Can Knicks Sweep The Cavs? + Injuries Putting Spurs In BIG Trouble vs. OKC

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Can Knicks Sweep The Cavs? + Injuries Putting Spurs In BIG Trouble vs. OKC

Podcast: Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective
Host: ESPN, Omaha Productions, Brian Windhorst
Guests: Tim Bontemps, Ben McMahon, Ryan McMahon
Date: May 22, 2026

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Main Theme

This episode dives into two pivotal NBA playoff series: the New York Knicks’ dominant 2-0 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, and how injuries to Spurs’ key guards may tilt the Western Conference Finals in favor of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The crew provides deep analysis, real-time reactions from Madison Square Garden and San Antonio, and debates critical turning points and strategies for each team.

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Knicks Dominate Cavs—Is a Sweep Coming?

Segment: [01:42]–[25:43]

Game 2 Analysis and Keys to Knicks' Win

• The Knicks' Balanced Attack: Knicks take a 2-0 lead with a 16-point win over the Cavs at MSG, never letting Cleveland back in after a close start. Jalen Brunson orchestrates with “14 assists and just three turnovers and 40 minutes” ([21:46] Ryan McMahon).
• Josh Hart's Breakout: After a poor Game 1, Josh Hart responds with a “playoff career high, going 5 for 11 from 3, mostly left unguarded and making the Cavs pay for their defensive scheme” ([03:27] Tim Bontemps). “He crushed the Cavs strategy with his playoff career high. That really was the jet fuel that got the Knicks going offensively.” ([02:11] Ryan McMahon).
• Cavs Gameplan Backfires: With Evan Mobley sagging off Hart, the Cavs dared him to shoot, a decision the hosts defend as process-sound: “If I'm the Cavs, I'm fine forcing Josh Hart to beat that. I'm okay with that.” ([06:47] Tim Bontemps).

Cleveland’s Offensive Collapse

• Offensive Struggles, Not Defense: The Cavs shoot 9-for-35 from 3 (25.7%), well under their season average, and notably “under 40% from the field” with minimal turnovers ([05:15] Ben McMahon).
• Evan Mobley Vanishes: “He had 14 in the first half and scoreless in the second… didn't take a shot after halftime” ([04:40] Tim Bontemps).
• Bench Non-Production: “Max Strus, Sam Merrill, Dennis Schroeder, Jalen Tyson… one of 15 on threes. Two of them are paid to be shooters.” ([07:55] Ryan McMahon and Ben McMahon).

Memorable Quotes:

• “You're not going to win a lot of games with 93 points. You're not going to win a lot with your dynamic backcourt combining for three assists.” ([05:15] Ben McMahon)
• “Donovan looked perfectly fine when he had 29 points in the first 40 minutes of game one. And he had, I think, 26 points tonight. That's not the issue the Cavs have.” ([06:37] Tim Bontemps)
• “If the Knicks are serious… try to sweep the Cavs and sit back and wait for a war of attrition to take place in the Western Conference.” ([10:02] Ryan McMahon)

Knicks’ Approach: Strike While the Iron’s Hot

• Rest and Recovery as Strategy: There's emphasis on the value of finishing the Cavs swiftly—“the pathway is to try to finish ‘em off” ([10:36] Ryan McMahon).
• Historical Parallels: The Knicks’ 9 double-digit playoff wins echo the 2017 Warriors and 2013 Heat ([12:45] Ben McMahon).

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Knicks Fandom & MSG Vibes

Segment: [15:01]–[21:46]

A City on Fire, But Not Getting Ahead of Itself

• Humble Excitement: Knicks fans, including celebrities like Tracy Morgan, Fat Joe (“Significantly slimmer Joe” [16:11] Ben McMahon), and Susie Essman, are “not arrogant” but enjoying the ride ([16:00]–[18:03]).
• Fan Culture: “Every person here is a Knicks fan. That's why the Nets… it's always lopsided,”—highlighting the unique place the Knicks hold in NY’s sports landscape ([20:45] Tim Bontemps).

Memorable Moments:

• J.R. Smith maintains “the integrity of the blunt” while mobbed by fans ([19:26] Ryan McMahon).
• “The humble Knicks fan. I love this real talk.” ([18:03] Ben McMahon)

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Cavs’ Dilemma: No Good Solution for Brunson

Segment: [21:46]–[25:43]

• Defensive Challenges: No clear answer for Jalen Brunson—James Harden’s defensive limitations are “a problem this matchup” ([22:49]–[25:02] discussion). Removing Harden isn’t an option due to offensive needs ([25:13]–[25:28]).
• Disorganization: Confusion on defense—“Some of the Cavs played zone, some played man… Schroeder threw up his hands. What defense are we in?” ([23:11] Ryan McMahon).
• Whatever adjustment Cavs attempted vs. Brunson didn’t stick, especially late, when the Knicks' lead gave them the luxury to coast.

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Western Conference Finals: Spurs in Trouble After Injuries

Segment: [28:33]–[44:47]

Thunder vs. Spurs Injury Report

• Jalen Williams (Thunder): Multiple hamstring injuries, questionable status. “This is his fourth hamstring injury…” ([29:02] Ryan McMahon).
• Dylan Harper (Spurs): Right adductor soreness, suspected strain, possibly more significant than the official report. “There's an absence of the word strain…” ([29:46]–[29:55]).
• De’Aaron Fox: High ankle sprain. “He does have a high ankle sprain. That is not good.” ([30:22]–[30:30] Tim Bontemps).

Tactical Impact: Spurs Backcourt in Crisis

• Heavy Load on Stefan Castle: Spurs’ rookie forced to handle the ball, defend Shai Gilgeous-Alexander—an “immense, brutal assignment” ([32:12] Tim Bontemps).
• Limited Options: Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson can only do so much. “I don't know that you want Wimby initiating a lot of the offense” ([34:00] Ben McMahon).

Memorable Quote:

• “I hate that this series could be determined by a false step. I hate it.” ([34:55] Ryan McMahon)

Thunder Depth & Adjustments

• Thunder have “13 quality rotation players.”
• Despite Jalen Williams’ absence, “they’ve got plenty of options… can start AJ Mitchell, Caruso…” ([35:02]–[35:53] Ben McMahon).
• Spotlight on Caruso: “He is a playoff riser… Eight of 14 on threes… 43% over two postseasons.” ([36:01] Ben McMahon).

Hartenstein’s Physicality Against Wemby [36:42]–[39:45]

• Adjustment by OKC: Isaiah Hartenstein used more to physically challenge Victor Wembanyama. Wemby’s Game 2 numbers drop: “26 points in the paint in game one, 10 in game two” ([37:23] Ben McMahon).
• “If I'm the Spurs, I think you have to campaign to not allow Hartenstein to get away with the hand-to-hand combat he did in game two.” ([38:07] Ryan McMahon)
• Physical play vs. finesse: Insight on how teams will try to wear down Wemby with physicality, especially with Spurs’ thin rotation.

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Series Outlook & Final Thoughts

Knicks vs. Cavs Outlook

• The Knicks have a chance to end the series quickly, and the hosts view it as critical they do so to maximize rest.
• Cavs are strong at home but look overmatched unless their offense dramatically improves.

Thunder vs. Spurs Outlook

• Spurs’ fate may largely depend on how well their injured guards recover and if they can withstand OKC’s relentless depth.
• Thunder poised to take advantage, especially with their ability to “throw all these different looks at you and playing different ways” ([42:06] Tim Bontemps).

Closing Remark:

• “You may have to carry the narrative of the NBA.” ([44:47] Ryan McMahon, on Ben McMahon covering the most compelling series)

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• "He crushed the Cavs strategy with his playoff career high. That really was the jet fuel that got the Knicks going offensively." – Ryan McMahon ([02:11])
• "You're not going to win a lot of games with 93 points. You're not going to win a lot of games when your dynamic backcourt combines for three assists." – Ben McMahon ([05:15])
• "If the Knicks are serious… try to sweep the Cavs and sit back and wait for a war of attrition to take place in the Western Conference." – Ryan McMahon ([10:02])
• "The humble Knicks fan. I love this real talk." – Ben McMahon ([18:03])
• "I hate that this series could be, could be determined by a false step. I hate it." – Ryan McMahon ([34:55])
• "He is a playoff riser… Eight of 14 on threes… 43% over two postseasons." – Ben McMahon (on Caruso) ([36:01])
• "They just don't have somebody in that group that you could say is going to do a credible job on Jalen Brunson." – Tim Bontemps ([25:28])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Knicks Game 2 domination & in-depth breakdown: [01:42]–[13:23]
• Fan culture and MSG energy: [15:01]–[21:46]
• Cavs tactical/depth issues: [21:46]–[25:43]
• Thunder vs. Spurs, injuries and game plan: [28:33]–[44:47]

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Tone & Style

The episode balances incisive, technical basketball analysis with the easy banter and storytelling typical of ESPN insiders. The tone is knowledgeable, conversational, and at times irreverently funny, particularly when describing the Knicks fan experience.

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Summary Takeaways

• The Knicks are two wins from their first NBA Finals in 27 years, and the series looks lopsided unless Cleveland’s offense wakes up.
• Oklahoma City’s depth and health advantage could decide the West, as the battered Spurs backcourt faces harsh odds.
• Both fan cultures and tactical adjustments are spotlighted, with the hosts keeping a pulse on the emotional tenor of the teams and cities involved.

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Transcript

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[Ryan McMahon]

Hello and welcome to the Hoop Collective podcast. We talk about the NBA, which we're doing late in the evening here in on Thursday. Joining me from right here at Madison Square Garden. We're both in the bowl about a hundred. What did you say? About 100 yards apart. Tim Bontemps. Yeah.

[Tim Bontemps]

Close. I could see it from across the way.

[Ryan McMahon]

Yeah, Tim's.

[Tim Bontemps]

Hello, everybody.

[Ryan McMahon]

Sort of in the upper sections here. Joining us from. I think you're in San Antonio. I haven't asked whether you got there, but I think San Antonio ahead of game three of the Western Conference finals.

[Ben McMahon]

Ben McMahon, San Antonio, indeed. Howdy, partners.

[Ryan McMahon]

All right. Okay. So here in Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, The Knicks took a 20 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals with a 16 point win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Nowhere near the drama of game one. It was a pretty quality victory from really start to finish. I guess the Cavs had a lead a little bit in the first quarter, but it wasn't close after that. The Knicks really, I guess you could say, dominated after Jalen Brunson put up 38 in Game 1. The Cavs tried to really try to get in his way even though James Harden was the guy who was getting toasted head to head. Kenny Atkinson, I think, felt that the second line of defense was really the culprit. He said as much and so he, he put Evan Mobley onto Josh Hart. This is, you know, they did this in game one, too. It wasn't like a change, but they really had Mobley stay in the paint and they just let Josh Hart go. And this is not an unusual game plan. It's been seen before. Josh Hart was ineffective in game one. He got benched in the fourth quarter, but in this game he was effective. And this is the thing, you know, Josh Hart is not a Sar Thompson Bontems, which is this is what the Cavs did in the last round. And a Sar Thompson, you know, his chances of scoring 26 points and having seven assists, being left mostly unguarded are pretty low. Josh Hart will do this. Not every night, but he will do this. And he crushed the Cavs strategy with his playoff career high. That really was the jet fuel that got the Knicks going offensively. And then late when the Cavs tried to make some sort of run, they just went to the Harden attack. Harden offense, getting Brunson isolated to Harden. The Cavs were not effectively able to stop that either. And the Knicks flex their muscle and now they're two wins away from their first finals in 27 years.

[Tim Bontemps]

Pontemps, obviously, you know Josh Hart going 5 for 11 from 3, having over 10ft of separation per genius IQ tracking on his threes. Third player in the tracking era to have that much space and get that many three point attempts off in a game. Alex Caruso did that against the spurs and Terrence Mann did it against Jazz. Another Donovan Mitchell game in that situation back in 21. And I mean, all that being said, though, I sort of agree with what Donovan Mitchell's message was after the game and to an extent what Kenny Atkinson's message after the game was, which is that this was an offensive loss for the Cavs. Cavs did not hit shots like Knicks scored 109 points like that. They didn't score 130 like that. That is a number that I think the Cavs, if you said before the game, hey, the Knicks are going to have 109 tonight. Cleveland feel pretty good about that. But the Cavs in this game were 9 for 35 from 3. It's 25.7%. They were under 40% from the field on a night when they didn't turn the ball over very much. And Evan Mobley didn't take a single field goal attempt in the entire second half of the game. Like their offense.

[Ryan McMahon]

That's a crazy comment. He had. He had 14 in the first half and scoreless in the second.

[Tim Bontemps]

Yeah, he was 5 for 8 from the field in the first half, didn't take a shot after halftime and you know, like, the Cavs just were not good enough offensively. Like the Cavs, as you've talked about the whole time, their defense isn't great. They're built to be an excellent offensive team, and their offense was not good enough tonight. To me, that is less than Josh Hart. That is why it's an OH2 series. And from a Cavs perspective, is that this is a team that's supposed to be one of the best offensive teams in the league, and they did not get it done in this game. When you look at the Knicks numbers, overall, they're fine, but it's not like they blew him out of the water with the strategy. The Cavs were important.

[Ben McMahon]

Yeah, you're not going to win a lot of games with 93 points. You're not going to win a lot of games when your dynamic backcourt combines for three assists. I mean, Harden didn't turn it over

[Ryan McMahon]

tonight, but they only had eight turnovers as a team. It's like their best take care of the ball in weeks, months, years.

[Ben McMahon]

Yeah, they just didn't do anything with it, you know, and you know, Donovan, like, 26 on 8 of 18, like, that's okay. That's not great.

[Ryan McMahon]

He was fine. I know that there's discussion about him being having some sort of injury. He was not on the injury report. Okay. He played 39 minutes.

[Tim Bontemps]

Yeah, he's fine.

[Ryan McMahon]

He got more free throws than anybody else in the game. He tied with Josh Hart for highest scoring. Okay. I'm sure he's not 100%. You know, I was talking to a scout who was watching the game, and he said it looked like when Donovan would go downhill, he looked fine, and when he moved lateral, he looked a little bit sluggish. Maybe there's something to that. But this is not an incapacitated player. So. No, you know, I know Kenny Atkinson told Lisa Salters at the halftime that he thought he agreed with her, that Donovan maybe didn't look as explosive. But I. I'm not, you know, I'm not going to, you know, say that that's a factor.

[Tim Bontemps]

So Donovan looked perfectly fine when he had 29 points in the first 40 minutes of game one. And he had, I think, 26 points tonight. Like, he's. He's fine. That. That's not the issue that the Cavs have.

[Ben McMahon]

And.

[Tim Bontemps]

And look, this was a game, too, where The Cavs had 32 free throw attempts to the Knicks 14. They were 22 for 32 from the line. It's also not good enough for a team with A bunch of good free throw shooters. Like, they, they did all the right stuff. They didn't make shots. Like, if I'm the Cavs, I'm, that's the, that's my takeaway from this game. And by the way, while we criticize Kenny Atkinson and the Cavs in general for process decisions in the fourth quarter and overtime of Game one, the process of leaving Josh Hart open, I think is totally fine. Josh Hart couldn't make a shot the whole postseason. Maybe Josh Hart is going to go crazy now in this series to start making shots all over the place. But if I'm the Cavs, I'm fine forcing Josh Hart to beat that. I'm okay with that. At the end of the day, if he's going to hit shots, that's fine. All that being said, again, the knicks only scored 109 points. That's a game the Cavs should feel like they can win. Like advance said, if you have 93 points and you're shooting 32 free throws,

[Ben McMahon]

that's hard to do.

[Tim Bontemps]

That is an offensive loss, and that's nowhere near good enough for a team that's built on offense and led by two high powered scoring guards. And Donovan Mitchell and James Harden.

[Ryan McMahon]

To your point, Bon Temp's about, you know, so Harden had 18, 6 of 15. Not great. But Max Drew, Sam Merrill, Dennis Schroeder, Jalen Tyson, those are the four guys basically the Cavs played off the bench tonight. That quartet was one of 15 on threes. Yeah, I mean, one of 15.

[Ben McMahon]

And two of them are paid to be shooters.

[Ryan McMahon]

Yeah, you look, you looked at last night, the game that you were at in Oklahoma City. McMahon. The Thunder had four guards come off the bench. Kayson Wallace, Alex Caruso, Jared McCain and Isaiah Joe. Jared McCain and Isaiah Joe. They combined for, I think 11 threes and 11 steals each. That's a more ideal bench production unit. This, the Calves would be the other end of that spectrum. Yeah.

[Ben McMahon]

Yeah. The Thunder had 57 bench points. Now, part of it was because Jalen Williams only played seven minutes after starting,

[Ryan McMahon]

but still, we'll get to that. But nonetheless, that's, that's, that's what a, that's a bench flexing its muscle. This is not happening.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, that's where I just keep coming back to. I, I mean, every, every other question that Kenny Axon, Donovan Mitchell after the game was about leaving Josh Hart open. But I'm fine with leaving Josh hard open. And I, I actually do agree with them. I really think their defense was fine. I, I, their Offense just has to be way better. This is.

[Ryan McMahon]

I don't think it was fine, but they, they followed the game plan.

[Tim Bontemps]

Their, their defense was fine. The Knicks scored 109 points. Josh Hart went crazy. Jalen Brunson was fine. Like the Knicks didn't have some crazy offensive game. The Cavs, you've been saying it all year. The Cavs defense isn't that great.

[Ryan McMahon]

Correct.

[Tim Bontemps]

If they're going to make the finals, it's because their offense is the thing that drives them there. And their offense today was terrible. That's why they didn't win the game.

[Ryan McMahon]

All right, let's have some real talk here. Real talk is that if the Knicks Bontemps is really close, he could probably throw a ball and hit the banners. From where Bontemps is sitting right now,

[Ben McMahon]

he doesn't have a very good arm.

[Tim Bontemps]

If, I mean, it's like 10ft away. I'm pretty sure I could do it.

[Ryan McMahon]

If they want to hit, if they want to put another banner there. Real talk. Okay.

[Ben McMahon]

Oh, the NBA cup banner. They're going to reconsider?

[Ryan McMahon]

No, no, it doesn't appear to be here. Although James Dolan was in a, was in a good mood at post game. Maybe he should ask him again. I saw him on the court. If they're going to do that, I would advise them to try to sweep the Cavs and sit back and wait for a war of attrition to take place in the Western Conference, which is already.

[Tim Bontemps]

You know what this is about. Window or McMahon? You know what this is about. Our guy wants his time at home, wants to go west to Cleveland and then go west to the Golden City on the hill. That's what we want to do.

[Ryan McMahon]

I mean, I think I'm a little bit more of a professional than that, but, you know, the, the Cavs obviously were behind two zero last round. They came back and won four out of five. They're six and one, I believe, at home in the playoffs. I'm not saying it's a. It's something that would be simple. The Cavs are obviously going to fight for their lives on Saturday night in game three. But if you're serious about this, if you're serious about winning six more games, that's the pathway is to try to finish him off.

[Tim Bontemps]

That's what they did to the Sixers, right? They went up 2. 0. They went back. There was no Gianna Novi. He's like, all right, well, how's this going to go in game three? And they came out and played well and made shots. Down the stretch and won that game and ended the series. Right. Let's go back to the last round. We talked about it a ton. That was a toss up game in game three with Detroit up 2:03, four minutes to go. I think it was a tie game. Cade Cunningham has those turnovers. Cleveland comes back and wins that game. Donovan has a huge second half in game four. They get back in the series, they end up winning the series. Right. Like we saw in Game 1. The Cavs are more than good enough to win this series. They have the talent, I'm not saying they're going to win the series with man, they have the talent to win the series though. You saw in game one, like they can play with the Knicks, like they got a lot of talent on this team and if you let them off the mat, they can come back and get you just like they did to Detroit in the last round. But if the Knicks have going into this game Saturday night, the Knicks have a chance to end this thing just like they did with Phil. Like, can they go in there and do the same thing? By the way, It'd be their 10th win in the playoffs in a row, which isn't bad.

[Ryan McMahon]

I know Mike Brown referenced the 2017. So what year Bon Temps do you remember? Did he have to step in for Steve Kerr in the playoffs to hit to be the interim head coach?

[Tim Bontemps]

I believe it was 2017.

[Ryan McMahon]

Yeah. So he was talking about that before the game. That team, you know, that was the super year where Durant got there and they were at full power and he talked about how, you know the experience of that team winning eight or nine or 10 consecutive playoff games.

[Tim Bontemps]

They went 11 and oh, with my coach of the team.

[Ryan McMahon]

Right, okay, that's pretty good.

[Ben McMahon]

And by the way, teams that have had more double figure wins, double digit margin wins before the finals of the Knicks, right now you're talking about the 17 warriors and the 13 Heat. The Knicks have nine double digit wins

[Tim Bontemps]

during this playoff run and Mike Brown's coach, two of those teams.

[Ryan McMahon]

Yeah. So he was talking about the challenge of recognizing that you're still fallible and that not everything that you do turns to gold. But the fact that Mike Brown can say, well, my previous time that I coached a team that won 10 straight playoff games or whatever, I learned these lessons.

[Ben McMahon]

More Hoop Collective podcast after this.

[Ryan McMahon]

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[Ryan McMahon]

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[Ben McMahon]

name drop or what?

[Ryan McMahon]

Yeah, Tracy Morgan, you know he's going

[Tim Bontemps]

to, you know he's going to name drop. Just let him get to it.

[Ryan McMahon]

And they are not, they're, they are not arrogant name through the stars.

[Tim Bontemps]

You only name Tracy Morgan. There has to be more Fat Joe.

[Ryan McMahon]

It was very nice to talk to Fat Joe tonight.

[Ben McMahon]

I would say significantly slimmer Joe.

[Ryan McMahon]

Listen, what do you want me to say? He goes by Fat Joe. You know his mama named Clay. I'm a call him Clay.

[Tim Bontemps]

There you go.

[Ryan McMahon]

Susie Essman of. Of Curb youb Enthusiasm fame. Do you know curb youb enthusiasm, McMahon?

[Ben McMahon]

I mean, I'm familiar with it, but I can't say I'm familiar with the work. Yeah.

[Ryan McMahon]

Yes. But Susie Essman played the character Susie Green on Curb youb Enthusiasm, which is an iconic character that she played for over 20 years on a show that was one of the most famous comedies of a generation. And she was telling me that when she walks around the city, nobody talks to her. Character was known for outrageous swearing. You know, very angry, outrageous swearing. She had some absolutely, you know, epic swearing streets. And, you know, so for a long time, people would always come up to her and swear. She says now people come up to her and they don't even ask about career, beer, enthusiasm, whatever. They. They recognize her as a Knicks fan.

[Tim Bontemps]

She's at many Knicks games on Celebrity Row.

[Ryan McMahon]

She was telling me. She's like. They come up to her and say, Susie, Nixon 6. Which that would be. That would be good for the Cavs if they got it to 6.

[Tim Bontemps]

At this point, Knicks fans were chanting Nixon 4 at the end of the spot.

[Ryan McMahon]

Yeah. But Tracy Morgan was, like, very concerned about, like, not letting you know, because, you know, he just. He was just saying, like, last year we thought we had the Pacers beat and we let it go. And, you know, you know, there's an incredible enjoyment that's happening and a lack of arrogance from these fans because they have been let down by their team, thinking their team was in great shape before. So, you know, it's. I think the vibes are pretty amazing.

[Ben McMahon]

The humble Knicks fan. I love this real talk.

[Tim Bontemps]

I mean, I'm not sure how humble

[Ryan McMahon]

the Knicks fans are outside in the streets. It's a bleep show.

[Ben McMahon]

Okay, I want to be clear outside.

[Ryan McMahon]

Well, Ryan's not talking about the.

[Tim Bontemps]

Please, McMahon. He's talking about the people up in his class.

[Ryan McMahon]

How about the super fans, the star

[Tim Bontemps]

class where he resides, My people. Yes.

[Ryan McMahon]

I didn't talk to Spike tonight, but I feel like Spike feels the same way.

[Ben McMahon]

First name basis.

[Ryan McMahon]

Yes. I've spent some time with Spike before, but. Yeah. So there's a great appreciation and a joy that's happening in this building, outside the building. You know, there's some. You know, I will say this. JR Smith earned. Earned the respect. What are you laughing about?

[Ben McMahon]

I'm laughing at you outside the building.

[Tim Bontemps]

I'm laughing at you. Just lording over the people.

[Ryan McMahon]

That's what I'm Laughing at how high

[Ben McMahon]

up are you right now?

[Ryan McMahon]

He's speaking. Speaking of high, the. J.R. smith earned the respect of many Knicks former players who, when he went out to the. Did you see the other night McMahon when he went out and went to the watch party outside?

[Ben McMahon]

No, I didn't see that.

[Tim Bontemps]

I didn't see this either.

[Ryan McMahon]

J.R. went outside, you know, to see it. He basically got overrun by excited Knicks fans in the street outside the Garden. I think it was at around 33rd and 7th and he, he had a blunt. He was holding a blunt. And despite him getting overrun, he was able to maintain the integrity of the blunt.

[Ben McMahon]

James Harden would have turned it over, I guarantee you.

[Ryan McMahon]

And some of the Knicks former players were saying to me, you got to respect Jared's ability to. He's like, that's a man who knows what he's doing.

[Tim Bontemps]

Torres knows all about the integrity of the blunt, McMahon. It's all. He's all about it.

[Ryan McMahon]

Yeah. Well, my little time, that was my super fan. My. My night with the super fans is story time brought to you by Sofi. Get your money right, and all those dudes have their money right.

[Ben McMahon]

I'm certainly not surprised that J R Smith declined to pass the blunt. Not much of a passer despite,

[Ryan McMahon]

despite the reputation of Nick fans and what maybe some of the pockets of lower denominate, lower common denominator fans are, I sense mostly a joy and a wonder. And yeah, the city is on fire,

[Tim Bontemps]

man, everybody here is thrilled about the Knicks. I mean, the thing that people don't understand who aren't from New York is that the Knicks are by far the biggest team here. There's two football teams, there's two baseball teams, there's multiple hockey teams.

[Ben McMahon]

The Knicks are bigger than the Yankees.

[Tim Bontemps]

Oh, by miles, yes. Every person here is a Knicks fan. That's why the Nets. Why? It's why it's always been so lopsided with the Nets. Like, there's no the Knicks. Every, pretty much everybody who follows basketball within 100 miles of the city is a Knicks fan. I mean, it's why they invaded Philly. It's why they're going to, I'm sure, be all over whatever the name is now of the arena. Rocket Fieldhouse. Is that what it's.

[Ryan McMahon]

No, no, no, no, sir. Rocket Arena.

[Tim Bontemps]

Rock. Rocket Arena. Okay. So they'll be in Rocket Arena Saturday when the Knicks are good. The city is on fire. And the city is on fire right now because people sense the Knicks have an opportunity to do something special. Though the teams out west are Awfully, awfully good.

[Ryan McMahon]

For sure. If you're looking how the Cavs can, can make a dent here because what's happened is that the Knicks, at least in the first two games, have put away the Carl Townes distribution offense. I think Towns only had one assist tonight, although I think he played a good game. He had 18 points and 13 rebounds and he only had three fouls showing the boards, but he only had one assist. It's gone, the ball's gone back into Brunson's hands and you know, the, the Knicks can, can win multiple different ways. They've shown that in the postseason and you know, in the next round, if they get two more wins here, they may go back to the Carl Towns high post offense. But the, but the, the, the, the Knicks have gone back to Jalen Brunson, you know, run everything through him and like I said, 14 assists tonight, just three turnovers and 41, 40 minutes. So the Cavs have any chance here. They're not going to solve the James Harden defensive challenges. James Harden is, you know, regardless of what Kenny Atkinson said.

[Ben McMahon]

Right.

[Ryan McMahon]

That's a. But they have got to have the bullseye.

[Ben McMahon]

He can play post defense, but if he's out on, on an island, he's, you know.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, if the Cavs play defense the way they did tonight in the two games in Cleveland, they'll have a chance to even up the series. Like they were good enough at that. They've got to go home and be much better on.

[Ryan McMahon]

The Harden thing was still a problem.

[Tim Bontemps]

The Harden thing's always going to be a problem.

[Ryan McMahon]

Well, hold on. They were, they were, at times they were, they were trying kind of double teaming him, but they were like doing really soft double teaming and it was like easy for Brunson to pick it apart. There was a couple of possessions where it looked like some of the players on the court were in zone and some of the players on the court were in, man. At one point they were trying to play like a half zone defense and Dennis Schroeder was looking around and he threw his hands up because he's like, what, what defense are we in? So you can say their defense wasn't terrible, but their defense was still disorganized.

[Tim Bontemps]

The defense was. Again, the defense was fine. They didn't foul. They, they, they relatively held the Knicks down. I, if Josh Hart is getting that many open threes, he's probably not going to go 5 for 11 again. It's what you said. Those four guys coming off the bench or the four ancillary players were 1 for 15 from 3. The Cavs were 9 for 25 from 3. The Cavs are supposed to be one of the best offensive or not for 35 I should say Cavs supposed to be one of the best offensive teams in the league. That is the thing that powers this team. Their offense has to be really good.

[Ryan McMahon]

But had they gone 7 for 15 from 3 and this game went to the final two minutes, I'm not sure they would have been able to handle what Brunson was doing to them. So that is still a problem.

[Tim Bontemps]

Yeah, I mean I agree but that but James, I mean Jalen Brunson is going to be a weapon late in the game no matter what. Like I mean you've been banging the drum about this with Cavs in leading Cavs corner all season. The Cavs are not a defensive team. They have a great offensive team and they've got to out offense.

[Ryan McMahon]

The Knicks I in the macro right. But the actual strategy against Brunson, whatever they worked on between game one and two, I did not see a material difference other than the fact that the Brunson didn't have to keep scoring because they were ahead by 15 instead of behind by 15.

[Tim Bontemps]

The inherent problem with that though is with the lineups they have. Unless they're taking James Harden out of the game, there's not a real good option to put on it. So no matter what they do well,

[Ryan McMahon]

they aren't taking James Harden out of the game. Several people ask me about this. Why wouldn't they take Harden out? They can't take James Harden out.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, that's what I'm saying.

[Ryan McMahon]

Because they need Harden to carry some of the burden on offense and to initiate offense because Donovan can't carry that burden.

[Tim Bontemps]

That's the problem in this matchup. They just don't have somebody in that group that you could say is going to do a credible job on Jalen Brunson. That that's the so all they have to try all this different stuff because they don't have a great option for that.

[Ryan McMahon]

I do not understand what their strategy was in the fourth quarter. They're like I said, that's got to be cleaned up a little bit more.

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[Ryan McMahon]

All right, game three is Saturday night in Cleveland. It will determine whether this is going to be a long or short series now. Man, how is your hamstring feeling? These guys are dropping like flies.

[Ben McMahon]

Played pickup the other night, didn't play well. JK got fired midway through. Probably saved me from pulling something, so I'm all right, by the way. So, J Dub, they're calling it hamstring tightness, questionable day to day.

[Ryan McMahon]

You know, guys, this is his fourth hamstring injury.

[Tim Bontemps]

That's all you got to say.

[Ben McMahon]

It's the second one on this one during the playoffs. There were two on the, on the right side during the season that were more significant. But obviously, look, his availability is going to be questionable, I think for a while.

[Tim Bontemps]

I hope Jalen Williams is day to day and questionable. I am skeptical that Jalen Williams is day to day in question.

[Ben McMahon]

I would agree with that. Dylan Harper, they announced right leg last night. We were told post game by people who know hamstring. And then he's on the injury report as right adductor soreness. So. And he's questionable.

[Ryan McMahon]

So the word that we're looking for is strain.

[Ben McMahon]

There's neither one we're announcing.

[Ryan McMahon]

There's an absence of the word strain.

[Ben McMahon]

Right?

[Ryan McMahon]

Correct.

[Ben McMahon]

And they both got MRIs. You know, I, I don't, I mean I, I don't have a polygraph that I can apply to the people who put the injury report out, but that this is what's been announced, dear. And Fox remains questionable. And, and Ms. Johnson basically said, hey, even if he comes back and plays, he's going to be a game time decision moving forward here probably for the rest of the playoffs. He's got a high ankle sprain that he's trying to, to manage.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, he does have a high ankle sprain.

[Ben McMahon]

That's what Shams reported it was a high ankle sprain.

[Tim Bontemps]

Oof. I didn't see Shams report on that. That is not good.

[Ryan McMahon]

Yes, Shams reported that yesterday and I did not know that. And when he said it, I learned about it live on the get upset and I fell back in my chair and I was like, oh my God, that's a high ankle sprain. Because I think first off, he's been called a game time decision. Right.

[Ben McMahon]

And he, and he came back and played on it in the last series.

[Ryan McMahon]

Right. And then you see him pregame. This is like what happened with Durant. Durant's like called the game time decision and you see him out there reigning in threes pregame and you're like, well, wait a minute, why isn't he playing well with the high ankle sprain typically? Like, you know, I, I don't have, I'm not Martin o' Malley here. I don't have a medical degree. But typically with the high ankle sprain, you can jump up and down and you can even run in a straight line, but you try to cut right or left.

[Ben McMahon]

Yeah. You can't plant on it, you can't cut, you can't really even push off on it. And I didn't watch his whole pregame yesterday, but I did watch some. I didn't see any planting, cutting, moving. You know, it was basically what I saw was a bunch of spot shooting. Now look, they go from having three big time guards to maybe one. And the one that they have, Stefan Castle, who has done a lot of great things in the series, he's also turned the ball over 20 times in two games and you know, they got away with in game one. But typically turning the ball over against this OKC team is a recipe for disaster. And how do you, how do you solve the issues of when Minyama is shutting down huge chunks of the court on defense, you get out in transition where, where he's not back on the

[Tim Bontemps]

other problem the spurs have too, let's say, and again, hopefully these guys can both play, right? But if they both can't play or if Dylan Harper is playing and he's limited even at all, Stefan Castle's already got a completely insane workload where he's got to handle the ball a ton against this, these piranhas that Thunder have running around trying to make plays everywhere. And then on the other end, oh, by the way, he's got a Garcia, Gillis, Alexander. Basically every second the guy is on the court like that is an immense, I mean, people could say all they want about, oh, the spurs are young, they got fresh legs. It doesn't matter how young you are. That is a brutal assignment for anybody to have to handle at one end, let alone at both. And if he's the only ball handler out there of consequence for large stretches of the game now, it's tough. Savon Castle is an awesome player, but that is just a crazy thing to ask of anybody, let alone a guy in his second year, in his first playoffs and the conference finals having to try to do that for another five games.

[Ryan McMahon]

All right, so we talked a minute ago about what the Cavs might have to do. So McMahon, what is, let's say Dylan Harper is either out or limited. What is the spurs move here? You know, I know Devin Vassell can, you know, and I by the way, Devin Vassell had a pretty excellent game on Wednesday night. He had six threes over 20 points. He kind of got lost in the sauce. By the way it went. Devin Vassell could handle the ball a little bit. He's not going to remind anybody of Chris Paul.

[Ben McMahon]

He can handle it a little bit. Kelton Johnson can handle it a little bit. But these guys, they can handle it a little bit against most defenses. Oklahoma City is not most defenses. I don't know that you want Wimby initiating a lot of the offense.

[Ryan McMahon]

You could throw it to Wemby in the. When he get over half court and have him try to like yo, take

[Ben McMahon]

a 30 footer with a game on the line.

[Tim Bontemps]

Yeah, I don't love Victor trying to do a lot of dribbling against his Thunder team. I, I think that's going to end in more turnovers.

[Ben McMahon]

Yeah, that, that's tough. No, Jordan McLaughlin came in and played I think seven or eight minutes.

[Ryan McMahon]

Jordan McLaughlin is a nice intelligent player but he's a thorough third string point guard.

[Ben McMahon]

Correct. You know, and, and like they've had, you know, there was a question, oh, how. How are these three guards going to fit together? And ended up. It was great. And you know, I remember talking to people, the spurs and in summer league they're like there's 96 backcourt minutes. We got three guys that all play and if you have two guys you can still manage it pretty, pretty well as they did in game one. Down to one against this defense. That, that's really difficult.

[Ryan McMahon]

I, I hate that. I hate that this series could be, could be determined by a false step. I hate it.

[Ben McMahon]

Well, and you know what? Jalen Williams was a, an all NBA player last year who was the second best player on a championship team. His absence doesn't hit the Thunders hard as Dylan Harper's absence would hit the spurs because of the circumstances with Fox and just because the Thunder have such insane depth. The Thunder have 13 quality rotation players on their roster and they, I'm forgetting what their exact record was without J Dub this year. But it was, I want to say like including the playoffs, like 45 and 10 or something insane like that. You know, they've, they've got like plenty of options. They can go a lot of different ways. Just in the starting lineup, they can start AJ Mitchell again. They can start Case and Wallace. They want to, they can. Caruso. I mean I can go down the list here.

[Ryan McMahon]

Crusoe plus 18 in game two. I mean my God, 25 and eight without. With, with Jalen Williams. Yeah.

[Ben McMahon]

Just like the Cavs did with, with Josh Hart. Game one was absolute invitation. Three pointers for Caruso and he hit eight of 14 to keep the Thunder in it. When Shake couldn't get anything going, Chet couldn't get anything going. You know, Game two, I don't have it right in front of me. I know he shot it really well again finished with 17 points. And I want to say it was like I don't have in front of me. He shot at like three or four, three or five, something like that. From three. The guy's shooting at 43% from three for the Thunder over two postseasons. He is a playoff riser.

[Ryan McMahon]

Again, with all due respect, that's not leaving a star Thompson open.

[Ben McMahon]

No, it's not.

[Ryan McMahon]

It's a little.

[Ben McMahon]

Impacts the game so many different ways. Now having said all that, Mark Dagenham basically admitted he, he screwed up the game one game plan, Garden Wimy and basically saying we're not going to have Hartenstein on the floor against him hardly at all. They completely reversed that. And he, he, he basically went to Isaiah Hartenstein after the, you know, the day after the first game and all but apologized basically. I didn't love only playing you 12 minutes. You're going to be on the floor a lot more. And Hartenstein, you know, he didn't shut Wimby down, don't get me wrong, when we still had 21 points, 17 rebounds

[Ryan McMahon]

and six assists, that counts as shutting him down.

[Ben McMahon]

In all honesty, like, dude, here's the numbers. Wimby had 26 points in the paint in game one. He had 10 in game two. He had 13 free throws.

[Ryan McMahon]

And by the way, I think three of those five baskets were his own putbacks.

[Tim Bontemps]

Yes, yes, they were. Which are all insane plays.

[Ben McMahon]

Nerf hoop putbacks. He had 13 free throws in game one. He had three in game two. Hartenstein, with his, with his size, with his smarts, with his toughness, he kept Wimby from being just an unstoppable force in the paint that he was in game one. And so that was a sick. And he honestly, he kind of wore him out. Hardest time, had eight offense rebounds. Five of those came in the fourth quarter.

[Ryan McMahon]

All right, so you guys know that I really, really hate officiating discussions, especially to officiate discussions after Thunder games. But considering what the situation is, if I'm the Spurs, I think you have to campaign to not allow Hartenstein to get away with the hand to hand combat that he was getting away with in game two. I think it's very smart for Thunder to do it. I think Ardenstein did a great job. I think over and over and over he found ways to impact Wemby with physicality that helped his team. Whether it was boxing out, whether it was creating lanes, whether it was just trying to wear him out. I thought it was very effective. And if I'm the Spurs, I can't allow it because that's where the rubber is going to meet the road. Because I think I, you know, I don't think he was doing anything like dirty or underhanded. I just think he was. Had his hands all over him. And if I'm Mitch Johnson, I am on the referees from the start of game three, they're going to be back in San Antonio. It's going to be a different situation. I am applying pressure to the referees to get, you know, Chet and Isaiah more. More Isaiah than Chet. Because Chad had a very good game on Wembayama, too, when he. The possessions he was on. I've, you know, that's got to be a talking point, McMahon, even though I don't like it.

[Ben McMahon]

That's going to be a talking point with Victor Womenyama for the rest of his career. Because, like, if you aren't physical with him and he's just able to get where he wants to go, get to whatever spot. Yeah, like, forget it. Forget it. If Wimby catches the ball on a duck in, you're dead.

[Tim Bontemps]

Yeah, he's just. He can reach from 8ft away and dunk the ball without moving.

[Ben McMahon]

Yeah. Look at the last minute of over of the double overtime, you know, the last minute of that game. He got depositioned twice. Once he spun and, you know, Chet came over to help and he almost, you know, put the guy six feet under with an and one on his head. And then the other time. Yeah, I don't even know if it officially counted as dunk. He basically caught it and threw it in over his head and in one motion. If Victor is able to just decide, I want to get to that spot and that's where I'm going. I'm going to catch the ball. You can't deal with them. So, of course teams are going to be physical with them. And that. That, you know, that was the whole idea of having Caruso and Dort and J Dub on them is they could kind of get the lower, you know, the lower center of gravity and try to push and shove and all those kind of things that didn't work. Hartenstein's physicality worked a lot more, but. Yeah.

[Ryan McMahon]

Do you. Do you think. And I know they haven't used this really at all, but down guards and they're trying to do something with the bigs. Do you think going to French Vanilla Coronet and Wembanyama together is something that they could look at? Just trying to. I mean, obviously not when I started or played a big stretch.

[Tim Bontemps]

I don't love I don't love that

[Ben McMahon]

personally, because, yeah, I don't love it because you're. The Thunder can put such a fast lineup on the floor, and the Thunder just can create so much havoc defensively in terms of creating turnovers. I mean, they had 27 points off turnovers in this last game. That's not like an unusual number for them. Yeah, I, I, I think you, you've got to put more skill on the floor than that and Wimy's crazy skill. But I think, you know, I just, I don't think that pairing is going to work in this series.

[Tim Bontemps]

Just don't think there's enough shooting. You just, you want to have as much split, you want to have as much space for Victor to operate as possible, and it just gets easier to bang on him because, I mean, I think you saw as that game went on, he looked tired at the end of Game two after all that banging and wearing and grabbing on him. And as the series goes on and like, we talked about it since before it started playing every other day, like, the spurs don't have that many guys to go to. They're not as deep as Oklahoma City. So, like, and that was before the injuries. So, like, there, there's going to be that much cumulative wear on them as this thing goes on. And, you know, that's, that's where the Thunder and their ability to just keep throwing all these different looks at you and playing different ways and doing all this stuff can be such an advantage. My big takeaway from Game two overall, though, was I know that, like, I thought the Thunder were going to play much better in Game 2. They did. Hartenstein was great in Game 2. Chad Holmgren's got to be a lot better. And the minutes against Victor have been a disaster. Like, I think, I think he was 4 for 5 when Victor was.

[Ryan McMahon]

Chet's numbers in game two were significantly better than game one.

[Ben McMahon]

Yeah, he got going a little bit in the, in the third quarter.

[Tim Bontemps]

You know, he hit some shots when Victor wasn't on the court. When Victor has been matched up with him, it's been. Anytime he's been on the court with Victor, it's been really bad, and he's got to be better.

[Ben McMahon]

And Chet in the first two rounds was playing outstanding. And one thing that he was really doing well was finding those little cracks in the defense where he's able to cut or he's able to, you know, find some space around the rim and, you know, catching it and just going up and finishing. And, man, Wimby eliminates A lot of that stuff he just does.

[Tim Bontemps]

And he's also had some open looks from three and he's double like, he's like I got an open look and he won't take it. Like he's just, he's got. Especially now that Jalen's out like, or in theory anyway, they need more from Chad Holmgren.

[Ben McMahon]

Well, and you know, one thing that Daganholt mentioned with, they don't call plays for Chad like you know, to get Chet going. It's not like they're running a lot of offense specifically for him. You know, the term that, that Mark used was, you know, he gets a lot of his stuff downstream. You know, in other words, like when, when they're playing well offensively and the process is good, Chet gets his stuff within the flow of the offense and you know, he's not as necessarily the primary option. And so he felt like the key to unlocking Chet was just to, you know, to be less clunky and just to have the, the offense flowing better. And again, there was a little bit there where, where it happened in game two. But he's, he's mostly been a non factor in the series.

[Ryan McMahon]

I feel like the most of the action is going to be with you, McMahon. You may have to carry the narrative of the NBA.

[Ben McMahon]

Listen, this is going to be a hell of a series and I'm still shaking my head about game one. I mean, it's one of the best games I've ever seen in person. Game two wasn't quite that, but it was a competitive game and it was great game though. Now I'm excited to see what the atmosphere is here in San Antonio where, you know, they haven't had a playoff game in a long time.

[Ryan McMahon]

They're going to probably go to the, the multi colored shirts. That's a very. If it's been a very effective strategy when they go to the multicolored shirts for the first home game.

[Ben McMahon]

Listen, Oklahoma City, there was two tone. There was white, there was blue. A little two tone. Look for game two, you know, they had the white sections, they had the blue sections. Now I'm going to tell you there were, I'm not going to say a lot of spurs fans, but there were some pockets of black and silver in that crowd. I think there were, I think there were more spurs fans than there were Lakers fans the previous series.

[Ryan McMahon]

What about at the Tiki? Were there any spurs fans at the Tiki?

[Ben McMahon]

There's some rowdy spurs fans at the Old Tiki. Yeah, there were.

[Ryan McMahon]

All right. Yeah, well, as long as they were, they were paying. All right. They're turning off the lights. They're kicking us out. They want us out of the garden.

[Tim Bontemps]

I think Wendell wants to go to sleep. I think that's what's going on.

[Ryan McMahon]

Yeah, well, you know, I'm getting four hours of sleep at night now. Right now. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much to all of our producers, Mark, Sam, Miles, Tucker. Thank you to McMahon and Bontemps. Oh, and Jackson, don't forget about him. Thank you, McMahon and Bontemps. Thank you for listening and watching the Hoop Collective. We'll reposition to Cleveland and talk to you in a couple days.

[Ben McMahon]

Follow us on Instagram at hoopcollectiveshow. Adios, amigos.

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