A Festivus Airing of Knicks Grievances After New York Falls 130-111 to the Bucks
Welcome in to locked on Nicks and it was a I hopefully there’s a Christmas miracle around the corner but we had a Festivus disappointment for the Knicks on December 23rd against the Bucks losing 130 to 111 so to quote the great Frank castanza we got a lot of problems
With you people and now you’re GNA hear about it those people being the Knicks so that’s coming up right now unlocked on Knicks you are locked on Nicks your daily New York Knicks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day all right welcome in to locked on
Nicks today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase and I want to thank you guys for making locked on Nick’s first listen today and every day whether you’re checking us out
On your favorite podcast platform or taking in the sites and sounds on YouTube we appreciate you making us a part of your daily routine make sure you hit that notification Bell on YouTube or the Auto download function on your favorite podcast app so you never miss
An episode I’m Alex Wolf I’m Eder and Chief and niite the Strickland which you can find strict. land and he is Gavin Shaw your favorite play-by-play broadcaster favorite play-by-play broadcaster sitting in an absolute boss chair today looking looking look in the rooll Big Time shout out to my
Girlfriend’s Dad yep there you go I wasn’t pointing at God he’s just upstairs go ahead hey that that works well and when you’re guesting in someone’s household uh very deferential of you anyway uh the Knicks uh lost pretty bad 130 to 111 to the Bucks yesterday uh but we’re gonna
In the spirit of Festivus which the the uh Nicks were playing on yesterday we’re gonna air our grievances a bit Gavin about this team and about this game in particular because this was it’s frustrating you know it’s like I think that these games games against the Bucks
Are just the most Stark reminder that the Knicks just aren’t in that class of great teams yet they’re like a very good team that can beat most of the teams in the NBA but still just does not have the juice to beat a team like the Bucks yet
And the Bucks I mean to be fair to them and to be fair to the Knicks I mean this was when we reacted to that Damen Lillard trade over the off season we were like well that pretty much laces that up like you know like this that’s a
Huge move for them and they are so talented now it’s going to be near impossible to beat them for a couple years and you know that’s kind of played out so far that said Gavin my first airing of grievances here goes to RJ Barrett and it sucks to have to keep
Going back to this well a little bit but I thought that this game was just one of the you know like this game exposed a lot of things about the Knicks I think which is why we’re going to be talking about them all this whole whole time but
Like as far as RJ goes I thought that he like single-handedly just by virtue of not being able to make a shot right now killed what could have been a lot of momentum swings for the Knicks like even just to the point of in the third quarter for example the Knicks made a
Really and you know I have another gripe with tibs about this as well but the third quarter was just a disaster but the Knicks made a really good run at the end of the first half Jaylen Brunson you know scored a ton of points right before
They went to break they had the momentum fully on their side home crowd cheering for them everything else everything was in the Knick’s favor there and then they come out in the third quarter and like they were generating good looks for RJ Barrett but he was so incapable of
Making a single shot out there that it it just completely derailed what the Knicks could have had going for them and I don’t know it was his performance to me stood out like a sore thumb as like the one of the main reasons that this team was just like one of the big
Differentiators between this team and the bucks for example is the drop off to the third option of RJ Barrett is so much bigger right now for the Knicks than it is for like the the bucks with Chris Middleton yeah I let’s start bigger picture because I wantan to I want to
Address everything you said I I think we both had a feeling coming into this year that the Knicks would be better and I think with Mitchell Robinson I think they were a better team and I I think the I keep I was referenc these numbers
But with Mitch for most of the time he’s on the floor top 10 offense top 10 defense right Baseline Championship metrics against seemingly every bad team we played taking care of business night after night after night but what was missing from last year was that ceiling
That they could beat the best teams in the league and I’ve kind of been playing with that in my head I was like all right was was that actually something that was there for the Knicks last year that isn’t there this year or is it just
The best teams got better and I and I I can’t help but feel it’s it’s as simple as the best teams getting better and and doing so in a way that the Knicks just didn’t and and the Knicks with the team more in need of the upgrade more in more
Need of finding the equivalent of a Damen Lillard or Chris taps porzingis or Drew holiday like notice all those guys conglomerated on two teams um and they didn’t do that and they’re paying the price for it now and I think the bet the Knicks were making was one we’re not
Quite ready for that type of deal two we’re going to get some internal development that makes up a good portion of that Gap even even if we’re not getting stars and I think that’s where you zoom in on an RJ Barrett Alex and you say like he’s basically the same guy
He was last year and I think we were both fooled by some early season hot shooting um the fact that I thought his passing looked better but I think I’m realizing now a lot of those plays were relatively simple reads that were opened up by the fact that he was hitting about
50% of his threes um and I think we we both wanted to believe in it but to me it just sort of feels like he’s the same guy at the end of the day and anyone who wants to have push back back on that because I I’ve had nights where I
Thought otherwise and I thought the playmaking was there and it looked good and I’ve talked about it a lot but I I almost I almost can’t get there anymore because I think what was so frustrating for me was that I mean the shot just continues to be so inconsistent his his
Finishing was just terrible it it just honestly feels like it hasn’t gotten meaningfully better from his rookie season and when you look back on that rookie season you remember all right the context was just so bad you you were okay with it because you were like once he has better teammates those numbers
Are going to Skyrock and I know this roster just isn’t ideal for him still in that you don’t have a stretch five and you have two guys and Randall and Brunson who who are both lefties and basically do the exact same thing so maybe on another team it still looks
Different but in what’s an arguably a better context than when he was a younger player whether it’s the shooting the finishing or the playmaking like it all kind of just looks the same and for the guy who’s the number three pick in the draft and and the Knicks I think in
Giving him that contract were were’re putting some major hopes that there was room for at least somewhat substantial Improvement there or or if not a riging in of parts of his games and emphasizing the parts that work really well that just hasn’t happened with any kind of
Consistency and I’m with you it gives the Knicks a hard ceiling and we can get into this more but no Mitchell Robinson gives the Knicks a hard ceiling because I mean once again like this this is hit me if you’ve heard this before that’s not the saying um but um the Knicks were
Just too small against an elite team and and that’s a theme that’s come up over and over and over again yeah we’ll get to the missing Mitch thing in a second because especially Isaiah hardenstein getting in foul trouble early kind of doomed the Knicks in this as well uh but
Just to finish on RJ I think the big thing is like you know a lot of people and you know we definitely do this sometimes too we’re still like well he’s still pretty young it’s like there’s still room to grow but I talked about this for years like
Talked about this last year especially you know after he got paid it’s like fine like this is like like your last year of like the honeymoon phase because after your fourth season in the league if you’re a first round pick and you get extended that next year you’re making
What you’re deemed to be worth and what RJ’s deemed to be worth is a player by his by his paycheck he’s deemed to be worth a player on a similar level of Jaylen Brunson and and Julius Randall and you know he might only be 23 still and like you could argue like well
There’s literally going to be players that enter the league in this coming draft it will be RJ Barrett’s age still even though he’s finishing his fifth NBA season but like it doesn’t matter like he’s he’s getting paid what he’s getting paid now he’s in his fifth year in the
NBA and like we do need to start seeing meaningful strides in his consistency and being able to make shots and do it on a night toight basis and we’re just not seeing it yet um you know even stuff like his finishing like was so masterful
To start the year like he went out there and he was we had the the finish on night one that I still sticks in my brain and he had a couple of these early in the season where he like got inside and was up against one of the most
Intimidating defenders in the NBA around the rim christops porzingis and just like snaked himself in the ball around porzingis like threw up a layup you know over porzingis is outstretched hand which was crazy and made it and now that that seems to have totally gone like I
Don’t know what what ch with him but now he’s back right back to like some of his bad Tendencies from before of you know because he’s not a super vertical player when he goes to the rim just going inside not going up super strong not contorting himself enough and just
Getting absolutely destroyed by bigger Centers inside and just blocked all the time and you know made to miss tons and tons of shots and he’s also not doing anything to to generate the foul or free throw attempts that he was before too like I guess last night was just sort of
Or yesterday afternoon I should say was just like one of those games where lately I’ve been kind of defending him sometimes being like well the shooting was still off but this was really good like the passing was really good tonight or the defense was really good or you know running in transition
He did really well with that at least you know so there was like some positive there or he drew some fouls you know whatever and this game was just kind of the first R where none of those other conditions existed and it really stood
Out to me of just like man if this is how he if this is how he’s going to shoot and this is like the new normal where he’s just going to be shooting in the 30s and like in the 20s from three Grant he did end up with thanks to a
Little bit of garbage time magic with a two of five line from three in this game but had like badly missed three earlier in the game uh prior to making those twoo late but it just I don’t know I it’s it’s starting to get to a weird
Point where it’s like I don’t know if he needs to maybe see the bench for a bit now or or what but something I think has to change at this point yeah I I I I just think you have to treat him like the player he is and I I still think and
I think in the fourth quarter tibs does that I mean coming into this week I’m not sure how much it changed but he was I think seventh on the team in fourth quarter minutes maybe eighth on the team in fourth quarter minutes so I I think
Tibs very much recognizes who he is but I almost think you have to treat it like that all three quarters and and the issue with that and I think honestly it’s not his pedigree that keeps him on the floor it’s it’s won the hope that
He’s gonna have a good night and he and when he does he can obviously change games with his scoring and I I think it’s too it’s just position size it’s the most substantial flaw on this team it’s that they’re they’re just small one through four and and even with Mitchell
Robinson like against the best teams in the league that is a major major issue without him it is just so so glaring and and look we we haven’t played Philly yet like it’s going to be glaring against them it’s G to be glaring the remaining games against the Celtics like like that
Is going to be the Nick Achilles heel All Season teams that can’t make them pay for it they’re going to look great because they’re an awesome offensive team and they have a good defensive infrastructure and hartenstein is not Mitch but he’s really good but again against like like when the competition
Goes up like it’s not like you spring a leak it it the whole Dam cracks and and and that’s what happened this was a game where from moment one Alex the Knicks were just completely and utterly outclassed um but we can talk about that
In just a sec um before we do uh would you mind telling us about our buddies over at eBay motors yeah our friends over at eBay motors have teamed up with locked on Fantasy Basketball host Josh Lloyd to bring you some of the best fantasy picks each week all season long so whether
You’re prepping for a daily draft or scouting the waiver wire every week we’re going to provide you players that are guaranteed to fit on your roster so let’s see who Josh has picked out for us on this week’s eBay guaranteed fit fantasy picks of the week and H I’m
Taking a look at the list here you know what I’m going to go with the guy that Gavin and I I were super into in the draft when he came out last year Malachi brandham on the Spurs he seems set to Josh says he seems set to be a starter
For the Spurs for the short term at least and he flashed some increased passing skills increasing his fantasy viability brandham also is also gonna give you the three-pointers so like in a nineat league that’s pretty valuable uh that’s what I play in so that’s kind of the mindset that I’m always going at
With this so I think Malachi brandom is a a really solid ad and I think that you know he could potentially help your team out and Josh Lloyd from locked on fantasy basketball is going to help you win your fantasy championship and eBay Motors knows a championship team is
About each player being a perfect fit that’s the same with your vehicle so I I don’t know if you guys have ever tried to fix anything with your cars or buy parts or whatever but it could be kind of annoying like you’re you’re trying to find what you need and then especially
If you buy parts like on eBay in the past before they had the the guaranteed fit guarantee there was no way of knowing for sure that it was going to work with your car until you got it and then you had to try it out or whatever
Now eBay has you totally covered and has it so that you always know that your part is going to fit 100% guaranteed or you know they’ll cover it for you so I mean that’s that’s an awesome awesome thing I’ve used it to buy parts for my Toyota Prius um and previous cars as
Well I had a super Forester before that used it on that so it’s I could definitely attest I’ve I’ve used eBay motor to great effect before so with over 122 million parts for your number one Rider die you can make sure your ride stays running smoothly brake kits LED headlights roof rack bumpers
Whatever your baby needs eBay Motors has it and with the eBay guaranteed fit it’s guaranteed to fit your ride the first time every time or your money back plus at those prices you’re burning rubber not cash so keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eBay guaranteed fit
Only available to us customers eligible items only exclusions apply all right and we’re back in to keep talking through this game and Gavin I’m gon to throw it to you because you mentioned you mentioned this I think it’s a great Point uh the Knicks were really missing Mitch in this game I
Think uh maybe more so than others and I think that was definitely a part of them just kind of getting shellacked like almost from minute one in this game against the team that has probably maybe maybe the best big man rotation in the NBA I don’t know I don’t
Know if it if I’m missing someone glaring there but like Giannis Brook Lopez Bobby poris like is just such a a crazy combo that can do so many different things and the Knicks I think really just kind of got exposed by that yeah I mean I I think it’s it’s not a
Coincidence that the Bucks have shot like a million percent from three against the Knicks this year and this and and this was I mean coming into the game the big theme was all right if the Bucks can finally just have a game where they shoot poorly against the Knicks and
The Knicks could finally just have a game where they shoot well against the Bucks they could break what I think now is a nine game losing streak against his team and it never ever happens and and even even with Mitch that’s a major issue but the reason it’s so compounded
Without him Alex is that you see Giannis drive and there’s four bodies around him because there’s no confidence that hartenstein is gonna be stopping him at the rim and and often times hardenstein isn’t even at The Rim because you have to respect Brook Lopez as a shooter or
Gibson isn’t even all the way at the rim he’s kind of providing soft help and especially when Giannis is in and Randall’s out or or randle’s like not in the play for some reason like like you like in transition is typically when that happens um you just see him
Spraying it out for open three after open three after open three and and no Mitch doesn’t clean all that up obviously right like the transition stuff like Mitch isn’t likely to be back there anyways but in the half court now you’re getting those open threes as well
And it’s just easy for the Bucs when you have Damen Lillard when you have Malik Beasley when you have Chris Middleton when you have Brook Lopez when you have four high Lev Shooters around him and this is this is what we were getting at when we did that um like a semi
Emergency pod when the Bucs got lilled and we were saying this is a nightmare it’s a nightmare for every team in the league it’s particularly a nightmare for the Knicks without Mitchell Robinson and it just it’s pretty like clear to me at least at this point that like when the
Knicks play great offensive teams without Mitch like it’s going to get ugly like it’s it’s been a series of 140o games and this was a night where Milwaukee scored 130 but could have had 150 if they had chosen to and and if they had kind of put their foot down at
The end of this game um and and you can just see it from an offensive rebounding perspective and I think this is this also isn’t necessarily a mitch thing Alex but I said it after the first matchup they’re the one team that really punishes you for playing Josh hard of
Power forward like Bobby poris got whatever he wanted the Knicks had to double team him like he was getting offensive rebounds he was getting cleanups he was hitting turnarounds over double teams then once he got confident he started hitting threes um they’re they’re small like there there’s there’s
No way around it they made the bet that they could survive that there were always going to be bad matchups and Milwaukee to me um is kind of the ultimate bad match up defensively for them yeah they really are I mean it’s I think one number that kind of
Underscores everything here is 53 to 41 that’s 53 rebounds for the bucks 41 for the Knicks in this game like you don’t normally see the Knicks get just completely washed on the boards like that you know and they got they got destroyed I mean it was it was like you
Said they really got punished for not having enough size I mean this does kind of bring us back to the point of they need some help like with Mitch gone you know they were very reliant on that ecosystem of Mitch starting and giving you hopefully 30 to 35 minutes a game
And hartenstein giving you like 15 to 20 like high quality minutes off the bench uh at that Center Spot and they they desperately desperately need that like all the minutes with Taj too it’s just like I love Taj Gibson to death he he had a fun stint the first time with the
Knicks you know all that good stuff but he’s he’s not who he was even two three years ago at this point I mean he’s clearly in Decline clearly getting much older and everything and it’s it’s not good um so I I don’t know I think this
Kind of just means that they need to make a move soon like they need to get another big in here that can play a a real power forward when need be because there are going to be especially at the top there are those teams that can kill
You with that like there’s the Celtics can do that to you the the Bucks can do that to you and if the Knicks want to be in that upper eel on of teams they need to have a more versatile roster that can handle all situations and unfortunately
As of right now they just don’t have that uh with the guys that they have here especially with the injuries and everything involved but even without you know e even if Mitch and harste hartenstein were both healthy in this game you still would have run into that
Problem that you said of Bobby Portis a backup power forward just being able to just completely roll over Josh Hart as the backups uh backup power forward which is especially can’t it’s not even like you can play Julius Moore against like Portis because they’re basically in many ways trying to match julius’s
Minutes with Giannis anyway and so you know poris is out there sometimes with Giannis but a lot of times you know he’s out there when Giannis isn’t out there and then that creates a whole other situation where now you have like you know you can’t even put Julius Randall
Out there for times against these bigger backup power forwards so yeah it was uh it was a tough game in that regard not I’m not used to seeing the Knicks get beat on the boards like that but if you have a team that can beat them on the
Boards it’s it’s like a pretty sure fire sign the Nicks are probably not gonna win that game yeah I mean like I I don’t know if I’ve emphasized this enough so I’m just really GNA drive it home I thought this was the worst game the Knicks played all season like like
Literally Brunson and hardenstein were the only two players that I would say had good games maybe Dev Chen Devon chenzo was fine um that is rare where I can come out and say like jul Julius said 26 and8 that was like the fakest 26
And8 i’ I’ve seen from him in in a while like I I thought he’s done a great job recently but man he was we can get into it more next seg but I thought he was brutal in this game and it just the I think the the most annoying and
Frustrating part of it for me it felt like a fluke every possession the Bucks didn’t score like if they missed a shot it wasn’t because the Knicks did something great or they had some amazing close out or or they they made some great hustle play it was as simple as um
They missed the shot and the Knicks didn’t really affect it very much and I think that’s like I didn’t do a good enough job capturing when I talked about it five minutes ago but that’s where you miss Mitch the most because with Mitchell Robinson’s on the court you
Feel the Knicks defense if not every play on some plays like he is a force out there and hartenstein is great he had seven offensive rebounds in this game really good cutting took five shots found a way to get to 12 points only had one turnover like he played a really
Nice game he’s just he’s not Mitchell Robinson and and and and obviously like the Knicks have a similar floor without Mitch their ceiling is substantially lower even though hartenstein gives them that extra schem versatility it it just takes away of what they can be against
Best teams and and I think it’s as it’s as simple as that to me um Alex I wanna I want to get into um a little bit more on why I was disappoined in Randall and even though it’s Festivus I think we I think we have to culminate in
Celebrating what was an absurd night for jayen Brunson 36 points seven assists all 36 are better or worse coming in the first three quarters um but before we do that I got to talk about our buddies over at game time so if you’re like me you’ve you’ve certainly had frustrating
Experiences buying a ticket um on on a given night and game time kind of erases that they are the place for fast and easy tickets whether it’s for sports music comedy and Theater events they’ve kill last minute deals all in prices views from your seat and their best
Price guarantee they take the guesswork out of buying tickets um the last time I got to use it was two weeks ago which was a much happier night for the New York digs getting to watch Jaylen Brunson Dro 50 points on the Phoenix Suns and what I loved about it was I got
To see my view from my seat and I was convinced a seat that I didn’t think I would like I said you know what this is actually picture perfect for me um and what I also loved was the game time guarantee so if I had found a better
Price else Not only would game time have matched that they would have given me 110% of the difference and I didn’t wait for the last second but if you want to you can they have tickets even an hour after the event starts so take the guesswork out of buying tickets with
Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on MBA like I did for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code L CK MBA for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price gar
Teed all right Alex I W to I want to talk Jaylen Brunson but we got it we got to finish this airing of grievances first though what what else irked you during this game uh you know I think this sort of goes hand inand with my RJ
Thing like there was a stretch so going into the half the Knicks were down double digits like for much of the second quarter jayen Brunson goes on a tear at the end of the first half and ends with what looked like a buzzer beater three but I think was eventually
Corrected to a two uh because his foot was on the line but either way great scoring flurry like the Knicks are down single digits now they have all the momentum in the world Garden crowd is fully behind them like this has all the makings of a Festivus Miracle right and
Then in the third quarter they come out super flat they were actually in some ways generating some decent looks except for the ball kept going out for a s swing sequence and then finding its way to RJ Barrett and he just was not making shots and literally at certain points it
Created opportunities for the bucks to to get out and run because the they were breaking so hard that they were creating like Fast Break opportunities and then the Knicks weren’t getting back in transition defense clearly didn’t have the right level of energy or anything like that and it it just was frustrating
To watch because they had all this momentum so this goes to tibs for me now if I had to airon grievance about tibs like he needs to he needs to start getting a little more strict about or I guess less strict about his less strict about his substitution policy more strict about
Player performance as it pertains to his substitution policy because I don’t know how he didn’t think to like make a sub there and be like you know what we had momentum going into this we’re three four minutes into this into this half and we’re starting to let go of the Rope
Like let’s get some fresh blood out there let’s throw Josh hard out there let’s throw Emanuel quickly out there you know even if you just throw one of them out there to just sort of change things a little bit like get get someone new out there that can maybe make a shot
Because you don’t want the game to get away from you and yet unfortunately all they did was let the game get away from them and then you know quickly comes in towards the end of the the third quarter along with Josh Hart and the bench unit
Kind of makes a run and like they got within I think 11 or 10 at one point and then things just kind of I think they got it to single digits one more time before the end of the game like early in the fourth quarter but you reach a point
Where it’s like well it’s already too late you know it’s you let this go too far and now they’re back down again and you know it’s down by double digits and there’s only so many times you can come back from double digits in a single game
Like you maybe get one or two good like comebacks like that throughout the course of a game to try to like take advantage of your team being hot and and you know potentially change the outcome of the game and the Knicks just kind of flubbed all of them because tibs wasn’t
Willing to make any changes early enough to kind of stop the bleeding so I I think that’s my my last grievance for this game but it’s not even just for this game like that’s something that happens all the time with tibs thanks to his sub patterns and I I hope it’s
Something that he takes maybe you know over new years’s maybe I’m not I’m not hopeful enough it’s he’s gonna get visited by the Ghost of Christmas Pastor or whatever um you know and have this Revelation by by the game tomorrow but you know maybe it’s something that he
That he reflects on over the next week or so and and is able to sort of you know change his mind on a little bit yeah I think it it would have been nice to see quickly get just more time on the ball like that that to me would have
Been the biggest difference of of having RJ off the court because it quick quickly didn’t really have a great start to this game and like campaign even like locked him up on one play which which didn’t had gave me like a sick feeling in my stomach um and he’s historically
Been pretty bad against the bucks but he like it’s it’s kind of been the same thing with him all year like there just hasn’t been a lot of time that’s devoted to like all right let quickly cook um and when he does get that time it it
Then it takes away from other parts of his game um so my my big thesis here is just play a manual quickly more minutes but W with how bad R.J was like putting quickly off the ball was just death because RJ just was not he wasn’t seeing
The floor tonight it’s as simple as that like there there was a play where he forced up a Florida with three guys around him as quickly was breaking wide open for three on the wing and RJ just I don’t think he s I just don’t think he anticipates well
And he just didn’t see it there was another one in transition where um he took a semi contested three when Devon chenzo was wide open and I don’t know if you saw divon chenzo but if he did like even beyond the fact that it just creates Good Vibes to make the extra
Pass like you see the Bucks do it all the time there has to be some self-awareness there that all right I’m not shooting well right now divon chenzo is one of the top 15 or so three-point Shooters on planet Earth at this very moment let me
Make the extra pass get my guy a wide open shot and even if he misses it and I would have made it like that’s a little like teammate camaraderie points I I just established and and again I don’t I what what kills me with R.J is like I
Never think it’s selfishness I think he just doesn’t quite notice it and that’s almost worse because I think that’s that’s harder to fix in chance but i’ I’ve I’ve piled on RJ enough because I I thought Julius was also like kind of similar in this game like he he had a
Play Early where he thought he got fouled and it was it was classic Julius like he stayed back and he yelled at the ref and it it led to like RJ getting bodied by Giannis and jannis missed the layup but that wasn’t the point that’s
Julius’s man like and he has to run back and get into that match there’s another one where um I think it was Damen Lillard was like driving right down the lane and I have a clip of it like I’m gonna try to tweet it out after this
Podcast um like Julie doesn’t move an inch and that’s it’s just like without Mitch you need extra effort to compensate and Alex I talking about this with pres when he was on the other day and I say like I think there’s going to be an awareness there that without Mitch
Like all we all need to play 20% harder and pres was like I don’t know I think guys just kind of are who they are and you can’t really turn that on and off you know what like I’m starting to think he’s right because we’re not seeing like
Those extra second third fourth efforts on defense like we’re seeing them from the guys who always do it we’re seeing from hardenstein we generally see it from Brunson you you Sten chenzo is some bad gambles but like his heart’s in the right place of course you see it from
Josh Hart um but the guys who don’t do that like still just don’t do that and like without Mitch it it kills you yeah it’s uh I guess I guess we see how if they’re able to continue trying to find ways to make up for Mitch’s absence but unfortunately at this point
I think they just are kind of waiting on do they get that disabled player exception and can they weaponize that into the filling that void because if Mitch is gonna be out for the year things are going to continue to be ugly like I love hartenstein and I do think
That he has some games where he gives you what Mitch would have given you you know and he seven offensive rebounds tonight so he that yeah he does that and more sometimes you know what I mean sometimes he also you know gives you the passing and the the better offensive
Repertoire and all that stuff but we also saw that the trappings of hartenstein sometimes which is he’s a little more likely to gamble extra and get into foul trouble and stuff like that and go for the block more often than not uh and that can potentially
Harm him and and the team uh when he plays like that which is what happened in this game where they really missed him early and then didn’t have a viable option behind him so I’m fully on board with him like in the rest of the year and you know them just finding someone
To back up hartenstein but they they need to find that person soon because that that part of the Knicks game is is desperately needed at this point um but let’s let’s talk about Jaylen Bronson and his 36 points because you said you know we could end on a positive note I
Agree I think that’s a good place to end uh I mean he was just complete virtuoso performance in this one I mean we want to talk about you know how difficult of a matchup it is for the Knicks to go against a really lengthy team like this
That can shoot and whatever but like just has non-stop tall dudes in the paint that can disrupt your shot and everything else we see that effect like RJ Barrett and Julius Randle like two big strong players and then Jaylen Brunson just no matter what the matchup
Is just doing what he’s doing right now and and getting his points doing his work granted it helps to have Damen Lillard across from you on the other side um you know as as your counterpart over there but it’s I I don’t know how much there is still to like it’s it’s
Funny that we’re bringing this all up last that he scored 36 points in this game in like three quarters but it’s it’s almost becoming easy to take for granted at this point because he’s on such a scoring tear um but I really enjoyed I enjoyed watching him playing
This game as I always do and I mean he was he was pretty much the sole reason that the Knicks were in this game uh at halftime and then pretty much was the sole reason keeping them in it in that third quarter as well uh I mean they
Needed they needed every bit of it yeah I I weirdly think this is a really good match up for him and it’s not even because of the Dame thing because obviously it’s usually Malik Beasley guarding him but this was I know we we got on tibs for the start of third
Quarter I thought really smart play call by tibs very first play of the game he runs a little pitch and go between him and Divan chenzo and and right from the Geto you’re putting Damen Lillard in the action on Brunson and not not just like having like because you could you could
Make that a guard guard screen right and that could be really slow and the Bucks could lock in and they could help but because doing it with Brunson like sprinting into a catch there’s no chance for Milwaukee to adjust to scram out of it like it’s just it’s Dame on a full
Speed Brunson and that was that was a layup to start this game and then um Brook Lopez like the the Bucks it was a great decision they tried to play Super aggressive defensively to start the year it was a total disaster all the players apparently went to Adrien Griffin were
Like hey this is stupid like whatever you want to say about Mike buen holer we’ve been like the best defense in basketball like playing conservative and having Brook Lopez Dro towards the the basket and put his caveman arms up and and and and alter shots and Adrien
Griffin wisely he saw the wisdom in that they adjust back to it but that is death against Jaylen Brunson because he he was dropping over and over again and Taj Gibson would just at these Super High screens and Brunson said oh you’re not gonna guard three-pointer elbow jumper
Elbow jumper this time you’re going over the screen I’m rejecting the screen I’m going the other way I’m snaking it back I’m getting an elbow jumper going the other way had the Absurd buzzer beater to be the half just Brook Lopez was in the torture chamber this whole game and
It was literally Alex the only reason the Knicks were in this like like think if Jaylen Brunson had like a mediocre night and wasn’t shooting that well in the first half the Knicks are down by 25 at halftime and this is over there there’s no way they’re even within 10
Points in the fourth quarter Brunson was a was a oneman ban for the most part in this game incredible effort against a great team and unfortunately it wasn’t enough because the Knicks have a lot of issues in other places and they’ve got a nice quick turnaround to try to figure
It out uh I got to face the the weirdest one of the weirdest two games stretches that I can remember on the Nick’s schedule in Forever two MAA games within the span of three days against the Milwaukee pucks but the Nicks hate their matina games anyway uh so we’ll see how
It goes tomorrow on Christmas but till then Merry Christmas Eve to all you who celebrate uh hopefully you all enjoy you know the time off and and enjoy the uh the Knicks game we will probably be putting our episode out and barring any crazy uh crazy outcome probably putting
Our episode out on Tuesday morning and enjoying the holiday so hopefully you all do too and enjoy the basketball and everything else uh but until next time thank you all for listening and we’ll talk to you soon peace out everyone
Alex and Gavin break down the Knicks’ 130-111 loss to the Bucks in true Festivus form, airing their grievances with RJ Barrett, Tom Thibodeau, the team’s overall lack of size right now, and more! But also, praise Jalen Brunson for his stellar play at the end.
Want to talk hoops with us? Join us on Subtext!
📲 https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonknicks
Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOKnicks?sid=YouTube
Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA
Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
eBay Motors
For parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.
PrizePicks
Go to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnba and use code lockedonnba for a first deposit match up to $100!
Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase.
FanDuel
Score early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.
FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
#Knicks #NewYorkKnicks #NBA
