Philly Special: Tom Thibodeau Goes Small As The New York Knicks Escape The Sixers
Welcome into the locked on Nicks podcast where the New York Knicks four game losing streak is a thing of the past the Knicks pull away from the Philadelphia 76ers for a 11096 win we get into how Tom Fido’s flexibility spurred a big win you are locked on Nicks your daily
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28 I’m Gavin Shaw your favorite play-by-play broadcaster favorite play-by-play broadcaster he is Alex Wolf the editor and chief of the Strickland the greatest Nicks website in the whole wide world check them out on all forms of social media at The strick Doland and the New York Knicks back in the win
Column A crucial win over an Eastern Conference rival who came into the night just a half game behind them for the fourth seed in the East the Knicks got up by 26 thanks to some scalding hot shooting from boan bogdanovich and a fantastic start by Josh Hart and then
The Sixers completely flipped the game in the third quarter turned up the defensive intensity Tyrese Maxi started torching Jaylen Brunson and anyone else the Knicks threw at him um on his way to 32 points I think by the start of the fourth um but the Knicks were able to
Pull away thanks to a small ball lineup from Tom Fido Alex I might have a seizure having said that just to be safe I’m going to throw it over to you to talk about it yeah it was cool to see I mean it’s good to see him go to that
When they have a relatively full strength team now I say relatively because it seemed like hartenstein they really they made note of this on the broadcast they really want to ease him in so he just played a few minutes at the beginning of each half and only
Ended with just under 11 minutes for the whole game so maybe we could take this with a grain of salt you know that tibs basically was given a mandate of like no do not play Stein more than like 12 minutes or something like and if you do
That like you’re in big trouble um as tempting as it may be to just throw him back out there for 40 minutes again uh so maybe this isn’t something that we’re going to see all that often and then you know if you look at it like if you hadj
Just subbed hartenstein in there instead of uh instead of precious then it’s like I guess that’s somewhat similar to lineups that the Knicks were running anyway earlier this year like if you just kind of sub out Deuce for like I Q uh then it’s it’s pretty similar because
Josh Hart was like their their backup four for most of the season so far so you know I guess the unique part though is like Brunson and Deuce playing together maybe maybe you’d argue that like quickly is the equivalent of that but we’ve just never really seen Brunson
And dece get extended run together it’s true which is kind of a shame because we saw sort of like the beauty of it in this one right with Deuce hounding and then Brunson being able to generate steals off of that and then that led to ultimately what it was crazy I rewatched
Like last like six minutes of the first fourth quarter just to like make sure that I’d fully captured all of it and like that was they basically hit the dagger with that Breakaway steel and dunk from Deuce with like three minutes and 20 seconds left in the game like
That was pretty much it like the Knicks only scored I think three more points from there on out and the Sixers only scored like four or five more points from there on out so you know it was a it that was sort of like the the lineup that sealed everything and the combo
That sealed everything for the Knicks in this game and I don’t see why you wouldn’t go to them more like we talked about it after IQ got traded but like Duce grades out physically very similar to IQ especially for defensive purposes like we always said hey IQ can guard up
To the two because of that long wingspan and like deuce is technically a little shorter like in head size stature like you know as far as like how tall he can stand straight up but yeah yeah you know but like wingspan wise he’s much bigger yeah that is the word for that height
Thank you um but like wingspan wise he’s much you know he he’s not much but he’s like a solid like almost inch uh longer than IQ was so like he can guard up a position and you know comfortably be out there with Brunson and guard twos and
You know help do what he did today you know with just kind of taking some of that defensive load off of Brunson and allowing him to play sort of off the ball and generate those steals which has been something that has been probably other than like the charges drawn
Probably brunson’s greatest asset on the defensive end is the the ball Hawking looking out for the steel and then getting the break going and and getting things going so I like that combo a lot you know I think that even if even you know if you get hartenstein back for
More minutes and you know he was in that lineup I think you functionally still have the same thing because he’s just he’s able to run the floor well he’s able to pass well uh you know and do most of the things the precious does but just a little taller maybe not quite the
Ball handler but like makes up forward in other ways so hopefully this is a combo that tibs is willing to go to if just kind of really need a lineup where they can have a spark you know middle of a game late in a game whatever the case
May be like just to kind of get them back on on the right track which they desperately needed in this game and they got there and then put it away yeah I I I thought this was this was interesting because when I was talking about my concerns around them trading Quinton
Grimes Tyrese Maxi was was specifically the player I had in mind because I remember that that first Sixers game like ogan anobi at least as the started game like I I I wouldn’t go so far as to say he struggled guarding Tyrese Maxi but but Maxi made him look like a pretty
Ordinary Defender and it’s just for all of anob length and athleticism just a tough match up for him just because of how much of a Jitter Buck Maxi is and how far up the court you have to guard him because he’s turned into a legitimately great three-point shooter
And I was saying this is where you want Quinn Grimes who’s 65 super strong incredible screen navigation and and in that game like I think fli the game with his defense on Tyrese Maxi and then tonight like the Knicks were able to get that from Duce McBride and I want if if
Part of their rationale for trading um for trading Grimes was just that that show of F and and like we talked about this even when they moved up quickly like it was kind of doubling down as a show of faith and Deuce and what he’s shown as a shooter this year which has
Been even better than Grimes I I’m still of the opinion that Grimes especially in the playoffs is the guy you want because of his height but to me that single-handedly flipped the game the fact that Deuce was able to contain Maxi and just the The Verve that those four
Um or all five of them is Precious auua too um just switching onto Smalls was was was excellent that’s something we we can talk about more next segment um but just the Verve they brought in rotation like one of the standout plays like of that fourth quarter run was like was
Late when the Knicks kind of started pulling away again and and Maxi got it off like a really nice swing swing and Deuce just had this fenetic close out out to the wing and and Maxi got right by him but the whole point was to run
Him off the line not let him shoot an open three ended up swinging to the opposite corner I think UB like either traveled or or stepped on the sideline but that was happening over and over again like even the play you were referencing that I’m I’m with you sealed
The game like Brunson was on his butt on the other end of the floor and just sprinted back but I think like Brunson looked to me a little bit dead in the water at times in this game and he got a jolt of energy from playing with Hart
Playing with dvon chenzo playing with Duce McBride and it was just it was just fun to see that group and I thought like it’s it’s just a big time show of faith in pressure Z Chua who at six foot eight tibs is is trusting to man a lineup as a
Lone big on the floor which is is just a the about the greatest compliment Tom Fido can give an undersized big man and precious made it count with his offensive rebounding and I think just as importantly again like his ability to like he was like repeatedly like him and
Jericho Sims were switching on to campaign switching on to Maxi and getting stop after stop after stop yeah and I thought that the ability of him to switch of Sims to switch ultimately was was huge for the Knicks on the overall defense too and and sort of lays a a
Road map for what we can expect going forward I think and made life really easy on like for example bogdanovic who has the the reputation of of not being a great defender and yet got to force a number of steals in this game because he
Was able to I mean this is sort of what I was talking about the other day with like uh when we did the show you know sort of being like hey you know what are some goals for going in you know uh post Allstar break and all that stuff and I
Was like get these new guys integrated and make sure that they understand like a guy like AB bonovich like you’re not going to have to be defending point of attack all that often like we’ve got safeguards in place just be ready keep your eye on the play and be ready to
Like poke the ball loose or get in the middle of a passing lane or whatever because that’s the next style is you know force you into a situation where you have to drive inside and then make it uncomfortable enough for you in there that you try to kick it out and then
Sort of funnel that pass where you want it to go to the you know the spot you want it to go with a waiting Defender ready to just kind of hawk in there and get that pass and we saw even bogdanovich who has you know a rep is
Not being like a a great defender get three steals in this game and you know generate a lot of Defense to offense that way uh which allowed him to be I think A Plus on the floor and all that comes back to Sims and aoua doing what
They did on that end sticking with their men you know just making it playing really good interior defense but most importantly just keeping guys in front of them and Walling off the paint that way which is very similar to like remember when we used to have these same
Discussions about like how nerland Noel versus Taj Gibson defended like back in like 20 to 21 it’s very similar to that where like you know nland noell used to be like the Isaiah hartenstein type they’re like I dare you to come in here like try me dude like come in here and I
Will just block the crap out of you whereas Taj Gibson was a really really good Defender too because he just said I’m just gonna make sure that you can’t get within about eight feet of the hoop and then if you try a floater or something I’m going to contest it well
And that’s sort of I think precious and Jericho’s blend of of Def defense there that has allowed them to find some success in why tibs is starting to trust them much like he trusted Taj Gibson to be Center at six foot n as well yeah and
I I want to get into how um I I I just thought it was it was a big deal that Not only tibs was willing to go to this but that he made the right decision and at times in the past we’ve seen tibs make the right decision and then retract
It because it wasn’t in line with what his his pre-ordained idea of what the right decision should be and like and different situations where he wasn’t trusting what was happening in front of him instead was trusting his preparation um but we’ll do that in just a sec because first Alex I
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Continue on this point because we we’ve just seen so many different times Alex where Tom tho has screwed this up and I I just I cannot I cannot count the years it has taken off my life we’ve come on this podcast ranting and Raven be like
He had it like he had the right thing on the floor and he just didn’t go with it and often often that would be about the Knicks going small finding success and then bailing out on it and there was there was none of that tonight and I’m sure the temptation to put boan
Bogdanovich back in the game the way he was shooting the ball was was there to some extent even though tibs we can get into doesn’t seem to totally trust him yet regardless of how well he’s shooting it I’m sure the temptation to put Jericho Simson with precious atua was
Really high and to have that to big rim protection but Tom Fido recognized what was going to work and he actually executed it and and to me that that could be a forbearer of what’s going to happen in these playoffs was something me and DJ Zulo when he was on the Pod
Last week got into a whole lot where that like after the just sheer health of this team was probably and and maybe still is my single biggest concern that the Knicks have all this depth right maybe the deepest team in the NBA but do they have a coach who actually knows how
To leverage it you can have the best front office in the world who gives you the best pieces but if you don’t know you don’t have a coach who knows how and when to deploy them then it’s ultimately irrelevant it’s if you just didn’t have that depth and I thought tonight was a
Good show of Faith obviously it’s going to be a bigger deal when everyone’s back and and to your point like decisions like not playing someone like Precious zoua who I mean let’s just let’s face it like over the knck last seven games like can you really argue that he hasn’t been
One of their three at worst four best players like like things are only going to get tougher in that department but at least so far like he’s he’s doing all the right things and I thought it Sav the Knicks tonight when when Philly seemed to have them in some danger
Cutting the lead all the way down to six yeah and you know I think the big thing that maybe is different this season versus Seasons past is that we actually have gotten to see a good amount of NBA action and I mean it’s unfortunately in large part thanks to the injuries and
Then in part to the trade initially like when you know they moved uh Grimes in quickly and then you know then you deal with some of the injuries after that and whatever that he’s getting a really good look at a lot of players now which is not something that normally happens
Because he normally settles in on who he likes and who he doesn’t like within the first like three games of the season and doesn’t change too much about that and you know we saw last year obviously made that change to the nin man rotation move Grimes in the starting lineup that
Really turned things around for the Knicks last season this season I don’t know if we really had that like One Shining Moment that wasn’t just the trade obviously which was just kind of like a seismic whole roster shift not just like a tibs decision uh but he’s gotten to really like through
Desperation get a good look at what some of these guys can do and like he was clearly very reluctant to play a guy like pre sucha at first because he wasn’t making great decisions at first he clearly was still trying to like figure out what his role was on this
Team compared to what he was being asked to do on the Raptors where they’re kind of more of like a they want their bigs to handle the ball more and like you know just generally like have everybody be more more I like not have as defined of roles
It seems like they want to do that kind of more like everybody plays every position you know positionist basketball kind of deal there whereas tibs now has just been able to be like no dude just go out there get rebounds finish around the hoop that’s it like maybe take one
Or two threes just to keep the D honest but like that’s what we need from you and press has come through big time and like I I do think that just by virtue of these injuries maybe we look back and we say that was like the only silver lining
Out of like half the team getting hurt uh right before the All-Star break is that tb’s got a really good look at a number of players and now maybe we’ll have the confidence of like if they need a stop on someone in the playoffs like let’s say that they’re playing the Bucks
And like they want someone to throw specifically on Dame Lillard that tibs may and they’re playing Giannis at Center at that moment or something like tibs won’t be afraid to say you know what let’s throw Deuce out there for 10 minutes on Dame and see if he can
Contain him a bit and you know have uh Brunson you know be able to not worry about that on defense and then focus more on the offensive end and you know be able to run more and all this that and the other things so like there’s a lot of positives potentially come with
This and like again it’s you know it stinks that so many guys were hurt right before the break and still are hurt but maybe this is our one thing that we’ll look at and be like maybe that that was in a weird way for two itus even if it
Still sucked to not have those players for a long time yeah I mean I I I think you you see it in Dante d shenz more more than anyone anyone else the confidence he’s gained from from getting this extra time and extra opportunity and and precious is someone who like
Ultimately like if let’s just say Mitchell Robinson when they traded for precious was three four games away from coming back like we we never would have seen this he would have been an afterthought he would have been on another team and he probably would have been killing it next year would have
Been like oh man that would have been cool if he could have done that for us a little bit and and it’s it’s a product of of disaster but he’s he’s turning it into not so much of one and I I I just thought like like just to wrap it up on
Him like he was so good to to start this game in the whole first half finished with 11 points and nine rebounds in the first half um had had two like unbelievable finishes where like one on a back door cut where he just had like a
Double Pump Up and Under and then like another one where he like off an offensive rebound where he did essentially the same move and like I know we’ve seen a lot of stuff from him like I I missed the Magic game so maybe he pulled out in that but I I haven’t
Seen that from him like like that fluidity and like dexterity in the air um the ability for him to operate is like a rim running five like with with Jaylen Brunson and three Shooters around is just so much fun and obviously it’s going to be like interesting and maybe
Even more effective when they have Mitchell Robinson back and when they have Isaiah hartenstein back rolling to the rim just as bigger targets but I think what precious brings that those guys don’t is he’s just much quicker and then more versatile at The Rim in terms
Of how he can finish um and then he even showed off the playmaking like he was a little bit late on it but he hit divon chenzo on that really nice back door and again just the switch ability with like him and Deuce out there like I’m
Just wondering if Tom thibo is like drooling thinking of like all right I’m going to go I’m gonna go Deuce I’m gonna go dant chenzo I’m gonna go um Hart I’m gonna go OG and I’m gonna go precious just for like a like fiveman switch lineup like there’s just a lot of
Different stuff they can get you get get you to I mean he’s a big part of that the other guy Alex I I thought like really was just so consistent throughout this game and got the Knicks off to such a good start was Josh Hart yeah I think
So too and I mean you know Hart just kind of did all the things that he does best right like first well okay first off one thing that he doesn’t always do Best But there there’s a direct correlation between good games from him and bad games from him and it’s does he
Step into his threes with confidence early on or does he not and he did that early on in this game and then it just seemed to like flip the switch for him and he was like okay off offensive night let’s go you know and then puts together
Like I think one of his better offensive games in a while like 18 points seven to 13 shooting two five from three uh also gets 12 boards most of them defensive but he was so key with that like he was keying in on those defensive boards
Starting the break like all the time and managed to either himself or find others get uh a number of buckets that way and with three assists as well so not quite triple double territory like he has been lately but uh I just thought that he did such a
Good job doing what he does best and it was also it seemed pretty clear he had that that Philly boost uh of you know being in the old Villanova stomping grounds I mean there was they showed he rolled up in the old uh Ryan Archie diino Jersey and omage to his now former
Teammate uh thanks to the Detroit trade and um you know he he just seemed to be enjoying being back where you know he played his college ball in the same city um like they always seem to be when they’re back in Philly but yeah I
Thought it was a great game from him uh just as far as tone setting getting out in transition especially I think was the biggest thing and just making smart head-up plays the entire game and and not letting the ball stop moving at any given point whether it’s moving forward
With him just dribbling in a straight line towards the hoop or getting it moving to someone else I thought they did a great job of not being stagnant at all yeah I’m I’m totally with you like I me even the like it’s it’s a bummer of a
Play that you don’t really want to take advantage of but like even the play where low got hurt like you you could see him like he had the ball but he was kind of going like anday anday like he was like motioning for everyone to just Sprint down the court like got middle
And that was I think the first three bogy or maybe it was the first or second three that bogey hit of the game and that that’s what got him going and got him really hot I mean the way like Hart was able to get deep penetration get to
That fade away like I mean I I think you’re right like he he gets fired up to play in Philly and and dant chenzo too like it was all three of those guys were fantastic when the Knicks got off to that early 15-3 lead um who carried them
From there uh that was boan bogdanovich he was cooking Jaylen Brunson a little bit of off night we we talk about uh why that might have happened and why it’s not too much of a concern and uh we’ll wrap up uh talking about everyone else
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Numbers for the rest of the season I agree I think you know hey that’s a crap team uh but that’s a a team that nonetheless will need someone to get rebounds and score on the inside and baggley is certainly played on not a lot of great teams in his career so he knows
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EBay guarantee fit only available to us customers eligible items only exclusions apply all right and we’re back in to keep walking through this big Knicks win g a little a little bit of a uh a cardiac game uh down the stretch you know is the the Nick seeded the lead a
Bit uh but part of what made the game so fun and exciting in the first half was boan bogdanovich going absolutely nuclear in this game and you know again I was I I brought this up and you know this is one big thing I thought like I
Think he’s going to be a big part of what this team does in these last 20s something games of the season season and hopefully in the playoffs too having that level of score coming off the bench uh it seems like tibs is pretty Resolute with what the starting lineup is now
Particularly if Haren Stein’s minutes restriction gets lifted I think he’s going to feel even more comfortable with that with precious at the four so it seems like we’re probably G to be seeing Boon come off the bench exclusively going forward unless something changes uh but in this game six of six from
Three eight of 13 from the field overall ends with 22 points in only 23 three and a half minutes so you can’t ask for too much better offensively than that I thought what stood out to me was that he definitely knew what his job was in this
Game which was basically hey bro go out here and make some threes like where you could park wherever you want because we know you can shoot it from anywhere on the floor but like we’re just going to feed you like spoon feed you spot up opportunities on the outside that are
Basically wide open all game and he took those and just ran with it and put together one of the better especially on a per minute basis one of the better shooting performances we’ve seen from a Nick this season yeah I mean it was was three threes away from tying uh Jaylen
Brunson’s uh Knicks and NBA record and LR Spell’s Knicks and NBA record um going nine for nine from three so it it was incredible he had 19 points and in his first 12 minutes on the floor like and honestly like the two plays that got me the most excited maybe were the two
Twos he had like the first one was like it almost looked like someone like trying to play out of the elbow in in in the zone like he was just posting up there and you just you don’t really see that in modern NBA offenses too much but
Just caught it and like put it over his head and flicked it in over his Defender like his Defender wasn’t even there had another one where he backed down buddy hee like hit a short turnaround Fate on him and then I I thought he hit just like a huge bucket um like halfway
Through the third quarter the Sixers had cut it to 10 the Knicks like if you remember that possession um I haven’t even described you it so it’d be tough for you to remember it but um like they like nothing was happening like literally they had a play where ihart
Like inbounded to Brunson the corner and Brunson was so frustrated with the lack of room he had he just turned and just chucked it off of whichever sixer was was nearest him I think it was KJ Martin um and then there’s like at that point there’s seven seconds left on the shot
Clock again like nothing happening and bogy just catch like I think it was Kelly UB in his face and just just shoots it up and in over him like it was it was a thing of beauty I do think it was telling though Alex in a game where boan bogdanovich essentially did not
Miss a he literally didn’t miss a three but like 2 point 22 points in 24 minutes also three steals not an awful defensive game from him was only plus three and again like you never want to read into single game plus minus but it’s it’s also a situation where tibs does not put
Him back late in this game and you wonder like all right is 24 minutes like when the games matter the most and when this team gets healthy is that the absolute ceiling for this guy who who seems like he’s one of like the most efficient scorers in basketball and I’m
Not even saying that’s a bad thing or I disagree with it I just find it interesting because I I don’t know about you like when they first traded for him I was like all right this is a dude like like on a night where he’s cooking like
Maybe he’s going to play 35 36 minutes but he it might just be a little bit too much to concede defensively or the other the other perspective on that is is once the Knicks have ogn and Obi and they have Mitchell Robinson and isah hardenstein playing like all 48 minutes
At Center like there’ll be enough defense on the floor that Tom thib was like all right we can sacrifice a little bit on the perimeter and have a little bit more offense out there yeah I was going to say OG is my X Factor as far as
That’s concerned like I do think that tibs looked at it and was like well if we put him out there instead of you know whoever like if it was like instead of Deuce or something down the stretch then it’s like well now you’re missing that that defense which proved to be so key
For the Knicks down the stretch like I think it just came down to situational in this one like both teams were kind of stuck in mud and the Knicks just needed to get slightly less stuck in mud down the very end of this game which is what
They did so they threw out a kind of kind of fast-paced but also kind of defensive minded uh lineup even though they were a little smaller which obviously worked out great for them I think that if you have oan and Obi there though and you can say okay now we’ll do
A lineup where it’s going to be like Brunson you know even if you just essentially just subbed in like boan for Randall with the normal starters if it was like Brunson devant chenzo uh OG boan and like either mitcher or hartenstein like I think that’s enough
Defense to to make up for it you know and then those are the lineups where we could see especially like a a greater deal of we saw from him today where it’s like all right man like just stick with their worst player essentially like you stick with whoever the weakest player is
Out there stick on the perimeter because they’ll probably be like a shooter you know whatever that just can’t really dribble the ball as much or whatever like that rooll on the floor stick with that guy try to play the passing Lanes we’ll take care of the rest we’ll take
Care of the point of attack and you know all the tougher defensive assignments hopefully you know just just do that for us and and we’ll be good because then there’s backline help too if if things blow up or whatever um and I think tibs will maybe feel more comfortable with
Him but you know I also think this is just the case of tibs having his guys that he knew he could count on down the stretch and just like riding them like crazy um and not really playing the two new guys all that much because like Burks didn’t really
Get a ton of minutes either despite not playing terrible you know and that’s a guy that we know tibs loves and was giving more minutes prior to the all-star break so I wonder if t is just kind of looking at it like well you know
My guys are fresh right now this is the first game back after the All-Star break I think this one is important because we’re about to go on sort of a tough stretch so like getting this one is is a big thing for us and then just opted to
Just kind of ride the guys that he knows like a Josh heart for 44 minutes instead of you know trying to work some things out on the fly in a game that became uh unexpectedly close down the stretch yeah and uh kind of a mixed night for uh
Jaylen Brunson um did not shoot it well at all uh five for 18 and compounded that with seven turnovers like in some ways it was one of his worst games of the season and he still finishes with 21 points and 12 assists so that tells you the levels that Jaylen Brunson was
Hitting this year I’ll mention some of the positives like I as the 12 assists indicate I thought his passing was fantastic like he early on he set up Burks who who was cooking when he first came into the game and you you saw I guess the upside of this trade for the
Knicks between what Burks and what uh bie did in the first half where was like all right like we we have some real like Gunners now like it felt like like it’s so weird because the Knicks have been one of the best offensive teams in basketball the last two years but it
Always feels like such a grind like it it never it I I don’t feel the level of enjoyment I should having a top five offense in the NBA and that first half felt more like oh this is what it should feel like to have an awesome offense and
And I thought Burks was a part of that um like he had this beautiful dime de preious like when he was double team he just threw like multiple fakes and then squeezed it into to him um had a great stretch like when the Sixers cut it to
7159 where like he he was like all right screw this I’m taking over like Bully ball for free throws like P&R like a fake hesitation um and then like a fake pass and then like just like a laser to Precious for a jam and then had a strip
And then got an and one on the other end so there were really good moments I I thought his defense on Maxi was was pretty terrible like there were times where he’s playing too far out on campaign like overall it wasn’t a great night for him but down the stretch of
This game like you you said like his defense his his rebounding even was was pretty good like he he made just enough plays and then uh just before we wrap up I wanted to quickly shout out uh Jericho Sims because I know you mentioned him
Earlier but he was another guy who in 18 minutes finding a way to get to 10 rebounds finding a way to get to five offensive rebounds like I I thought he was very similar to Precious defensively and um like I I think like if you had gotten the version of Jericho Sims we
Saw earlier this year who just was was kind of lethargic and and like granted like maybe in in a team that isn’t playing Paul Reed at Center like it would look closer to that um I I don’t know if the Knicks win this game like I I just thought his minutes were huge
Yeah I agree I I really liked uh what we saw out of Jericho as well I’ll just say on Brunson you know I the main thing with him is that he never lets a bad shooting night affect anything else with this game which is good and you know it
Wasn’t just a bad shooting night like the turnovers some of them were a little ugly too like there were some situations where it seemed like he just sort of didn’t have a plan which is weird for him because normally it seems like he always has everything figured out two
Three moves in advance you know uh but that said the patience that he showed with passing early in this game to get the rest of his teammates set up was just huge um you know his Synergy with with precious is actually really awesome like y I don’t know they’re they’re
Finding like a new gear together that I almost don’t feel like I see with Brunson with any of the centers other than precious like yeah I think it just real quick I think it’s I think it’s going to be telling when those guys come back because we’ll know like is it
Something special about precious and is like that speed that I mentioned or is it just having more shooting around him like actually having like four out like around a rim Runner which it it could be that too so maybe we’ll see Mitch you know just getting in for even easier
Dunks you know than what precious is getting right now when he gets back uh or hardenstein when he’s back to full strength but yeah the patience that Brunson showed like just knowing that he’s going to draw all the attention of the defense and then just slowly like
Probing his way into like the upper part of the key and just waiting for the play to develop and then either whipping the pass into precious or just getting it out to the perimeter or to one of the corners he did that so many times and
You know that’s what leads to 12 assists and makes seven turnovers at least a little more palatable because you know that assist turnover ratio stayed almost at two to one which is crazy uh considering he had seven turnovers in this game which is normally like half of
What the Knicks have as an entire team uh so actually was it yeah it was almost half what the Knicks had as an entire team in this game so just one of those nights but I have faith that he’s going to figure it out I mean he just he’s the
Only guy that had a busy week this past week uh between the All-Star Game and doing the Press tour of talking to so many different podcasts and stuff doing his own podcast I’m sure all that stuff you know just podcast life it’s not easy uh especially if you’re an NBA player I
Guess yeah uh I’d like to see him try a five day a week one I don’t know we’ll see doesn’t have the work ethic for that Alex yeah I don’t know if he could pull that off you know that’s you got to be built different for that anyway I think
That’s all for this game thank you all for listening we’ll be back next week with game recap from the weekend some other great topics uh plus bunch of games coming up next week too so we got a lot to talk about coming up as the Knicks get into the home stretch here
But we’ll be here for you all steps of the way thank you all for listening and we’ll talk to you soon peace out everybody
Guess an old dog can learn new tricks after all.
Tom Thibodeau went ultra small down the stretch and the Knicks survived a second half charge from the Philadelphia 76ers to end their four game losing streak.
Gavin Schall and Alex Wolfe break down why it’s so important to see Thibs adjust on the fly, why the lineup worked and Bojan Bogdanovic’s scorching shooting in his best game as a Knick.
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