight to noon on Sunday mornings. You
can watch The Ty Butler Show on YouTube basically every
single day. Tye, how are you good to see my friend?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Great to be back man. So it's the first time
you've had a co host return, not your son, So
I feel we Doora.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
No, it's the first. I mean you're the first co
host that's not related to me ever, and so the
I mean Doora has done it, Deanna's done it, my
wife's done it, Demonse's done it. You're the first. Yeah,
you're the first one. We don't really do guests on
this show. I think that actually helps my standing a
months other media that I'm not asking people to come
(03:02):
on my show, and so we don't really do guests.
We don't very often do. We don't ever do guest
co hosts. But it's the NBA Finals. I didn't want
to just go solo. Demand's working on something, so we
are very lucky to have you sitting in. We will
get to the game in a moment. But first straight
the voicemail brought to you by boost Mobile. I don't
(03:25):
give it. Producers put the squirrel this away for future things.
I don't care about that stupid dog, the Cory. He
picks the spurs and the attends Game one. I don't
care about the dog. I don't believe the videos. You
might be like, what do you mean you don't believe
the videos? I think whoever the dog's owner is, you know,
(03:48):
watches the dog make shots and then edits them the
way they think the series is going to go. These
are not fact checked live stream videos, and even if
they were, I don't care. Just a running notes Showyo,
Donnie pittures six scoreless innings, adds three hits and one run,
and Cale Williams named the Madden cover athlete. That straight
(04:09):
the voicemailer brought to you by Boost Mobile. But as
I said, this is an all NBA final show, Tye
take it away?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
All right? So you predicted this the Knicks. We're gonna
go into San Antonio and steal game one against the Spurs.
They close it out on an eleven zero run. Shakey
start for Brunson, not just from an efficiency standpoint, but
banged up, the knee injury, the ankle injury, and despite that,
he does what he's been doing since he's joined the Knicks,
(04:36):
and that's become, you know, the most clutch player in
the NBA. Thirteen points in the fourth quarter, and so
they continue this hottest streak in playoff history. What about Nick,
How the Knicks won this game made you feel even
more confident in your series prediction of them taking it
in six games.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Well, I think they're better. And neither team played perfect
basketball last night. Both team's best players were inefficient. There
were the only guy there are I think there are
only two players in that game who leave that game
feeling awesome about how they played, Karl Anthony Towns and
(05:17):
Josh Hart. And Towns is, you know, the second best
player on the Knicks. Josh Hart might be the third
most important player on the Knicks on any given night,
but everybody else feels like they left a little meat
on the bone, so to speak. But here's why I
feel so good about picking the Knicks to win the championship.
(05:43):
That game was tied tie going into the fourth quarter.
And my confidence level that, oh it's tied going into
the fourth Well, of course, Brunson's going to come through
was about as high as it's been for any player
(06:08):
in the league this decade. I was not more confident.
They're not Giannis in his championship run, not Joker in
his championship run, another great playoff runs, not ant on
any of his runs to the conference finals, not Shay,
not Tatum or Brown, That not Steph the year the
(06:31):
Warriors won the title. There is there has not been
a guy that going into a close or tied fourth
quarter in the playoffs, I felt as confident as I
did last night that Brunton, and he wasn't playing well,
would come through since Lebron in twenty twenty. Yeah, it's
(06:53):
the most competent I felt since then. And I guess
Jimmy Butler also in that series. You kind of felt
like he would come through as well. And there were
so many key moments that I actually I at some
point I'm gonna do a little bit of the play
by play, and there are a lot of big picture things.
(07:14):
We're gonna get to the Wimby stuff, We're gonna get
to the cat stuff. But the Knicks just never this
sounds so cliche, stop believing. They were down thirteen points
in the third quarter, called time out, winby comes out.
(07:35):
It actually gets pushed up to fourteen briefly, and then
ty the moment they went on that little mini run
and cut it down to I think six and force
the Spurs to call timeout. It felt like they took
total control of the game, and they did because they
were up eight with four minutes six minutes left. I
(07:59):
think in the they went from down fourteen to up
eight in about twelve game minutes of action, and then
they went ice cold and it looked like the Spurs
might steal it back, and then the Spurs went ice
cold and the Knicks one on the eleven zero run.
And I thought the cat SoundBite from the game early
(08:21):
where he's like, our offense will come, we saw it
in the Cleveland series. We've just got hearing that we've
just got to win it on defense. Hearing that from
Karl Anthony Towns and him in him walk, you know,
doing not just what is it talking to talk, but
walking the walk. Him actually executing on that on his
(08:41):
own was absolutely. It's the It's the type of thing
a championship team has. And then you have this unbelievable
closer at the end. They're just a son of a
bitch to.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Beat inevitable man, they're inevitable. And you go back, because
you mentioned the last decade and maybe Bronze the only
comp how about we cross spoord analogy. And I'm not
saying he's this player or they're that team, but it's
similar to how and you can attest to this as
like a Chiefs fan. You're watching the Chiefs and it's
(09:16):
like if Mahomes gets the ball back, We're gonna win
the game, right, And I feel similar to that watching
the Knicks. You know, five minutes left to go in
the game, it's tied, they're going to win. Why because
you know, if you're a Nick Finn, we have Jalen
Brunson and you don't. And it's just remarkable to see
the inevitability from a team that hasn't won championships like
(09:37):
this is really the first time they're experiencing it to
this degree. It's awesome. Man.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
So I do before you get to your follow ups,
I do want to talk about what I thought were
some really key moments in that fourth quarter. We already
and we'll go bigger picture on the players individual players later.
Towns obviously guarded Wimby and did an unbelievable job, and
(10:08):
then also during he was the key when the game
could have gotten away when they were down those thirteen
pardon me, and Brunson didn't have it yet. It was
a lot of towns. It was a town's layup to
cut it from eleven to nine, where he actually got
fouled as well, so it actually got down to eight,
(10:29):
and a town's lay up a little bit after that,
off an offensive rebound to cut it to three. Then
after the Spurs scored another, Towns layup off another offensive
rebound to cut it to three and get the foul again.
That's the one Kelton Johnson fouled him on. He was brilliant.
And here's the other thing, and there's a good article
(10:50):
in The Athletic about this today. The Knicks were two
for sixteen on jumpers that Wimby could tested. That sounds
great for Winby and the Spurs, but of those fourteen misses,
they got ten points off offensive rebounds on those misses.
(11:15):
So if you think about it, if they're two for
sixteen on shots but end up getting five putbacks, it
essentially becomes seven for sixteen on shots. Winby contested, You
can live with that. And part of the upside to
pulling him away from the basket, even if he contests
and alters a shot, is he's not there to rebound.
(11:36):
But so Towns had that excellent sequence in the third
quarter and then to me, the moments that won the
Knicks the game. And this is why this team right
now is so special, because I'm going to talk about
basically everyone who played Towns has the sequence in the
(11:57):
third quarter. In the fourth quarter, when the Knicks finally
get a lead, Og scores eight straight himself, a layup,
a three, and then an app though an absolute ice
in the veins, pump fake on Wimby, Jap step pump
(12:21):
fake on Wimby, Jap step three in the corner over
Wimby to give the Knicks a five point lead. That
was the first point I thought Mitch Johnson might call
time out now. To his credit, he didn't, and they
went on a five zero run themselves, so I guess,
you know, he didn't need to. I thought there were
(12:41):
some times later in the game he could have, but
he didn't. Brunson then all of a sudden heats up,
and after the Spurs tie it up eighty six, eighty six,
Brunton lay up, Brunton HiT's a free throw, a couple
free throws, Brunton lay up, Brunson lay up with the
only thing that is interrupting that was the guy who
(13:02):
ran onto the court, and that's and after that, so
the Knicks go up eight. The Knicks then go ice cold,
and Wimby has his one little burst of the game,
the drive and dunk and the I think he had
an and one. Uh the and all of a sudden,
(13:24):
the Spurs are up one, and then look at how
the Knicks responded. Two minutes left, Og misses a three.
McHale Bridge's offensive rebound finds Brunson. Brunson hits the ice
(13:47):
cold corner three, Knicks up two. Next possession, Spurs miss
one of the fifteen hard rebounds. Josh Hart gets He's
skies in to get the defensive rebound. They kick it
(14:08):
up the court. Mikale Bridges draws a foul, hits both
free throws. Now they're up four. Wimby then is dancing
out by the Oh wait, I'm leaving an important piece
of this out. Actually, let me back up a bit,
(14:28):
because this was a key. No, this had Yeah, this
hasn't happened yet. Sorry, Wimby's dancing. They turn it over.
Wimby turns that ball over ty with fifty seven seconds left,
it's ninety nine to ninety five, Knicks up for fifty
(14:49):
seven seconds left, and the Knicks kind of have a
transition opportunity, and Josh freaking heart recognizes screw that time
score situation. Yep, getting a fast break layup here is
not necessarily more valuable than getting zero points, but running
(15:11):
off twenty seconds off the clock, and it's at least close.
And obviously our best case scenario is the wind the
clock and score and Josh Hart circles back around, gets
the ball to Brunson. Brunson hits the unbelievable, impossible jump
(15:34):
shot from the elbow and that ends the game. So
you have, you have an offensive rebound by Bridges into
a Brunson Grade three. You have a great defensive rebound
by Josh Hart into Bridges free throws. You have Wimby
dribbling the ball off his foot, Josh Hart recognizing time,
(15:57):
score situation, pulling it out out and then bruns And
into the game. It's just and so Cat didn't do
much in that sequence, but Cat got him in the
position to be in that sequence. That's everybody. And then
Og the one guy didn't mention it. He had the
little a to oh run himself earlier. That's your starting
(16:19):
five and right now, Ty, that's the best starting five
in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
It's also the mckel bridges. Like, there's only so many
gut punches a young, inexperienced team can take in that spot,
especially when your best player is gonna have as many
made shots as turnovers. And that mckel bridge's offensive rebound
was so brutal because you're watching it. Man, as soon
(16:44):
as you saw bruns and wide open in the corner,
you knew it was going in. And it's fun. If
you're a Spurs fan, you're watching, it's like, where have
we seen this before? In the finals. We give up
an offensive rebound or misshot and a guy hits a
guy hits a corner.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Three.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Now that's game six versus Game one. But it was unbelievable, man,
and what it went for the Knicks.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
But yeah, go ahead, keep going.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
I was gonna say on the flip side, just quickly,
if the Spurs do take Game one, like, is your
tone today different? Are you still as confident? I?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I obviously wouldn't be as confident, But if, like, let's
just say everything that I The whole the game went
the way it had gone, nothing changed except for the
final two minutes where the Knicks are up eight. Wimby
leads that nine to zero run for the Spurs to
(17:42):
take the ninety five to ninety four lead, and then
the Michale Bridges offensive on you're talking about where he
almost steps out of bounds. He does step out of bounds,
and the Spurs go down and score, and the Spurs
end up winning the game. Obviously, you wouldn't be the Knicks,
wouldn't be the Vegas favorite right now. You wouldn't be
(18:03):
as literally confident that they're gonna win four more games
because now they only have to win three more games.
But I wouldn't have felt nothing if the last two
minutes are different. It doesn't change the fact that I
think the Knicks are better than the Spurs. And I
also think that whatever confidence level they had going into
(18:28):
the series is now even higher because it's more time
they haven't lost. They how many times this year did
we hear going into Spurs thunder? Well, they played six
times in the regular season, the Spurs won five. Mm hm. Well,
these teams have played four times now and the Knicks
(18:48):
have won three, including the last three. The one the
Spurs one, I think was one thirty three to one
thirty and Champney hit eleven three pointers.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Yeah, it was New Year's Eve, he went off.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
So at some point I understand everybody thought West better
than the East, the two best eason, I get it.
The Knicks are not who they were three months ago
or two months ago. They're on the hottest run in
the history of the NBA playoffs, and a lot of
(19:23):
it has to do with Brunson. And I know you
got stuff you want to talk about there, So let's
get into Brunson a little more, all right.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
So I mentioned that he got banged up in this game,
and it's multiple times where if you're a Knick fana
just holding your breath. He goes back to the locker room.
And then you saw people on social media like, hey,
like this is why you can't trust a small guard
to lead the team to a championship because you know
they get banged up. So are you at all concerned
(19:51):
about the physicality of this series, especially because of how
we saw the officials calling that game last night? Or
is it just now the Nicks are better, Brentson's going
to continue to be special.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Listen. I thought the officials did a great job last night.
By the way, I thought that was a way. I
thought the Knicks got a maybe a short end of
the stick in the first half whistle. I understand them
being a little annoyed. There was the one. There's the
one viral play where Brunson's jersey gets drapped grabbed he
doesn't get the call. Guys are gonna miss calls. In general,
I thought the officials did a really nice job. I
(20:23):
was watching the game, but at the beginning of the game,
at least at my sister's house is my mom's birthday,
and so we did a little thing for my mom
and my sister's husband, so my brother in law and
my nephew die hard Knicks fans, and my nephew's eight
years old by the way, and really only super got
(20:46):
into the Knicks this postseason. So when they were trailing early,
he did not know how to deal with it because
and I realized I was like, oh man, he doesn't
recognize like that. I tried to convince him. I was like,
I think you guys are gonna win the series, but
you're gonna lose some games along the way. But he's like, no,
we're not. We're the Knicks. Not only do we win,
(21:07):
we just blow everybody out every time. When Brunson went
back to the locker room, my sister semi freaked out
and I just said, I was like, listen, this is
gonna be very binary. I said, either he's totally fine
(21:29):
and he'll be back in the next few minutes, or
your season just ended, just very matter of factly, right,
And that's really how I felt. I was like, if
he doesn't come back in this game, his season is over.
It's a catastrophe and it's one of the biggest stomach
(21:50):
punches ever. And if he does come back in this game,
then he's totally fine. And so I'm not worried about
brunts in handling the physicality at all. And I do.
This is a guy who has just become an all
(22:11):
time playoff killer, and the sample size is growing. He
since he came to the Knicks, has played fifty seven
playoff games. He's averaging twenty nine and a half points
(22:32):
seven assists a game in those fifty seven playoff games.
The fourth quarter numbers, I don't have these. Somebody we
did our first thing's first production call this morning, and
somebody said this, but I don't remember who said it
and where it came from. But I think he's averaging
nine points in the fourth quarter in the playoffs in
(22:55):
his next career. He's in yesterday game headed into the
fourth quarter, he was doing this math on the fly
here so I apologize. Going into the fourth quarter, so
he's five of nine, he was seven of twenty two
(23:16):
and had seventeen points with four turnovers. So going into
the fourth quarter, seven of twenty two, seventeen points, four turnovers,
and in the fourth quarter he was five of nine
for thirteen points and no turnovers, and the three in
(23:38):
the corner to retake the lead, and the jumper at
the elbowed to ice the game. I don't know what
else to say about the guy, and.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
He is.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
He's eight three wins away. What do you think of
this tie? He's three wins away from being just hands
down the best American born player in the league.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Well he has to. That's only fair, right, because I
mean ant man, of course you've got kay Donovan, like
those got Tatum, I guess would have like the best argument.
But like those guys all doing what Jalen's doing right now.
And part of it, too, is like the you know,
ending of fifty three years drought and so there's like
(24:33):
you know that booies him.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
But and part of it is just that he is.
He's your number one draft pick right now for who
you would want in a close game late and the
whole league, and that's that's domestic or international. I would
rather have him than Joker going into a fourth quarter
of a tie game. I'd rather have him than Wimby.
(24:56):
I'd rather have him than my guy Luca. I would
rather have him any player in the league down the
stretch of a close game.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Well, he's a better scorer than Yo kicch, better score
than Wimby. And as much as I love Luca, one
of the things you have to worry about is he
goes up for a shot, doesn't get the calls, not
hustling back on defense. I can flip a game where
you know that's gonna that's not gonna happen with Brunton,
and I think that that's fair.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
I I just it's it's remarkable the player he's become.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Well how about this real quick, please, because you just
said best American player if he wins this championship, Like
how I don't want to go too far, like we're
living in the marning.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I don't think he's the best player in the league.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I'm not saying the best player in the league, but like,
where are you comfortable slotting him back to back conference
finals NBA Finals? Now with Championship Finals. MVP is the
top five MVP candidate last year Clutch Player of the Year.
So he has the resume. How how high are are
you comfortable sliding him?
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I mean he the worst he the worst he could
be is six. And then the question is to check
the guys off one by one, like it'd be, you know,
him versus Wimby. I beat Yeah. I mean, that's what
makes it weird. That's what makes it that. That's what
(26:22):
And we gotta see there's a lot and you know what,
let's get in. Let's get into the Wimby piece of
it all. But but before we do that first, today's
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(28:36):
a reminder you can submit your questions at any point.
The producers are going to see them. They'll collect them
for the mail bag, and the mail bag will run tomorrow.
All right, Ty, go ahead, Let's get into Wimby.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Let's talk about Wimby. He's spoken a lot about big games,
embracing the spotlight. It doesn't affect him, and yet at
times last night Nick appeared chaotic, out of control, and
the Knicks like really stym at him. And we mentioned
this early in the show. Had as many shots made
shots as turnovers.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
They called that the harden. They call and give Nick.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Credit whenever you're using that Statye, thank you, yeah, I
stat So was this more about his struggles or do
you give the Knicks credit for stopping him or slowing
him down? As it's it?
Speaker 1 (29:32):
So, I don't think the lights were too bright, Excuse me.
I don't think he was spooked by the moment. I
think it's something maybe a little more concerning for this series.
Victor Windbanyama is exhausted. Victor win Binyama has been running
(29:57):
on a quarter tank since the double overtime game, and
that was seven games ago.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
What that?
Speaker 1 (30:10):
And this is the this is the tax of the
and I have been banging this drum, but I know
I'm right. Him going forty nine minutes when headed into
these playoffs, he had I think, only gone above forty
(30:35):
twice in his career and never above forty three. Just
all you gotta do is look to what his shot
profile has looked like since that game, that game fourteen
of twenty five thirteen of twenty three from two, twenty
(31:00):
four rebounds, just a terror on both ends. The next
game seven threes, nine to two point field goal attempts.
The next game five threes, ten to two point field
goal attempts, and only stunningly four rebounds. The next game,
(31:26):
uh win, he seven only seven, well, not only seven,
three pointers attempted fifteen to two's. They won the game,
but again only eight rebounds. The game five loss. What
one made basket a quarter ozero five from three, only
(31:52):
six rebounds. Game six everyone Game six was interesting. In
that series, he came out of the gate hitting his threes,
didn't have to play a ton of minutes. They blew
him out, and I think people overreacted to Okay, Wimby's
(32:12):
mojo is back. His shot was falling. It's and for
a lot of guys, how good they are is depending
on whether or not they're three is falling. That should
not be the case for the seven to six guy,
but right now it is because of two primary reasons
that I've been hammering all postseason. And I called him
(32:33):
the best player in the world. He just carried his
team to the finals. He doesn't have a go to
offensive move and you can't ask him to play forty
plus minutes of high level basketball. Yet the sneaky story
of Game seven, the Spurs going into Oklahoma City and
winning Game seven, Wimby was not that good. He was
(32:57):
four of ten from two, three of five from three,
and had seven rebounds and five fouls and seamed at
different times winded. It looked to me ty like he
started this game off tired. He never got in a rhythm.
(33:20):
He did a good job getting to the line, and
he had summoned something, to his credit late in the
fourth quarter for that little mini surge that he thought
would get him over the finish line when he was
six of twenty one. So in the game he was
thirty three percent from he was four to twelve from two,
(33:41):
He was two of nine from three. And part of
it is what they ask of him defensively, take so
much out of him that he is just People say,
you know, why is he settling for jumpers because he's tied,
(34:01):
because that is less exhausting. And I that's to me
what would really worry me about the Spurs. For the Spurs.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Go ahead, I was gonna say, throwing the fact that
he had to guard Cat and Cats got which makes
check look terrible. Right, Cat's going at him. Man, he's
not afraid. He's going to the basket, and that's going
to exhaust it. And on top of that, he's also,
you know, doing the free safety thing. So to your point,
the amount of minutes he's playing what he's being asked
(34:36):
to do on offense late in that game where it's
just like, yo, make a play, like we need you
to make a play, and then the same thing on defense.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
And they listen he only I put only in quotes,
only played. He played just under thirty eight minutes last night,
and you could argue they lost the game in the
ten minutes he sat. Well, if they can't survive the
non Wimby minutes, which Cornett after being a good addition
(35:09):
for them, has struggled at moments, and they've as the
competition level is raised, they've struggled to survive the non
Wimby minutes, Mitch Johnson's in a rough spot because Wimby
is not going to just be out there for He
(35:33):
has touched forty minutes once these playoffs, and that game
went to two overtimes. He has touched forty minutes in
regulation I'm sorry I said that wrong. He has touched
forty minutes twice these playoffs, the double overtime game and
Game seven when he played almost forty two minutes and
(35:55):
wasn't that impactful. He right now needs his rest and
that is on the Spurs for next year to figure
out how to condition him to be ready for these
heavier workloads. But in the meantime, I don't know what
you do, because you can't just do the old young
Lebron God, we suck when you're off the court. How
(36:18):
about you never come off the court. It's not gonna work.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
But can someone else hit a shot? So can someone
else hit a shot? Because look, and we rightfully give
Brunton his credit, but if Brenton's being asked all game,
you've got to be the best defensive player on the
floor and carry us on offense. And what did you
say just under thirty eight minutes that that is going
to be a lot for anyone to carry yet alone
(36:45):
at twenty two year old in his first playoff runt, there's.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
No doubt about it. And other than Champagne in the
first half, the Spurs were brutal from three and Fox
had a really tough game which I know we're gonna
ge into and the selling Castle couldn't hit a shot.
I understand all of that, but heavy is the head
that wears the best player in the world crown, and
(37:11):
it is This is the thing that I don't think
is gonna change. I don't think Wimby all of a sudden,
I listen. I do expect him to have at least one,
maybe two awesome, awesome performances in this series, but they
(37:33):
might need five. They might not win a single game
he's not awesome, and they could lose a game that
he is awesome.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
And so.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
That's that's the massive concern. And he is at a
place right now as an offensive player where whether or
not he is dominant offensively far too often is simply
(38:13):
a question of whether or not his three is falling.
It's why his the the games, the games where he
has really popped Game three against Minnesota, Game one against
the against the Thunder as like, holy shit, look what
(38:35):
Wimby did. What was special about those games was he
did it without hitting a bunch of threes. Because he
is he is a excellent three point shooter for a
seven to five guy. He is a mediocre three point
shooter for a high volume shooter, and this year he
(38:59):
was thirty five percent in the regular season, he's thirty
five percent. In the playoffs, he's thirty three point shooter.
And so the Knicks I think wearing him down with
Kat is good. The fact that every minute he's on
the court, he's either he has to deal with one
of the best rebounders in the league, whether it's Kat
(39:20):
or Mitchell Robinson, I think is tough. And I thought
it was really interesting for Mike Brown in that fourth
quarter tie to start the fourth quarter with Jalen Brunson
and I think two other starters excuse me, on the bench,
(39:41):
knowing Wimby was starting the quarter for the Spurs, and
therefore at some point Wimby was gonna be off with
Brunson rested and on. And that's when it looked to
me like the Knicks were gonna steal take full control
of the game. Now they fought back, but those are
all major concerns for me. Uh, if I'm the Spurs
(40:07):
going into Game two, all right, what other Spurs stuff
do you have?
Speaker 2 (40:10):
I is there a scenario, because like this matters to
people like you and I, where the best player in
the world belt is vacant going into next year, so.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
I I don't want to be so fickle and I
don't wanna Wimby would have to really be disastrous in
these finals. And even if that's the case, I think
he's done enough on this playoff run and I think
(40:47):
his defensive impact is so great that he's earned it.
The interesting the interesting question is is could is there
anything Jalen Brunson could do Where people are like, I
(41:08):
don't know what to say, Like how like the I
know it doesn't make sense. I know we've never seen
something like this before, but why is it not him
that would.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
You know?
Speaker 1 (41:21):
If he averages thirty plus and the Knicks sweep the
Spurs and someone's like, the Knicks have the best player
in the world, it's gonna be hard to like prove
them wrong.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Well, it's brock Purty, right, It's like, here's what I
need here the list of things I need to see
from brock Purty. And it's like he does it. Yeah,
I saw it, but I still don't clay for the
obviously different right, But for some people Brunson.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
Yeah, I mean I don't be I don't know again,
if you're doubting whether if at this point you're doubting
whether or not Brunson gonna be the Alpha and a
championship team, you're you're a fool. He doesn't mean they're
going to win the championship this year, but he has
proven he is good enough. There's you know, I believe
Luca has proven he's good enough to be the alphon
(42:08):
a championship team. He's never won the title. Wimby, I
think is good enough to be the alphon a championship team.
He's never won a title. Like I don't think you
have to have done it for me to believe you
can't do it. He's proven that. But I and I
expect Wimby to I expect him to bounce back in
(42:29):
Game two in the but I do wonder if it's
going to be a bit of what Game six was
against the Thunder, where he's awesome in the first quarter
and cools then a bit. Now, maybe it won't matter,
(42:49):
for in that game it didn't matter that he cooled
because the rest of the Spurs, like the Thunder, just
didn't have it. The Knicks could make it more into
what is tough though? Is this there's only two games
this series where there's only one day of rest between them,
and that's games one and two and in games three
(43:12):
and four, So they're back at it tomorrow night, and
I'm really curious what he looks like. All right, you
want to talk about the Spurs guards for a minute.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Yeah, so Casto Harper, they both had solid games. I'm
watching this thinking of Bill Simmons. He'll do the whole
like what's the opposition? What do they want me to do?
And in that spot you ask Mike Brown what does
he want you to do with his guards? And He's like,
leave Deer and Fox on the floor and sit down
and Harper on the bench. So I just found it confounding. Nick,
(43:45):
how do you see Harper playing as well as he has?
And I know Fox was really good in game seven,
he's the veteran, but how do you go with Fox
over Harper when you need scoring in addition to what
Wimby's provided you. It just made no sense to me.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
So that's a lot of people feel that way and
I understand it, and Harper seemed electric. What I would
say is when Fox isn't on the court, the Spurs
do feel short a ball handler and when we have
(44:19):
asked Harper and Castle to kind of like split the
point guard duties. Castle had twenty turnovers in the first
two games of the Western Conference Finals with no dearon Fox.
As bad as Fox was from an efficiency standpoint three
for thirteen from the field, zero four from three and
(44:40):
again plus minus is not everything, but aside from Keldon
Johnson in his eight minutes, Fox actually had when Fox
was on the court, those thirty eight minutes, the Spurs
and Knicks were dead. Even the non dear Aaron Fox minutes,
(45:01):
they lost by ten points. So despite his inefficiency, it
did having him out there as a steadying hand I
think was useful. Now, what I do think is fair
to question is, Okay, if you've got to have Fox
out there as a ball handler, could you have put
(45:26):
Harper out there for the seller champagne does that? Does
the offensive boost you get is is it enough to
offset the defensive hit you take from not having the
sell out there? And Champagnae was ice cold in the
second half. That's what I what what I think the
(45:50):
best lineup, but it's just such a small lineup. But
the best lineup the Spurs could have put out there
late would have been Wemby these Harper Castle Fox with
Champagne going to the bench. But then it's Wimby and
then a bunch of guys six' five and, under which
is probably not Ideal wimby and the but it's Like champagne's.
(46:16):
Huge SO i don't Think fox is taking a lot this.
Morning and them not Having harper IN uh is a
major point of. Contention but they don't have another guy
they trust to bring the ball up the court, consistently
AND i think that was part of the.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
Concern but it was one of your best players in the, game, Man,
like you can't end. That it's like ending the game
with timeouts in your back like you're you're sitting there
With harper in your back. Pocket this lead is, now you,
know the deficit has now. Grown you come, back get
him in the game and see what he can do
and if you get, cooked and so be. It at
LEAST i went down with my best players in the.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
Game. LISTEN i think that's. FAIR i also think it
it happened so, fast Like harper's on the. Bench when
The spurs come back from eight down to take a
one point. Lead they took a one point lead with
two point fifteen. Left at the two minute, mark The
(47:14):
spurs are up one and then the offensive. Rebound we
talked About brunton. Three now in that, Moment in that,
Moment Mitch johnson's got two. Timeouts you can call time.
Out he Put harper, in he, didn't And Diaron fox
then missed a jumper and that then all of a,
sudden they. Don't the next time, down The bridges hit
(47:37):
those three throws we talked. ABOUT i was surprised after
that he didn't call time, out but he. Didn't and
then you get the whimby dribble off his. Foot brunton
hits the fifteen. FOOTER i was really surprised after that
he didn't call, timeout but he. Didn't and then THE
(47:59):
vic missed a three and the game is just. Over
and so, yes you could have done, it but you
came back With harper on the. BENCH i. DON'T i
don't Think harper would have saved the game for. HIM
i could be. WRONG i think that before we get
to the big picture series, STUFF i just want to
(48:21):
get the time score of this. Correct the The spurs went,
up when DID I this is actually WHEN i bet The,
Knicks but the The spurs sixty three fifty with eight minutes.
(48:45):
Left in, fact you know, what we can go further
down BECAUSE i want to get The spurs are up
sixty seven fifty four with six minutes left in the third.
Quarter they're up thirteen with exactly six minutes left in
the third. Order with six minutes left in the fourth,
quarter The knicks are up. Eight so The knicks outscored
(49:09):
The spurs by twenty one points from the midway point
of the third quarter to the midway point of the fourth.
Quarter they took over the game in that, stretch and
that's they. Scored is that? Right THAT'S i, mean it is.
Right it's just unbelievable that they that they were able
(49:30):
to put that type of run on them from being
down sixty seven fifty four to being up ninety four eighty.
Six that's.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
What what is?
Speaker 1 (49:46):
That that's a thirty to uh nine? Run is that?
Right that can't be? Right So i'm doing the math
wrong in my, head which always frustrates. Me, no it's
a forty to nineteen. Run The knicks scored forty points
(50:06):
in a quarter of. Basketball that's holy. Moley That so
that's the jarring number The knicks had fifty four points
at the six minute mark of the third quarter and
had ninety four points at the six minute mark of
the fourth. Quarter that's. Crazy that is so it is
(50:28):
a forty to nineteen run and that does speak to
What kat said in the. Huddle keep getting. Stops the
offense will, come and it came in a. Flurry all,
right we'll talk about what this means for the series
in a, Moment but, first Boost mobile is proving you
don't have to overpay for great. Wireless unlock the savings
(50:49):
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for full off for, details visit boost mobile dot. Com all,
right let's talk about the odds for the series time
before we get out of.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
Here all, Right so The knicks went from plus one
to sixty dogs for the series headed Into game. One
now they are minus one forty to win at. ALL
i know you love to like pin like last time
this happened with like world, events, yeah or what was
going on in our. Country so The knicks haven't been
favorite to win the title since The clinton administration.
Speaker 1 (51:48):
First term of The clinton, administration that's.
Speaker 2 (51:50):
Right so is this an overreaction by the, Books so
do they have it correct?
Speaker 1 (51:54):
Here, no The knicks not being a series favorite right
now would be. Absurd they the what was miss priced
was the. Series the series price going in was. Wrong
it should have Been spurs minus one Thirty knicks plus one.
(52:20):
Ten Just spurs have the best player in, theory they
have home, Court, fine make them the slight. Favorite but
The spurs being you, know starting off around minus two
hundred and then being bet down a, bit it's just, wrong.
Speaker 2 (52:40):
AND I.
Speaker 1 (52:45):
I think it. IS i know The knicks are around
six point dogs In game. TWO i think they. COULD
i think they could Win game two the the WAY
i said beforehand tie before the. Series WHAT i SAID
i thought the beats of this series would Be knicks
(53:06):
Win game, One spurs Win game, Two knicks win both
games three and four at, Home spurs stave off elimination
in game, five and then The knicks close them out
in six In Madison Square. Garden that is still WHAT
i think will. Happen BUT i also think it's on
the board The knicks take both In San. Antonio you
(53:30):
want to talk a little FINALS mvp before we get
out of.
Speaker 2 (53:32):
Here, yeah So kat went from plus two thousand to
now plus twelve. HUNDRED i Thought nick he was the
best player on the floor last, night given like the offensive.
Stuff are you interested in anyone other Than brenton who's
now minus one ten as the? FAVORITE i, Mean.
Speaker 1 (53:54):
Kat's the only Other nick that could win. It and
with respect To Josh hurt's remarkable stat line OF i
think three, fifteen, six one and.
Speaker 2 (54:05):
Four but.
Speaker 1 (54:11):
If the best player on the team's the leading, scorer
normally that guy gets.
Speaker 2 (54:15):
It.
Speaker 1 (54:15):
Now they didn't work out For steph in. Fifteen that's
because they knew THE mvp was supposed to Be lebron
and so they didn't know how to. Vote But Cat
cat was THE mvp of game. One brunson was the,
closer But. Cat and it is so interesting that we're
talking About kat being THE mvp of the, game and
(54:37):
we're saying in large part because of his, defense not
in spite of his, defense but because of his. Defense
SO i have not asked, you AND i didn't ask you.
YESTERDAY i know BECAUSE i follow your, stuff BUT i
don't know if the audience. Does what was your pick
going into the series and what is it, Now.
Speaker 2 (54:58):
SPY i picked The spurs on the show in seven,
games and the explanation for that was, simply they've got
the best, player they've got home on home, court AND
i just put more value into what they did last
series versus what The knicks. DID i obviously don't feel
as good about that, now but, again we could be
having a totally different conversation tomorrow night if they tie
(55:20):
this series. Up and So i'm gonna stick with The
spurs in.
Speaker 1 (55:24):
Seven, oh if you picked them in, seven they got
to lose some.
Speaker 2 (55:26):
GAMES i JUST i, mean going into games three and
four like, THAT i just don't know if The knicks
are losing home games at this point with that. Crowd,
now there's something happened In game three that we don't
have to get into that could flip the momentum as
far as their. Attendance but, yeah, MAN i just worry
(55:47):
about The spurs on the, road especially in that.
Speaker 1 (55:49):
Building you were, saying you don't know if The knicks
are losing at home any home. GAMES i don't know
what if The knicks are losing any games in. GENERAL
i mean the.
Speaker 2 (56:00):
Conversation think about the conversation we're. Having if that's the,
case they sweep the. Finals, well if.
Speaker 1 (56:07):
They would sweep the, finals it is, unequivocally unabashedly one
of the greatest playoff runs in the history of the.
Sport they would have they would have two losses in the,
playoffs so by a total of two, points both on you,
know in the final minute, shots and they would have
(56:28):
finished the playoffs on a fifteen game winning. Streak and,
Again i'm not predicting a sweep of the. FINALS i
don't think that's what we're going to. Get but WHAT
i can't tell you is, this After game, one there's
only one team that can sweep these. Finals it's The.
Knicks because they're up one game to. Nothing, again He's
(56:49):
Ty Butler demons will be back next. Week But ty
did an exceptional. Job you can follow him On twitter
And instagram At tye De. Butler you can watch or
listen to his radio show ON Espn New york eight
to noon ON Espn New, york and you can watch
him every day on YouTube On The Ty Butler. Show
ty thank you for. This this was really. Great you
(57:11):
did awesome AND i really appreciate you filling.
Speaker 2 (57:13):
IN i appreciate. You by the. Way i'll be On
New York radio tonight from seven to nine, pm so
check me.
Speaker 1 (57:19):
Out oh okay ON Espn New york tonight from seven
to nine. Pm if you are In New york you
want to listen on The audissey. App all, right, Everybody
we've got The mailbag show. Tomorrow subscribe to the channels
so you know when it. Drops we'll also do Our
World cup. Picks i'll take my stab at that eighty
two and oh. Game everybody loves. Huge shout out to our,
sponsors Hard, Rock bet And Boost. Mobile thank you To Blue,
(57:42):
Duck thank you To. Volume talk to you guys. Tomorrow
what's right
Welcome in What's Driving the Grid Episode four sixty three.
This episode of What's Driving the Grid has brought to you,
as always by our friends at boost Mobile. Uh. Not
only do we have an NBA Finals, not only do
we have an upsetting game one, but a fact that
I absolutely could not believe. And then when I read
(00:25):
it on Twitter, I fact checked it. It is correct.
I wish I could credit who I where I saw it.
I again, I should have written it down I did,
I didn't. This is the spurs seventh time in the
NBA Finals. This is the first time ever they have
(00:45):
trailed in a series. Wow ninety nine finals they won
for one, never trailed OH three finals. They swept the
nets oh five finals. They won in seven against the Pistons,
but never trailed those seven finals. They swept the Cavs
thirteen finals. They lost in seven, but never trailed. Fourteen
(01:07):
finals they won in five. And now. So two things
happened today that either haven't happened in decades or have
never happened. The Spurs trailing in the finals and the
New York Knicks waking up as the favorites to win
the championship. That hasn't happened since mid June nineteen ninety four,
(01:28):
and there have only been There's only been one day
in the last fifty two years that the Knicks have
woken up favorites to win the title prior to today.
They are the favorites, they should be the favorites. We
will get into all of what this is a game
exclusive Game one show and a few housekeeping things before
(01:52):
we get into it. One is remindered everybody you can
drop in questions, comments, thoughts in the chat. We will
do a mailbag episode tomorrow which will also be a
little World Cup and a little eighty too and oh
game in the show tomorrow, so drop your questions in
the chat. Another note is Demanse's still out on his
special project, so in for Demonse is the great Ty Butler.
(02:17):
You can follow him on Twitter at ty d Butler.
You can listen to him on ESPN Radio in New
York City from eight to noon on Sunday mornings. You
can watch The Ty Butler Show on YouTube basically every
single day. Tye, how are you good to see my friend?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Great to be back man. So it's the first time
you've had a co host return, not your son, So
I feel we Doora.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
No, it's the first. I mean you're the first co
host that's not related to me ever, and so the
I mean Doora has done it, Deanna's done it, my
wife's done it, Demonse's done it. You're the first. Yeah,
you're the first one. We don't really do guests on
this show. I think that actually helps my standing a
months other media that I'm not asking people to come
(03:02):
on my show, and so we don't really do guests.
We don't very often do. We don't ever do guest
co hosts. But it's the NBA Finals. I didn't want
to just go solo. Demand's working on something, so we
are very lucky to have you sitting in. We will
get to the game in a moment. But first straight
the voicemail brought to you by boost Mobile. I don't
(03:25):
give it. Producers put the squirrel this away for future things.
I don't care about that stupid dog, the Cory. He
picks the spurs and the attends Game one. I don't
care about the dog. I don't believe the videos. You
might be like, what do you mean you don't believe
the videos? I think whoever the dog's owner is, you know,
(03:48):
watches the dog make shots and then edits them the
way they think the series is going to go. These
are not fact checked live stream videos, and even if
they were, I don't care. Just a running notes Showyo,
Donnie pittures six scoreless innings, adds three hits and one run,
and Cale Williams named the Madden cover athlete. That straight
(04:09):
the voicemailer brought to you by Boost Mobile. But as
I said, this is an all NBA final show, Tye
take it away?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
All right? So you predicted this the Knicks. We're gonna
go into San Antonio and steal game one against the Spurs.
They close it out on an eleven zero run. Shakey
start for Brunson, not just from an efficiency standpoint, but
banged up, the knee injury, the ankle injury, and despite that,
he does what he's been doing since he's joined the Knicks,
(04:36):
and that's become, you know, the most clutch player in
the NBA. Thirteen points in the fourth quarter, and so
they continue this hottest streak in playoff history. What about Nick,
How the Knicks won this game made you feel even
more confident in your series prediction of them taking it
in six games.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Well, I think they're better. And neither team played perfect
basketball last night. Both team's best players were inefficient. There
were the only guy there are I think there are
only two players in that game who leave that game
feeling awesome about how they played, Karl Anthony Towns and
(05:17):
Josh Hart. And Towns is, you know, the second best
player on the Knicks. Josh Hart might be the third
most important player on the Knicks on any given night,
but everybody else feels like they left a little meat
on the bone, so to speak. But here's why I
feel so good about picking the Knicks to win the championship.
(05:43):
That game was tied tie going into the fourth quarter.
And my confidence level that, oh it's tied going into
the fourth Well, of course, Brunson's going to come through
was about as high as it's been for any player
(06:08):
in the league this decade. I was not more confident.
They're not Giannis in his championship run, not Joker in
his championship run, another great playoff runs, not ant on
any of his runs to the conference finals, not Shay,
not Tatum or Brown, That not Steph the year the
(06:31):
Warriors won the title. There is there has not been
a guy that going into a close or tied fourth
quarter in the playoffs, I felt as confident as I
did last night that Brunton, and he wasn't playing well,
would come through since Lebron in twenty twenty. Yeah, it's
(06:53):
the most competent I felt since then. And I guess
Jimmy Butler also in that series. You kind of felt
like he would come through as well. And there were
so many key moments that I actually I at some
point I'm gonna do a little bit of the play
by play, and there are a lot of big picture things.
(07:14):
We're gonna get to the Wimby stuff, We're gonna get
to the cat stuff. But the Knicks just never this
sounds so cliche, stop believing. They were down thirteen points
in the third quarter, called time out, winby comes out.
(07:35):
It actually gets pushed up to fourteen briefly, and then
ty the moment they went on that little mini run
and cut it down to I think six and force
the Spurs to call timeout. It felt like they took
total control of the game, and they did because they
were up eight with four minutes six minutes left. I
(07:59):
think in the they went from down fourteen to up
eight in about twelve game minutes of action, and then
they went ice cold and it looked like the Spurs
might steal it back, and then the Spurs went ice
cold and the Knicks one on the eleven zero run.
And I thought the cat SoundBite from the game early
(08:21):
where he's like, our offense will come, we saw it
in the Cleveland series. We've just got hearing that we've
just got to win it on defense. Hearing that from
Karl Anthony Towns and him in him walk, you know,
doing not just what is it talking to talk, but
walking the walk. Him actually executing on that on his
(08:41):
own was absolutely. It's the It's the type of thing
a championship team has. And then you have this unbelievable
closer at the end. They're just a son of a
bitch to.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Beat inevitable man, they're inevitable. And you go back, because
you mentioned the last decade and maybe Bronze the only
comp how about we cross spoord analogy. And I'm not
saying he's this player or they're that team, but it's
similar to how and you can attest to this as
like a Chiefs fan. You're watching the Chiefs and it's
(09:16):
like if Mahomes gets the ball back, We're gonna win
the game, right, And I feel similar to that watching
the Knicks. You know, five minutes left to go in
the game, it's tied, they're going to win. Why because
you know, if you're a Nick Finn, we have Jalen
Brunson and you don't. And it's just remarkable to see
the inevitability from a team that hasn't won championships like
(09:37):
this is really the first time they're experiencing it to
this degree. It's awesome. Man.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
So I do before you get to your follow ups,
I do want to talk about what I thought were
some really key moments in that fourth quarter. We already
and we'll go bigger picture on the players individual players later.
Towns obviously guarded Wimby and did an unbelievable job, and
(10:08):
then also during he was the key when the game
could have gotten away when they were down those thirteen
pardon me, and Brunson didn't have it yet. It was
a lot of towns. It was a town's layup to
cut it from eleven to nine, where he actually got
fouled as well, so it actually got down to eight,
(10:29):
and a town's lay up a little bit after that,
off an offensive rebound to cut it to three. Then
after the Spurs scored another, Towns layup off another offensive
rebound to cut it to three and get the foul again.
That's the one Kelton Johnson fouled him on. He was brilliant.
And here's the other thing, and there's a good article
(10:50):
in The Athletic about this today. The Knicks were two
for sixteen on jumpers that Wimby could tested. That sounds
great for Winby and the Spurs, but of those fourteen misses,
they got ten points off offensive rebounds on those misses.
(11:15):
So if you think about it, if they're two for
sixteen on shots but end up getting five putbacks, it
essentially becomes seven for sixteen on shots. Winby contested, You
can live with that. And part of the upside to
pulling him away from the basket, even if he contests
and alters a shot, is he's not there to rebound.
(11:36):
But so Towns had that excellent sequence in the third
quarter and then to me, the moments that won the
Knicks the game. And this is why this team right
now is so special, because I'm going to talk about
basically everyone who played Towns has the sequence in the
(11:57):
third quarter. In the fourth quarter, when the Knicks finally
get a lead, Og scores eight straight himself, a layup,
a three, and then an app though an absolute ice
in the veins, pump fake on Wimby, Jap step pump
(12:21):
fake on Wimby, Jap step three in the corner over
Wimby to give the Knicks a five point lead. That
was the first point I thought Mitch Johnson might call
time out now. To his credit, he didn't, and they
went on a five zero run themselves, so I guess,
you know, he didn't need to. I thought there were
(12:41):
some times later in the game he could have, but
he didn't. Brunson then all of a sudden heats up,
and after the Spurs tie it up eighty six, eighty six,
Brunton lay up, Brunton HiT's a free throw, a couple
free throws, Brunton lay up, Brunson lay up with the
only thing that is interrupting that was the guy who
(13:02):
ran onto the court, and that's and after that, so
the Knicks go up eight. The Knicks then go ice cold,
and Wimby has his one little burst of the game,
the drive and dunk and the I think he had
an and one. Uh the and all of a sudden,
(13:24):
the Spurs are up one, and then look at how
the Knicks responded. Two minutes left, Og misses a three.
McHale Bridge's offensive rebound finds Brunson. Brunson hits the ice
(13:47):
cold corner three, Knicks up two. Next possession, Spurs miss
one of the fifteen hard rebounds. Josh Hart gets He's
skies in to get the defensive rebound. They kick it
(14:08):
up the court. Mikale Bridges draws a foul, hits both
free throws. Now they're up four. Wimby then is dancing
out by the Oh wait, I'm leaving an important piece
of this out. Actually, let me back up a bit,
(14:28):
because this was a key. No, this had Yeah, this
hasn't happened yet. Sorry, Wimby's dancing. They turn it over.
Wimby turns that ball over ty with fifty seven seconds left,
it's ninety nine to ninety five, Knicks up for fifty
(14:49):
seven seconds left, and the Knicks kind of have a
transition opportunity, and Josh freaking heart recognizes screw that time
score situation. Yep, getting a fast break layup here is
not necessarily more valuable than getting zero points, but running
(15:11):
off twenty seconds off the clock, and it's at least close.
And obviously our best case scenario is the wind the
clock and score and Josh Hart circles back around, gets
the ball to Brunson. Brunson hits the unbelievable, impossible jump
(15:34):
shot from the elbow and that ends the game. So
you have, you have an offensive rebound by Bridges into
a Brunson Grade three. You have a great defensive rebound
by Josh Hart into Bridges free throws. You have Wimby
dribbling the ball off his foot, Josh Hart recognizing time,
(15:57):
score situation, pulling it out out and then bruns And
into the game. It's just and so Cat didn't do
much in that sequence, but Cat got him in the
position to be in that sequence. That's everybody. And then
Og the one guy didn't mention it. He had the
little a to oh run himself earlier. That's your starting
(16:19):
five and right now, Ty, that's the best starting five
in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
It's also the mckel bridges. Like, there's only so many
gut punches a young, inexperienced team can take in that spot,
especially when your best player is gonna have as many
made shots as turnovers. And that mckel bridge's offensive rebound
was so brutal because you're watching it. Man, as soon
(16:44):
as you saw bruns and wide open in the corner,
you knew it was going in. And it's fun. If
you're a Spurs fan, you're watching, it's like, where have
we seen this before? In the finals. We give up
an offensive rebound or misshot and a guy hits a
guy hits a corner.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Three.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Now that's game six versus Game one. But it was unbelievable, man,
and what it went for the Knicks.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
But yeah, go ahead, keep going.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
I was gonna say on the flip side, just quickly,
if the Spurs do take Game one, like, is your
tone today different? Are you still as confident? I?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I obviously wouldn't be as confident, But if, like, let's
just say everything that I The whole the game went
the way it had gone, nothing changed except for the
final two minutes where the Knicks are up eight. Wimby
leads that nine to zero run for the Spurs to
(17:42):
take the ninety five to ninety four lead, and then
the Michale Bridges offensive on you're talking about where he
almost steps out of bounds. He does step out of bounds,
and the Spurs go down and score, and the Spurs
end up winning the game. Obviously, you wouldn't be the Knicks,
wouldn't be the Vegas favorite right now. You wouldn't be
(18:03):
as literally confident that they're gonna win four more games
because now they only have to win three more games.
But I wouldn't have felt nothing if the last two
minutes are different. It doesn't change the fact that I
think the Knicks are better than the Spurs. And I
also think that whatever confidence level they had going into
(18:28):
the series is now even higher because it's more time
they haven't lost. They how many times this year did
we hear going into Spurs thunder? Well, they played six
times in the regular season, the Spurs won five. Mm hm. Well,
these teams have played four times now and the Knicks
(18:48):
have won three, including the last three. The one the
Spurs one, I think was one thirty three to one
thirty and Champney hit eleven three pointers.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Yeah, it was New Year's Eve, he went off.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
So at some point I understand everybody thought West better
than the East, the two best eason, I get it.
The Knicks are not who they were three months ago
or two months ago. They're on the hottest run in
the history of the NBA playoffs, and a lot of
(19:23):
it has to do with Brunson. And I know you
got stuff you want to talk about there, So let's
get into Brunson a little more, all right.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
So I mentioned that he got banged up in this game,
and it's multiple times where if you're a Knick fana
just holding your breath. He goes back to the locker room.
And then you saw people on social media like, hey,
like this is why you can't trust a small guard
to lead the team to a championship because you know
they get banged up. So are you at all concerned
(19:51):
about the physicality of this series, especially because of how
we saw the officials calling that game last night? Or
is it just now the Nicks are better, Brentson's going
to continue to be special.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Listen. I thought the officials did a great job last night.
By the way, I thought that was a way. I
thought the Knicks got a maybe a short end of
the stick in the first half whistle. I understand them
being a little annoyed. There was the one. There's the
one viral play where Brunson's jersey gets drapped grabbed he
doesn't get the call. Guys are gonna miss calls. In general,
I thought the officials did a really nice job. I
(20:23):
was watching the game, but at the beginning of the game,
at least at my sister's house is my mom's birthday,
and so we did a little thing for my mom
and my sister's husband, so my brother in law and
my nephew die hard Knicks fans, and my nephew's eight
years old by the way, and really only super got
(20:46):
into the Knicks this postseason. So when they were trailing early,
he did not know how to deal with it because
and I realized I was like, oh man, he doesn't
recognize like that. I tried to convince him. I was like,
I think you guys are gonna win the series, but
you're gonna lose some games along the way. But he's like, no,
we're not. We're the Knicks. Not only do we win,
(21:07):
we just blow everybody out every time. When Brunson went
back to the locker room, my sister semi freaked out
and I just said, I was like, listen, this is
gonna be very binary. I said, either he's totally fine
(21:29):
and he'll be back in the next few minutes, or
your season just ended, just very matter of factly, right,
And that's really how I felt. I was like, if
he doesn't come back in this game, his season is over.
It's a catastrophe and it's one of the biggest stomach
(21:50):
punches ever. And if he does come back in this game,
then he's totally fine. And so I'm not worried about
brunts in handling the physicality at all. And I do.
This is a guy who has just become an all
(22:11):
time playoff killer, and the sample size is growing. He
since he came to the Knicks, has played fifty seven
playoff games. He's averaging twenty nine and a half points
(22:32):
seven assists a game in those fifty seven playoff games.
The fourth quarter numbers, I don't have these. Somebody we
did our first thing's first production call this morning, and
somebody said this, but I don't remember who said it
and where it came from. But I think he's averaging
nine points in the fourth quarter in the playoffs in
(22:55):
his next career. He's in yesterday game headed into the
fourth quarter, he was doing this math on the fly
here so I apologize. Going into the fourth quarter, so
he's five of nine, he was seven of twenty two
(23:16):
and had seventeen points with four turnovers. So going into
the fourth quarter, seven of twenty two, seventeen points, four turnovers,
and in the fourth quarter he was five of nine
for thirteen points and no turnovers, and the three in
(23:38):
the corner to retake the lead, and the jumper at
the elbowed to ice the game. I don't know what
else to say about the guy, and.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
He is.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
He's eight three wins away. What do you think of
this tie? He's three wins away from being just hands
down the best American born player in the league.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Well he has to. That's only fair, right, because I
mean ant man, of course you've got kay Donovan, like
those got Tatum, I guess would have like the best argument.
But like those guys all doing what Jalen's doing right now.
And part of it, too, is like the you know,
ending of fifty three years drought and so there's like
(24:33):
you know that booies him.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
But and part of it is just that he is.
He's your number one draft pick right now for who
you would want in a close game late and the
whole league, and that's that's domestic or international. I would
rather have him than Joker going into a fourth quarter
of a tie game. I'd rather have him than Wimby.
(24:56):
I'd rather have him than my guy Luca. I would
rather have him any player in the league down the
stretch of a close game.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Well, he's a better scorer than Yo kicch, better score
than Wimby. And as much as I love Luca, one
of the things you have to worry about is he
goes up for a shot, doesn't get the calls, not
hustling back on defense. I can flip a game where
you know that's gonna that's not gonna happen with Brunton,
and I think that that's fair.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
I I just it's it's remarkable the player he's become.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Well how about this real quick, please, because you just
said best American player if he wins this championship, Like
how I don't want to go too far, like we're
living in the marning.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I don't think he's the best player in the league.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I'm not saying the best player in the league, but like,
where are you comfortable slotting him back to back conference
finals NBA Finals? Now with Championship Finals. MVP is the
top five MVP candidate last year Clutch Player of the Year.
So he has the resume. How how high are are
you comfortable sliding him?
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I mean he the worst he the worst he could
be is six. And then the question is to check
the guys off one by one, like it'd be, you know,
him versus Wimby. I beat Yeah. I mean, that's what
makes it weird. That's what makes it that. That's what
(26:22):
And we gotta see there's a lot and you know what,
let's get in. Let's get into the Wimby piece of
it all. But but before we do that first, today's
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(28:36):
a reminder you can submit your questions at any point.
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All right, Ty, go ahead, Let's get into Wimby.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Let's talk about Wimby. He's spoken a lot about big games,
embracing the spotlight. It doesn't affect him, and yet at
times last night Nick appeared chaotic, out of control, and
the Knicks like really stym at him. And we mentioned
this early in the show. Had as many shots made
shots as turnovers.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
They called that the harden. They call and give Nick.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Credit whenever you're using that Statye, thank you, yeah, I
stat So was this more about his struggles or do
you give the Knicks credit for stopping him or slowing
him down? As it's it?
Speaker 1 (29:32):
So, I don't think the lights were too bright, Excuse me.
I don't think he was spooked by the moment. I
think it's something maybe a little more concerning for this series.
Victor Windbanyama is exhausted. Victor win Binyama has been running
(29:57):
on a quarter tank since the double overtime game, and
that was seven games ago.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
What that?
Speaker 1 (30:10):
And this is the this is the tax of the
and I have been banging this drum, but I know
I'm right. Him going forty nine minutes when headed into
these playoffs, he had I think, only gone above forty
(30:35):
twice in his career and never above forty three. Just
all you gotta do is look to what his shot
profile has looked like since that game, that game fourteen
of twenty five thirteen of twenty three from two, twenty
(31:00):
four rebounds, just a terror on both ends. The next
game seven threes, nine to two point field goal attempts.
The next game five threes, ten to two point field
goal attempts, and only stunningly four rebounds. The next game,
(31:26):
uh win, he seven only seven, well, not only seven,
three pointers attempted fifteen to two's. They won the game,
but again only eight rebounds. The game five loss. What
one made basket a quarter ozero five from three, only
(31:52):
six rebounds. Game six everyone Game six was interesting. In
that series, he came out of the gate hitting his threes,
didn't have to play a ton of minutes. They blew
him out, and I think people overreacted to Okay, Wimby's
(32:12):
mojo is back. His shot was falling. It's and for
a lot of guys, how good they are is depending
on whether or not they're three is falling. That should
not be the case for the seven to six guy,
but right now it is because of two primary reasons
that I've been hammering all postseason. And I called him
(32:33):
the best player in the world. He just carried his
team to the finals. He doesn't have a go to
offensive move and you can't ask him to play forty
plus minutes of high level basketball. Yet the sneaky story
of Game seven, the Spurs going into Oklahoma City and
winning Game seven, Wimby was not that good. He was
(32:57):
four of ten from two, three of five from three,
and had seven rebounds and five fouls and seamed at
different times winded. It looked to me ty like he
started this game off tired. He never got in a rhythm.
(33:20):
He did a good job getting to the line, and
he had summoned something, to his credit late in the
fourth quarter for that little mini surge that he thought
would get him over the finish line when he was
six of twenty one. So in the game he was
thirty three percent from he was four to twelve from two,
(33:41):
He was two of nine from three. And part of
it is what they ask of him defensively, take so
much out of him that he is just People say,
you know, why is he settling for jumpers because he's tied,
(34:01):
because that is less exhausting. And I that's to me
what would really worry me about the Spurs. For the Spurs.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Go ahead, I was gonna say, throwing the fact that
he had to guard Cat and Cats got which makes
check look terrible. Right, Cat's going at him. Man, he's
not afraid. He's going to the basket, and that's going
to exhaust it. And on top of that, he's also,
you know, doing the free safety thing. So to your point,
the amount of minutes he's playing what he's being asked
(34:36):
to do on offense late in that game where it's
just like, yo, make a play, like we need you
to make a play, and then the same thing on defense.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
And they listen he only I put only in quotes,
only played. He played just under thirty eight minutes last night,
and you could argue they lost the game in the
ten minutes he sat. Well, if they can't survive the
non Wimby minutes, which Cornett after being a good addition
(35:09):
for them, has struggled at moments, and they've as the
competition level is raised, they've struggled to survive the non
Wimby minutes, Mitch Johnson's in a rough spot because Wimby
is not going to just be out there for He
(35:33):
has touched forty minutes once these playoffs, and that game
went to two overtimes. He has touched forty minutes in
regulation I'm sorry I said that wrong. He has touched
forty minutes twice these playoffs, the double overtime game and
Game seven when he played almost forty two minutes and
(35:55):
wasn't that impactful. He right now needs his rest and
that is on the Spurs for next year to figure
out how to condition him to be ready for these
heavier workloads. But in the meantime, I don't know what
you do, because you can't just do the old young
Lebron God, we suck when you're off the court. How
(36:18):
about you never come off the court. It's not gonna work.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
But can someone else hit a shot? So can someone
else hit a shot? Because look, and we rightfully give
Brunton his credit, but if Brenton's being asked all game,
you've got to be the best defensive player on the
floor and carry us on offense. And what did you
say just under thirty eight minutes that that is going
to be a lot for anyone to carry yet alone
(36:45):
at twenty two year old in his first playoff runt, there's.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
No doubt about it. And other than Champagne in the
first half, the Spurs were brutal from three and Fox
had a really tough game which I know we're gonna
ge into and the selling Castle couldn't hit a shot.
I understand all of that, but heavy is the head
that wears the best player in the world crown, and
(37:11):
it is This is the thing that I don't think
is gonna change. I don't think Wimby all of a sudden,
I listen. I do expect him to have at least one,
maybe two awesome, awesome performances in this series, but they
(37:33):
might need five. They might not win a single game
he's not awesome, and they could lose a game that
he is awesome.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
And so.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
That's that's the massive concern. And he is at a
place right now as an offensive player where whether or
not he is dominant offensively far too often is simply
(38:13):
a question of whether or not his three is falling.
It's why his the the games, the games where he
has really popped Game three against Minnesota, Game one against
the against the Thunder as like, holy shit, look what
(38:35):
Wimby did. What was special about those games was he
did it without hitting a bunch of threes. Because he
is he is a excellent three point shooter for a
seven to five guy. He is a mediocre three point
shooter for a high volume shooter, and this year he
(38:59):
was thirty five percent in the regular season, he's thirty
five percent. In the playoffs, he's thirty three point shooter.
And so the Knicks I think wearing him down with
Kat is good. The fact that every minute he's on
the court, he's either he has to deal with one
of the best rebounders in the league, whether it's Kat
(39:20):
or Mitchell Robinson, I think is tough. And I thought
it was really interesting for Mike Brown in that fourth
quarter tie to start the fourth quarter with Jalen Brunson
and I think two other starters excuse me, on the bench,
(39:41):
knowing Wimby was starting the quarter for the Spurs, and
therefore at some point Wimby was gonna be off with
Brunson rested and on. And that's when it looked to
me like the Knicks were gonna steal take full control
of the game. Now they fought back, but those are
all major concerns for me. Uh, if I'm the Spurs
(40:07):
going into Game two, all right, what other Spurs stuff
do you have?
Speaker 2 (40:10):
I is there a scenario, because like this matters to
people like you and I, where the best player in
the world belt is vacant going into next year, so.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
I I don't want to be so fickle and I
don't wanna Wimby would have to really be disastrous in
these finals. And even if that's the case, I think
he's done enough on this playoff run and I think
(40:47):
his defensive impact is so great that he's earned it.
The interesting the interesting question is is could is there
anything Jalen Brunson could do Where people are like, I
(41:08):
don't know what to say, Like how like the I
know it doesn't make sense. I know we've never seen
something like this before, but why is it not him
that would.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
You know?
Speaker 1 (41:21):
If he averages thirty plus and the Knicks sweep the
Spurs and someone's like, the Knicks have the best player
in the world, it's gonna be hard to like prove
them wrong.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Well, it's brock Purty, right, It's like, here's what I
need here the list of things I need to see
from brock Purty. And it's like he does it. Yeah,
I saw it, but I still don't clay for the
obviously different right, But for some people Brunson.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
Yeah, I mean I don't be I don't know again,
if you're doubting whether if at this point you're doubting
whether or not Brunson gonna be the Alpha and a
championship team, you're you're a fool. He doesn't mean they're
going to win the championship this year, but he has
proven he is good enough. There's you know, I believe
Luca has proven he's good enough to be the alphon
(42:08):
a championship team. He's never won the title. Wimby, I
think is good enough to be the alphon a championship team.
He's never won a title. Like I don't think you
have to have done it for me to believe you
can't do it. He's proven that. But I and I
expect Wimby to I expect him to bounce back in
(42:29):
Game two in the but I do wonder if it's
going to be a bit of what Game six was
against the Thunder, where he's awesome in the first quarter
and cools then a bit. Now, maybe it won't matter,
(42:49):
for in that game it didn't matter that he cooled
because the rest of the Spurs, like the Thunder, just
didn't have it. The Knicks could make it more into
what is tough though? Is this there's only two games
this series where there's only one day of rest between them,
and that's games one and two and in games three
(43:12):
and four, So they're back at it tomorrow night, and
I'm really curious what he looks like. All right, you
want to talk about the Spurs guards for a minute.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Yeah, so Casto Harper, they both had solid games. I'm
watching this thinking of Bill Simmons. He'll do the whole
like what's the opposition? What do they want me to do?
And in that spot you ask Mike Brown what does
he want you to do with his guards? And He's like,
leave Deer and Fox on the floor and sit down
and Harper on the bench. So I just found it confounding. Nick,
(43:45):
how do you see Harper playing as well as he has?
And I know Fox was really good in game seven,
he's the veteran, but how do you go with Fox
over Harper when you need scoring in addition to what
Wimby's provided you. It just made no sense to me.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
So that's a lot of people feel that way and
I understand it, and Harper seemed electric. What I would
say is when Fox isn't on the court, the Spurs
do feel short a ball handler and when we have
(44:19):
asked Harper and Castle to kind of like split the
point guard duties. Castle had twenty turnovers in the first
two games of the Western Conference Finals with no dearon Fox.
As bad as Fox was from an efficiency standpoint three
for thirteen from the field, zero four from three and
(44:40):
again plus minus is not everything, but aside from Keldon
Johnson in his eight minutes, Fox actually had when Fox
was on the court, those thirty eight minutes, the Spurs
and Knicks were dead. Even the non dear Aaron Fox minutes,
(45:01):
they lost by ten points. So despite his inefficiency, it
did having him out there as a steadying hand I
think was useful. Now, what I do think is fair
to question is, Okay, if you've got to have Fox
out there as a ball handler, could you have put
(45:26):
Harper out there for the seller champagne does that? Does
the offensive boost you get is is it enough to
offset the defensive hit you take from not having the
sell out there? And Champagnae was ice cold in the
second half. That's what I what what I think the
(45:50):
best lineup, but it's just such a small lineup. But
the best lineup the Spurs could have put out there
late would have been Wemby these Harper Castle Fox with
Champagne going to the bench. But then it's Wimby and
then a bunch of guys six' five and, under which
is probably not Ideal wimby and the but it's Like champagne's.
(46:16):
Huge SO i don't Think fox is taking a lot this.
Morning and them not Having harper IN uh is a
major point of. Contention but they don't have another guy
they trust to bring the ball up the court, consistently
AND i think that was part of the.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
Concern but it was one of your best players in the, game, Man,
like you can't end. That it's like ending the game
with timeouts in your back like you're you're sitting there
With harper in your back. Pocket this lead is, now you,
know the deficit has now. Grown you come, back get
him in the game and see what he can do
and if you get, cooked and so be. It at
LEAST i went down with my best players in the.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
Game. LISTEN i think that's. FAIR i also think it
it happened so, fast Like harper's on the. Bench when
The spurs come back from eight down to take a
one point. Lead they took a one point lead with
two point fifteen. Left at the two minute, mark The
(47:14):
spurs are up one and then the offensive. Rebound we
talked About brunton. Three now in that, Moment in that,
Moment Mitch johnson's got two. Timeouts you can call time.
Out he Put harper, in he, didn't And Diaron fox
then missed a jumper and that then all of a,
sudden they. Don't the next time, down The bridges hit
(47:37):
those three throws we talked. ABOUT i was surprised after
that he didn't call time, out but he. Didn't and
then you get the whimby dribble off his. Foot brunton
hits the fifteen. FOOTER i was really surprised after that
he didn't call, timeout but he. Didn't and then THE
(47:59):
vic missed a three and the game is just. Over
and so, yes you could have done, it but you
came back With harper on the. BENCH i. DON'T i
don't Think harper would have saved the game for. HIM
i could be. WRONG i think that before we get
to the big picture series, STUFF i just want to
(48:21):
get the time score of this. Correct the The spurs went,
up when DID I this is actually WHEN i bet The,
Knicks but the The spurs sixty three fifty with eight minutes.
(48:45):
Left in, fact you know, what we can go further
down BECAUSE i want to get The spurs are up
sixty seven fifty four with six minutes left in the third.
Quarter they're up thirteen with exactly six minutes left in
the third. Order with six minutes left in the fourth,
quarter The knicks are up. Eight so The knicks outscored
(49:09):
The spurs by twenty one points from the midway point
of the third quarter to the midway point of the fourth.
Quarter they took over the game in that, stretch and
that's they. Scored is that? Right THAT'S i, mean it is.
Right it's just unbelievable that they that they were able
(49:30):
to put that type of run on them from being
down sixty seven fifty four to being up ninety four eighty.
Six that's.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
What what is?
Speaker 1 (49:46):
That that's a thirty to uh nine? Run is that?
Right that can't be? Right So i'm doing the math
wrong in my, head which always frustrates. Me, no it's
a forty to nineteen. Run The knicks scored forty points
(50:06):
in a quarter of. Basketball that's holy. Moley That so
that's the jarring number The knicks had fifty four points
at the six minute mark of the third quarter and
had ninety four points at the six minute mark of
the fourth. Quarter that's. Crazy that is so it is
(50:28):
a forty to nineteen run and that does speak to
What kat said in the. Huddle keep getting. Stops the
offense will, come and it came in a. Flurry all,
right we'll talk about what this means for the series
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right let's talk about the odds for the series time
before we get out of.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
Here all, Right so The knicks went from plus one
to sixty dogs for the series headed Into game. One
now they are minus one forty to win at. ALL
i know you love to like pin like last time
this happened with like world, events, yeah or what was
going on in our. Country so The knicks haven't been
favorite to win the title since The clinton administration.
Speaker 1 (51:48):
First term of The clinton, administration that's.
Speaker 2 (51:50):
Right so is this an overreaction by the, Books so
do they have it correct?
Speaker 1 (51:54):
Here, no The knicks not being a series favorite right
now would be. Absurd they the what was miss priced
was the. Series the series price going in was. Wrong
it should have Been spurs minus one Thirty knicks plus one.
(52:20):
Ten Just spurs have the best player in, theory they
have home, Court, fine make them the slight. Favorite but
The spurs being you, know starting off around minus two
hundred and then being bet down a, bit it's just, wrong.
Speaker 2 (52:40):
AND I.
Speaker 1 (52:45):
I think it. IS i know The knicks are around
six point dogs In game. TWO i think they. COULD
i think they could Win game two the the WAY
i said beforehand tie before the. Series WHAT i SAID
i thought the beats of this series would Be knicks
(53:06):
Win game, One spurs Win game, Two knicks win both
games three and four at, Home spurs stave off elimination
in game, five and then The knicks close them out
in six In Madison Square. Garden that is still WHAT
i think will. Happen BUT i also think it's on
the board The knicks take both In San. Antonio you
(53:30):
want to talk a little FINALS mvp before we get
out of.
Speaker 2 (53:32):
Here, yeah So kat went from plus two thousand to
now plus twelve. HUNDRED i Thought nick he was the
best player on the floor last, night given like the offensive.
Stuff are you interested in anyone other Than brenton who's
now minus one ten as the? FAVORITE i, Mean.
Speaker 1 (53:54):
Kat's the only Other nick that could win. It and
with respect To Josh hurt's remarkable stat line OF i
think three, fifteen, six one and.
Speaker 2 (54:05):
Four but.
Speaker 1 (54:11):
If the best player on the team's the leading, scorer
normally that guy gets.
Speaker 2 (54:15):
It.
Speaker 1 (54:15):
Now they didn't work out For steph in. Fifteen that's
because they knew THE mvp was supposed to Be lebron
and so they didn't know how to. Vote But Cat
cat was THE mvp of game. One brunson was the,
closer But. Cat and it is so interesting that we're
talking About kat being THE mvp of the, game and
(54:37):
we're saying in large part because of his, defense not
in spite of his, defense but because of his. Defense
SO i have not asked, you AND i didn't ask you.
YESTERDAY i know BECAUSE i follow your, stuff BUT i
don't know if the audience. Does what was your pick
going into the series and what is it, Now.
Speaker 2 (54:58):
SPY i picked The spurs on the show in seven,
games and the explanation for that was, simply they've got
the best, player they've got home on home, court AND
i just put more value into what they did last
series versus what The knicks. DID i obviously don't feel
as good about that, now but, again we could be
having a totally different conversation tomorrow night if they tie
(55:20):
this series. Up and So i'm gonna stick with The
spurs in.
Speaker 1 (55:24):
Seven, oh if you picked them in, seven they got
to lose some.
Speaker 2 (55:26):
GAMES i JUST i, mean going into games three and
four like, THAT i just don't know if The knicks
are losing home games at this point with that. Crowd,
now there's something happened In game three that we don't
have to get into that could flip the momentum as
far as their. Attendance but, yeah, MAN i just worry
(55:47):
about The spurs on the, road especially in that.
Speaker 1 (55:49):
Building you were, saying you don't know if The knicks
are losing at home any home. GAMES i don't know
what if The knicks are losing any games in. GENERAL
i mean the.
Speaker 2 (56:00):
Conversation think about the conversation we're. Having if that's the,
case they sweep the. Finals, well if.
Speaker 1 (56:07):
They would sweep the, finals it is, unequivocally unabashedly one
of the greatest playoff runs in the history of the.
Sport they would have they would have two losses in the,
playoffs so by a total of two, points both on you,
know in the final minute, shots and they would have
(56:28):
finished the playoffs on a fifteen game winning. Streak and,
Again i'm not predicting a sweep of the. FINALS i
don't think that's what we're going to. Get but WHAT
i can't tell you is, this After game, one there's
only one team that can sweep these. Finals it's The.
Knicks because they're up one game to. Nothing, again He's
(56:49):
Ty Butler demons will be back next. Week But ty
did an exceptional. Job you can follow him On twitter
And instagram At tye De. Butler you can watch or
listen to his radio show ON Espn New york eight
to noon ON Espn New, york and you can watch
him every day on YouTube On The Ty Butler. Show
ty thank you for. This this was really. Great you
(57:11):
did awesome AND i really appreciate you filling.
Speaker 2 (57:13):
IN i appreciate. You by the. Way i'll be On
New York radio tonight from seven to nine, pm so
check me.
Speaker 1 (57:19):
Out oh okay ON Espn New york tonight from seven
to nine. Pm if you are In New york you
want to listen on The audissey. App all, right, Everybody
we've got The mailbag show. Tomorrow subscribe to the channels
so you know when it. Drops we'll also do Our
World cup. Picks i'll take my stab at that eighty
two and oh. Game everybody loves. Huge shout out to our,
sponsors Hard, Rock bet And Boost. Mobile thank you To Blue,
(57:42):
Duck thank you To. Volume talk to you guys. Tomorrow
what's right
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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