Don LaGreca (21:35)
Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. Han Solo here with you on Don Hahn and Rosenberg 880 ESPN as Don is now on 10:50am doing the pregame show for the Rangers and the Senators. So if you want coverage of that, you can go there at the top of the hour. At the end of our show though, it'll be the pregame show for the Knicks and the Nets at the Barclays center in Brooklyn. Not on MSG tonight though, because it is a TNT exclusive vehicle. So you'll have the on the TV side. But of course you do have the radio coverage coming up at the top. So on the hall of Fame voting, as we told you before the break, CC Sabathia is in first ballot. Ichiro Suzuki in and they remember this is two former Yankees now because Suzuki Ichiro was there with CC in 12 through 13, so 14. They spent a bunch of years together in pinstripes. But one note oh, a former Met Billy Wagner, he's also in as well. Carlos Beltran, however, will have to wait 70.3%. So he's close right there looking for the 75 that you need. So we'll see if Beltran does have to wait a year. So he won't be first ballot, but he seems like he's pretty close. We'll talk about that and more of course tomorrow on the show. Keeping an eye on the story of the day, which is, well, the Are the Jets close to naming their next head coach and general manager? Former Jet Aaron Glenn, the defensive coordinator with the Detroit Lions the last couple of years. He is reportedly in for a face to face meeting today along with Lance Newmark, who was a longtime assistant GM in Detroit who was spent the last year with the Washington Commanders. Looks like the two of them could be a package deal. We shall see. But before I get back to Your calls at 800-919-3776, talk about the Knicks and last night and I'm curious to see how people react to the way the Knicks handled business. So all of you know that the last time the Hawks came in was the middle of December. It was the NBA cup quarterfinal game and Trae Young did what he does. He loves being the villain. And so at the end of that game it was a Close game for a minute, but then he was just unstoppable. He made a bunch of shots, and the Knicks ended up losing the game. They did not go to Vegas. At the end of that game at center court at the Garden, Trey Young decided he was gonna pretend he was playing craps, you know, roll the dice. A lot of people saw it as he was, you know, doing something to the Nick logo, but really he was talking about, hey, we're going to Vegas and I'm, you know, I'm rolling craps. Like that's what it was about. But everybody got upset. And then there was this whole thing about the Knick should have done something. Nobody did anything. Let him do it. They should have gotten physical with him, whatever it is. Jalen Brunson told me right after that game, if you don't want him to do it, win the game, just beat him, and then he doesn't do it. Josh Hart and others, also the same thing. The only person that spoke up, and this is all the fans want, their pound of flesh. They want to get that moment where somebody's going to talk some mess back is Isaiah Hartenstein, who, when asked about it, said, I wouldn't have let him get away with it. He would have had to deal with me. Of course, that gets everybody all fired up. But as Brunson said, isaiah's not here anymore, so what good is it? So last night, the opportunity came to do something about it. Trey Young comes in the building. The place is packed. It was a MLK matinee, a 3 o'clock game, as you all know. And it actually started out a little rough. The knicks went down 10 early in this game, but midway through the first quarter, Mikhail Bridges suddenly, like just picks him up half court. And this possession was very interesting. He locked him up foot of every screen. All the little stuff that goes on didn't fall for any of his fakes and hesitations and all that stuff. Took away the three he tries to drive, took away the drive. And suddenly Trey Young picks up the ball. He's got nowhere to go. 24, second violation. The place went nuts. Like it went crazy. Now, it didn't turn the game, but it suddenly woke up the building. And then the Knicks competitive level went to another. Went to another level, and that became a great game. Mike Breen said on the broadcast, this feels like a playoff game, had that kind of atmosphere, but the Knicks were getting after it. Third quarter, everything turned. Bridges had 14, Brunson went for 12, 40 points. They put on him in the quarter, and The Knicks ended up winning the game. And that's the answer. But it was more than that because Trey Young had nine turnovers because of the defense. Jalen Brunson, who dealt with this Dyson Daniels kid who, who's. He's averaging three steals a game, like he's, he's a tough, tough, young defensive guy. And coming into the game, Brunson was shooting like 30% when play when facing him. Well, Brunson dropped another 30 point performance on him, had an elite performance. Like he was fantastic in this game offensively. And so he slayed the dragon that way as well. And then he just walked off the court and I had to walk off interview and I asked Brunson about it like right at the gate. I have to ask him like, okay, so you said the only way to stop Trey Young from doing things like that is to beat him. So I said with that little extra motivation, he wouldn't take the bait. He said, no, no, no, it's not about that. We got to win games. And here's the reason why. Like you could think that, oh, that's soft. Because that's. A lot of people told me the Knicks was soft after that game, which I found ridiculous. Because what you don't understand is that's actually mentally tough. When you are in these moments where an opponent, a villain, this guy, whatever it is, riles up the fans. The last thing you want to do is get caught up in that dumb emotion. Let the fans get mad. That's fine. That's what, that's what fans are supposed to do. You get caught up in it. But if players get caught up in it, what are you going to do? You're going to lay them out now? You're suspended for three games. Does that make any sense? Or in a close game, you're going to take a technically to take a flagrant. Why? So you can cheer and roar and get your pound of flesh and now it hurts the team. That doesn't make any sense. Or you're going to do something physical. You're going to do something where you start talking trash, get in a guy's face, they beat you on your floor. What do you have to say about that? Nothing. So they do you have it. You have that nose to nose with him and let the crowd enjoy it. You're still walking off with the L. No, what Brunson did is really smart. He didn't breathe any life into it. You know what he said? They're not worth my time. Whatever he's doing, I'M not getting into that now. Brunson, I'll let you know. They're friends, he and Young. They have respect, right? They're good. There's no issues. So it's not like he would want to do that because he even said, like, I. I knew him when I was in Dallas. Like, whatever he did here predates me. And that, of course, goes back to that first round series. So anybody, if you look at it logically, take out the emotion, because I know as a fan, you just want to see the old school Anthony Mason elbow in your face. Like, everybody loved that stuff. And I get it. John Stark's headbutt, like, that's what you wanted. And yes, that stuff's entertaining and fun. It's all part of the theater. But what Brunson is kind of telling you is they're not our problem. Like, I'm not. I'm not putting life into them. Because then they'll know all. We're in their heads, guys. We're in their heads. I don't let you know that it's bothering me because then you'll think, oh, no, you're in my head now. I'm rattled because of it. Now it becomes a story every time you play each other. No, man, I'm looking at the standings. You're 22 and 20. I'm 28 and 16. We're far apart. Like, I'm not looking at you. But they got to worry about is what's coming up in the next couple of months here. Cleveland, who's beaten everybody who looks unbeatable. Boston, who's going through something right now. In fact, the Knicks are right on their tail for second place. So those are the teams I'm worried about, those two. And, you know, we played Oklahoma City twice, went toe to toe with him once, and they smoked us at home the second time. We got to prove we can beat teams like that. I can't worry about this team. They're. Yeah, okay, so they've beaten the Celtics. They've beaten the Cavs. They've also lost twice to the freaking Wizards. I'm going to get all rattled about this team. So do you understand what I'm saying? Does it make any sense? If you just think about it logically, that whole controversy and everybody getting mad and all the stuff about accusing the Knicks of being soft and accusing Brunson of being soft, how last year's team would have stood up to Trae Young. Dude, stop. The true toughness is in the warrior that doesn't flinch in the Face of a swing just stares it down. Okay, but you're not in my head. I'm not going to let you have the pleasure of thinking that you're in my head. I'm going to look at whatever you did and say, it's beneath me. This is nothing. And while the fans want to get mad about it because they feel like it, you know, they, you embarrassed us and all stuff, fine, you had your day. But you got to come back here and we'll have our day. And that's what they did. Brunson had a brilliant performance against one of the league's toughest defenders. Physically tough to really just didn't stop relentlessly attacking him. Got him into foul trouble. Got him. The kid took a tech and he fouled out. That's how you respond. This is your best. I watched film. Now I'm in your head. Even Josh Hart, who normally doesn't hesitate to jump all over these things, he loves getting involved in this kind of stuff. Even he was like, nah, that's for you guys. That's for Nick's Twitter. They can have fun with it. For us, we just got to win games. And them saying that after the game last night is when I just. I started realizing, like, I see what they're doing, right? They're not buying into this. So I hope you all understand when we talk about that also, because they're going to come back. Remember, there is another game to play against the Hawks, because that game that I told you about was a quarterfinal game. That was an extra game. So they're going to play the Hawks five times now this year. So they're going to come back again. And by the way, if you look at the standings, they might face each other in the first round. The Hawks give the Knicks trouble. They've got all the things that the Knicks struggle with. They have wing length. They have good defenders that switch. They aren't a good defensive team as a whole, but the way they're built frustrates the Knicks because the Knicks aren't very big at a lot of positions. They shoot the three well. They love to get up and down and score. Like that's what they do. And so the Knicks had to figure it out. And they showed you last night that they could, and they did, and they did it. While Karl Anthony Towns did not have the best game either. He came back from the thumb injury and he didn't play great. But I just want everybody kind of put it to rest now. This whole thing with Trae Young, that Jalen Brunson is never going to breathe any life into that stuff because for him, that's beneath who they want to be getting caught up in this kind of stuff. In a playoff series, maybe, but in the regular season, no. Not letting you think for a minute that you matter that much to me. 800 now a 93776. Chauncey's in Westwood. We go to you now. Chauncey. What's up, Alan?
