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00:16what's up everybody welcome back to another edition of new york got game it's your boy
00:19dexter henry with my guy brian fonseca we're coming to you after the knicks had a beat down
00:25of the bulls at the garden on wednesday night knicks have now won four out of their last five
00:30games this afternoon three start they are four and four they're back at 500 do you remember
00:37not too long ago people were panicking they'll panic again at some point i'm sure you know what
00:42i mean like it is what it is it's a long regular season it does feel like they're kind of
00:45just
00:45coasting through the regular season right now admittedly um do you want to explain to people
00:50why we're so differently dressed today uh yeah i mean people see this they're like it's not people
00:55haven't seen me in the suit obviously but usually on these thursday after ourselves i'm really
01:00casually dressed but i have some play-by-play duties after this so i actually had a tie on i
01:05took that
01:06off and our technical director sam looked at me like i had two heads because i had a tie on
01:10and
01:10she hadn't seen me with the tie but here i am that's why we're very and i tend to not
01:14wear a
01:14suit when we do this so you tend to not wear a suit period i've never seen you in a
01:18suit that's not
01:19true yes it is one of my i will see you in a suit of some form next year for
01:24sure that's guaranteed
01:25true yeah but no you used to do for what one of my first jobs when we worked together you
01:31know oh
01:32oh yeah yeah yeah yeah i i wasn't the biggest fan of it but like i understood the job was
01:38the job
01:38i was gonna say i don't it wasn't really like this they kind of they didn't make you put on
01:43a full
01:43suit it's like a jacket no yeah yeah yeah and i bought a couple suits because you know you're like
01:49you're you're younger you're early in your career you're more impressionable and you think and you
01:53think that it matters and stuff but like i have suits when's the last time you wore a suit last
01:56time i wore one what when did my brother get married 2023 that's the last time you put on a
02:03suit
02:03i don't think i've put one on since i've definitely put on a blazer since but i don't i haven't
02:07put on
02:07a full i've i've done the blazer with jeans and you know all white kicks i've done that since
02:12put on a blazer yeah yeah look i might put i might put a blazer on for the holiday party
02:16we'll see
02:17i doubt it but we'll see you have to get a picture people don't understand you don't have to get
02:21a
02:21look i can dress well i just i just don't suits are not suits are not the most i'm not
02:25saying they
02:26dress poorly that's not really suits are just not the most comfortable for me okay i like a suit this
02:31this might be the only time you see me in college shirt here for this episode play-by-play
02:35duties um shout out to shout out to manhattan so yeah so the knicks demolished the bulls 135 to 105
02:41welcome sight for many people watching this i would imagine finally if you're a nick fan you're
02:45like hey they played a complete game straight through now against the bulls against the bulls
02:50but the competition matters yeah worst point differential in the nba chicago yeah by the
02:55way i think they've given up at least 120 something points every game yeah the net rating is like minus
03:0017 nicks had 84 points in the first half i'm gonna explain to people i was at another event
03:06and i did not go to the garden for work so i was going uh to a suite courtesy of
03:12somebody i know who
03:13invited me to suite and i was with one of my co-workers here we were at another event and
03:17we got
03:18to the spot right we get to the spot the co-worker is like our good friend jenna limicelli shout
03:23out to
03:23jenna so we leave we're not far from the garden we leave right at tip-off we see nicks are
03:29up like
03:29i think it was like four three or something whatever and i walk into the suite and it's like
03:36right towards the end of the first quarter and they've got 40 points i'm like what because i
03:40hadn't been paying attention we hopped on the train we walked and i'm like damn so it's a tough one
03:46for
03:46tiago splitter this year tough tough one not his fault though bulls don't look good yeah here's my
03:51thing caleb wilson does all right but i'm not saying the fans should be you know he went from oh
03:56and
03:56three to four and four they've won four out of last five i'm not saying you should be overjoyed
04:01they look completely back and forth i don't think we're going to say that at all here on this show
04:04that's what i'm saying but what we will say is what do you think has changed in that time and
04:11what do
04:11you think actually looks sustainable because that's the big thing going forward what's changed and what's
04:15actually sustainable and if something has changed because my thing is always level of competition
04:21competition and we saw a decent effort against brooklyn you want to call it that like a little
04:28dicey for too long and then they ended up pulling away late and in chicago they had a complete game
04:33but part of that to me is just like okay you're you're taking care of your food you're doing what
04:37you should do to be honest against a team of this quality no disrespect to the bulls they just haven't
04:43been great this year uh mantas was zealous hasn't popped josh kitty's looking so on and so forth
04:49if this were to happen against cleveland saturday two days from when we're talking about this
04:53then that's a little bit of a different story because cleveland's had mostly you know good
04:57regular season so far um you have yeah you know what i mean but and but you know two losses
05:04to the
05:04thunder they had a bad loss to philly early on but they've looked okay um and the knicks have looked
05:10better as of late i think the their best game this year by far is the pistons game because that's
05:15the
05:15one where you you circled on the calendar you haven't beaten detroit in a regular season in a
05:20long time yeah down 13 after one right yeah it looked very very dicey um i'm jose alvarado i
05:28think missed that game also uh obviously jaylen durham wasn't there although jaylen durham wasn't
05:32there for any of the three games you lost to them by double digits last year so you know for
05:36you to
05:37overcome that stave off a little bit of a comeback at the end too where it looked like oh detroit
05:42you know
05:42they brought this within basically single digits and you know i think that was probably the the sign
05:48where and that was coming off the oh and three start where it was like okay you need to show
05:52something so that this doesn't get a little too far but now it feels like they've mostly righted
05:57the ship they're taking care of business they did lose to philly again i think philly has done great
06:02so far i also wonder if they're peaking a little early but we'll see what happens with with healthy
06:08right with the two cleveland games and then you have that road trip coming up that is going to be
06:12you
06:12know maybe haliburn's back we'll see but you do have toronto back-to-back times in minnesota uh so
06:17things can get a little interesting there we're gonna get to that to the end of the show where
06:20we look look ahead a little bit at what's coming up next for the knicks i do agree look for
06:25me when
06:26you talk about what's changed they make shots they're starting to make yeah honestly yeah like
06:31sometimes it's not really that deep the knicks were really struggling with making shots i talked
06:35about this early in the week with stefan bondi and we talked about you know how they're struggling
06:40in the mid-range they're struggling at the rim you know their three-point percentage it's been
06:45varied some players like landry shaman was shooting the ball really well look the captain um started
06:50hitting some shots he set the tone and and and we'll get to him in a second but i think
06:54a lot of
06:55this comes down to shot making the knicks offense was better you know when we talked after the own three
06:58start when i had vinnie goodwill on the show the knicks were if you're looking at the nba stats and
07:04not cleaning the glass which i love to look at they were dead last in offense right and it wasn't
07:08looking
07:08good now they're closer up to middle of the pack things are looking a bit better the thing for me
07:14that i've liked throughout this that i think matters a ton the defense hasn't fallen off and sometimes
07:19i know we talk about this a lot of football when the defense is ahead of the offense me personally
07:24i like that if the defense is good the defense is still very connected you know they held the
07:29bulls to 105 they held the nets the other day on monday to 90 points in that comeback the defense
07:35has still been strong philly in both of the losses right you know 106 and 98 there's a world in
07:41which
07:41had the knicks maybe done some of the little things like we were talking about during the
07:44oh and three stretch taking care of the ball making some shots down the stretch they normally make
07:49getting their free throws you could be looking at this team probably sitting at i don't know he's
07:57six six and two yeah you could be talking about that yeah you get one of the philly games and
08:02then
08:02maybe you actually take that orlando game or the boston game really because it looked like they
08:07were late and then tatum just hit two amazing shots yeah i i this is why i personally was not
08:14that worried when they were oh and three i saw it as shots are just aren't falling there's things they
08:19can fix there are fixable issues yeah i still think there still are some issues that i'm concerned about
08:24i was gonna say yeah but there were fixable issues they could fix so i'm not surprised they're back
08:30at four and four i think it's good that they've sort of righted the ship i think the offensive
08:34continuity has looked better you're seeing more guys move you saw that again it was the bulls but
08:39you're seeing guys move you see cutting we'll get to some of that later but you're seeing some good
08:44things that i think should be encouraging for knicks fans where you don't have to be like oh my god
08:47what's going on with this team i think they're going to be okay we had said that when they were
08:52oh and
08:52three i still think that at four and four i agree with brian you still want to see them do
08:57it
08:57against some higher level competition yeah and they will be tested with that coming up soon we'll
09:02get to that late in the show but yeah i think for now what's changed going from oh and three
09:06to four
09:06and four is just a little bit of comfortability maybe knocking off some of that championship rush
09:10and they finally started hitting some shots yep 50 43 from three that'll do it that'll do it for
09:17you can't be mad at that who got game
09:23all right we are going to talk about who got game this week and for the second week in a
09:28row
09:28brian and i we agree on the same person i don't think it was it was that deep we try
09:33i tried not
09:33to but like there's really just one choice for this there's one choice and it's jalen brunson man
09:38yeah it's jalen brunson when you look at what he did particularly against the bulls 22 in the first
09:44quarter and listen the captain needed to find a shot he needed to find the confidence i think what i
09:49like seeing in that first quarter sure he hit a bunch of threes but i like that he was able
09:54to
09:54get to his mid-range game the floater was working the midi pull-up was working you were seeing him
09:59feel like he was really in his bag rhythm shots rhythm shots again it's the bulls it's the bulls
10:04yeah we're gonna keep saying it you still have to start building confidence somewhere right and and
10:08that's what i like to see from him in that and i think that when you're seeing this from jalen
10:14brunson
10:14where jalen brunson had been struggling again was i personally worried about him no right but do you
10:22feel like with this once he's starting to find his rhythm that the rest of the offense can find his
10:26rhythm yes because you want him to be able to set the tone like that and also it's like you
10:32just want
10:32to see if you're the knicks and if you're a knick fan you just want to see jalen brunson hit
10:36shots
10:37especially since that hasn't been the case this year so far for the most part you just want to see
10:41him
10:42hit these makeable shots these shots that he's you know and i wonder like you know we don't know
10:46the impact of the wrist injury i'm sure he's never going to admit whether it's like significantly
10:51bothering him or not that's something too where it's like you're playing off of the surgery now he
10:55did spend a bunch of the offseason you know other than the appearances and stuff which you know he
10:59earned was just healing the wrist and not being able to you know do probably as much as he would
11:05in
11:05a customary offseason so maybe it just takes longer to shake off the rust like it wouldn't be surprising to
11:09me if he just sort of plummets again a little bit for a couple games and then comes back up
11:14and it's
11:14still a little inconsistent for a month like maybe he really hits it into gear once we get to christmas
11:19or something like that or maybe he's just back now and he he just all of a sudden has his
11:23rhythm but
11:23yeah you want your best player to make those makeable shots because part of the knicks being the champions
11:29last year and having that secret sauce on the fourth quarter was hey jalen brunson can get to any spot
11:33on
11:34the floor which we saw yesterday and be able to hit this shot from here from this elbow this pull
11:39up three from the top of the key do all these different things and being able to just hit those
11:44shots like that's really the antidote for a lot of this so to see him do that even though it's
11:48against
11:48the bulls which we keep saying like it is encouraging because you you just wanted to see that hey this
11:54can
11:54still happen consistently you know what i liked that he showed against the bulls in that 22 points of his
11:5933 in
12:00the first quarter for me it was something that we talked about in the off season particularly when
12:03we were going to this season and we said knicks can't play with their food the bulls were food
12:08they came in as food the knicks did not play with it jalen brunson set the tone so it was
12:13i like seeing
12:14that from him not just getting in rhythm but also setting the tone and saying yo we need this to
12:19be an
12:19easy night i don't think there was a starter that played over 30 minutes if i remember correctly from
12:23last night you are correct and as a matter of fact he's the only one that played well over 25
12:28minutes
12:28he played 28 right yeah everyone else was 25 and under and i like it i like it listen love
12:34it if
12:34you get nine pacom daddia minutes then you know you've done your job yeah yeah and it was good and
12:41listen you got to see some other you got him doing that and josh hart was out but you got
12:45other guys
12:46involved you got mohammedia war you got dalton connect who we'll get to in a second you got um you
12:52got to see some decent minutes from both colic and alvarado yep and so you got to see what james
12:58weisman got minutes weisman yeah so you got to see this these are games when the knicks take care
13:03of their business and their leader does what he's supposed to do where it allows mike brown to see
13:08more from some guys that he wants to see allows them to experiment a little bit more i you know
13:12i
13:13think all that stuff matters so for me it was why jalen brunson gets the who got game award this
13:18week
13:18if you want to call it that or why we're recognizing him is yes offensive efficiency looked good he also
13:23played decently well in the brooklyn game at 19 points on 6 of 16 shooting but you know i think
13:29for him to have this kind of offensive explosion set the tone put that game to bed early for his
13:34team
13:34i think that mattered a lot yeah and i really was i really was impressed with that now to get
13:40to
13:40something we'll definitely hit on later in episode do you want to see that carry against better
13:45competition yeah um obviously with some of the teams that are coming up and i'm sure jalen brunson will
13:50be up to the challenge but you make a good point about the wrist i think that's still something to
13:54talk about with brunson throughout the season and not just poo poo it and put it to the side
13:58different it's surgery like the surgery yeah i know this from this year you're always still
14:03adjusting and trying to come back and you're not just 100 overnight there's been surgery there's
14:07been clips circulating where like fans have posted you know just him like kind of shaking his wrist
14:12in the middle of a game like i've seen some of that so yeah i'd be curious to know if
14:16that's
14:16affecting him at all uh even even mentally because you know at the end of the day and this is
14:21something
14:21that we've talked about in the offseason leading up to it is like you're going to take a lot of
14:25contact still because he draws a lot of contact he gets to the free throw line a lot he draws
14:29a lot
14:29of fouls and a lot of this is just guys just smacking down at your hand because you're left-handed
14:34dominant you're dribbling the basketball you know what i mean and like that can have an impact on you
14:40too because that could be added wear and tear to something that's post-surgery so yeah some something
14:45to keep an eye on but jalen brunson very impressive a short stint for him this week in the two
14:50games
14:5133 point explosion against the bulls definitely a good look he gets the nod for who got game this week
14:58game recognized game
15:02all right time for game recognized game the players that we watched it might be a little bit under the
15:08radar doesn't get a lot of the shine but we're going to give them some shine this week we had
15:13two
15:13different players last week ryan i have two different players this week um very interesting
15:17brian's choice is somebody who uh made his nick debut on wednesday night and again it's the bulls
15:27but looked kind of good and that's your boy dalton connect you saw what you wanted to see
15:32nick's uh two-way nick's two-way uh 17th overall pick in 2024 uh right ahead of tristan de silva
15:41who the
15:41nick saw not too long ago right behind jared mccain uh who's now with the thunder made a very good
15:47impression right away with the lakers and then quickly fell out of the rotation also got traded
15:52but the trade got rescinded so a little bit of uh uh topsy-turvy time in la but in new
15:57york uh so far
15:58so good that one game again one game one game but we're gonna look at some film around what brian
16:04found good with his boy dalton connect in this one uh let's let's look at what he did i mean
16:10he
16:10started off with a uh a pretty impressive play um in this one yeah so he finishes the game with
16:1610
16:17points and seven rebounds uh shoots you know 67 from the field which is obviously very very efficient
16:23um two or four from three this is all in 16 minutes so he plays well here okay so here's
16:29connect
16:29bottom of the screen uh with guys who play very often some of the most important nicks obviously
16:35on the team brunson towns right she's not bar garbage yeah yeah yeah yeah second quarter this
16:41is connect getting a shot with the real lineup which i think is smart by mike brown it's like all
16:45right
16:45let me see what you do with you know this like these guys the essential guys some of the essential
16:51guys on the team so here's connect here's jaylen brunson like first of all great crossover
16:56manipulating the screen usage here watch connect move without the ball at the bottom of the screen
17:02as landry shamit relocates to the corner so they're switching here we go little confusion here
17:11norman powell has to be the last line of defense which is great for the knicks and here's shamit
17:17wide open good look great look and connect was open too so because connect was open well
17:25this is what you should do instead of just worrying about you know potentially getting back in
17:30transition if you can get this offensive rebound and you're up by so much who cares yeah look at
17:37this see this is what mike brown was talking about when he said people think because he's white he's
17:42just a shooter but if you saw him in college if you saw him in college especially at tennessee like
17:47not even half of his shots were from three a bunch of them were but not even half of them
17:50put the ball
17:51on the floor we'll see that later and he can do this yeah and he can do this this is
17:55a great
17:56great following the shot here good pass great shot and this is even a better look obviously
18:02crashing a glass here nobody boxing him out and this is what this is what will get you in the
18:07rotation yeah it's not just shooting it's plays like these that's the point because the coaching
18:12staff is going to look at this plane say you did a little things you recognize the situation yep you
18:15saw
18:15the space you crashed the boards you then got the rebound and the put back put it in and the
18:20crowd was hyped off of that of course when that happened they were they went crazy because i think
18:24a lot of the crowd thought that he was just a shooter as well too and then they had to
18:28realize
18:28nah man dalton connect can do some other things we don't have to stereotype people like this all the
18:32time but um yes i agree with you 110 that that is what is it seems like a very small
18:39thing but it
18:39makes a coach be able to even say hey can i trust you in a five minute spurt yeah can
18:43i trust you to
18:43make good basketball plays just here on the offensive end where you're not going to mess
18:47things up yeah and now we look at the second play here so this is also in the second quarter
18:53it's
18:53the same lineup we're ending the second quarter here nick still have a massive massive lead here's
18:57connect at the bottom of the screen once again uh he's going to be brought into the action more
19:01closely here uh jalen brunson gets rid of it and this is with patrick williams guarding him
19:06basically at half court so connect here has a chance to create a shot with 10 seconds left this is
19:12just
19:12it feels like just mike brown just testing let me just let me just see what he can do we're
19:16up 30
19:16it's the bulls i was looking at this at the game and i'm like i want to see what he
19:19can do yeah so
19:20here we go don't connect create a shot now okay a little bit of a push some guys get away
19:25with that
19:28including prominently one of his own teammates but this is the nba a little bit of a push off here
19:34but create some separation they want to call the crowd ooze and oz bang all right under control
19:41rose and fired it was it was a really good shot if you can get away with it then it
19:48is what it is
19:48but the more get away with it is not a crime the more important thing the more important thing is
19:55that once again he actually like you get a good shot off early in the shot clock too because what
20:00you really want here is if you notice is eight seconds left or six seconds left on the shot clock
20:05this late when you want to it can basically be a one possession scenario and look ignore the fact
20:11that they have a massive lead but you want a chance to rebound the basketball too you know you don't
20:16always want to just wait till the last second and you have car anthony towns there with caleb wilson
20:20so you have a good shot but this is just a great play just creating offense from dawn connect so
20:25you saw
20:25multiple dimensions there you saw the rebounding the attacking again first impression people want to wear
20:31their best stuff on the first day of school but it's it's encouraging it's what you wanted to see
20:36from a two-way guy if you're mike brown so here's a question for me though the when you look
20:40at this
20:40because everybody will be hyped about what they saw here with dalton connect but do you think he
20:46actually has an opportunity to carve out a real role in this team especially with the way mike brown has
20:49been experimenting with different lineups so if healthy it'll be tough but this is not how the nba works
20:56now like everyone's getting hurt josh hart part of why he played josh hart didn't play in the game
21:01that's a good point um so this is just something that's going to keep happening and jose alvarado
21:05has obviously struggled with the ankle they're going to find time to rest guys like no one's
21:09going to play 82 games it looks like except for mikhail bridges and i just think that when you're
21:15trying to get through a season like yeah he's going to have an opportunity we saw this last year
21:19tyler kolik had an opportunity to really make an impression he was instrumental in that nba cup
21:24championship run he was instrumental in some other big moments but then when it came time for it like hey
21:29they went and got jose alvarado and ultimately he helped you win a championship like he helped you
21:33in critical moments during the playoffs and especially during those finals but everyone's
21:38going to get like not maybe not every single player but but like a lot of guys are going to
21:42get
21:42opportunities here and the way nba teams are utilizing two-way players and those two-way spots now
21:47yeah you have to get something out of them otherwise the turnover could be very quick i'm also going to
21:52add that why you also want to see if you can get stuff out of guys or if you do
21:56want to end up
21:56signing them to an actual contract trade possibilities yes if the knicks are going to
22:01make a move which i think they should to upgrade backup center but that is a story that we will
22:05get to even deeper on the show but you you need looks at guys that could either you can say
22:10okay
22:10if we make a move and we're doing a two-for-one deal yeah before say do we still have
22:14guys that we
22:15think can be on the roster and contribute so this is why it's important to get a look at somebody
22:20like
22:20uh dalton connect i think that's why it is so important and also for him you're playing for your
22:26career now you were kind of a bust as a first round pick you didn't get your contract obviously
22:32renewed uh you didn't make it to the fourth year team option to then get an extension like none of
22:36that you're a two-way guy already three years into your career so now this is the point where you're
22:41playing for your career and if he does well if he gets an opportunity does well whatever maybe
22:46there's a three-year extension down the line that is probably going to be more team friendly but
22:50some financial security there like you can actually carve out a role where you're paid like
22:54hey this can be a 10th 11th man maybe even a ninth man if things break right like that could
22:59be
22:59actually a very good outcome for his career and this is seemingly a very good spot for him too yeah
23:04we also talk about how the knicks need more size and if he even becomes like again when i was
23:09a wing
23:09we're talking about him being a reasonable rotation player i'd say anyway even if you said between the
23:13eighth to tenth man if he becomes that that is still a win and it's a good find if you're
23:19leon rose and
23:19the knicks it's good business so you know he's 25 he's 25 years old it's good to see nice first
23:26start
23:26it is the bulls but he did do some good things in that game okay my person for game recognizes
23:32game
23:32this week was somebody you just talked about tyler kolek now kolek was the first point guard off the
23:40bench against the bulls he played more than alvarado and mike brown said that he's going to kind of mix
23:48and match mike brown has also said everybody on the bench is fighting for minutes i like that it's
23:52also the bulls i i don't know if he would have done that against you know and the ankle and
23:58everything
23:58but but yes kolek has played well this season and five assists five assists in this game
24:04no turnovers kolek has played well as you said his assist percentage is according to cleaning the
24:09glass 51.7 yeah six and a half percent turnover percentage that's elite ridiculous you know who else
24:15doesn't turn over the ball as much to jalen brunson who's been doing a good job i should have mentioned
24:18that earlier when we talked about his offensive play despite not shooting well he's also not
24:23turned the ball over well and then the on-off numbers for tyler kolek according to cleaning the
24:28glass plus 12.6 so the knicks offense is really humming when he is on the court as opposed to
24:34when
24:34he's off it now you can see that now do you lose something defensively and i'm gonna get to that
24:38because i have a question for you uh about that because we know you love defense as you should and
24:42sometimes i think defense is undervalued but i want us to take a look at the video with with
24:48kolek here because what i want people to look at and where i think it's important with kolek
24:52right you can look at the assist percentage you can look at the turnover rate and you can look at
24:56the
24:56fact that he had five assists no turnovers he had a game earlier issue with nine assists and no
24:59turnovers and all that's good but what i'm seeing from him that's better to me than i've seen from him
25:04in the past is how's he moving without the ball when he doesn't have the ball in his hand and
25:09then how does
25:09that really help the knicks offense so we'll take a look at this play right here you see kolek right
25:14there at the top uh of the of your screen here and we're gonna let it play and kolek with
25:20the ball
25:20and he gives it up right so now now he cuts here cat's got him we know how good of
25:25a passer cat is
25:26cat's always looking always looking this matters too because kolek knows that cat's always going to
25:31be looking yep he knows that he's always going to be looking and i think other players right now in
25:37the knicks the reason it's worked so well it's not that kolek's just a gifted passerby they also
25:41know yo if i move kolek might get me the ball too yeah now this is not this is not
25:46some traditional
25:47point guard where kolek's dribbling the ball at the top he's moving around setting a player he came
25:50with pick and roll he just came off of a screen behind towns cut to the basket in the middle
25:55of
25:55the paint he's now got a decision he can shoot but we know what his best we know what his
25:59best
25:59skill is okay and he looks and people have to respect it because he's looking off to mohammed
26:05diawara at at the uh break and he looks him off and he drops a beautiful dime right there to
26:12jordan
26:12clarkson who's been fantastic in the minutes he's clarkson in the dunker spot spot right playing like
26:17a big all season but he's been he's been highly efficient wherever you've wherever you've put him
26:22right and this play works though to me so much because of kolek's movement without the ball
26:28cat's willingness to pass the ball but even when kolek got it you're talking about one dribble
26:32one dribble look off and he dishes to jordan clarkson it's an impressive play and so we see
26:38that as play number one let's look at play number two because you're gonna see kolek again now he's
26:44got the ball to start this possession here okay this is against the nets yeah and this matters too
26:50and why i wanted to talk about this first play against the bulls and the nets mike brown went with
26:55him pretty much to start the fourth quarter and there was a point where i'm watching this game
26:58like oh are you even bringing back jalen brunson it was a close game at that close game and mike
27:03brown rode with him because the offense was humming so well with him on the court and this is going
27:09to
27:09be another situation where kolek gives up the ball you can see him give up to josh hart here and
27:15this
27:15also matters because of the next personnel they've got other willing passers it is not just tyler
27:20kolek there are other willing passers here too so we're going to watch we're going to see
27:23tyler kolek give up the ball now watch kolek without the ball look at that number one that's
27:28a beautiful screen set by cat right to clip the defender now kolek is wide open all alone and
27:36listen you'd like to see kolek look for a shot a little bit more but if he moves and he
27:41gets open
27:42shots like this this is just beautiful look at the defense like they all they all turn their heads
27:47here look at mo mo vogner is the funniest one he turns his head like yo wait a minute
27:54and i also want to say why this is a good play too because now this is this is about
28:00wrinkles we
28:01talked about this so much through the playoffs all the teams know when you have cat in the pinch post
28:07oh man we got to watch we don't know who's cutting you saw a lot of things off the weak
28:12side but this
28:13came off the strong side where kolek makes the back cut on this and this is before cat even gets
28:19the ball so this is a wrinkle to the things we saw in the playoffs before cat even touches the
28:23ball
28:24kolek is slipping behind him on the screen it's a great screen again by cat and he's wide open
28:30cat didn't even have to touch the ball yeah to make that play work i mean and tyler didn't even
28:35look
28:35the ball in he's turning away already by the time he gets the ball right it's a great pass from
28:39josh hart
28:40it's it's a great play design because everybody was focused on cat yeah and wondering well what if
28:45he gets the ball in the pinch post what's he going to do who's the passer that they didn't even
28:48look
28:48at kolek so koleks and you have seen this a lot from landry sham its off ball movement has been
28:53amazing this year but tyler kolek also is able to create offense because of how he's moving off the
28:58ball and that's why i'm recognizing his game he could talk about the assist but the way he's moving
29:02off the ball right now it's it's good and it's going to generate even better offense for
29:08the knicks now here's my question to you yeah because we got to talk a little about a defense
29:14i think people are going to look at kolek and his ability to what the things i'm just talking
29:20about his ability to run the second unit and i guess what i'm asking is do you think there's a
29:24better fit for what mike brown wants in terms of his point guard running the second unit is it
29:29kolek or is it alvarado we know who's the better defensive player yeah it's jose alvarado
29:34which mike brown really cares about or is it or is this a situation of you're going to do a
29:39little
29:39mix and match it depends on the team depends on the situation do you think that's best for the
29:43knicks or is it best that they say hey let's stick let's stick with one star one not starting point
29:48guard one backup point guard we know who it is it's interesting i think i think it depends on the
29:53matchup like you need to see how kolek does more consistently against some of these better teams
29:58because i think you'll lean on alvarado who's you know hasn't been shooting the ball
30:02uh well but he's been defending well so far this season um and even per 100 possessions like
30:08his assist numbers are you know one of the among the best on the team just kolek is damn near
30:13tripled
30:14him because of where he's at right now um as a matter of fact i think kolek leads the league
30:18right
30:18now in assists per 100 possessions at 21 which is a ridiculous number to sustain so the office has been
30:24really good i'm i would probably still lean jose alvarado but tyler kolek is developing he's earned
30:31i didn't expect you to go against your people he's he's earned well i was i was pro them trading
30:36for him for the reasons we saw and and both of us were yeah yeah and it also like you
30:41know who can
30:42get it done when it matters right so and i think but tyler kolek has earned minutes based on how
30:48he's
30:48running the point guard position even though he hasn't been shooting the ball well but both of these
30:52guys move without the ball well and i think i mean honestly if one of them was like six three
30:57you'd want
30:57to play both of them at the same time but the issue is you kind of can't because you also
31:01have
31:01deuce landry if they were to move i'm not advocating for this but if they were to move deuce
31:07that for like a for like a wing or a backup center or something like that probably a backup center
31:12then the conversation would be okay so is kolek and alvarado too small in the backcourt together but
31:18i think that's a combination you would probably see more often if deuce wasn't there it's just the
31:23issue is like how can you play all three of them plus landry shammett small guards plus landry
31:27shammett consistently which is something i've been talking about as it relates to the bench not to
31:30mention you're also playing jordan clarkson as kind of like a four at times uh given some of the
31:37things he has to do on the floor you know we haven't seen moldy a while a ton this year
31:40it's
31:40been 29 minutes um although he was a candidate for game recognized game too because i thought the
31:45minutes against the bulls were good but to me in in games that matter i would still lean jose for
31:49the
31:49time being but i think kolek also warrants like i i understand the platoon the backup platoon if you
31:55want to call it that and i'd want to see more minutes of both of them together just to see
31:58what
31:58it looks like but i don't know how sustainable mike brown thinks that is yeah i'm intrigued to see
32:03how mike brown plays this and then you know it's funny i think we'll learn that about over the next
32:09couple of games in this stretch it'll be interesting against cleveland and whatnot yeah i think i think
32:14we'll see about how that goes so we will see how this plays out but there you go don't connect
32:18and tyler kolek those are our players for game recognized game who got next
32:27okay now it's who's got next now we look at what is coming up next for the knicks interesting
32:34schedule cleveland cavaliers on saturday rematch of the eastern conference finals too many rematches
32:41so far this year too many rematches early yeah like you don't like the next schedule no i'm just
32:45it's not even the knicks schedule though they played philly and chicago already twice but there's
32:49been other like it's just okc and cleveland already done they played each other there's another t there's
32:55another series that is already done um i think charlotte's played brooklyn twice at this point it's
33:00just there's a lot of rematches already but yeah knicks are getting cleveland and then cleveland again
33:05four days later next wednesday and then cleveland again two weeks after so cleveland three times and
33:11then cleveland again the month after so like we'll be done with the cabs before it is six six weeks
33:16basically yeah that's that's that's a lot um yeah so as ryan just mentioned they play the calves on
33:22saturday that in cleveland then they've got the bucks uh at home on tuesday uh bucks one of the worst
33:31teams in the league and then they have the calves on a back-to-back at home next wednesday and
33:35then
33:35we'll probably be talking about that thursday and then yeah then looking ahead we'll talk about that
33:40on thursday and we'll be also previewing the road trip on friday which starts with a road trip
33:44in naptown against the pacers nba cup game next friday uh myself and brian will be here in the
33:49studio for that john chastrzemski will be our guest y'all should be uh maybe haliburton is back he's
33:54supposed to get re-evaluated in i think another few days or a week or so it'll be interesting to
33:58see
33:58who's there for that who's there to play in this matchup i think for me brian um when i when
34:06i look
34:06at this schedule it's a little bit of what we talked about where it said hey we need to see
34:10what
34:10they can do in this against some better competition obviously matchups against cleveland you feel like
34:14it's a stretch where you would like it if you can go you love it if you go three and
34:17oh but you can
34:18go two and one you got to 500 stay above 500 hopefully we never have to talk about the knicks
34:23below 500
34:23for the rest of the season i i i hope that's the that's the case um we'll see the thing
34:29for me is
34:31when you look at these matchups right now look at what the knicks have done they've won four out of
34:34five games as we've talked about guys their fourth in defensive efficiency yeah according to cleaning
34:40the glass their third in offensive rebounding something that should not be understood understated
34:45and i think that's helped them a lot through their offensive struggles despite and you could only
34:49imagine if they were shooting the ball better and having the offensive rebounding rate they would have
34:53their offense would be a lot better but we saw some progress against the bulls on on on wednesday
34:58um the things you're still seeing struggles with offensively is finishing around the basket that's
35:03where they're not making their shots at a high rate like they were last year so with cleveland
35:07twice and milwaukee coming up which of those trends are you interested in seeing potentially turn around
35:16right or or is sustainable i should say which one of those trends you think could be sustainable
35:21in what we've seen that appears to be a knicks turnaround the uh the shooting is probably the
35:27main thing because that's the that's the thing that's really fluctuated this year and then
35:31um the rebounding too because cleveland obviously like you have jared allen you have evan mobley
35:38still have thomas bryant even uh payton wass has been out with a hamstring injury a couple games
35:43we'll see if he's gonna play um and jared allen did uh injure himself in the last okc game injured
35:50his knee and exited uh so so yeah so we'll also have to see with that i mean this is
35:55the case with
35:56everybody right should be noted cleveland will be on the second of a back-to-back when the knicks go
36:01there so cleveland has a cup game on friday the knicks do not because they have the cup game after
36:06with indiana cleveland is going to play philadelphia on november 6th that friday uh which is obviously a
36:12game they want to get up for because they blew the first sixers game um yeah in philly this is
36:19going to be at home then after that they have the knicks on the second of a back-to-back
36:22so um i guess
36:24this is why the schedule makers did it this way because the knicks when they see cleveland at home
36:28again on wednesday they're they're on the second of a back-to-back and cleveland will not be because
36:34in between that they have uh charlotte so it's knicks day off hornets on the road day off and
36:40then knicks uh and then miami after that actually so if knicks don't play with their food against
36:44milwaukee it might not feel like the second night of a back-to-back so it feels like kind of
36:48a benchmark
36:48stretch early on for both of these two teams because you get the team who you saw in the eastern
36:55conference finals last year but to me it's like okay are you hitting the shots are you getting to the
37:01shots against against cleveland who's obviously you know not the best defense in the league but a
37:06better defense in chicago of their 20th in defense now but they're they're going to finish higher than
37:10that they'll be a top maybe top 15 defense they need peyton watson back who will help who should
37:15help in that department answering issue for him yeah yeah not just ongoing he's on my fantasy uh injured
37:20list right now you know so i think i think that's it and then the rebounding especially if jared
37:25allen's there like you know how does it how do they compete can andre drummond sort of spark the bench
37:30from that regard um and then i also am looking at what we just talked about the point guard sort
37:34of
37:34battle if you want to talk about that with jose alvarado with tyler kolek and how how they're used
37:39against in those yeah yeah and if mike brown decides like if they sit josh hard again because they have
37:44a back-to-back coming up do you actually deploy hey we'll do kolek and alvarado at the same time
37:50with
37:50you know deuce because sham it's in the starting lineup and then you figure out you know from there
37:55or or are you giving don't connect a little bit more burn are you giving mohammed diawar a little more
38:00burn and multiple of those things could be true at the same time yeah so okay those are some good
38:05things to watch i think you're right i think for me it's that how in terms of what what would
38:10make
38:10me say that's sustainable that they've turned the corner completely because i think a lot of people
38:14are still going to say ah they're four and four i need to see more and i think you're not
38:17wrong for
38:17feeling that way at all whatsoever yeah um i would agree with you but i think that i want to
38:22see
38:22hey is the offense still humming um is the shot making still there are you seeing the same level of
38:28cutting that you saw at the end of the brooklyn game throughout most of the chicago game on the
38:33passing the christmas is that there um and you know also just getting a win on the road especially
38:39the cleveland with getting another good win on the road would be good too just early on in the season
38:43going to cleveland they're on the second night of a back-to-back they'll be playing philly the night
38:47before can you go get a win on the road there that's meaningful especially coming off some good
38:52vibes this week and make it a 3-0 week so i really want to see that is there some
38:56diversity in terms
38:58of how they're scoring their points are they finally um you know hitting getting better at
39:02finishing at the rim and their mid-range shots just that's kind of the things i want to see in
39:06the next
39:06couple of games and then also can the defensive intensity stay where it is because they've been
39:10really good talk to them about being fourth in defensive efficiency the next defense has been really
39:14good um and again i would rather the defense be where it is and the offense come along
39:20as the season continues i would then the other way around i'd always rather have the defense ahead
39:25um because i think the defensive habits are really good and this team knows how to communicate well
39:30defensively so we'll see how they do in these next couple of games interesting stretch two games
39:36against cleveland one against milwaukee before the next time brian and i record so we'll see how they
39:41do uh any predictions for how you think they'll do in the stretch i will say they'll go two and
39:46one
39:47they'll beat milwaukee and they'll split the calves games so we'll go with that i'm gonna say the same
39:52uh i think if you can go three and i i think if you if you get that road game
39:57this is how i'll say
39:58this i'll go two and one but if you get that road game against cleveland three and oh is on
40:03the table
40:03and then you even though you're on the second of a back-to-back and then you handle milwaukee
40:07the way you handle the balls so you don't play with your food then i think three you know is
40:13very
40:13possible yeah i weirdly think they actually win the like they they actually win against each other
40:19on the road the knicks because of the back-to-back spots you know so you like you like the
40:23knicks on
40:24saturday and yeah the calves next wednesday yeah yeah just just because of the back-to-backs but
40:28we'll we'll see who's healthy by that point too all right we'll see let us know what you think how
40:33you feeling about the knicks turnaround they've won four of the last five games what do you think
40:36they're going to do on this little not road trip it's a little three-game stretch coming up going to
40:40cleveland and two at home before they do have a five-game road trip that'll be very interesting
40:45four-game road trip yeah we will talk about that road trip next week that's a very very
40:49interesting road trip i believe it's at indiana two games in toronto and then they are at minnesota
40:55yeah correct weird travel uh given that you get a couple days one one day in between each game
41:01of rest so you have uh two of those in the same city so not that's true not that terrible
41:06yeah um but
41:07yeah it's so it's going to be interesting stretch coming up that's going to do it for this edition
41:10of new york got game you guys will probably not see me in a suit college shirt or maybe a
41:15tie
41:15again for a while next time we're going to try to get brian to put on a suit yeah yeah
41:20that'll be
41:20the bit that'll be the bit i'll wear the suit next week brian's got the brian's got the suit um
41:25all right we we are rolling along in november uh we'll be back with more new york got game coverage
41:32coming your way for the great brian fonseca i'm dexter hermy we'll catch you next time on new york
41:36got game peace and thanks for watching new york got game boob shakalaka
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