Knicks ride dominant second half to win over feisty Chicago Bulls squad
Big come from behind win for the Knicks against the Bulls last night at the Garden so let’s chop it up with Phil Porto co-host of the Nicks morning Bruce show there he goes right here what’s happening my man thanks for hopping on with us yeah Brandon appreciate you man
I know we’ve been talking about it for a while so I’m glad that the schedule’s finally lined up we appreciate you guys giving us the opportunity to come and just talk Nick with you guys so thank you guys so much appreciate it yeah I
Told my teachers man as a kid I got a big mouth but I’m not all talk I’m about that action baby so let’s kick this thing off man because uh the Knicks in the first half didn’t look like they were uh going to pull this one out but
They turned it on in the second half after that slow start thoughts on the win and the grit that they showed in that comeback yeah man you know I’ll be honest that first half was so hard to watch um I remember being in the group chat with Jerry celso and Hector the
Other co-hosts of the Nicks morning brew and we were just talking about how sloppy we looked the turnovers the lack of ball movement it just seemed like we didn’t know what we were doing which was really really hard to watch especially because the game before against Minnesota it just looked like things
Were clicking off the bat um so it was just a little hard to watch in that first half and we were getting lit up from three our defense was slacking and we just were missing the mark over and over and over again um but in that
Second half like you said we turned it around and for me the key point the first one is that we started moving the ball because as good as our ISO players are I’ve said it a million times when we become an ISO heavy ISO focused team this roster the way it’s constructed is
Not set up for success with just ISO playing like it just doesn’t work so the heavy ISO players that we have such as Julius Randall and Jaylen Brunson they struggle when that is the sole thing that we’re bringing to the table in that first half and so in the second half
Half you saw the ball start to move we had 17 of our 29 assists in that second half but even more so like we didn’t have the turnovers that we had in that first half we had a ton of turnovers in the first half and then we looked a lot
Better in the second half and that was because the ball was moving we continued to let that ball move we continued to allow each person to touch it there was a lot of cutting which is what we saw success in that first game against Minnesota was even even with OG not
Knowing the offense he was cutting he was moving and we were getting to him and so our ISO players were able to succeed in that second half Randall looked rough in the first half and I was texting the guys once again why can’t Jaylen and Jr both thrive in the same
Game and then in that second half they did Randle was cutting and moving and showing hustle it was super impressive 23 of his 35 points came in the second half also he had three turnovers during that first half where we weren’t flowing as a team and then in that second half
He was more effective and had zero turnovers so to me the success was moving the ball and I don’t know if you heard it but we had 29 assists in that game which is crazy because we’ve had games where we have 12 assists or 14
Assists but we had 29 and so I’ve said it all all the time the Jr RJ and J and jul uh Jaylen Brunson thing did not work because they were all very ISO in the paint Centric now that we have movement you’re seeing that the seasoning in the
Food tastes delicious because we removed some of the excess some of the excess salt that wasn’t making it palatable so that to me was the best thing was that we started moving the ball started playing as a team and that’s why we won the only negative thing I’ll say is that
It looks like our bench is hurting right now and that’s the only thing that I think with the trade we don’t have someone to really facilitate whether it was was IQ or RJ with that second unit and Julius Randle as great as he is I don’t think that he’s that piece to work
With that second unit yeah tibs put some Sasson on the uh on the scheme in that in that second half and you you see them come out with a 35o third quarter to kind of get them going so yeah I agree you see the spacing on the floor guys
Are being able to step up Julius Randle 35 on the night Jaylen Brunson 31 on the night so it’s time for you to give out some flowers who stepped up and who still on business yeah so you know some people think that I have a problem with Julius
Randle because I tend to critique where there needs to be critique but I’m going to give him his flowers for coming out a different player in that second half than he was in that first half that’s huge to be able to turn it around and say this isn’t working let’s try
Something new and it be effective I’m going to give OG his flowers because he showing his value right off the bat 62.5% shooting eight rebounds two steals and like Randle said OG fits seamlessly he plays the right way so flowers there but for me the golden ticket is
Hartenstein these last two games it’s like we unlocked a cheat code for him like 11 points 66 Point 7% shooting 20 freaking rebounds and six blocks he got a well-deserved Standing Ovation and he is allowing that pressure that was put on his shoulder to step up when Mitch
Was out and he’s been able to rise to that occasion he’s been able to take that pressure and he’s been able to perform time and time again and I think that was crucial to see him do it these last two games going into this next game
So he gets my flowers first and foremost yeah we talk about next man up in sports all the time Mitch Rob going down iHeart stepped up big man uh 10 points 20 boards on the night that’s a force you’re going to get you’re going to get some putbacks you’re going to get some
Extra chances on that when you got a guy uh Manning the boards like that all right 2 and 0 on the new year two and0 on the week to head down to Philly on Friday night the floor is yours my man how do they make it three in a
Row yeah so I’ll be honest Philly’s going to be hard to play all right they’re a 23 and 10 team for a reason losing hard in was the best thing to happen to that Squad so in order for the Knicks to win and make it three in a row
We need to see ball movement off off the bat as soon as we hit the tip off we need to be able to pass that ball this team can really expose us if we just play ISO the whole time so we have to continue to cut we have to continue to
Create and a huge thing we need to do is we need to use OG a little bit more on that offensive end because in order for Jaylen and Randall to succeed in their ISO and not get double teamed they need to feel like OG is actually a threat for
Our offense so we need to make sure that we include him a little bit more not just find him when he’s cutting but also show that we are willing to kind of rever evolv some of the offense around him and now we have three threats that
They have to worry about and not just two um we have to see the same from iHeart we have seen these last two games that he can step up he can perform and yes it’s embiid but iHeart has defended and showed up twice in these last two games against bigs that are strong
Powerful and effective in the paint such as gobear and Drummond so if we’re going to be successful we need to see that kind of uh performance from him as well and the last thing is we need the bench to contribute I think our starting lineup can put up a really good fight
With their starting lineup but any upper hand that we can get when then beid Maxi and UB on the bench isn’t a hand that we have to capitalize on like we have to figure out a way to get those stretches of times where we’re able to then run
And build upon the last two wins and that’s going to come from us actually performing with the bench in this game I feel like they will give us our upper hand and that’ll be the way that we can compete with one of the best in the east in the Philadelphia 76ers absolutely I
Love the passion man show the people where they can find you and rep your platform yeah so if you f us on Twitter it’s going to be uh Brew Crew Sportscore uh but on YouTube it’s youtube.com morning Brew Sports
Phil Porto, co-host of the Knicks Morning Brew show, talks with New York Post Sports anchor Brandon London about the Bockers’ big comeback win over the Bulls, how the starting lineup of Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, Isaiah Hartenstein, Donte DiVincenzo and OG Anunoby led New York to thier second straight home win and how the Knicks can push the team’s winning streak to three against an elite Sixers squad led by reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid on Friday night in Philly.
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