May 18, 2025 • 25 mins
The Knicks take down Boston in 6 games to advance to the ECF for the 1st time since 2000 (vs the Pacers)
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Start spreading the new, new, new New. We interrupt our
program to bring you this important message, New York. I
love you, I love New York. Right works are going
(00:37):
to the Eastern Conference Finals. What's going on? People? Welcome
to another episode of the Off the Ball Podcast with me.
You're host Chris Lebron and man, what a beautiful morning,
What a beautiful morning in New York City, because our
New York Knicks, our New York Knicks are heading to
(00:58):
the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since two thousand,
two thousand. I was like ten, ten years old when
that happened, you know, And I mentioned this on previous
TikTok lives and shows. I was like, since that time,
(01:20):
only us, the Wizards, and the Hornets have not made
it back to the Eastern Conference Finals since then. And
I said, I never want to be associated with anything
the Wizards or the Hornets do. And we ended it.
We ended it, and it feels absolutely beautiful. Nicks take
(01:42):
care of the Boston Celtics last night in a one
nineteen eighty one victory, and for the first time all series,
they look like the best team, like they dominated this
game essentially kind of from the joubt It just felt
like they just had had more energy and something they
(02:02):
lacked in Game five. Just didn't think they had enough energy,
and you know, it was just the point in the effort.
But this game, it was just not the case. They
came out and just Boston just didn't have it. Man,
Boston just they I feel like Boston just used all
their energy in Game five and just couldn't replicate it
(02:25):
in Game six. They just didn't not have it at all.
They're quite three of eleven, you know, two way eight
from three. Jalen Brown was kind of their most consistent guy,
but he just didn't have enough. You know, Luke Cornett's
got the start. You know, he didn't look like a
second coming of a Hakeem Elijahuan. You know, I don't
(02:48):
even think he did. He have a blog. He only
had one block compared to the eight he had in
the previous game. But the Knicks take care of business
that second quarter. They just absolutely bum rush Boston, and
Boston just simply had no, no, no more fight in them.
And there was a lot of people saying, oh, it's
(03:09):
this Boston team better without Jason Tatum, blah blah blah,
And I just couldn't believe people were actually saying that,
And I'm like, oh, you know, the Jason Tatum hate
is it's real crazy. But when people were saying that
they were better team without him, I was like, that's
just one game, guys, We're gonna go off one game
and say they're better. And they certainly weren't better. They
(03:32):
just got absolutely they just did not have enough and
the Knicks were able to just bombard them. Karl Anthony
Towns was really set the tone early. He was physical,
he was aggressive, and that's what I wanted to we
wanted to see from Carl because we didn't feel like
we've seen that much, especially in Game five. But he
was able to take care of business and have a
(03:55):
solid game. Still struggling from deep, which is kind of weird.
Not any he hasn't really taken a lot of threes
in this postseason, but he had you know, he has
has a bit effective taking three. But you know, he
was able to uh get in the paint and do
some some good stuff and he had twenty one and ten.
I believe twenty one and twelve he had. Uh was
(04:16):
able to do really good job. Brunson, you know, was
Brunson didn't have to really you know, take abundant you know,
abundance of shots. You know, he was just able to
you know, be steady. You know, we didn't need really
much from him, which is pretty pretty good when you know,
that's how you know things are clicking when you don't
(04:37):
need Bronson only had fourteen shots. You know, Brunson was
the fourth leading you know shot attempter, you know for yesterday.
So when you win by you know what they went by,
it's it's almost thirty. You know, you'll you'll take that.
So Fordy, it was a forty man, It's insane, man,
(04:59):
you know. So, uh, just the great effort, man, Just
a great effort by this Nick team. They just took
care that the crowd was into it. You know, that
was that was some people were complaining about the crowd
in games. You know, Game three, I think people were
well complaining about but it seemed like the crowd was rocking. So,
(05:20):
you know, now and now they advanced and they're going
to play a team that they played last year and
in the second round and got bounced in seven. And
fortunately there's a bundans of injuries. But hey, that's a
part of the game, and the Pacers took care of
business and they they dismantled the Calves, you know, a
team that won I think sixty four games, and they
(05:40):
took care of business. So now we have that matchup
and the winner will head on to the NBA Finals.
And it's just a crazy imagination to think, you know,
in I guess said the two thousand, this team has
not made an Eastern Conference finals, not much success. And
if you're a nick fan, you know it's right. We
(06:01):
since the turn of the certain century, this team has
not had a lot of success overall in the last
twenty five years, you know, and for us to be
in this position where you know, we have a chance
to you know, we're four wins away from getting to
the finals, you know, and that's something it's been since
(06:23):
ninety nine since we got to the finals. So a
tremendous opportunity. But it ain't gonna be easy. But let
let's keep it a buck. It's not going to be easy,
you know, taking on the Paciers team, because this Paciers team,
especially since the turn of the new year, they have
really been on a They have been one of the
best teams in basketball. They have been playing high level basketball. Halliburton.
(06:48):
I don't know what happened to Halliburton. The beginning of
the season. He was really struggling. He did not look
like himself, and he's turned it on and he's looked
like an all borderline All NBA player. And I know
some people that put them on their All NBA thirteen.
You know, Seeakam has been solid. You know, they they run,
(07:10):
they run nine, ten deep. And that's the thing if
you're New York that you have to really be concerned with,
is their debt. They got guys, you know, you sometimes
you just see the scoreboard, you know, and you just
see this guy ten twelve and you see eight of them,
eight nine, ten guys with ten plus ten, twelve plus points.
(07:31):
And that's kind of what there been. And obviously, you know,
it'll it's all going to start with Brunson and how
Nam Hard and Natesmith are going to guard them, and
that's gonna be that first game. We're really going to
see how the refs and and how the refs are
going to dig, you know, officiate those two. When it
(07:54):
comes to Brunson, We're really going to see how they
that and that's really going to dictate the series because
they they were they played solid against Brunson last year.
They really did. They did a good job and they've
done a really good job associated and them. Hart's them.
Heart's one of those guys where you don't hear much
from him in the regular season and and he you know,
in this postseason he's looked like you know, he he
(08:16):
he takes his game. It's playoff them hard, right, he
takes his game to another level. You know. It's kind
of what you see from like Jamal Murray or like
I remember, you know, football, Julian Edelman levels up in
the playoffs. So you know that's going to be a
very interesting matchup to see how that goes you know.
But there their d team and they and they they're
fast paced, you know, so it's gonna be up to
(08:37):
the Knicks to really dictate, try to get them in
the half court. Kar Anthony Towns and Miles turn is
going to be an interesting matchup too. Miles has had
some success against Towns, so that's going to be another
matchup to see how you know, they that that goes about.
So it's it's just it's going to be a really fun,
(08:57):
fun series, you know, and it's like it's not gonna
be easy though. Pacers are are really really tough team,
and just what they were able to do to Cleveland
and just really stifle their their offense. And Cleveland, I
think they had the best offense and the whole league,
or one of the best offenses in the whole league,
(09:19):
and the Pacers were really able to contain them. You know. Obviously,
Cleveland was dealt with injuries and Garland had to tow
you know, Hunter was out, you know, Robie was hurt.
So they dealt with some injuries. But still they were
able to to really dismantle it and make you know,
(09:41):
just say, hey man, Donovan, we're just gonna make you
do everything and tire you out and let somebody else
beat us. And just wasn't the case. Guys didn't show up,
and they were really able to neutralize Cleveland's role players.
And that's gonna be the thing is, can we get
someone other than our top guys to step up? You know,
(10:02):
obviously we know we don't really go deep. You know,
it's essentially you know, Deuce and Mitch off the bench,
you know, so Mitch is gonna be in another important
piece to this indust series too, you know. So it's uh,
it's just just a good time. It's just a really
feels it's an exciting time. Obviously, it's an exciting time obviously.
(10:26):
So uh but Halliburton, you know, how how do we
handle Halliburn? You know, how do we make sure he
doesn't you know, be the playmaker he is, but also
to score, because when you have that when he's also
when he's scoring, when he's being a playmaker and he's scoring,
it's it's really tough to beat this Pacers team, you know.
(10:49):
So it's really impressive. What I mean, I really hate
to to give a lot of credit to Indiana, but man,
it's really been impressive what they did did since since
in the new year, Man, they have really played really
really good basketball, and Carlisle's really has these guys really
ramping up the defense and just I mean what they
(11:12):
did to Cleaven was really impressive, really impressive, you know,
and they just dominated, dominated, you know, So they don't panic,
They play at their they play at a nice pace,
and they're hitting shots. Man, they're hitting shots. They're they're
absolutely hitting shots. So that that's going to be the thing,
(11:34):
you know. The Knick's rotations are gonna have to be crisp.
We've seen at times it hasn't, so you know, they're
going to really have to be disciplined on defense because
they can they can hurt you. You know, we saw
it at times with the with with the Celtics, but
the Pacers could really hurt you because they're they're they
can go nine to ten deep, you know. But you know,
(11:57):
it's just going back to the Celtics. And listen, there's
gonna be people saying, oh, well, the Knicks our fortune
because Tatum got hurt and this and that, and listen,
say what you want, but I mean, we could say
this about so many teams. I mean, crap, the Pacers
last year, you know, we could say that. But listen,
(12:17):
wait here, the Knicks did take care of They took
care of business. Hey, Boston didn't do their job in
the first two games. Boston easily should have been up
too well going to the Garden. And then if you know,
maybe in a different world, the Tatum stuff doesn't happen,
you know, and there they win for ho or or
(12:38):
for to one and they're playing the Pacers right now,
and Knicks fans are feeling a lot different, different, but
that's just how basketball is, man, you know, And I
think that's when you know, you don't wish injuries on anyone, man,
But when that happened, you're just like, okay, this is
(12:58):
you know, we gotta take advance, you have to. And
that's why people were probably a little upset after Game
five because you felt like, all right, do just don't
give them any hope. Let's not get Boston any because listen,
they still have a good basketball team, even without Jason Tatum,
still have a really good team. So you're still like, ah, okay,
we gave them hope. You know, they came in and
(13:22):
I think people a lot of frustrated too with with
that was every game till yesterday Boston was up by
at least fourteen points, you know, you know, and it's
just like, all right, why are we keep why are
we always in this position while we're down in double digits,
you know, And that's why it was important, you know,
game six, Let's not let's not get down. Let's not
(13:44):
get down for fifteen twenty points does not give them that.
Let's let's counter that, let's be the aggressor. Let's let's
just absolutely don't give them any hope. And that second
quarter we really put it on them. And I mean,
I think at one point was like twenty twenty nine
to thirty points with like a couple three minutes, three
four minutes left in the in the second quarter, and
(14:07):
and and you and you had the feeling like, Okay,
I think we got this in the back. It just
felt like the Knicks were in control and they weren't
gonna let up. Where in the first two games with
Boston the other way, I know, Boston fans are like, Eh,
we're all.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Big, but ah, we're still jacking up threes like a couple.
If we keep jacking up threes and we're missing them,
you guys can counter that. And that's where it able
to happen. And you have to feel you have to
feel sick if you're a Boston fan, because.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
It's like you probably should have won this series, but
undisciplined basketball and living and dying by the three. I'll
still never understand that. That feels like meltpractice. The fact
that Boston played like amateurs in the first two games,
and listen foot with Tatum that they there, they were
(15:06):
the better team, but they did stupid things things that
you would expect young up and coming teams to do.
You know, things you're seeing in the ope with Okay See.
You know when they're playing Denver. Okay, she's a better
basketball team than Denver, but they're doing they're making some
mistakes because they're haven't been in that position with that corps,
(15:28):
you know, when where Denver has been around with each other,
that core has been together for you know what six
seven around that five six seven years, you know, so
they're not going to make those mistakes the way Okay
see is so you would think Boston they've been around
forever and they just made some amateur mistakes this series,
(15:51):
you know, and just the amount of threes they took,
but it's just it's just not even so much the
amount of threes is the shot quality. The shot quality
just wasn't good at all, you know. And when you
can do that when you play Orlando, right, you could
do that when you play Orlando, you couldn't. You can't
(16:12):
do that when you play with the Knicks. And that
was my thing. If the Knicks were going to win
this series is it might just be because Boston is
going to give us opportunities, and that's what exactly what
happened in those first two games. They gave us opportunities
and we were able to steal too. And it's crazy
because you think after game one they took what seventy
(16:33):
threes or something like that, insane sixty threes, something insane
like that, and you would think, all right, guys, we
we got to scrap that. We can't do that. And listen,
technically they shot less threes in game two, but they
was the same mindset. You know, after getting offensive rebounds,
chucking three, it was like there was a couple possessions,
(16:54):
but they got back to back offensive rebounds and the
minute Derek White got the on his hands, it launched, launched,
and that type of basketball, you can't do that against
a team that is legit built, was built you know,
for you like the Knicks built their team for Boston.
(17:16):
They came back to bite them. It came back to
bite them. But it just it did feel good that
the Knicks dominated because it's like I said, being down
double digits in every single game, you know, it was
absolutely you know, uh insane, insane, you know, but they
took care of business man, took care of Tim's Tim
(17:38):
scared me at the end because he still got the
starters in later and I know you want to you
want to put the estimation point on that w but
it was like all right, time to you know, get
the idea, get Poorty, get it, get you know, get
the get the youngins in there, get PJ in there,
you know, get you know, get those boys in there,
so we can you know, uh, you know, we don't
(18:00):
need anything crazy happening. And luckily nothing happened, and we
took care of business. Took care of business. We beat
the defending champions, no longer the defending champions. That's it,
you know, so they will be a new new champion,
you know. So, I mean we got okay, see tonight, Okay,
see Denver. That should be a great That should be
(18:21):
a great game. You know, game seven. I mean there's
no better feeling than a Game seven, you know. So,
and the winner plays the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have It's
just crazy the story like this is probably this might
be one of the more unconventional, Like if Denver pulls
us off, you have Denver Minnesota, all right, and the
(18:41):
storylines with that, you know, with Denver firing, you know,
their championship coach, you know it kind of just not
playing good basketball. At the end, everyone thinks, all right,
they might be one and done in the playoffs. And
then West Cops fired. Minnesota struggled, really on, struggled big time.
Early on, Man did not look good. People were talking about, well,
(19:03):
dam man, you know, is that the next you know,
would Luke again trade? Is that he next?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
It?
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Could he be the next big star to move on?
And you know Julius Randall get rid of him, and
the Rudy and all break maybe bowed us up. And
they're in the Western Conference fonse. Same thing, you know
the Pacers early on, Man, oh, last year was a fluke.
They you know, you know, they fooled us, They scammed everyone.
And then Halliburton ain't really as good. He shouldn't have
(19:29):
been that Olympic team. Blah blah blah. They're in the
Eastern Conference sponse. The New York Knicks. Everyone doubted them
after we got blown out all the you know, three
out of the four games against Boston, they obliterated us.
Same thing with the Cleveland Cavaliers, you know, you know,
OKAC blew us out, like oh, the Knicks can't beat
any good team. You know, Tim shit gets fired. He's
(19:51):
playing these guys too many minutes this and that Conference finals.
So the story that these teams were a lot you know,
potentially with Denver, you know, if they if they advance over, oksee,
I mean they all came back from adversities this year.
Doubt a lot of people are doubting these teams, and
(20:11):
now they're potentially you know, Man versus the Joker, Halliburton
versus Brunson. Some great storylines there, some great storylines man.
So it's exciting. It's exciting times. You know, this playoffs
has been great. The playoffs have been great. You know,
it sucks. You know, we lost you know, Lillard to
(20:31):
the injury. You know, obviously Jason Tatum, you know, is
going to be out. So this boss, that Boston team
is going to look very different, you know next year.
You know, wonder what they're going to do if porzingis
who had an illness and that really that really hurt
them too. This is my I mean Tatum hurt, but
Porzing is practically not giving him anything this this series
(20:53):
that that really was a that was tough on them.
So you know, we'll see how they they come back,
you know, it's definitely gonna look like a different basketball team.
It's gonna look like a different basketball team for sure,
you know. And uh, you know, you have the Cavaliers
who got bounced. You know, what are they gonna look like?
I think they run it back. I think they just
(21:14):
you know, Garland injury, you know, so, and then you
have potentially in this Denver Okay, see okay, see see
okay see series. You know that's gonna I think, okay, see,
they'll probably run it back to you know, I could
see that happening. I don't even know. They have a
bunch of assets to make something really splashy. But Jalen
(21:37):
Williams has not been that good. I think he's had
like one really one good sick game in this series
and shooting in the thirties. And if he has another stinker,
maybe that's something they get the fair. And then what's
crazy with that series is we all knew that Jalen
Williams needs to be the All star he was this year,
(21:57):
and I was I felt good him this playoff series,
this playoff that he would step up, but there just
hasn't been the case. I mean, they've been lucky that
Lou Dort hit some big shot. Even loud Dort is
probably taking a little bit way too many threes from
my liking. But you know, they're gonna need a good
performance from Jay will from j DUP if they want
(22:18):
to advance, you know, and play in the conference finals
because you know, the you know, Yokic is gonna come
out and uh but uh, I think Gordon is questionable
with a with a handy. I think he pulled his handy.
So you know, we'll see how his you know, Uh,
this should be a game where okay, see takes care
of business and they win big, but never count out,
(22:41):
you know, a champion. And Yokic is a three time MVP.
He's not going out lightly, you know, so they're gonna
that's gonna be a knock him out, track him off fight.
So we'll see what that and then obviously, you know,
minute will be waiting for Minnesota, and Minnesota is taking
care of business man. They're taking care of business man.
They took down Brown and then they took down staph
(23:04):
you know at Jimmy, you know, so that's uh, they
they they are. This could be a legendary run for
the Minnesota Bulls and Anthony Edwards and Julius rand was
playing Tremen's basketball. You know, he feels comfortable, he's healthy,
he has a good, best surrounding cast that he's had,
you know. Uh, so good things, man. So we got
(23:26):
a game seven today. The New York Knicks won in
six games and they'll take on the Pacers. So that's
going to be Ah, that's gonna be fun, man. I
think I think the first game is Wednesday, Wednesday off work.
So we're gonna try to get to one of these
watch parties for sure, and uh and uh and be
(23:51):
a part of the crowd. Man. I've done the watch party,
so hopefully to be a part of that environment. It's
gonna be great. The Knicks have an opportunity to do
some they haven't done since ninety nine, man, when they
were the eight seed. You know, so special times, special
times right now in New York, you know, I know.
So let us enjoy it, man. I know a lot
of people, non New Yorkers or non Knicks fans, they
(24:14):
get mad when they see the Knicks fans, you know,
celebrate the way we celebrate. Let us enjoy this, man.
We had some nasty teams, man, you know that we
had to watch for the last quarter century. Man, let
us enjoy this, man, Let us enjoy this man. You know,
so what great times, great times to be a New
York Knicks fan. Exciting, man, really exciting. So make sure
(24:39):
to follow me on on Twitter, on Instagram. Off the
Ball pod, make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel.
Make sure to h have with five Stars on any
podcast platforms. But man, the New York Knicks win in
six and we are taking on the Pacers in the
(25:01):
Eastern Conference Finals with a chance to get to the
MBA Finals. Great times, great times. Man. But on that note,
be well, be safe, take care. Let's go next.
Start spreading the new, new, new New. We interrupt our
program to bring you this important message, New York. I
love you, I love New York. Right works are going
(00:37):
to the Eastern Conference Finals. What's going on? People? Welcome
to another episode of the Off the Ball Podcast with me.
You're host Chris Lebron and man, what a beautiful morning,
What a beautiful morning in New York City, because our
New York Knicks, our New York Knicks are heading to
(00:58):
the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since two thousand,
two thousand. I was like ten, ten years old when
that happened, you know, And I mentioned this on previous
TikTok lives and shows. I was like, since that time,
(01:20):
only us, the Wizards, and the Hornets have not made
it back to the Eastern Conference Finals since then. And
I said, I never want to be associated with anything
the Wizards or the Hornets do. And we ended it.
We ended it, and it feels absolutely beautiful. Nicks take
(01:42):
care of the Boston Celtics last night in a one
nineteen eighty one victory, and for the first time all series,
they look like the best team, like they dominated this
game essentially kind of from the joubt It just felt
like they just had had more energy and something they
(02:02):
lacked in Game five. Just didn't think they had enough energy,
and you know, it was just the point in the effort.
But this game, it was just not the case. They
came out and just Boston just didn't have it. Man,
Boston just they I feel like Boston just used all
their energy in Game five and just couldn't replicate it
(02:25):
in Game six. They just didn't not have it at all.
They're quite three of eleven, you know, two way eight
from three. Jalen Brown was kind of their most consistent guy,
but he just didn't have enough. You know, Luke Cornett's
got the start. You know, he didn't look like a
second coming of a Hakeem Elijahuan. You know, I don't
(02:48):
even think he did. He have a blog. He only
had one block compared to the eight he had in
the previous game. But the Knicks take care of business
that second quarter. They just absolutely bum rush Boston, and
Boston just simply had no, no, no more fight in them.
And there was a lot of people saying, oh, it's
(03:09):
this Boston team better without Jason Tatum, blah blah blah,
And I just couldn't believe people were actually saying that,
And I'm like, oh, you know, the Jason Tatum hate
is it's real crazy. But when people were saying that
they were better team without him, I was like, that's
just one game, guys, We're gonna go off one game
and say they're better. And they certainly weren't better. They
(03:32):
just got absolutely they just did not have enough and
the Knicks were able to just bombard them. Karl Anthony
Towns was really set the tone early. He was physical,
he was aggressive, and that's what I wanted to we
wanted to see from Carl because we didn't feel like
we've seen that much, especially in Game five. But he
was able to take care of business and have a
(03:55):
solid game. Still struggling from deep, which is kind of weird.
Not any he hasn't really taken a lot of threes
in this postseason, but he had you know, he has
has a bit effective taking three. But you know, he
was able to uh get in the paint and do
some some good stuff and he had twenty one and ten.
I believe twenty one and twelve he had. Uh was
(04:16):
able to do really good job. Brunson, you know, was
Brunson didn't have to really you know, take abundant you know,
abundance of shots. You know, he was just able to
you know, be steady. You know, we didn't need really
much from him, which is pretty pretty good when you know,
that's how you know things are clicking when you don't
(04:37):
need Bronson only had fourteen shots. You know, Brunson was
the fourth leading you know shot attempter, you know for yesterday.
So when you win by you know what they went by,
it's it's almost thirty. You know, you'll you'll take that.
So Fordy, it was a forty man, It's insane, man,
(04:59):
you know. So, uh, just the great effort, man, Just
a great effort by this Nick team. They just took
care that the crowd was into it. You know, that
was that was some people were complaining about the crowd
in games. You know, Game three, I think people were
well complaining about but it seemed like the crowd was rocking. So,
(05:20):
you know, now and now they advanced and they're going
to play a team that they played last year and
in the second round and got bounced in seven. And
fortunately there's a bundans of injuries. But hey, that's a
part of the game, and the Pacers took care of
business and they they dismantled the Calves, you know, a
team that won I think sixty four games, and they
(05:40):
took care of business. So now we have that matchup
and the winner will head on to the NBA Finals.
And it's just a crazy imagination to think, you know,
in I guess said the two thousand, this team has
not made an Eastern Conference finals, not much success. And
if you're a nick fan, you know it's right. We
(06:01):
since the turn of the certain century, this team has
not had a lot of success overall in the last
twenty five years, you know, and for us to be
in this position where you know, we have a chance
to you know, we're four wins away from getting to
the finals, you know, and that's something it's been since
(06:23):
ninety nine since we got to the finals. So a
tremendous opportunity. But it ain't gonna be easy. But let
let's keep it a buck. It's not going to be easy,
you know, taking on the Paciers team, because this Paciers team,
especially since the turn of the new year, they have
really been on a They have been one of the
best teams in basketball. They have been playing high level basketball. Halliburton.
(06:48):
I don't know what happened to Halliburton. The beginning of
the season. He was really struggling. He did not look
like himself, and he's turned it on and he's looked
like an all borderline All NBA player. And I know
some people that put them on their All NBA thirteen.
You know, Seeakam has been solid. You know, they they run,
(07:10):
they run nine, ten deep. And that's the thing if
you're New York that you have to really be concerned with,
is their debt. They got guys, you know, you sometimes
you just see the scoreboard, you know, and you just
see this guy ten twelve and you see eight of them,
eight nine, ten guys with ten plus ten, twelve plus points.
(07:31):
And that's kind of what there been. And obviously, you know,
it'll it's all going to start with Brunson and how
Nam Hard and Natesmith are going to guard them, and
that's gonna be that first game. We're really going to
see how the refs and and how the refs are
going to dig, you know, officiate those two. When it
(07:54):
comes to Brunson, We're really going to see how they
that and that's really going to dictate the series because
they they were they played solid against Brunson last year.
They really did. They did a good job and they've
done a really good job associated and them. Hart's them.
Heart's one of those guys where you don't hear much
from him in the regular season and and he you know,
in this postseason he's looked like you know, he he
(08:16):
he takes his game. It's playoff them hard, right, he
takes his game to another level. You know. It's kind
of what you see from like Jamal Murray or like
I remember, you know, football, Julian Edelman levels up in
the playoffs. So you know that's going to be a
very interesting matchup to see how that goes you know.
But there their d team and they and they they're
fast paced, you know, so it's gonna be up to
(08:37):
the Knicks to really dictate, try to get them in
the half court. Kar Anthony Towns and Miles turn is
going to be an interesting matchup too. Miles has had
some success against Towns, so that's going to be another
matchup to see how you know, they that that goes about.
So it's it's just it's going to be a really fun,
(08:57):
fun series, you know, and it's like it's not gonna
be easy though. Pacers are are really really tough team,
and just what they were able to do to Cleveland
and just really stifle their their offense. And Cleveland, I
think they had the best offense and the whole league,
or one of the best offenses in the whole league,
(09:19):
and the Pacers were really able to contain them. You know. Obviously,
Cleveland was dealt with injuries and Garland had to tow
you know, Hunter was out, you know, Robie was hurt.
So they dealt with some injuries. But still they were
able to to really dismantle it and make you know,
(09:41):
just say, hey man, Donovan, we're just gonna make you
do everything and tire you out and let somebody else
beat us. And just wasn't the case. Guys didn't show up,
and they were really able to neutralize Cleveland's role players.
And that's gonna be the thing is, can we get
someone other than our top guys to step up? You know,
(10:02):
obviously we know we don't really go deep. You know,
it's essentially you know, Deuce and Mitch off the bench,
you know, so Mitch is gonna be in another important
piece to this indust series too, you know. So it's uh,
it's just just a good time. It's just a really
feels it's an exciting time. Obviously, it's an exciting time obviously.
(10:26):
So uh but Halliburton, you know, how how do we
handle Halliburn? You know, how do we make sure he
doesn't you know, be the playmaker he is, but also
to score, because when you have that when he's also
when he's scoring, when he's being a playmaker and he's scoring,
it's it's really tough to beat this Pacers team, you know.
(10:49):
So it's really impressive. What I mean, I really hate
to to give a lot of credit to Indiana, but man,
it's really been impressive what they did did since since
in the new year, Man, they have really played really
really good basketball, and Carlisle's really has these guys really
ramping up the defense and just I mean what they
(11:12):
did to Cleaven was really impressive, really impressive, you know,
and they just dominated, dominated, you know, So they don't panic,
They play at their they play at a nice pace,
and they're hitting shots. Man, they're hitting shots. They're they're
absolutely hitting shots. So that that's going to be the thing,
(11:34):
you know. The Knick's rotations are gonna have to be crisp.
We've seen at times it hasn't, so you know, they're
going to really have to be disciplined on defense because
they can they can hurt you. You know, we saw
it at times with the with with the Celtics, but
the Pacers could really hurt you because they're they're they
can go nine to ten deep, you know. But you know,
(11:57):
it's just going back to the Celtics. And listen, there's
gonna be people saying, oh, well, the Knicks our fortune
because Tatum got hurt and this and that, and listen,
say what you want, but I mean, we could say
this about so many teams. I mean, crap, the Pacers
last year, you know, we could say that. But listen,
(12:17):
wait here, the Knicks did take care of They took
care of business. Hey, Boston didn't do their job in
the first two games. Boston easily should have been up
too well going to the Garden. And then if you know,
maybe in a different world, the Tatum stuff doesn't happen,
you know, and there they win for ho or or
(12:38):
for to one and they're playing the Pacers right now,
and Knicks fans are feeling a lot different, different, but
that's just how basketball is, man, you know, And I
think that's when you know, you don't wish injuries on anyone, man,
But when that happened, you're just like, okay, this is
(12:58):
you know, we gotta take advance, you have to. And
that's why people were probably a little upset after Game
five because you felt like, all right, do just don't
give them any hope. Let's not get Boston any because listen,
they still have a good basketball team, even without Jason Tatum,
still have a really good team. So you're still like, ah, okay,
we gave them hope. You know, they came in and
(13:22):
I think people a lot of frustrated too with with
that was every game till yesterday Boston was up by
at least fourteen points, you know, you know, and it's
just like, all right, why are we keep why are
we always in this position while we're down in double digits,
you know, And that's why it was important, you know,
game six, Let's not let's not get down. Let's not
(13:44):
get down for fifteen twenty points does not give them that.
Let's let's counter that, let's be the aggressor. Let's let's
just absolutely don't give them any hope. And that second
quarter we really put it on them. And I mean,
I think at one point was like twenty twenty nine
to thirty points with like a couple three minutes, three
four minutes left in the in the second quarter, and
(14:07):
and and you and you had the feeling like, Okay,
I think we got this in the back. It just
felt like the Knicks were in control and they weren't
gonna let up. Where in the first two games with
Boston the other way, I know, Boston fans are like, Eh,
we're all.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Big, but ah, we're still jacking up threes like a couple.
If we keep jacking up threes and we're missing them,
you guys can counter that. And that's where it able
to happen. And you have to feel you have to
feel sick if you're a Boston fan, because.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
It's like you probably should have won this series, but
undisciplined basketball and living and dying by the three. I'll
still never understand that. That feels like meltpractice. The fact
that Boston played like amateurs in the first two games,
and listen foot with Tatum that they there, they were
(15:06):
the better team, but they did stupid things things that
you would expect young up and coming teams to do.
You know, things you're seeing in the ope with Okay See.
You know when they're playing Denver. Okay, she's a better
basketball team than Denver, but they're doing they're making some
mistakes because they're haven't been in that position with that corps,
(15:28):
you know, when where Denver has been around with each other,
that core has been together for you know what six
seven around that five six seven years, you know, so
they're not going to make those mistakes the way Okay
see is so you would think Boston they've been around
forever and they just made some amateur mistakes this series,
(15:51):
you know, and just the amount of threes they took,
but it's just it's just not even so much the
amount of threes is the shot quality. The shot quality
just wasn't good at all, you know. And when you
can do that when you play Orlando, right, you could
do that when you play Orlando, you couldn't. You can't
(16:12):
do that when you play with the Knicks. And that
was my thing. If the Knicks were going to win
this series is it might just be because Boston is
going to give us opportunities, and that's what exactly what
happened in those first two games. They gave us opportunities
and we were able to steal too. And it's crazy
because you think after game one they took what seventy
(16:33):
threes or something like that, insane sixty threes, something insane
like that, and you would think, all right, guys, we
we got to scrap that. We can't do that. And listen,
technically they shot less threes in game two, but they
was the same mindset. You know, after getting offensive rebounds,
chucking three, it was like there was a couple possessions,
(16:54):
but they got back to back offensive rebounds and the
minute Derek White got the on his hands, it launched, launched,
and that type of basketball, you can't do that against
a team that is legit built, was built you know,
for you like the Knicks built their team for Boston.
(17:16):
They came back to bite them. It came back to
bite them. But it just it did feel good that
the Knicks dominated because it's like I said, being down
double digits in every single game, you know, it was
absolutely you know, uh insane, insane, you know, but they
took care of business man, took care of Tim's Tim
(17:38):
scared me at the end because he still got the
starters in later and I know you want to you
want to put the estimation point on that w but
it was like all right, time to you know, get
the idea, get Poorty, get it, get you know, get
the get the youngins in there, get PJ in there,
you know, get you know, get those boys in there,
so we can you know, uh, you know, we don't
(18:00):
need anything crazy happening. And luckily nothing happened, and we
took care of business. Took care of business. We beat
the defending champions, no longer the defending champions. That's it,
you know, so they will be a new new champion,
you know. So, I mean we got okay, see tonight, Okay,
see Denver. That should be a great That should be
(18:21):
a great game. You know, game seven. I mean there's
no better feeling than a Game seven, you know. So,
and the winner plays the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have It's
just crazy the story like this is probably this might
be one of the more unconventional, Like if Denver pulls
us off, you have Denver Minnesota, all right, and the
(18:41):
storylines with that, you know, with Denver firing, you know,
their championship coach, you know it kind of just not
playing good basketball. At the end, everyone thinks, all right,
they might be one and done in the playoffs. And
then West Cops fired. Minnesota struggled, really on, struggled big time.
Early on, Man did not look good. People were talking about, well,
(19:03):
dam man, you know, is that the next you know,
would Luke again trade? Is that he next?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
It?
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Could he be the next big star to move on?
And you know Julius Randall get rid of him, and
the Rudy and all break maybe bowed us up. And
they're in the Western Conference fonse. Same thing, you know
the Pacers early on, Man, oh, last year was a fluke.
They you know, you know, they fooled us, They scammed everyone.
And then Halliburton ain't really as good. He shouldn't have
(19:29):
been that Olympic team. Blah blah blah. They're in the
Eastern Conference sponse. The New York Knicks. Everyone doubted them
after we got blown out all the you know, three
out of the four games against Boston, they obliterated us.
Same thing with the Cleveland Cavaliers, you know, you know,
OKAC blew us out, like oh, the Knicks can't beat
any good team. You know, Tim shit gets fired. He's
(19:51):
playing these guys too many minutes this and that Conference finals.
So the story that these teams were a lot you know,
potentially with Denver, you know, if they if they advance over, oksee,
I mean they all came back from adversities this year.
Doubt a lot of people are doubting these teams, and
(20:11):
now they're potentially you know, Man versus the Joker, Halliburton
versus Brunson. Some great storylines there, some great storylines man.
So it's exciting. It's exciting times. You know, this playoffs
has been great. The playoffs have been great. You know,
it sucks. You know, we lost you know, Lillard to
(20:31):
the injury. You know, obviously Jason Tatum, you know, is
going to be out. So this boss, that Boston team
is going to look very different, you know next year.
You know, wonder what they're going to do if porzingis
who had an illness and that really that really hurt
them too. This is my I mean Tatum hurt, but
Porzing is practically not giving him anything this this series
(20:53):
that that really was a that was tough on them.
So you know, we'll see how they they come back,
you know, it's definitely gonna look like a different basketball team.
It's gonna look like a different basketball team for sure,
you know. And uh, you know, you have the Cavaliers
who got bounced. You know, what are they gonna look like?
I think they run it back. I think they just
(21:14):
you know, Garland injury, you know, so, and then you
have potentially in this Denver Okay, see okay, see see
okay see series. You know that's gonna I think, okay, see,
they'll probably run it back to you know, I could
see that happening. I don't even know. They have a
bunch of assets to make something really splashy. But Jalen
(21:37):
Williams has not been that good. I think he's had
like one really one good sick game in this series
and shooting in the thirties. And if he has another stinker,
maybe that's something they get the fair. And then what's
crazy with that series is we all knew that Jalen
Williams needs to be the All star he was this year,
(21:57):
and I was I felt good him this playoff series,
this playoff that he would step up, but there just
hasn't been the case. I mean, they've been lucky that
Lou Dort hit some big shot. Even loud Dort is
probably taking a little bit way too many threes from
my liking. But you know, they're gonna need a good
performance from Jay will from j DUP if they want
(22:18):
to advance, you know, and play in the conference finals
because you know, the you know, Yokic is gonna come
out and uh but uh, I think Gordon is questionable
with a with a handy. I think he pulled his handy.
So you know, we'll see how his you know, Uh,
this should be a game where okay, see takes care
of business and they win big, but never count out,
(22:41):
you know, a champion. And Yokic is a three time MVP.
He's not going out lightly, you know, so they're gonna
that's gonna be a knock him out, track him off fight.
So we'll see what that and then obviously, you know,
minute will be waiting for Minnesota, and Minnesota is taking
care of business man. They're taking care of business man.
They took down Brown and then they took down staph
(23:04):
you know at Jimmy, you know, so that's uh, they
they they are. This could be a legendary run for
the Minnesota Bulls and Anthony Edwards and Julius rand was
playing Tremen's basketball. You know, he feels comfortable, he's healthy,
he has a good, best surrounding cast that he's had,
you know. Uh, so good things, man. So we got
(23:26):
a game seven today. The New York Knicks won in
six games and they'll take on the Pacers. So that's
going to be Ah, that's gonna be fun, man. I
think I think the first game is Wednesday, Wednesday off work.
So we're gonna try to get to one of these
watch parties for sure, and uh and uh and be
(23:51):
a part of the crowd. Man. I've done the watch party,
so hopefully to be a part of that environment. It's
gonna be great. The Knicks have an opportunity to do
some they haven't done since ninety nine, man, when they
were the eight seed. You know, so special times, special
times right now in New York, you know, I know.
So let us enjoy it, man. I know a lot
of people, non New Yorkers or non Knicks fans, they
(24:14):
get mad when they see the Knicks fans, you know,
celebrate the way we celebrate. Let us enjoy this, man.
We had some nasty teams, man, you know that we
had to watch for the last quarter century. Man, let
us enjoy this, man, Let us enjoy this man. You know,
so what great times, great times to be a New
York Knicks fan. Exciting, man, really exciting. So make sure
(24:39):
to follow me on on Twitter, on Instagram. Off the
Ball pod, make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel.
Make sure to h have with five Stars on any
podcast platforms. But man, the New York Knicks win in
six and we are taking on the Pacers in the
(25:01):
Eastern Conference Finals with a chance to get to the
MBA Finals. Great times, great times. Man. But on that note,
be well, be safe, take care. Let's go next.
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