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Becky Hammon doubles down on controversial Jalen Brunson take after Knicks reach NBA Finals: ‘I stand by it’ – CBS Sports
Who Should the Knicks Want in the NBA Finals? The Thunder vs. Spurs Debate – Posting & Toasting
Knicks Fans Confront High Ticket Prices for NBA Finals Games at MSG – The New York Times
Knicks Bulletin: ‘We have good character guys in there’ – Posting & Toasting
The Knicks Waiting Game Continues As OKC & SAS Go To A Game 7 | KFTV Mailbag w/ Special Guest – Knicks Fan TV
Knicks Nightcap | Road to a Chip | Peerless Bourbon – Knick of Time
BREAKING NEWS: Mitchell Robinson Has Broken Pinky Finger (REACTION) | EMERGENCY (NOT) LIVESTREAM – Knicks Film School
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83 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.05.29)”
I saw something yesterday about how Charles Barkley predicted the Knicks would win the East before the season, and, like, so the fuck what? I think almost everyone who followed the NBA thought that the Knicks were the best positioned team to win the East before the season. It’s so dumb to be, like, “Wow, Chuck called it even then!” This isn’t like saying, like, that the Pacers would win the East before last season. THAT would have been an amazing pull. But not predicting the Knicks to win the East. As I have noted from the beginning of the season, the Knicks were clearly the team that SHOULD win the East, and I think I would have found this season to ultimately be a disappointment had they NOT won the East.
Luckily, no disappointment for Brian this year! Just all NBA happiness! And it’s fucking awesome!
Pags and Bruno collaborated on this video.
I definitely want to play the banged up Thunder.
I definitely don’t want to play the Thunder with a recovered Williams and Mitchell. But that team really doesn’t seem like it’s coming back any time soon.
If Mitch misses some/all of the games, I feel like the Thunder become a somewhat better matchup for us than the Spurs. Or maybe not, because Mitch’s absence would force Brown to do more of OG at the 5, and OG seems uniquely well-suited to confound Wemby.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48909492/sources-mitchell-robinson-pinkie-plans-play-nba-finals
Kind of anxious for game 1. It’d be great if we could steal 1 of the first 2 and get back to MSG all even.
I’m really torn about who I prefer. I think the Spurs are more likely to feel like their championship was beating OKC, but they are just so physically formidable. OKC is banged up but their strengths match up well with us and they have experience and continuity, especially if they get healthy.
Sort of a coin flip, I guess.
Surgery…no bueno.
“Kind of anxious for game 1. It’d be great if we could steal 1 of the first 2 and get back to MSG all even.”
What?!?! No sweep?!?!
Spurs looked formidable yesterday, but teams always look unbeatable when they win like that. SGA won’t have many of these games.
From birds eye view this SGA thing is really pretty interesting. Huge social media and regular media pushback on his flopping – and he goes from 17 FTA to 3 FTA. If this holds — meaning the refs will stop giving him the nonsense fouls — then maybe I’d rather play OKC?
I know Mitch wants to play, but that seems quite optimistic/aggressive given he had surgery.
Well it would be quite a turnaround if he dominates game 7, his TS% through 6 games is an abysmal .520
ESPN says Mitch plans to play. Hope Huk is ready for some action though
The Spurs have won every game when Wembanyama showed up big, but the fact that he has only been his dominant self in 3 games tells me he’s still figuring out his conditioning and the level of aggression he needs to play with. They’re still very scary because they seem to be figuring things out so fast in the playoffs, but there’s definitely inconsistency to be exploited with the Spurs.
It’s going to be a huge challenge either way, but I maintain I would rather face the younger team in the Spurs that is more likely to be exhausted emotionally after winning a game 7 on the road against their hated rivals.
Mitch is playing. It is his pinky finger which bears the smallest load of any of the fingers. Depending on the type and location of the fracture they either insert a pin or make an insision and use a plate to approximate the fracture. They’ll then strap it to the ring finger and off he goes. He isn’t Steph Curry who needs fine control when dribbling through traffic or hoisting up 30 footers. It would have been much worse had he broken his index finger or others.
Calling Dr Ronnie Lott for a pep talk 🙂
Read someone mentioned that this surgery typically means missing 2 weeks so hopefully at worst Mitch misses first 2 games but returns when the series goes to MSG.
I don’t know if they will actually tape the pinky to the ring finger. They may just heavily tape/splint the pinky on its own so that the ring finger stays free. Similar to what they did with Josh’s middle finger.
When the injury was first reported, Macri speculated in his newsletter that it could have happened from Mitch goofing around away from the court. So it’s at least a relief to hear that it came against the Cavs, rather than Mitch being Mitch in his downtime.
Perfect face saving reason to try the granny free throws, right?
One thing I’m glad about is that they have all of this extra time to figure out how to optimize/maximize what is going on with Mitch’s finger. This is *exactly* why having all of this extra time between series can potentially be so important!
Yeah Alan, I distinctly remember Mitch holding what I thought was his wrist in lots of pain, but it seemed like he shook it off.
I am pretty confident that he will be at or near 100% with this injury. He’s gonna get hack-a-Mitched a lot anyway, so it’s best to get Huk ready to play 5-10 minutes. I’d rather Brown tries that than risk blowing out OG’s hammy…it was in a game where both Mitch and KAT were in foul trouble vs. Philly that OG was on his way to playing 40 minutes before pulling up lame.
The main thing is will Mitch still be able to grab rebounds, block shots and play good defense with this injury. I’m fairly certain he will. Can he catch an occasional lob for a dunk and get some easy put back points too? A little less certain. Will it affect his free throw shooting? Maybe it will improve it!
That is a big relief about Mitch. Funny how his season is likely bookended by “left ankle injury management” and “right pinky injury management”.
I won’t feel relieved about Mitch until I see him out there looking at least around 75 percent of his normal self (or hell, just out there at all on a regular Mitch-minutes basis).
Did some research you all might find interesting. Not sure this is in the mainstream.
A fun stat: 26.3 percent of SGA’s points came from FTs in the regular season. The league average is 15.9%.
Among “peers” he is sixth during the regular season.
But in the playoffs SGA gets 33.2% from FTs.
In 2026 playoffs he is unmatched.
The next closest is Cade Cunningham at 20%. Brunson at 19.4%, and Mitchell at 18.4%.
So the eyeball test here is accurate.
That fucker makes flopping into a much bigger part of his game…
That people use Brunson as an excuse, is amazing.
Half of my relief about Mitch is that he did it in a game he contributed to winning, That’s a locker-room unifier, for one that is already unified. If it had come elsewhere (given his post of off-court issues), a bit of a distraction for the team.
I guess my problem is the conflating of “drawing fouls legitimately,” “foul-baiting,” and “flopping.”
For me:
Drawing fouls legitimately is making legitimate basketball moves, including fakes, stop and starts, crossovers, power drives, etc. that cause defender to lunge, reach, grab, bump, swipe, slap, leave their feet, etc.
Foul-baiting is the offensive player initiating contact in a way that takes advantage of nuances in the rules designed to overprotect offensive players. The rip-through the defenders arms with the ball into a shot, the kick-out on a jumper are in this category.
Flopping is grossly exaggerating contact or even faking contact that never happened in a manner intended to deceive refs. Falling down, throwing one’s head back, flailing one’s arms and legs, grabbing one’s face, etc. are in this category.
I agree that SGA engages in all three of these behaviors, and that both the foul-baiting and flopping are offputting. But I also think that the vast majority of the fouls he draws are in the category of drawing fouls legitimately.
I also believe that other guys, including KAT and Brunson, are constantly engaging in all three behaviors. KAT complains that he gets fouled on every. single. play. They just aren’t as good at it, mainly because they aren’t as good, period. It certainly isn’t because they are above the behaviors.
Everyone has to make sacrifices… Mitch gave his pinky to get Willis back on the court when he steps out there. We’re winning the chip.
“A fun stat: 26.3 percent of SGA’s points came from FTs in the regular season. The league average is 15.9%.
Among “peers” he is sixth during the regular season.
But in the playoffs SGA gets 33.2% from FTs.
In 2026 playoffs he is unmatched.
The next closest is Cade Cunningham at 20%. Brunson at 19.4%, and Mitchell at 18.4%.”
Re: SGA’s antics on the court—I’m not a fan. In fact, I might be one of his biggest detractors for it. That said, I’m not sure that these numbers are very indicative of anything. He’s shooting very poorly, and scoring a *lot* less than he did in the regular season. So it simply stands to reason from a mathematical standpoint that the percentage of his total points that he gets from the lines (as opposed to field goals) is going to be a bit higher.
Z-man, not sure if you will be into the World Cup, but if you are and see lot’s of games, SGA will look like a choirboy.
One of the reasons the NBA should nip this in the bud.
“Re: SGA’s antics on the court—I’m not a fan. In fact, I might be one of his biggest detractors for it. That said, I’m not sure that these numbers are very indicative of anything. He’s shooting very poorly, and scoring a *lot* less than he did in the regular season. So it simply stands to reason from a mathematical standpoint that the percentage of his total points that he gets from the lines (as opposed to field goals) is going to be a bit higher.”
He’s averaging the same number of FTA per 36 in the postseason as he did during the regular season.
“Z-man, not sure if you will be into the World Cup, but if you are and see lot’s of games, SGA will look like a choirboy.
One of the reasons the NBA should nip this in the bud.”
I’n not a soccer fan but have watched enough to know what you mean!
Z-man, look at the numbers Frank posted. Look at thw insane prevalence of SGA falling down after shot attempts. Look at the videos showing minimal or even no contact.
It’s a difference on kind, not a difference in degree. Brunson et. al. try to score ehile drawing fouls. SGA tries to draw fouls while scoring. 1/3 of his points are from FTs. When the grift works he’s the MVP and when it doesn’t, like yesterday, he puts up a line like 2026 Harden.
It’s just a lack of sportsmanship. That’s the culture of OKC in general. That’s why everyone hates them while past superteams were beloved
Sorry Pags, I disagree. I think you are seeing what you want to see and buying in to the exaggerated narrative. But whatever, hearing the most historically “unsportsmanlike” poster on this blog complain about a lack of sportsmanship is kind of weird.
frank’s feed was doing yeoman’s work yesterday…
sportscenter featured the sga flopping, pat mcafee asked silver about it directly on his show…
the fans had signs and chants ready to go last night in san antonio to help keep the spotlight on sga’s and the refs misdeeds…
we shall see saturday night if the officials go back to gifting this guy endless trips to the line…
if the spurs have figured out a way to limit sga good on them…
right now it seems if the refs call it even – the spurs are the more physical team and hopefully win game 7…
Z-man, we get it. You love SGA.
But, seriously, you need to get on board, at least during the finals if we play them. Every possible fake foul you need to howl to the moon about how unfair it is.
Once the series is over and we’ve beaten them, then you can go back to your lovefest. But until then, SGA is a foul merchant! Say it loud, Z-man!!!
Knowing how much I love Mitch, I was a bit confused at how the universe, which has been going out of its way to make me happy this postseason, was going to have Mitch get hurt right before the Finals.
But instead, it was, “Nah, we’re just playing, he’ll play.”
That makes me happy.
Sorry, I missed the part where I was crowned MVP of the National Basketball Association. Seeing as I’m just some asshole on the internet it doesn’t exactly make sense to hold me to the same standard as SGA, does it?
The Thunder’s defense in this playoffs has been… good not great? They have a 111.3 defensive rating, seventh overall in the playoffs. In the regular season that would have ranked third, but points are a lot harder to come by in the playoffs and they rank 7th out of 16 teams.
It’s a small sample size and the margins aren’t huge, but they have also Phoenix (16th ranked regular season offense), the Lakers without Doncic (9th in the regular season mostly WITH Doncic) and the Spurs. The Spurs are a good offensive team but that’s not exactly a murderer’s row of opponents.
They should be favored over the Knicks if the two teams play in the Finals, but they really do not look unbeatable.
If the Thunder prevail, my vote is that SGA will be the third best player (ignoring the 1950s teams) that they will face in the finals, behind Jerry West and Hakeem in that order. Looking at it from the POW of where each was productive at that time (eg Wilt late, Tim early).
West just got super hot, and Hakeem was just too good. Convinced you can find a way to contain Hakeem today that you couldn’t in 1994 with Hakeem, and just hope SGA doesn’t get super hot.
I am in the camp that says Brunson and KAT do those first two foul things, but not the third, or at least not much. They both foul bait, but they don’t fake stuff. KAT falls down after layups, but that’s because he often contorts himself while moving fast and lands badly. The fouls he complains about that aren’t called are the ones happening when he’s going up — either slaps or even shoves that help him land off-balance.
Brunson foul-baits on drives all the time (category 2), and he sometimes falls down after threes, but I see that a lot from almost everyone — I mean maybe that’s faking it but it seems to be as much about the effort of chucking it up there causes one to land off-balance and slide back on one’s ass.
That’s different than crumpling forward to the floor in space.
How much any given player’s foul baiting tendencies grate is a subjective thing and everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, and I won’t pretend I have some ironclad method of demonstrating SGA is an outlier.
Tom Haberstroh did show that he falls a lot more than anyone else, though, and last night it seemed like that was to OKC’s disadvantage. He wasn’t getting the calls he felt he was entitled to, and being, well, on the floor was leaving OKC vulnerable in transition and on the offensive glass.
So his flopping or foul baiting or whatever you want to call it might carry some risk. He usually does get a number of calls that make it clearly beneficial, but since he regularly finds himself on the ground when he does it, OKC can be worse for it if the whistles aren’t in his favor on a particular night.
All this to say, if we play them in the finals we should hope for lenient whistles. SGA can still absolutely get buckets the old fashioned way, but it’s the free throws that put him into “Tyson Chandler efficiency with Michael Jordan volume” territory.
lol swifty, I hate it when I try to make a point and it gets taken to the extreme.
Again, I don’t love SGA’s foul baiting and flopping. Not at all. while I love and respect his bag, I agree that he too often resorts to that shit, but to me, that’s more on the league and the refs than on him. And when he does it against us, I curse at the TV just like everyone else. But saying that you hope he tears his ACL the next time he does it? Come on.
I do think the case is being being exaggerated. Case in point: Here’s an example of what I mean. In game 5 he took 19 FGA and only made 7. Many of the ones he missed are ones he routinely makes. Not a single one of them involved an attempt to flop, except perhaps the last one, which was very Brunsonesque.
He also went to the FT line 17 times. Here is a video compilation of all the times he got “fouled”. The only one on a shot attempt that may have been of the flopping/foul-baiting variety was the one on which Mitch Johnson got called for a technical foul. Yet folks see the 17 FTAs and automatically assume that it was a flop-fest.
I’m not suggesting that this absolves SGA, only that folks will look at reels of his foul-baiting taken from multiple games and assume that it happens on many more shots than it actually does. In addition, San Antonio is a borderline dirty team in the same way that Detroit is. They foul on so many plays that the refs couldn’t possibly call them all.
It does feel like the OKC floppy tendencies have broken through across the general public. I’d be interested to see how the league reacts, especially if they make it to the finals.
The plot thickens…
Complete speculation, but what if this has something to do with his mental health struggles he opened up about earlier? Punched something out of frustration, then tried to play through it until aggravating it in Game 4 and he couldn’t hide it anymore. Or maybe he tried to hide it from the team, which I really hope didn’t happen. Could also be just pure frustration and nothing to do with mental health per se.
guessing that was everyone else’s first thought too…
Knicks media relations stepped in to say, “We’re not going to get into specifics.
Aw, fuck
This is why I think I want the Spurs.
Wemby’s inconsistency in this series seems related to his inexperience and fatigue levels. That’s going to carry over next week.
SGA’s inconsistency is 100% Wemby related, and when he’s gone we’ll likely see MVP SGA immediately, not this version that is struggling.
Oh, 100% agreed you want the young team still trying to fully put it together, even with a burgeoning superstar on their squad. That’s always been why I wanted the Spurs (well, that and the 1999 rematch aspect of it all).
And since this postseason has given me everything I have wanted so far, looking forward to seeing the Knicks in San Antonio on Wednesday night!
Oh, Mitch….
Again, though, the universe knows how much I love Mitch, so he’ll be fine. He’ll be fine. It’ll all be fine.
The Spurs are a tough matchup for OKC.
OKC has a very good offense, but they do not have an elite offense. They have an elite defense that creates TOs and that contributes to their offensive efficiency.
Shai is a great player, but the Spurs have Castle to give him a tough time on the perimeter. Even if he gets past him, then they have Wemby floating around the paint and mid range making it difficult for him again.
That’s why I predicted that for OKC to handle the Spurs comfortably, they needed to up their 3 point attempts and be more efficient than they normally are from there. You don’t want to take on Wemby inside. Since 3 point shooting is not the strength of OKC’s it almost had to be a tough series for them unless the Spurs melted down against OKC’s defense and started turning the ball over way too often.
Game 7 will come down to whether OKC is hitting their 3s and how many TOs the Spurs have.
I think the injuries probably had something to do with that.
Mitch shooting FTs with a broken finger seems like a net plus to me. I’m only worried about reboundng and catching lobs.
I’m not suggesting that this absolves SGA, only that folks will look at reels of his foul-baiting taken from multiple games and assume that it happens on many more shots than it actually does. In addition, San Antonio is a borderline dirty team in the same way that Detroit is. They foul on so many plays that the refs couldn’t possibly call them all.
strongly agree. flopping is a terrible basketball viewing experience and sga is absolutely one of the major purveyors of it. until the last year or so, jalen was another. kat is still up there. and yes, sga’s falling down disease is worth pointing out. but the foul rate alone is hugely under-informative. the guys screaming “to watch the games” have baader meinhof. they see the flops that yes, are very much there, but are they seeing that the spurs are fucking fouling sga on ~80% of drives? basically, if it’s carter bryant, it’s 95%. castle then 90%. keldon johnson 99%. and vassell 75%. i hope we play the spurs just to see all the sga haters screaming bloody murder for what these guys do to jalen. in fact, you can expect the jalen whiplash move to come roaring back by game 3 out of frustration. it’s an arms race that has ended up in a not great place, and sga is definitely a big part of that. but he’s in a difficult spot for the exactly same (other) reason everyone hates the thunder: his opponents know the refs can’t call every foul, and he’s a skinny guard who opponents simply cannot stay in front of legally, but can reroute without making too dramatic of an arm move (as they need to do with say, ant or cade).
it’s illegal in the nba to use your hands or arms to impede a player’s speed, quickness, balance or rhythm. no rerouting. ha! how many times have spurs defenders not named wemby met this standard this this series with sga? these are very good defenders. they make dort look like a high school level offensive player just with their feet and chest, and they make chet look like kelly olynyk. but with sga they just literally grab the fuck out of him. this series is extreme but it’s a microcosm of what a very specific subset of hyper-talented creators face regularly in the nba. sure, he’s not *required* to turn thespian and it would nice if he didn’t, but it’s a lot more give and take than the crowd is currently acknowledging.
If it was a punching thing, that’s worrisome because we might be talking about something closer to the knuckle than the fingertip. Which means splinting it might be more complicated.
What a fucking bummer.
Let’s just go with it was him working on his truck and leave it there. The speculation sucks. I just hope that 1) Mike Brown was speaking the truth, and 2) that he discussed it with Mitch before he said that and Mitch was OK with it. Really don’t want to mess up the immaculate vibing.
Isn’t that describing the OKC defense too, though?
SGA shooting 29.6% from 3 on 3.9 attempts per game in the playoffs is not gonna cut it for them. Someone on twitter said he’s a 2-level scorer and the Spurs have taken one of those levels away. Chet is only at 35.7% on 3 attempts per these playoffs and after that is a gaggle of role players. I don’t think they feel good about needing Caruso to stay hot from 3 to compete.
Isn’t that describing the OKC defense too, though?
?? but he’s in a difficult spot for the exactly same (other) reason everyone hates the thunder: his opponents know the refs can’t call every foul,
I’m big on storytelling in sports, and while I have no delusion that the NBA is WWE and rigged, I believe there are narratives in place that get pushed, esp with officiating. We know this considering there was a scandal that involved jail time for rigging games.
The hatred of OKC is not standard for a “dynastic” team. This isn’t anything close to the GSW or Heatles. This is about how basketball is played, and silver has to make a choice: reward flopping (while Shai is the primary source of the hatred I have to say the rest of the team is as bad as he is) or penalize it.
With the amount of hate against them and their honestly dirty play, they are the villains of the post season.
Enter NYK, our boys, a bunch of guys who are always the underdogs and always thrive on it. Their guy, Brunson, son of a journeyman fringe NBA player who coached and trained his under sized son to be one of the most unique small guards in NBA history. One who was always overlooked, one who was always pushed aside for size or skill, but won a national title and is second to Jordan in his playoff performances. Now this year after getting knocked out several seasons and building the best freind squad, has a chance to bring the title home to where the game began, one of the biggest markets on the planet, for the first time since the 70s.
Now I’m biased, but if I’m silver I know the right choice is to let them actually play. Not stop the game every time there’s incidental contact, but to call it even to see if the Knicks can actually close out the most dominant basketball run of all time.
“strongly agree.”
That’s all I needed to hear. Thanks pt!
PS the fouls in the video I showed were mostly really dumb.
Spurs +55 in this series with Wemby on the floor. Thunder -28 in this series with Shai on the floor. I know what we think of +/- in general, but it seems like Shai is dragging them down a li’l bit.
I’m getting closer to wanting to face OKC than the Spurs. It would be that much more of a pleasure to eliminate a team as annoying as the Thunder, and I also think that we would need Mitch a little bit less than we would against the Spurs? (Both teams seem likely to go after Mitch’s finger, which sucks but is probably true.) OKC seems to be on a downward track. Plus, there is that “no repeat champions” thing again.
The way this is written makes me think Brown messed up.
If you don’t want to get into specifics, don’t specifically say it happened off the court.
Have you ever gone to pick your kid up at preschool, only to find that the block is on lockdown and the residents are sheltering in place because the police are trying to shoot a mountain lion?
Never a dull moment come playoff time.
A few years ago I bought some milk. It was a half gallon that came in a glass bottle. I came home from the grocery store and went to put it away in the fridge. As I placed it in the fridge, it slipped out of my hands and awkwardly hit the top of my ring finger and basically broke/fractured my finger. I had to go to the emergency room and put a splint on it. Total freak accident.
All of this is to say, we should not assume just because this happened off the court that Mitch is somehow responsible or was doing something he shouldn’t have been doing. Freaky shit like this can happen.
It’s unfortunate but, luckily, we just need him to rebound, play defense and catch the occasional lob. He’s already shooting like 35 percent from the free throw line so it’s not like that can get any worse.
shooting like 35 percent from the free throw line so it’s not like that can get any worse.
Swiftly please don’t jinx things…
Not a person who read that doesn’t think, “Oh yeah?”
whole milk in a bottle is so delicious, a step or two away from ice cream…
did it have the cream on top swifty?
freaked me out at first, just unfamiliar, like it a lot now…best chilled of course…
food and desert combos are endless…
You just got into a lot more specifics than media relations felt you needed to.
What’s Brown supposed to do? If it didn’t happen in the game then it didn’t. If he lies it’s going to come out eventually.
I know why you’re here, Donnie.
You’re like the prodigal son circling his dad’s house waiting for an invitation.
Come home, son.
We know you did not become a Pacers fan. You sought asylum there. You rented a small emotional apartment in Indianapolis while pretending you no longer dream of Madison Square Garden.
Listen to the book that is still talking. It is telling you that superstition has its limits. That Tuesday heartbreaks and Garden ghosts need not define a man forever. That you do not have to keep looking for a big brother in Joel Embiid when your first family is still here. You can blame it on the sun if you want, but stop looking for another pure love in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Tyrese Halliburton is not the sunshine of your life. Maybe your baby is Brunson.
Take off the Mathurin jersey and leave your elaborate emotional witness protection program.
You may believe too much time has passed. You may worry that the community remembers the Sixers posts, the Pacers cheering, the public displays of disloyalty that occurred during our hour of need.
We remember.
But you are forgiven.
Because beneath the layers of coping, contrarianism, and small-market cosplay, there remains the heart of a Knicks fan. And we don’t want you to have to explain to God why you were emotionally invested in Reggie Miller’s team when the Knicks lift the Larry O’Brien trophy.
It’s not your fault.
It’s not your fault.
It’s not your fault.
It’s not your fault.
It’s not your fault.
Whoever survives the West, I think the Knicks beat them. Not “puncher’s chance,” not “if everything breaks right” — I think they should win it against Oklahoma City or San Antonio. Here’s why the team that scares everyone else shouldn’t scare us much in either matchup.
Start with the thing that’s been true all postseason: this team has no single point of failure. Most contenders give you a lever to pull — sell out on the one engine, hunt the one weak defender, attack the one undersized spot. The Knicks don’t hand you that. Brunson, Towns, Bridges, and OG can all get a bucket, so you can’t load up on any of them. The wing trio lets them guard every perimeter type and shift big or small at will. And they’re built for exactly the basketball that wins in late May — a half-court grind where Brunson’s iso is a cheat code when possessions tighten. The bonus nobody talks about: when they get out and run, those 130- and 140-point nights against Cleveland weren’t half-court grinds. Take away the paint, they push pace. Get back to stop the break, they execute. Pick one.
Then there’s the defense, which has been the best in the playoffs and has already answered the question both Western teams want to ask. They smothered Embiid. Donovan Mitchell got his numbers and it didn’t matter — Cleveland still got swept, because the cast went silent. They limited Maxey, who’s a better, more proven creator than anything San Antonio puts next to Wembanyama. That’s the template: let the star have his 35, suffocate everybody else, and watch the empty calories pile up. A star scoring a lot doesn’t beat this team. The points that beat you are the ones the supporting cast adds, and the supporting cast disappears against New York.
Which brings us to the Wemby question, because it’s the only real one. And the answer is Karl-Anthony Towns. Wembanyama’s whole defensive value is anchoring the paint — but you cannot sit in the lane against the best shooting big in the game. Drag him to the arc and his rim protection is gone. Sag him off and KAT buries threes. And KAT is stronger, so when Wemby’s instincts scream at him to leave his feet and block something, KAT drives through the closeout and sprays to a shooter — and we have killed teams all playoff long spraying. Add Mitchell Robinson, who attacks the offensive glass precisely where Wemby is weakest, since shot-blockers gamble and lose their box-out. I’m going to assume Mitch plays. The supposed kryptonite turns into a chess match the thin Spurs cast has to win over and over. I don’t think they can.
The honest caveat: Game 1 is on the road, and the Knicks are coming off 10 days of rest. A rusty, cold-shooting first game in a loud building is the one nightmare. But rust threatens the first twelve minutes; fatigue threatens the West champ all series after a seven-game war. And this is the team that came back from down 2-1 to Atlanta and erased 22 on Cleveland with eight minutes left. Slow starts don’t snowball with this group.
So knock the dust off early, steal one on the road, and I like the Knicks to be the last team standing. Either way.
Jalen Williams ruled out tomorrow
The universe wants Brian happy, so they want Game 1 to be in San Antonio on Wednesday.
Following on Hubert’s post above…I would just add…”the North remembers”…
Just finished watching the Fonseca match. Holy shit. What a show.
Who knew the Knicks even had a department of media relations?
This is an amazing time of anticipation and uncertainty. I think that the team that comes out of tomorrow night’s epic game 7 (one of the most intriguing in years) will by definition be the better team and tougher opponent, and that’s why I don’t really have a strong preference. Yet I feel like this is the time for the Knicks to overcome either of these two teams. They will be battered and we will be fresh. They have taken turns exposing and exploiting each other’s weaknesses, while we haven’t been figured out yet, nor have we played all of our cards.
okc has too many good players, and a bunch of future assets…
who knows what the spurs will become, but ready to see the brakes on any kind of thunder franchise dynastic ascension…
hope the surging spurs deny okc from consecutive finals appearances…and then we deny the spurs another championship…they already have a legacy…
we’re about 3 to 4 chips short of that…it would be great to take one from them…
I know it sounds like a cry for help, Hubert, but there really was a lion hanging out by the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Montana Avenue today. It slept in some dude’s yard all day, and when it woke up they shot it with what they claimed was a tranq pellet, but I’m pretty sure it’s being stuffed and put in some cop’s living room right now.
The real cry for help was your Pacers fandom.