June 2, 2025 • 28 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses what's next for the New York Knicks after they were unceremoniously bounced out of the playoffs over the weekend. Do the Knicks need to consider flipping Karl-Anthony Towns for a more defensive-minded center? Are they overpaying wings OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges? Can New York build a legitimate championship contender around diminutive point guard Jalen Brunson? Should they dump head coach Tom Thibodeau? How does Giannis Antetokounmpo factor into all of this? J-Mac has the answer to all of those questions - and more!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up?
Straight fire?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Fam, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Monday, June
the second, the weekend is in the books, a new
month afoot and sadly my Knicks are not going to
be in the NBA Finals. We'll do a Big Knicks
post mortem, a lot of discussion.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Do you blow it up, you fire the coach, do
you run it back?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Get into all that fun stuff. I did wanna give
a quick shout out to the Dodgers. I was able
to go to Dodgers Yankees Friday Night.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Unbelievable game.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Judge Homer's Otani hits two. The huge Dodgers come back,
and you could tell Friday as the Yankees are going
into the bullpen, treating it like a World Series game,
honestly making switches all the time, and none of them worked.
I think they use five pitchers Friday Night, and it's.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Like, whoa, this is a three game series.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yanks are in trouble, and then they get smoked eighteen
to two on Saturday. But we're gonna make this about
the NBA because my Knicks go down. I don't want
to say without a fight you know, listen Saturday night.
It was close in the first half, Nick's only down
by four, and then you know, whacky stuff happens.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Miles Turner gets his fourth foul. Yes, great news.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Thomas Bryant comes in and bangs three threes. Who had
that one? Like Thomas Bryant seldom used. Thomas Bryant comes
in his three threes and was like a factor, had
a block, fired up the crowd, obi.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Top and pops in eighteen.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
It's just one of those games where you're like, man,
you know, Nicks did not play poorly.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I thought they shot free throws poorly.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Karl anthonk towns oh for four from three miss four
free throws.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
We'll get into it, but ultimately I just want.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
To say this was a very enjoyable Knicks team. I think,
without question, Brunson has been the catalyst for the most
interesting Knicks team we've seen in this century. Sorry Jeremy Lynn,
Sorry Carmelo Anthony, but this is a fun, great team,
and they had a great run of the conference finals.
(02:14):
You don't want to like play it back in your head,
but my gosh, if Aaron Nesmith doesn't erupt for six
threes in the fourth quarter in one of the wackiest
comebacks in NBA playoff history. What happens in the series?
I don't know, because then the Knicks are up won nothing.
You know, do the Pacers get Game two? Are the
Pacers deflated?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Damn?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
We got blown out and they were getting blow out.
They were down fourteen with like six minutes left.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
What happens?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I mean, I will maintain and this should set things
up for where I'm gonna go on this pod that
the Knicks are not that far off.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
They are very close. And as evidence, I would like
to remind guys what happened last year.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
In the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Indiana Pacers beat the
Knicks in seven. Of course, Og got hurt and Brunson
got hurt. But what's really interesting is the Pacers went
on to get smoked in the conference finals by Boston.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I think it was a sweep.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Let me quickly check, but the Eastern Cars finals was
a beatdown Boston.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yes, Boston with the four game sweep.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
The games were close, they won by five, they won
by three, they won by three, but they swept the Pacers.
Do you remember the reaction after the Pacers got swept Oh, well,
this team, we're just not there. We got to make changes.
I don't think Siakam's the Dudeaam had a s say, not.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Great series.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Shooting against the Celtics. He had shot twenty percent on threes.
Tyrese Haliburton kind of injured and didn't play great. But
it was just like, we're not there, we need to
make changes. I don't think Carlow's the right coach. And
you know what, the Indiana Pacers said, we're in good shape,
we just need some things to break our way. And
(03:54):
they made like no changes. I'm looking at their top
eight guys from last year. All of them returned pretty
much in the same role. Everybody was just a little better.
The continuity was a little better. Turnovers were way down
thanks to the continuity. Thanks to Haliburton blowing up like
(04:15):
this idea that the Pacers needed to make wholesale changes.
They didn't, and they got back to the conference finals.
And now they're going to the NBA Finals for the
first time since they faced the Lakers back in the day.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
And it's like, oh, well, now, let me look at
the Knicks.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
So the Knicks knock off the Celtics and obviously Tatum
got hurt, but he got hurt in the final game.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
The Knicks.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
You know, they did trail by twenty a lot in
that series, but they did still come out on top
and they lose this one in six, And you could argue, hey,
that game one historic collapse. Does that change the entire
tenor of the series. And you could look at the
Knicks roster and say, well, why do we need to
make wholesale changes? But then you open the Atlantic and
you read this article which essentially is throwing a lot
(05:00):
of shade at two players in particular, and number one's
carl Anton Towns, and he is the big flash point here.
He just got to the team last I believe it
was August or September. Okay, it takes time to build chemistry, guys,
chemistry is not built overnight.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
They had a season. Do you run it back?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Remember in the preseason, the thought was, oh, my gosh,
who's stopping the Brunson cat pick and pop game? Like
Carlinton Town's a really good three point shooter. He claims
he's the best three point shooter ever. And you got Brunson,
who gets to the mid range, gets to the tim
gets to the foul line. That's gonna be deadly. The
Knicks barely tried that. This was one of the craziest
(05:42):
SATs I saw in the Eastern Conference finals. Brunson assisted
on five Carl Anthony Towns baskets five in six games.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Your two best players. What what? That's crazy? That's utterly insane.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And then you start drilling down a little further and
you start reading in this Atlantic piece about oh, well,
you know a lot of individuality on this team, and
karl ant Towns had to get his and Og would
have flashes of great games and then vanish, and we
know Brunson's gonna get his, And it kind of sort
(06:21):
of became, hey, what happened to that Villanova unselfish mentality?
Oh well, one of those guys is not from Villanova,
and that's karl Anthony Towns, who played a Kentucky and
is like a star and a star in his head.
You know, I do wonder can Towns change his stripes
and become a slightly different player for the betterment of
the team. We saw he had moments where he stepped
(06:43):
up defensively. It's just not consistent. It's like Luca, right,
Luca can play defense. He's not gonna be a great defender,
but he can be good enough and we saw that
from Towns. So Bridges is the other flashpoint in this article.
It's like he didn't really get his role. Like if
mckail bridges is your fourth best player, you should be
(07:04):
in the finals. I mean mckel bridges is borderline all star,
probably a three on most teams. I mean, he's not
the creator Austin Reeves's, but he's a better defender, although
you wouldn't know it guarding Haliburt in this series. And
just weirdly, he didn't want to like attack the rim.
It was like he didn't totally know his role. And
how much of this can you chalk up to Hey man,
(07:26):
it was your one a lot, I mean, two new
starters in Bridges and Towns. That's not going to get
fixed in one season, you know. I think it's almost
as if they have too many really good players and
not enough role players.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And if you look at you guys, know I like
to go to hoops Hype. They have all the salaries.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
It's kind of interesting that the guys who are up
their contracts, they just happen to be a lot of
the Knicks bench players.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
So is there a world.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Where the Knicks could tinker around the edges and all
of a sudden you get role players you need, Like
how the thunder have a deep bench, the Pacers have
a deep bench. I saw stat that the Knicks starters
averaged ninety four points per game in the regular season,
which is an astronomical number, trailing one team. And that
(08:19):
one team is Denver, who had no bench, didn't trust
their bench and wore down. So like, do you move
on from Precious to Chua Campaign?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Delon Wright?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
These are guys who all played well. Campaign kind of
got bench there. Landry Shammitt, can you get off PJ.
Tucker's short contract? Can you make moves around the edges
or do you need to make a big move now?
I don't want to be reactionary as a Knicks fan.
This is obviously disappointing. A lot of people are gonna
want to run Carl Anthony Towns out of the building.
So Rob, I'll start here. I want to take a
(08:49):
deep breath, do a full on analysis, and I will
just say there needs to be some sort of team meeting.
And I also read in that in that article by
the athletic that there was an abnormally large number of
I don't know if emergency team meetings is the right word,
(09:09):
but the team would like they didn't understand why they
kept falling behind by twenty all the time, the lack
of consistency, and they kept calling these team meetings. Not
everybody was on the same page. I don't want to
be alarmist, but who's the leader of this team? Is
it Brunson because he's not a very vocal guy. Is
it Cat he's been there a minute and he's kind.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Of a space cadet. Could it be Bridges? Could it
be Annobie?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I don't know, And you know, Josh Hart is kind
of maybe the heartbeat of the team. He took some
jabs at Tibbs this season, So a lot of questions,
not a lot of answers in the wake of the loss.
But Rob, is it okay to take a deep breath
and be like, Hey, I don't want to run TIBs
out of town. That might happen, but I need to
take a deep breath and be like, how did this happen?
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Fox Sports Radio has the best YES sports talk lineup
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to listen live.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Yeah, I don't think that that's wrong at all. But
the important thing is to note that you do have
to look at yourself in the mirror when things go
the way they did. To your point, if you want
to look at the glass half full, yes, this is
the greatest Knicks team in twenty five years. You know,
they make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, they roll
through the defending champion Boston Celtics. Obviously there's a masteris
(10:33):
there with Jason Tatum. But you can say that, right,
you can say, as you mentioned, Karl Anthony Towns arrives
a week before training camp starts and you're kind of
thrown together. That's the positive outlook of it. The negative
is from January one until the end of the season,
the Nick starters, which they are a very top heavy team,
(10:55):
were outscored by one point four points per one hundred possessions.
In the postseason. That group was a minus thirty three
overall heading into Game six, where obviously they got blown
out again in Game six. And the issue that they're
running into is something I think you pointed out. They
have too many guys who are too good for their roles.
(11:19):
Mcal Bridges is too good to be a fourth option.
Og Ananobi is too good to be a third or
fourth option. They are both more than capable of having
things run through them, as we saw when Jalen Brunson
got hurt towards the end of the season. When Brunson
went down, it allowed town to step up. It allowed
macal to get back to doing some of the things
that he did in Brooklyn. I know Brooklyn wasn't very good,
(11:41):
but it shows that he's capable of doing more. When
you are in a situation where your best players, in
which case the there's four of them on discount Josh Hart,
are all asked save for Jalen Brunson to take a
step back with the way they operate for the team
to succeed, that can get really tricky, really quickly. All right,
(12:01):
And case in point when you look at the Towns
Brunson pairing in the playoffs, Okay, when Jalen Brunson is
on and Carlon Towns is off, they're plus four point four.
When Towns is on and Brunson is off, they're plus eleven.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
That didn't make sense.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
And I'm not saying that Jalen Brunson is not a
good player. I'm not going full baking Ham and it's
saying you can't win with him as your best player.
What I am saying, though, is he needs to adjust
the way he plays, especially in the playoffs, if this
team is going to take the next step. If you
look at the usage rate for this playoffs, Jalen Brunson
(12:45):
was thirty two and a half. The next closest guy
was Carl Towns at twenty five. Mccal bridges was nineteen,
Og was eighteen. To put into context that usage rate
situation amongst active players, here's what we're looking at Luca,
which is that thirty six in his career in the playoff,
which is crazy. And I think we've talked about this.
(13:05):
As good as he is, he's gonna have to make
some adjustment if he's gonna end up winning a championship.
Donovan Mitchell has never made it past a second round.
Russell Westbrook's a historical playoff flame out. Yannis at thirty two,
so right there where Brunson is. But Yannis, I think
we can all agree as a much better player. Guys
with lower usage rates than Brunson thirty two, Lebron James
thirty one, Kevin Durant thirty, Devin Booker thirty, Nikola Jokic thirty.
(13:34):
So Jalen Brunson and I like Jalen Brunson short Kings unite,
I love Jalen Brunson. The fact is, if you are
gonna be that ball dominant, the chances of you winning
are very slim, unless you are a seven foot freak
like Giannis or arguably the greatest all time in Lebron James.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Well, the counter would be, hey, you know, Luca was
a great point guard, struggled to get out of the
first round largely, and then Dallas got him two rim
running bigs lively in Gafford, and wouldn't you know it,
they're catching lobs left and right, and defensively they're making
up for Luca. However, with the Knicks, when Brunson's your
(14:18):
point guard and cats on the court, you don't have
a rim protector. Cat ain't no rim protector. That's just
not happening. So they tried the Mitchell Robinson thing. Mitchell
Robinson great, but you know what, Hey, we don't need
to really defend him at all, and we'll just foul
him since you can't make any free throws. And then
the Knicks were scared to play Mitchell Robinson. Remember he
(14:40):
would like literally cross half court and they would just
folllo him and be like, all.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Right, we'll put you on the line. And you know,
the one name that's interesting here rob is Josh Hart
and I like him a lot. He does so many
good things.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
But when you can't shoot, they can then hide your
their worst defender, sometimes a center on you, or you
just keep your center kind of near the paint and
he's your room protector.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
We saw Chet Holmgren do that against against the Wolves.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
They would just basically put Chet Holmgren on Mike Conley
and it's like, well, Mike Conley's not gonna kill us
from deep.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
We'll just have Chet hang.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Around the rim and when O when Anthony Edwards drives, hello,
so you got by the first wave and here's Chet
and it's like, you know, the Knicks kind of sort
of struggled. I mean, the Pacers shot like fifty I
think it was fifty four percent on twos in the series,
and then they erupt from threes in a couple of
games and I think you can win a title with
(15:38):
Brunston as your best player.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
They just won fifty games last year, second round, this year,
conference finals, like they're right there, and let's remember ye.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
I think they need more role players if that's if
that's what we're gonna do.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
So okay, so do you Josh Hart's a role player right?
If he could shoot threes, he would be a slightly
better rule.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Absolutely, But like you saw the Pacers, they basically rant
it all back. Their role players can shoot. Nie Smith
Nemhar didn't have a good series. The kid Ben Shephard,
he could shoot coming off. I mean a guy Turner
can shoot. But Thomas Bryant can shoot. And the Pacers
lit it up from three. Now, ok C is the
other one because their role players are really really good defenders.
(16:21):
I do think, and we'll get to previewing the finals
later in the week. I do think the Thunders are
gonna have some problems here because Indiana shoots the.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Three way better than Minnesota did. It's not even close.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
And you know, you give all those wide open threes
to McDaniel's Randall Conley. Now it's going to the Pacers
and their guys bombs away. So I think that's gonna
be a good series, but it's so much easier said
than done. Rob, Hey, let me look at the free
agents and let's just pluck the best three and D guys,
which is what you want. But I guess if you're
asking me who would I rank moving off of listen
(16:54):
if you can get Yannis for Kat and Heart and
whatever picks, sure, I just don't think that's a I
don't think that.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Yeah, I don't think it's either.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
So if you're gonna move off towns, what do you like? Honestly,
Myles Turner would be freaking great now. He commits a
lot of fact he was in foul trouble all series,
but he's a really good three point shooter. Rim protector
like the Celtics, they don't they don't have one, right
Horford and perzinkis well, they're not blocking anything. Okay, See
does have Chett Hartenstein left to a lesser extent. Minnesota's
(17:26):
rim protector, Rudy Gobert, was played off the floor largely
against Oka See and then they had no room protector,
So like, who does have a room protector who shoots threes?
Like those guys are almost unicorns and roster construction is
just gonna be so pivotal this summer. It feels like
the audience is getting smarter when it comes to this
stuff because it's not as easy as boy the Knicks
(17:48):
could use Rudy Gobert, Like that wouldn't work, Rudy and Cat.
We already saw those two together, you know, like Evan
Mobley and Jared Allen were a great tandem in the
regular season, and then in the playoffs they missed their
threes and that team was zero to defend. So it's like,
I don't know, man, I I I if you're asking
me today June second, Jay, what do you what's your move?
Speaker 3 (18:11):
I would get. I would go Michael Malone over Tibbs.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Keep the starting five six, you know, top six guys
stay and then around the edges, make some moves and
get role players who are going to contribute, come come playoffs.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
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Speaker 4 (18:37):
Well, I think ultimately they're gonna run it back. And
even in the athletic piece that you referenced to open
up the pod. Later on in there, they kind of
bury that. You know, TIBs is unlikely to get fired,
you know, because he has a good relationship with Leon Rose.
You know, obviously the dole In factor always has to
be considered, but the expectation is that that Tis will
be back. And to your point, I think they have
(18:57):
a great There's a reason why before the season you
and I both picked the Knicks to make the finals
and to win the championship because we like their five.
We like that theoretically how they all fit together. I
think what it ultimately comes down to is, if you
are going to roll with these five, you need to
have Brunson take a little bit of a step back
(19:20):
so the other guys can step up. Because there's no
good reason why you should be paying og Ananobi. What
is this entering next season forty million dollars to have
a usage rate of eighteen. Mccal bridges is going to
get an extension, assuming they don't trade him this upcoming offseason.
He's going to be paid in the we'll say thirty
(19:40):
five to four. So you can't have those two guys
making it combine seventy five eighty million dollars to be
glorified role players, they have to be more involved in
the offense moving forward. And if that's not what you
want to do, if you say, you know what, Jalen
Brunson is the heartbeat of our team. He's our he's
our captain. He has brought us back to relevance in
(20:02):
a way that we haven't seen since Patrick Ewing. If
that's what you're going to do, then then the logical
step is to try to flip Towns, try to fip Ananobi.
You're probably not gonna get the back which you gave
up to get Bridges the five first round picks, but
you need guys who are then gonna fill those roles
(20:23):
as nothing but three and D. That's all you're gonna
do because Brun's is gonna orchestrate the offense and macal
Bridges defense. Taking a step back. Og Ananobi is a
very good player, but I wouldn't call him a specialist
in either one of those categories. Yeah, so did you
say that OG's making forty He's making thirty nine, so
he's their third best player, right? Yes?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Okay, Miles Turner, Andrew Nemhard and Obi Toppin are combined
to make thirty five. Ben Matherin, who's the Facer's third
best player, Haliburton and Siakam clearly are top two. If
it's Turner, you know he's a free agent. But like
Obi Toppins at twelve point nine, Nie Smith eleven million.
(21:05):
I mean Nie Smith is like, that's what you want, right,
a starter who can play defense, bang threes and is
making eleven million a year.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Do you how hard those are to find?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
The Celtic's head these yeh, by the way, and like
TJ McConnell is at nine million, he is so valuable
off the bench. He's better than any Knicks player coming
off the bench. Ben Matherin, first round pick seven million.
I mean it's they're just bizarre, Like it feels just unicornish.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
How they're built.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
But then you look at the Thunder and you're like, damn,
they've got a lot of good players who are not
making a lot of money. So maybe now that you
drill down like that and mentioned OG's at forty can
you win a title when your third best player is
making forty mil?
Speaker 3 (21:46):
I mean Austin Reeves is making what like fifteen.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Well, see, I think you can, but you have to
use him like a forty million dollar player. That's the prob.
Like again, it's like a Chicken or the egg type thing,
because I absolutely think og and Andobi is good enough
to warrant the contract, you know, especially with the way
things are getting paid now, like he's he's making you
know what, Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram money, Michael Porter Junior money.
So he can absolutely be that guy. The problem though,
(22:13):
is if you're only gonna use him in a three
and D role, would you rather have og Andob at
forty or would rather have Rio Hachimoor at seventeen? You
know what I mean? Would you rather have Ognob at
forty or would you rather have Calden Johnson at nineteen?
You know? Would you rather have Karris LeVert at sixteen?
(22:35):
Like they're obviously OG's a better player than all of
those guys, But if they're only gonna use him in
that limited way, then I'm rather play at limited salary.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
So you said, Brunston, take a step back, and how
do you how would you quantify that just less usage?
Because he was brilliant in Game five. Now you could argue, hey,
the pacers.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Were going on the road. They weren't gonna He was
heavily balled up. Even in Games three and four, he
went to the line ten times, twelve times in Game five,
I'm sorry. Game six, two free throw attempts, Rob, that's it.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Og and Arnobi took as many shots as Brunson cat
took nineteen. I mean that sounds like Brunson may have
taken a step back or he just got that ball
out of his hands a lot because the prent Pazers
were pressuring the hell out of him. But like, I
don't That's where it gets difficult with Brunson, like Steve Nash,
did he need to take a step back or was
he like such a great distributor that he didn't.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
But the thing is, I don't know what those Suns
team for example, those Suns teams, they didn't have anybody
else you could create. The difference is New York has
guys who can. Like mccal did it in Brooklyn, they
just weren't any good. Og did it in Toronto. They
just weren't any good. But I'm not asking you to
lead the team in that regard. I'm saying, hey, for
ten to fifteen minutes to night. Can we run seven
(23:55):
minutes through mcal Can we run six minutes through og?
Can we run shit through Towns? Say hey cat, We're
gonna run the offense through you, either on the low
block or the high post and just kind of see
what happens. And they just don't do that. And I
know usage rate is not the bell end all, but
to put it in a context, Tyrese Halliburton averages double
digit assists with the usage rate of twenty two because
(24:19):
he makes quick decisions. He gets the ball, either he
does something with it or he moves it on quickly.
Jalen Bruns is gonna dribble the hall out of that thing,
and he's gonna pick and roll and pick and roll
and wait to get somebody off him. And you know,
see what he can do to attack. And it's a
very effective way of playing. The problem is, is it
mutes kind of everybody else around you?
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Yea?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
So I wonder if this becomes a Brunson issue. I
think Towns is gonna be the guy I personally don't think.
I mean, we got to see my guess is rob
This week we hear a lot of Milwaukee Bucks Gianni's
talk because you know, no disrespect to the Pacers or Thunder,
but where Giannis could land is infinitely more interesting than this.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
I will just preface it.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
I'm wanted some NBA text change with Buddies, and I
do believe that the Pacers are live to win this series.
I know you said, you gave me a stat like
they're the fifth highest favorite since like nineteen seventy or something.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Nineteen sixty eight, fifth hides, fifth high sides.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
We'll get into it, but I'm just some of the
notes that I jotted down while watching Rob.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
The Uh. Of course, my kids said that, Okay, here
we go.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
So, Okayse wants to run. Well, SODA's Indiana, right, so
that's not gonna be an issue. Minnesota did not want
to run. Okse is a good three point shooting team.
Indiana has been great in the playoffs. I keep winning
for a fall off.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
They're not.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
They're so this whole like, ay, well, just keep Haliburton
out of the paint. That's not going to work against Indiana.
They have too many good three point shooters.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Usually.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Okase's depth, we know it killed Denver and Minnesota didn't
have depth either. The Pacers I think deepest team in
the East. You could argue deepest team in the league.
So again, not an edge for OKC. And the other
thing is Okaysee kept turning over Minnesota. Minnesota sloppy with
the ball. Fifteen to twenty turnovers, there's just no room
for error. Tyrese Haliburton, I believe had.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Let me see if he had any turnovers.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Oh, he had four turnovers in game six. Wow, he
had five turnovers through the first five games. Indiana does
not turn the ball over. So it's like if okac's
defense thrives on turnovers and Indy's not turning it over,
I mean something's got to give. Either Okaysee's defense takes
a step back or Indie turns the ball over. I
don't know, Rob, We'll take our time. Do you have
(26:39):
any give Indiana any shot here?
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Absolutely? I mean when you have the number two ranked
offense period in the season and the way they've been playing.
Fun fact, they've actually lost less games in these playoffs
than Okase has or I think it's the same. And
it's four for for OKAC and it's three. No, it's
(27:02):
four for Indiana. They lost one, one and two, and
you would never think that, by the way, the conversation
is around these two teams. Now, I will say, you know,
historically it is a different sport. But the last time
we saw the best offense and the best defense play
each other for all the marbles, I believe it was
the Seahawks and the Broncos in the Super Bowl and
(27:23):
that did not go very well for Denver. So you know,
the defense usually wins down those situations. But no, I mean,
if the ratings are going to be terrible but the
basketball is gonna be great, I feel.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Like it would be good.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Yeah, So we'll see.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
All right, we are back tomorrow, some NBA we'll get. Obviously,
OTAs are ramping up in the NFL. We're on Caitlin
Clark watch. There's chatter she may return this week, and
nobody's talked about the fever since she went down. Obviously,
we're around graduation time, whether it's college, high school, eighth grade.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Although I'm told eighth grade is called promotion out here
in Californa. Now who's unaware of that term? But uh,
you know, summer is upon us. Should be a great summer.
I think this is a good NBA draft. It's gonna
be it's gonna be a good one back tomorrow.
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up?
Straight fire?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Fam, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Monday, June
the second, the weekend is in the books, a new
month afoot and sadly my Knicks are not going to
be in the NBA Finals. We'll do a Big Knicks
post mortem, a lot of discussion.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Do you blow it up, you fire the coach, do
you run it back?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Get into all that fun stuff. I did wanna give
a quick shout out to the Dodgers. I was able
to go to Dodgers Yankees Friday Night.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Unbelievable game.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Judge Homer's Otani hits two. The huge Dodgers come back,
and you could tell Friday as the Yankees are going
into the bullpen, treating it like a World Series game,
honestly making switches all the time, and none of them worked.
I think they use five pitchers Friday Night, and it's.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Like, whoa, this is a three game series.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yanks are in trouble, and then they get smoked eighteen
to two on Saturday. But we're gonna make this about
the NBA because my Knicks go down. I don't want
to say without a fight you know, listen Saturday night.
It was close in the first half, Nick's only down
by four, and then you know, whacky stuff happens.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Miles Turner gets his fourth foul. Yes, great news.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Thomas Bryant comes in and bangs three threes. Who had
that one? Like Thomas Bryant seldom used. Thomas Bryant comes
in his three threes and was like a factor, had
a block, fired up the crowd, obi.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Top and pops in eighteen.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
It's just one of those games where you're like, man,
you know, Nicks did not play poorly.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I thought they shot free throws poorly.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Karl anthonk towns oh for four from three miss four
free throws.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
We'll get into it, but ultimately I just want.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
To say this was a very enjoyable Knicks team. I think,
without question, Brunson has been the catalyst for the most
interesting Knicks team we've seen in this century. Sorry Jeremy Lynn,
Sorry Carmelo Anthony, but this is a fun, great team,
and they had a great run of the conference finals.
(02:14):
You don't want to like play it back in your head,
but my gosh, if Aaron Nesmith doesn't erupt for six
threes in the fourth quarter in one of the wackiest
comebacks in NBA playoff history. What happens in the series?
I don't know, because then the Knicks are up won nothing.
You know, do the Pacers get Game two? Are the
Pacers deflated?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Damn?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
We got blown out and they were getting blow out.
They were down fourteen with like six minutes left.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
What happens?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I mean, I will maintain and this should set things
up for where I'm gonna go on this pod that
the Knicks are not that far off.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
They are very close. And as evidence, I would like
to remind guys what happened last year.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
In the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Indiana Pacers beat the
Knicks in seven. Of course, Og got hurt and Brunson
got hurt. But what's really interesting is the Pacers went
on to get smoked in the conference finals by Boston.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I think it was a sweep.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Let me quickly check, but the Eastern Cars finals was
a beatdown Boston.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yes, Boston with the four game sweep.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
The games were close, they won by five, they won
by three, they won by three, but they swept the Pacers.
Do you remember the reaction after the Pacers got swept Oh, well,
this team, we're just not there. We got to make changes.
I don't think Siakam's the Dudeaam had a s say, not.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Great series.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Shooting against the Celtics. He had shot twenty percent on threes.
Tyrese Haliburton kind of injured and didn't play great. But
it was just like, we're not there, we need to
make changes. I don't think Carlow's the right coach. And
you know what, the Indiana Pacers said, we're in good shape,
we just need some things to break our way. And
(03:54):
they made like no changes. I'm looking at their top
eight guys from last year. All of them returned pretty
much in the same role. Everybody was just a little better.
The continuity was a little better. Turnovers were way down
thanks to the continuity. Thanks to Haliburton blowing up like
(04:15):
this idea that the Pacers needed to make wholesale changes.
They didn't, and they got back to the conference finals.
And now they're going to the NBA Finals for the
first time since they faced the Lakers back in the day.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
And it's like, oh, well, now, let me look at
the Knicks.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
So the Knicks knock off the Celtics and obviously Tatum
got hurt, but he got hurt in the final game.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
The Knicks.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
You know, they did trail by twenty a lot in
that series, but they did still come out on top
and they lose this one in six, And you could argue, hey,
that game one historic collapse. Does that change the entire
tenor of the series. And you could look at the
Knicks roster and say, well, why do we need to
make wholesale changes? But then you open the Atlantic and
you read this article which essentially is throwing a lot
(05:00):
of shade at two players in particular, and number one's
carl Anton Towns, and he is the big flash point here.
He just got to the team last I believe it
was August or September. Okay, it takes time to build chemistry, guys,
chemistry is not built overnight.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
They had a season. Do you run it back?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Remember in the preseason, the thought was, oh, my gosh,
who's stopping the Brunson cat pick and pop game? Like
Carlinton Town's a really good three point shooter. He claims
he's the best three point shooter ever. And you got Brunson,
who gets to the mid range, gets to the tim
gets to the foul line. That's gonna be deadly. The
Knicks barely tried that. This was one of the craziest
(05:42):
SATs I saw in the Eastern Conference finals. Brunson assisted
on five Carl Anthony Towns baskets five in six games.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Your two best players. What what? That's crazy? That's utterly insane.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And then you start drilling down a little further and
you start reading in this Atlantic piece about oh, well,
you know a lot of individuality on this team, and
karl ant Towns had to get his and Og would
have flashes of great games and then vanish, and we
know Brunson's gonna get his, And it kind of sort
(06:21):
of became, hey, what happened to that Villanova unselfish mentality?
Oh well, one of those guys is not from Villanova,
and that's karl Anthony Towns, who played a Kentucky and
is like a star and a star in his head.
You know, I do wonder can Towns change his stripes
and become a slightly different player for the betterment of
the team. We saw he had moments where he stepped
(06:43):
up defensively. It's just not consistent. It's like Luca, right,
Luca can play defense. He's not gonna be a great defender,
but he can be good enough and we saw that
from Towns. So Bridges is the other flashpoint in this article.
It's like he didn't really get his role. Like if
mckail bridges is your fourth best player, you should be
(07:04):
in the finals. I mean mckel bridges is borderline all star,
probably a three on most teams. I mean, he's not
the creator Austin Reeves's, but he's a better defender, although
you wouldn't know it guarding Haliburt in this series. And
just weirdly, he didn't want to like attack the rim.
It was like he didn't totally know his role. And
how much of this can you chalk up to Hey man,
(07:26):
it was your one a lot, I mean, two new
starters in Bridges and Towns. That's not going to get
fixed in one season, you know. I think it's almost
as if they have too many really good players and
not enough role players.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And if you look at you guys, know I like
to go to hoops Hype. They have all the salaries.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
It's kind of interesting that the guys who are up
their contracts, they just happen to be a lot of
the Knicks bench players.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
So is there a world.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Where the Knicks could tinker around the edges and all
of a sudden you get role players you need, Like
how the thunder have a deep bench, the Pacers have
a deep bench. I saw stat that the Knicks starters
averaged ninety four points per game in the regular season,
which is an astronomical number, trailing one team. And that
(08:19):
one team is Denver, who had no bench, didn't trust
their bench and wore down. So like, do you move
on from Precious to Chua Campaign?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Delon Wright?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
These are guys who all played well. Campaign kind of
got bench there. Landry Shammitt, can you get off PJ.
Tucker's short contract? Can you make moves around the edges
or do you need to make a big move now?
I don't want to be reactionary as a Knicks fan.
This is obviously disappointing. A lot of people are gonna
want to run Carl Anthony Towns out of the building.
So Rob, I'll start here. I want to take a
(08:49):
deep breath, do a full on analysis, and I will
just say there needs to be some sort of team meeting.
And I also read in that in that article by
the athletic that there was an abnormally large number of
I don't know if emergency team meetings is the right word,
(09:09):
but the team would like they didn't understand why they
kept falling behind by twenty all the time, the lack
of consistency, and they kept calling these team meetings. Not
everybody was on the same page. I don't want to
be alarmist, but who's the leader of this team? Is
it Brunson because he's not a very vocal guy. Is
it Cat he's been there a minute and he's kind.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Of a space cadet. Could it be Bridges? Could it
be Annobie?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I don't know, And you know, Josh Hart is kind
of maybe the heartbeat of the team. He took some
jabs at Tibbs this season, So a lot of questions,
not a lot of answers in the wake of the loss.
But Rob, is it okay to take a deep breath
and be like, Hey, I don't want to run TIBs
out of town. That might happen, but I need to
take a deep breath and be like, how did this happen?
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Fox Sports Radio has the best YES sports talk lineup
in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR
to listen live.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Yeah, I don't think that that's wrong at all. But
the important thing is to note that you do have
to look at yourself in the mirror when things go
the way they did. To your point, if you want
to look at the glass half full, yes, this is
the greatest Knicks team in twenty five years. You know,
they make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, they roll
through the defending champion Boston Celtics. Obviously there's a masteris
(10:33):
there with Jason Tatum. But you can say that, right,
you can say, as you mentioned, Karl Anthony Towns arrives
a week before training camp starts and you're kind of
thrown together. That's the positive outlook of it. The negative
is from January one until the end of the season,
the Nick starters, which they are a very top heavy team,
(10:55):
were outscored by one point four points per one hundred possessions.
In the postseason. That group was a minus thirty three
overall heading into Game six, where obviously they got blown
out again in Game six. And the issue that they're
running into is something I think you pointed out. They
have too many guys who are too good for their roles.
(11:19):
Mcal Bridges is too good to be a fourth option.
Og Ananobi is too good to be a third or
fourth option. They are both more than capable of having
things run through them, as we saw when Jalen Brunson
got hurt towards the end of the season. When Brunson
went down, it allowed town to step up. It allowed
macal to get back to doing some of the things
that he did in Brooklyn. I know Brooklyn wasn't very good,
(11:41):
but it shows that he's capable of doing more. When
you are in a situation where your best players, in
which case the there's four of them on discount Josh Hart,
are all asked save for Jalen Brunson to take a
step back with the way they operate for the team
to succeed, that can get really tricky, really quickly. All right,
(12:01):
And case in point when you look at the Towns
Brunson pairing in the playoffs, Okay, when Jalen Brunson is
on and Carlon Towns is off, they're plus four point four.
When Towns is on and Brunson is off, they're plus eleven.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
That didn't make sense.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
And I'm not saying that Jalen Brunson is not a
good player. I'm not going full baking Ham and it's
saying you can't win with him as your best player.
What I am saying, though, is he needs to adjust
the way he plays, especially in the playoffs, if this
team is going to take the next step. If you
look at the usage rate for this playoffs, Jalen Brunson
(12:45):
was thirty two and a half. The next closest guy
was Carl Towns at twenty five. Mccal bridges was nineteen,
Og was eighteen. To put into context that usage rate
situation amongst active players, here's what we're looking at Luca,
which is that thirty six in his career in the playoff,
which is crazy. And I think we've talked about this.
(13:05):
As good as he is, he's gonna have to make
some adjustment if he's gonna end up winning a championship.
Donovan Mitchell has never made it past a second round.
Russell Westbrook's a historical playoff flame out. Yannis at thirty two,
so right there where Brunson is. But Yannis, I think
we can all agree as a much better player. Guys
with lower usage rates than Brunson thirty two, Lebron James
thirty one, Kevin Durant thirty, Devin Booker thirty, Nikola Jokic thirty.
(13:34):
So Jalen Brunson and I like Jalen Brunson short Kings unite,
I love Jalen Brunson. The fact is, if you are
gonna be that ball dominant, the chances of you winning
are very slim, unless you are a seven foot freak
like Giannis or arguably the greatest all time in Lebron James.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Well, the counter would be, hey, you know, Luca was
a great point guard, struggled to get out of the
first round largely, and then Dallas got him two rim
running bigs lively in Gafford, and wouldn't you know it,
they're catching lobs left and right, and defensively they're making
up for Luca. However, with the Knicks, when Brunson's your
(14:18):
point guard and cats on the court, you don't have
a rim protector. Cat ain't no rim protector. That's just
not happening. So they tried the Mitchell Robinson thing. Mitchell
Robinson great, but you know what, Hey, we don't need
to really defend him at all, and we'll just foul
him since you can't make any free throws. And then
the Knicks were scared to play Mitchell Robinson. Remember he
(14:40):
would like literally cross half court and they would just
folllo him and be like, all.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Right, we'll put you on the line. And you know,
the one name that's interesting here rob is Josh Hart
and I like him a lot. He does so many
good things.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
But when you can't shoot, they can then hide your
their worst defender, sometimes a center on you, or you
just keep your center kind of near the paint and
he's your room protector.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
We saw Chet Holmgren do that against against the Wolves.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
They would just basically put Chet Holmgren on Mike Conley
and it's like, well, Mike Conley's not gonna kill us
from deep.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
We'll just have Chet hang.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Around the rim and when O when Anthony Edwards drives, hello,
so you got by the first wave and here's Chet
and it's like, you know, the Knicks kind of sort
of struggled. I mean, the Pacers shot like fifty I
think it was fifty four percent on twos in the series,
and then they erupt from threes in a couple of
games and I think you can win a title with
(15:38):
Brunston as your best player.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
They just won fifty games last year, second round, this year,
conference finals, like they're right there, and let's remember ye.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
I think they need more role players if that's if
that's what we're gonna do.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
So okay, so do you Josh Hart's a role player right?
If he could shoot threes, he would be a slightly
better rule.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Absolutely, But like you saw the Pacers, they basically rant
it all back. Their role players can shoot. Nie Smith
Nemhar didn't have a good series. The kid Ben Shephard,
he could shoot coming off. I mean a guy Turner
can shoot. But Thomas Bryant can shoot. And the Pacers
lit it up from three. Now, ok C is the
other one because their role players are really really good defenders.
(16:21):
I do think, and we'll get to previewing the finals
later in the week. I do think the Thunders are
gonna have some problems here because Indiana shoots the.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Three way better than Minnesota did. It's not even close.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
And you know, you give all those wide open threes
to McDaniel's Randall Conley. Now it's going to the Pacers
and their guys bombs away. So I think that's gonna
be a good series, but it's so much easier said
than done. Rob, Hey, let me look at the free
agents and let's just pluck the best three and D guys,
which is what you want. But I guess if you're
asking me who would I rank moving off of listen
(16:54):
if you can get Yannis for Kat and Heart and
whatever picks, sure, I just don't think that's a I
don't think that.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Yeah, I don't think it's either.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
So if you're gonna move off towns, what do you like? Honestly,
Myles Turner would be freaking great now. He commits a
lot of fact he was in foul trouble all series,
but he's a really good three point shooter. Rim protector
like the Celtics, they don't they don't have one, right
Horford and perzinkis well, they're not blocking anything. Okay, See
does have Chett Hartenstein left to a lesser extent. Minnesota's
(17:26):
rim protector, Rudy Gobert, was played off the floor largely
against Oka See and then they had no room protector,
So like, who does have a room protector who shoots threes?
Like those guys are almost unicorns and roster construction is
just gonna be so pivotal this summer. It feels like
the audience is getting smarter when it comes to this
stuff because it's not as easy as boy the Knicks
(17:48):
could use Rudy Gobert, Like that wouldn't work, Rudy and Cat.
We already saw those two together, you know, like Evan
Mobley and Jared Allen were a great tandem in the
regular season, and then in the playoffs they missed their
threes and that team was zero to defend. So it's like,
I don't know, man, I I I if you're asking
me today June second, Jay, what do you what's your move?
Speaker 3 (18:11):
I would get. I would go Michael Malone over Tibbs.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Keep the starting five six, you know, top six guys
stay and then around the edges, make some moves and
get role players who are going to contribute, come come playoffs.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Well, I think ultimately they're gonna run it back. And
even in the athletic piece that you referenced to open
up the pod. Later on in there, they kind of
bury that. You know, TIBs is unlikely to get fired,
you know, because he has a good relationship with Leon Rose.
You know, obviously the dole In factor always has to
be considered, but the expectation is that that Tis will
be back. And to your point, I think they have
(18:57):
a great There's a reason why before the season you
and I both picked the Knicks to make the finals
and to win the championship because we like their five.
We like that theoretically how they all fit together. I
think what it ultimately comes down to is, if you
are going to roll with these five, you need to
have Brunson take a little bit of a step back
(19:20):
so the other guys can step up. Because there's no
good reason why you should be paying og Ananobi. What
is this entering next season forty million dollars to have
a usage rate of eighteen. Mccal bridges is going to
get an extension, assuming they don't trade him this upcoming offseason.
He's going to be paid in the we'll say thirty
(19:40):
five to four. So you can't have those two guys
making it combine seventy five eighty million dollars to be
glorified role players, they have to be more involved in
the offense moving forward. And if that's not what you
want to do, if you say, you know what, Jalen
Brunson is the heartbeat of our team. He's our he's
our captain. He has brought us back to relevance in
(20:02):
a way that we haven't seen since Patrick Ewing. If
that's what you're going to do, then then the logical
step is to try to flip Towns, try to fip Ananobi.
You're probably not gonna get the back which you gave
up to get Bridges the five first round picks, but
you need guys who are then gonna fill those roles
(20:23):
as nothing but three and D. That's all you're gonna
do because Brun's is gonna orchestrate the offense and macal
Bridges defense. Taking a step back. Og Ananobi is a
very good player, but I wouldn't call him a specialist
in either one of those categories. Yeah, so did you
say that OG's making forty He's making thirty nine, so
he's their third best player, right? Yes?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Okay, Miles Turner, Andrew Nemhard and Obi Toppin are combined
to make thirty five. Ben Matherin, who's the Facer's third
best player, Haliburton and Siakam clearly are top two. If
it's Turner, you know he's a free agent. But like
Obi Toppins at twelve point nine, Nie Smith eleven million.
(21:05):
I mean Nie Smith is like, that's what you want, right,
a starter who can play defense, bang threes and is
making eleven million a year.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Do you how hard those are to find?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
The Celtic's head these yeh, by the way, and like
TJ McConnell is at nine million, he is so valuable
off the bench. He's better than any Knicks player coming
off the bench. Ben Matherin, first round pick seven million.
I mean it's they're just bizarre, Like it feels just unicornish.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
How they're built.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
But then you look at the Thunder and you're like, damn,
they've got a lot of good players who are not
making a lot of money. So maybe now that you
drill down like that and mentioned OG's at forty can
you win a title when your third best player is
making forty mil?
Speaker 3 (21:46):
I mean Austin Reeves is making what like fifteen.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Well, see, I think you can, but you have to
use him like a forty million dollar player. That's the prob.
Like again, it's like a Chicken or the egg type thing,
because I absolutely think og and Andobi is good enough
to warrant the contract, you know, especially with the way
things are getting paid now, like he's he's making you
know what, Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram money, Michael Porter Junior money.
So he can absolutely be that guy. The problem though,
(22:13):
is if you're only gonna use him in a three
and D role, would you rather have og Andob at
forty or would rather have Rio Hachimoor at seventeen? You
know what I mean? Would you rather have Ognob at
forty or would you rather have Calden Johnson at nineteen?
You know? Would you rather have Karris LeVert at sixteen?
(22:35):
Like they're obviously OG's a better player than all of
those guys, But if they're only gonna use him in
that limited way, then I'm rather play at limited salary.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
So you said, Brunston, take a step back, and how
do you how would you quantify that just less usage?
Because he was brilliant in Game five. Now you could argue, hey,
the pacers.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Were going on the road. They weren't gonna He was
heavily balled up. Even in Games three and four, he
went to the line ten times, twelve times in Game five,
I'm sorry. Game six, two free throw attempts, Rob, that's it.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Og and Arnobi took as many shots as Brunson cat
took nineteen. I mean that sounds like Brunson may have
taken a step back or he just got that ball
out of his hands a lot because the prent Pazers
were pressuring the hell out of him. But like, I
don't That's where it gets difficult with Brunson, like Steve Nash,
did he need to take a step back or was
he like such a great distributor that he didn't.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
But the thing is, I don't know what those Suns
team for example, those Suns teams, they didn't have anybody
else you could create. The difference is New York has
guys who can. Like mccal did it in Brooklyn, they
just weren't any good. Og did it in Toronto. They
just weren't any good. But I'm not asking you to
lead the team in that regard. I'm saying, hey, for
ten to fifteen minutes to night. Can we run seven
(23:55):
minutes through mcal Can we run six minutes through og?
Can we run shit through Towns? Say hey cat, We're
gonna run the offense through you, either on the low
block or the high post and just kind of see
what happens. And they just don't do that. And I
know usage rate is not the bell end all, but
to put it in a context, Tyrese Halliburton averages double
digit assists with the usage rate of twenty two because
(24:19):
he makes quick decisions. He gets the ball, either he
does something with it or he moves it on quickly.
Jalen Bruns is gonna dribble the hall out of that thing,
and he's gonna pick and roll and pick and roll
and wait to get somebody off him. And you know,
see what he can do to attack. And it's a
very effective way of playing. The problem is, is it
mutes kind of everybody else around you?
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Yea?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
So I wonder if this becomes a Brunson issue. I
think Towns is gonna be the guy I personally don't think.
I mean, we got to see my guess is rob
This week we hear a lot of Milwaukee Bucks Gianni's
talk because you know, no disrespect to the Pacers or Thunder,
but where Giannis could land is infinitely more interesting than this.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
I will just preface it.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
I'm wanted some NBA text change with Buddies, and I
do believe that the Pacers are live to win this series.
I know you said, you gave me a stat like
they're the fifth highest favorite since like nineteen seventy or something.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Nineteen sixty eight, fifth hides, fifth high sides.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
We'll get into it, but I'm just some of the
notes that I jotted down while watching Rob.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
The Uh. Of course, my kids said that, Okay, here
we go.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
So, Okayse wants to run. Well, SODA's Indiana, right, so
that's not gonna be an issue. Minnesota did not want
to run. Okse is a good three point shooting team.
Indiana has been great in the playoffs. I keep winning
for a fall off.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
They're not.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
They're so this whole like, ay, well, just keep Haliburton
out of the paint. That's not going to work against Indiana.
They have too many good three point shooters.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Usually.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Okase's depth, we know it killed Denver and Minnesota didn't
have depth either. The Pacers I think deepest team in
the East. You could argue deepest team in the league.
So again, not an edge for OKC. And the other
thing is Okaysee kept turning over Minnesota. Minnesota sloppy with
the ball. Fifteen to twenty turnovers, there's just no room
for error. Tyrese Haliburton, I believe had.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Let me see if he had any turnovers.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Oh, he had four turnovers in game six. Wow, he
had five turnovers through the first five games. Indiana does
not turn the ball over. So it's like if okac's
defense thrives on turnovers and Indy's not turning it over,
I mean something's got to give. Either Okaysee's defense takes
a step back or Indie turns the ball over. I
don't know, Rob, We'll take our time. Do you have
(26:39):
any give Indiana any shot here?
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Absolutely? I mean when you have the number two ranked
offense period in the season and the way they've been playing.
Fun fact, they've actually lost less games in these playoffs
than Okase has or I think it's the same. And
it's four for for OKAC and it's three. No, it's
(27:02):
four for Indiana. They lost one, one and two, and
you would never think that, by the way, the conversation
is around these two teams. Now, I will say, you know,
historically it is a different sport. But the last time
we saw the best offense and the best defense play
each other for all the marbles, I believe it was
the Seahawks and the Broncos in the Super Bowl and
(27:23):
that did not go very well for Denver. So you know,
the defense usually wins down those situations. But no, I mean,
if the ratings are going to be terrible but the
basketball is gonna be great, I feel.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Like it would be good.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Yeah, So we'll see.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
All right, we are back tomorrow, some NBA we'll get. Obviously,
OTAs are ramping up in the NFL. We're on Caitlin
Clark watch. There's chatter she may return this week, and
nobody's talked about the fever since she went down. Obviously,
we're around graduation time, whether it's college, high school, eighth grade.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Although I'm told eighth grade is called promotion out here
in Californa. Now who's unaware of that term? But uh,
you know, summer is upon us. Should be a great summer.
I think this is a good NBA draft. It's gonna
be it's gonna be a good one back tomorrow.
Host
Jason McIntyre
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