Transcript
Don LaGreca (0:00)
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Peter Rosenberg (0:28)
Hahn and Rosenberg Podcast.
Alan Hahn (0:31)
That sounds like heaven to me.
Peter Rosenberg (0:32)
Listen live weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app and your smart speakers. All right, so Don, the Knicks last night as I have made enough of a case about the, the, the schedule, the amount of time they've been on the road, the fact that they came home for barely 36 hours, played a game and then went back out to the west again, all those things are all accurate. These are not excuses. They are real things that during a season you always have to recognize when you say what's wrong with the team and when you, you know that people ask that question all the time, like what's wrong with them? They were 20 games over 540 and 23rd what they have at that time the third best record or fourth best record in the NBA. And so there was this feeling like they are a good team. But we always are wondering what are they missing now it was they're not good enough to beat the Celtics, not good enough to beat the Cavs, not good enough to beat the Thunder. Okay, so maybe they're not a true championship team this week, this year, this season. But we know this is a good team that plays hard. Over the stretch of the last nine games that has not been the case consistently. They have lost Jalen Brunson, that's the heart and soul of the team. They clearly miss him on the court in certain situations. But you're also seeing things start to drop off little by little. And one of them that is obvious when you lose to a God awful Hornets team 115 to 98, that's embarrassing. You get out rebounded by 14, that's embarrassing. You let them shoot 47% from three when they're the third worst three point shooting team in the league. That's embarrassing. You're down 17 in the like but 14 in the second quarter I should say. And their bench had already put up 17 points off their bench. There's moments that you look at a Schedule. There's moments that you look at your team. There's moments you look at a game and you say, I got to dial back. And so, Don, I have been championing Tom Thibodeau since he got the job and everything he's done for this franchise. And I continue to believe he's the best coach they've had in 25 years, and he is the best choice to coach this team right now. There's nothing that's going to change my mind about that, but doesn't mean that there aren't times where criticism is fair. It was fair last night. Last night should have been a game that you recognize as a coach. My team is leaking oil right now. That. That performance in San Antonio was not based on talent. It was not based on. They don't care. It wasn't based on anything other than they don't have legs. They're shot right now. They're tired. It's catching up to them, and I gotta back off. I gotta give them a break. So how do you do it? You look at your bench. You look at veterans that you have on that bench that have been in the league for a couple of years that you brought in. You. You got a couple of young players on the bench, and you say, I'm gonna throw some raw meat on the court in the. In minutes, and I'm gonna see who's the hungry dog that wants to get it. Who is a guy that we weren't expecting that's just going to have himself a night because he wants to take advantage of it. I want to get in. I would. We're in. We land in Charlotte, we have a meeting, and I pull aside four guys off the bench that know they're not playing tonight. And I say, you know what, boys, we need you tonight. Which one of you is going to give me a reason to leave you out there? If you got it going, who's going to do it? So we give some of our guys a break. Who wants the opportunity tonight? And it's not like. Like. Like this. Who you're playing against, you're playing against Daquan Jeffries, who was a G leaguer for you last year. You're playing against Josh Green, a young player. LaMelo Ball doesn't guard anyone. Don, you could beat him off the dribble. I promise you right now. You could beat LaMelo Ball off the dribble. You're playing against a guy named Wendell Moore Jr. You're playing against a guy named Nick Smith Jr. You're playing against this is what you're doing. You can beat this team. And Tom Thibodeau had the opportunity to do that, but instead he stuck with what he sticks with every night. My. My rotation, which was one less because no Mitchell Robinson on the back to back, right? So it was an eight man rotation on the 16th day of 22 on the road. And that to me was a mistake. And so they got embarrassed. They lost. They were frustrated after this game. The quotes were coming out flying. Josh Hart annoyed at how his team's looking right now. They're questioning things and I feel like there was an opportunity to do that. And if you lost, at least you said, well, I. I got some guys a break instead. I think the pressure is starting to mount. There's frustration starting to mount. Some guys are in a slump and it's getting in their heads and this is the worst time of year to do that. They need a little bit of a break before they get into the intensity of the playoffs. And with 13 games to go, they've got to win at least seven of them to me to get the 50 wins and lock up that third seed. And they got to get Brunson back at some point. So I would say, as much as I like to blame players a lot of times for effort, I feel like this was a loss that the coach has to take. He has to accept this loss.