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- [00:00]
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- [01:26]
Dave Gufour
Good morning, Good evening. Welcome to the NBA Daily the New York Knicks are your 2026 NBA champs. I'm Dave Gufour here with S. Baraheny, who's in Toronto. Oh, we're dealing with some WI fi issues, aren't we?
- [01:42]
S. Baraheny
We are dealing with WI Fi issues, but it's okay. The New York Knicks are NBA champions. Yeah, look, you, we, we predicted spurs and six. So we were incredibly wrong in doubting team.
- [01:56]
Dave Gufour
Were we? Hang on. Not in doubting this next team, but I think in believing in the Spurs. And I don't necessarily think we were wrong. Like if we could just jump right into it because the spurs held a lead in the first four games of the series in the last two minutes. We all just saw what happened tonight. The spurs were in this. I mean they led for the majority of the series, so 70 it is how you close?
- [02:21]
S. Baraheny
They led for 70% of this series. I, I, I actually think that comes down to how incredible this is. Like a marvel of a Knicks team. Like genuinely one of the more I don't want to say improbable, but just historic championship runs we've ever seen. I've, I've Been pulling up stats because I'm working on a video here for, for us at the Athletic. But obviously they break their 53 year drought. That's the longest drought ever broken. They had a average margin of victory of 14.9. That margin of victory is the most ever by an NBA champion. Their 13 straight wins, as we talked about, was the second longest playoff streak ever. There are so many historic numbers to throw out there with this Knicks team that it just comes down to this was an all time run. And it, it's almost poetic, like you kind of needed it to be this all time run for the Knicks to win a championship. And it happened. And, and we've gotten it. And now the New York Knicks, who for like 20 straight years were the laughing stocks of the NBA. For them to have turned it around in a massive way, built a contender, and now won a championship, it's a huge, huge testament. How were the vibes in that arena tonight? Because it felt like it was a Knicks crowd.
- [03:50]
Dave Gufour
It was a Knicks crowd. After the game, the spurs fans cleared out and about 60, 65% of the stadium was still full of Knicks fans. And it, it, it was different. This is, it was more like game two than game one. As far as the number of Knicks fans that were here. It felt like a Knicks home game most of the time. You know, if you look down for a second to take a note and something good happened, you didn't know who it was happening for. But the Knicks fans were very loud and honestly, like this first, especially down the stretch of this game, you could tell they were nervous. You know, they had that great first quarter again, the Knicks scored 13 points in the first quarter. Somehow and I don't think a single spurs fan felt comfortable at any point in the game. And rightfully because they blew another lead. Yeah, the, the youth of this team I think showed itself in this series, but also I think that the talent of this team showed itself in this series. You know, this is a Spurs team that's at least a year early and they, they had a chance to win every single game in the series. We could have been talking about a Spurs sweep legitimately and, or a Nick sweep. This is one of the closest final series I can think of. And again the, the spurs just maybe a little too early. And this Knicks team, they play with desperation the entire time. They just know who they are. And down the stretch of games they, they're able to close it out. Every single guy on the Knicks feels like you could trust them. Carl Anthony Towns fouls out in this. And that could have potentially been a disaster for them. But they got great minutes out of Mitchell Robinson. I, Ariel Huckporti actually had a really great block at the rim. Everyone just sort of contributed in different ways.
- [05:38]
S. Baraheny
Everybody did contribute in different ways, but I also, it would be. I would be remiss to not mention the fact that Jalen Brunson scored half of their points. He had 45 points in this game, undeniably his best finals game. The Brunson burner was on tonight. I and. And he ended up scoring 45 points of what was the final total, 94 points for the New York Knicks. It's tied for the most points in a closeout game on the road since Michael Jordan in 1998. There are, you know, four finals MVPs to win and be 6 foot 2 or shorter. It's Steph Curry, it's Isaiah Thomas, Zeke, it's Jalen Brunson, and it's Tony Parker. Like, that's the list. That's it. In terms of small guys who have done it. And I, I think we saw in a game that is so ugly and was so ugly, like, game five was ugly, you know, the, the shots weren't falling for either team. You saw a guy who, and we've talked about this before on the show, like, he can get buckets out of the mud. He can figure out things and just grind his way to baskets consistently. And he did it in the biggest game of his life. What did you see from Brunson? What did you see from. From just like his series in general. What were your thoughts on Jalen?
- [07:02]
Dave Gufour
Well, in this series, he's kind of gotten. He hasn't shot the ball well and come on late. But in this game, you know, hadn't really seen, you know, he'd been either, but not necessarily scoring efficiently like we're used to. Spurs WI Fi needs an upgrade.
- [07:19]
S. Baraheny
I. I do believe Spurs WI Fi is killing us. It is shout out to Frost Bank Center. It look, it seems like it's one of those things where even the vibe in the arena was so Knicks heavy that you could see, like maybe, maybe it's the. The Knicks messing with the WI Fi right now. The amount of Knicks fans in Frostbank center is messing with our WI Fi in our show. It is what it is. Doesn't matter either way. Jalen Brunson, his ability to score in this game, he was one of the only reasons the Knicks. You know, throughout this game, Dave, I don't know how you felt, but throughout this game, I Kept looking at the score and I'm like, how are the Knicks only down 10? How are the Knicks only down 5? How are the Knicks leading this game?
- [08:02]
Dave Gufour
And isn't that the story of the series, though?
- [08:04]
S. Baraheny
S. It really is the story of the series. Absolutely.
- [08:07]
Dave Gufour
Yeah. It's a lot of the spurs not being able to finish them off and in spite of, they went for the home run and they would try to go for the kill shot all the time. Although in this game, I, I, I don't think you could say that they did that. You know, the, the Knicks really just chipped into the lead and it was a solid, it was a solid comeback. It wasn't one of these miraculous ones. They just, every single time there was a 50, 50 ball, it felt like they got a hand on it, they made a play. Josh Hart gets a huge offensive rebound down the stretch, you know, and Brunson, really, I just think you credit Brunson for the win. You know, 45 points out of your 94. He hit every tough shot that you, that you needed him to hit. Incredible performance.
- [08:53]
S. Baraheny
Yeah, it was, it was genuinely, I mean, historic in terms of closeout games. It's the third most anybody has scored in a closeout game. It's like Bob Pettit, Wilt chamberlain, they had 50. But then it's Jalen Brunson and Michael Jordan. Like, that's the list. It's an incredible list to be a part of. And you know, hearing his, his postgame press conference, he did an interview with Inside the NBA listening to that. Him and Rick Brunson, his dad did the interview together. And it, it's just cool to hear a guy who so consistently is calm, you know, And I, I think that was, it trickled down into the identity of the New York Knicks. How absolutely calm they were throughout this series, throughout their crazy comebacks. They had a resilience, they had a belief to what they were doing. And I honestly think that comes from the top down. It's the captain, it's Mr. Clutch. You know, his, what he does in the fourth quarters is something I have maybe never seen before, you know, in my life. Yeah, at least, like, of course, Michael Jordan, everybody will bring up mj. And he actually tied MJ for most fourth quarter points points in a closeout game tonight as well.
- [10:02]
Dave Gufour
Wow.
- [10:03]
S. Baraheny
More stats to throw out at you.
- [10:05]
Dave Gufour
Becky Hammond's retired jersey is just here above me to my left. And it was, it was one of the first things I looked at as he was getting the MVP trophy. Shout out to Becky Hammond, like she's not, she's not necessarily wrong about this. Like we, we don't see this often, but Jalen Brunson, I do believe, like this is a championship player, this is a Finals mvp. I mean he, he's one of the best players in the NBA. He's one of the best scorers I've ever seen. When you think about just the diverse shot profile, the fact that he can hit every single shot on the basketball court, you know, this was, this was an all time performance from a guy that, you know, we weren't even sure like he wasn't the front runner for MVP coming into this game necessarily because I think OG Anunoby maybe had a leg up. Brunson hadn't really had one of these types of performances and then he turns it on and it's when they needed it most because they weren't getting much from anybody else. And again, Carl Anthony Towns fouls out with two points. You know, you just did not get anything from Cat in the game. I, I don't know. I, I'm a little bit speechless to be honest with you. From this performance.
- [11:11]
S. Baraheny
Yeah. Their second leading score was Mikhail Bridges with 14 points on 10 shots. Like offensive efficiency was few and far between for this next team. Yeah. And you had, you had Brunson completely have to carry it. It's. He was unanimous. Finals mvp. I, I think that was the right call. I agree with you that coming into this game it was probably OG Anunobi had the leg up. But after this game it, it, he cemented himself and I guess I'll a little, let's, let's be a little reactionary here. I'll ask you this, you know, because of how important Brunson is to New York, to the Knicks, the, the short king stuff with him winning Finals MVP and how rare of a group that puts him in. Does this feel a little 2011 Dirk to you where this changes his like all time stat? I don't know where you would.
- [12:01]
Dave Gufour
Oh yeah, well, a title changes. A title changes everything for everyone. A title has now changed Carl Anthony Town's career. It puts him maybe in the hall of Fame eventually when he gets to that point.
- [12:12]
S. Baraheny
Point.
- [12:13]
Dave Gufour
You know, this is like it is a game changer. And to be the best player on a title team means a lot. Whether it's a 2011 Mavs or not. We're gonna have to see next year because if they come back and let's say they're doing this again, well then I think it's a different Thing I've compared them a little bit to the 04 pistons just because of how many of these guys have been like, you look around. And part of why they're so desperate when they're in these games, I believe, is that they're all in their second or third or fourth team. This is not a bunch of guys who, you know, their best draft pick, the highest draft pick was Carl Anthony Towns, and he played what, 15 minutes in the game, 16 minutes and fouled out. This is a group of grinders, like NBA grinders. And a little bit of the spurs issue, maybe from their youth, is that they took their foot off the gas when they would get these leads. And with the Knicks, they just never stopped coming. You know, they never got down, even down 29 points. They just came back to it. And, and I, I have to credit that to the, the journeyman aspect of this roster. And even Mike Brown is a journeyman. You know, this is absolutely. This is a guy who's bounced around. He was fired twice after being named coach of the year. He was fired the next season. You know, he went through those years with the, with the warriors as an assistant coach, won a title and he's turned in himself into, into a better coach in the last decade. I, I think we, we got a chance to see, I think Mike Brown the last two games especially pushing the right buttons at the right times. He tried out Jose Alvarado in this game early just to see if, if there was some juice there. There wasn't. He goes away from it. You know, again, Ariel Huck Port, he's playing minutes to try to buy time. Jeremy Sohan is out on the court in kind of crucial possessions that, you know, because you're desperate and you've just got to figure this out. And it all worked out for Mike Brown. You know, again, a great coaching performance. Really. Coach circles around Mitch Johnson, I would say. And you know, Mitch, that's a whole another conversation I think we got to have maybe in the summer. Just like, where do the spurs go from here after a loss like this?
- [14:17]
S. Baraheny
We'll talk spurs in a little bit, but I want to just keep going on the Knicks. Yeah, I, I think, you know, you mentioned 04 pistons. That's a really cool comp that I hadn't thought about because of the journeyman aspect of all of these guys. And you know, if you really think about it, Brunson is absolutely the best player for the Knicks and again, he deserves to win finals mvp. He was in sensational in this game, but they had to get something from everybody in this run. Carl Anthony Towns had to play the most complete basketball of his life for two and a half months, both offensively and defensively. You could argue that through that win streak he was their most consequential player in terms of them running the offense through him. The, the, the flex actions.
- [15:01]
Dave Gufour
They were three triple doubles in this
- [15:03]
S. Baraheny
run, three triple doubles in that run. And honestly, through the first two games of this series where the Knicks went 2 0, it was Cat as the front runner for Finals MVP because of how he was dominating that Wemby matchup. So they got a little bit from that guy. They got obviously OG Anunoby combined for 61 points in game three and game four, the game winner, the incredible comeback. You had moments where Josh Hart stepped up, the huge rebounds in game one that helped them win that.
- [15:32]
Dave Gufour
He had some big threes in this game, you know, and a lot of them, they weren't in rhythm, sadly, because, you know, he was passing up open looks and he hit some, some tough threes. But Landry Shammit had some big moments in this series for, for the Knicks. Again, I, I want to credit Mike Brown for pushing the right buttons at the right time and also he had a quick hook. I, I thought he did a good job. Like, hey, we don't, this isn't working, you know, Deuce McBride, something else not working. We're going to try something else, you know, not getting too hung up. And in particular, in comparison to the Spurs, I think that it stood out, you know, the way that Mike Brown was willing to try out new lineup combinations. You know, they ran a small ball lineup that essentially had Mikhail Bridges at the five in this game and just to buy him time. And these are the sort of things that I think coaches have to figure out on the fly and including in a game on the fly because who expects Karl Anthony Townsend to be in that sort of foul trouble Again, Incredible performance by the, by the Knicks just all around. I mean, I think you could point, you could point at each guy that was in the rotation and you could come up with two or three winning plays they made. You know, Mitchell Robinson pulls down that huge offensive rebound and gets rid of the ball before he gets fouled. You know, that's a huge play because if he goes to the line, they're up two and maybe he misses both and spurs get the rebound and you never know what happens from there. So again, credit to the Knicks. This was a bunch of dudes that just refused to lose.
- [16:59]
S. Baraheny
I want to zoom out to how the Knicks built this roster a little bit before we get to the spurs because we, we.
- [17:04]
Dave Gufour
They were chanting Leon Rose after the game. Okay. I've never seen anything like that in my life. They're chanting Leon Rose from the rafters in San Antonio is amazing.
- [17:16]
S. Baraheny
In Leon they trust is. It's been a mantra for Knicks fans over the last couple years where it's like this guy just, he knows what he's doing when it comes to building this roster. And you saw Josh Hart in the championship ceremony saying, forget these picks, you know, forget these things. Right. And I, I think that's, that's really telling because it does. And I don't, I don't, I don't say this in a mean way. It's sort of different to how teams are currently trying to build championship rosters.
- [17:47]
Schwab Representative
Right.
- [17:47]
S. Baraheny
What the Knicks are doing in terms of like throwing out picks, having this really high payroll, it's different from the Oklahoma City Thunder, obviously or the San Antonio Spurs. And truthfully, the Knicks didn't build through the draft like they built through betting on players. They built through betting on Jalen Brunson, you know, signing him to a four year, hundred million dollar deal. Which by the way, if you were to go to the articles, when Jalen Brunson signed that contract, everybody was talking about it being an overpay. Everybody was talking about that this is an outrageous contract and he is more than made up for that in terms of his talent. They, they signed Julius Randall to that around that same time. Yeah, flip Julius Randall for Carl Anthony Towns to bring him on. They obviously signed Dante DiVincenzo. That was a big bet. They, they, he was included in that Carl Anthony Towns trade, I think drafting of course RJ Barrett and Emmanuel Quickley and flipping them, knowing the moment in time to flip those guys to get OG Anunoby at the right price. An incredible trade. Looking back now for the Knicks, Josh Hart, taking him from the Portland Trailblazers on a, on a trade. And then the final piece to the puzzle for them was Mikhail Bridges once the. Was the gajillion picks that they used to trade for him. But it all works out like this team building. I'm not saying that teams should try to replicate this, that franchises will have to go out and do this the same way that the Knicks did. It's not a copycat league in that sense, but it is very unique.
- [19:27]
Dave Gufour
Yeah, easier said than done, right? You got to go steal the Knicks pro personnel department. Right. You got to go talent valuation.
- [19:34]
S. Baraheny
Yes.
- [19:34]
Dave Gufour
Right. Go get the Guys that know the, that, that learn about these guys behind the scenes and how they fit. I actually thought that was one of the things from the, from the post game, from the trophy presentation that stood out the most to me. I mean, you know, I'm a basketball coach, so I'm a sucker for this stuff. But all the guys talked about the team and how everyone fit in the team and that stuff matters, like team building matters. I think the spurs team is a team that's built really well. They're just young. They're not ready yet. Yeah, the Knicks, it's their time. And you know, putting the three guys from Villanova together, you know, and what that did for them, I mean, again, they won another title in San Antonio.
- [20:09]
S. Baraheny
The power of friendship. Truly, honestly, that was the Knicks way. It's like building a culture of guys who like playing with each other. And it, it didn't, honestly, it didn't look perfect. Throughout the regular season. They won 53 games, you know.
- [20:25]
Dave Gufour
Okay. And we were, but we were talking about changing the starting lineup. Yeah. At the end of March, you know, oh, it's too late. Is it too late for Mike Brown to try out Deuce McBride in the starting lineup? And you know, some of this is going to be hindsight being 20 20, and we'll just say, oh, look, it worked out, out, it was great. We were all wrong. I don't know if we were wrong. Yeah, I don't know if we were wrong. I think that maybe just lightning struck for them at the right moment and when you've got the sort of chemistry that they have and then one of the best shot makers in the NBA come playoff time. I mean, I. This defense was incredible. I mean, there's so many parts of this team that just spell championship that I, I think we could have missed along the way. But we saw it in the playoffs like we saw the championship level Knicks start to build at the end of that Hawk series when they rolled through, you know, the Cavs. You know, I think, I think that we got a chance to see what happens when a team, chemistry wise, actually comes together.
- [21:23]
S. Baraheny
Our own producer, Andrew select is saying, you were wrong, by the way, in that I was wrong.
- [21:31]
Dave Gufour
Yeah. See, this is the beauty. Okay, here's the beauty of basketball. No, no matter how much, you know, casting, it's basketball, man. Like, if, If I could tell you everything that was going to happen, if I could tell you how every player was going to react, we would. If I could predict the future. Yeah, it's no fun, you know, you don't know that who's going to be a choker and who's not. You know, the lights got bright, I think, at moments for, for this spurs team. You know, missed shots down the stretch, missed free throws, poor decision making. You know, we're going to, I think we're going to spend a lot of time this summer talking about de' Aaron Fox and what happens, you know, going forward with the spurs, because it feels like they've got a little bit of a quarterback controversy brewing with Dylan Harper, who was, was he not their best player in the. In this. He was final game of the, of their season. I mean, you know, for a rookie to be able to do that kind of stuff, it's definitely going to push conversations. But the Knicks, they had all this stuff sorted out before the, the playoffs started. They knew who their man. They know Jalen Brunson is the man for us and everyone else's job is to make sure he can do the stuff that he does. But on the defensive end, they take care of him, and on the offensive end, they follow his lead. And I. That won them a championship.
- [22:43]
S. Baraheny
Yeah. And look, zooming back to. Or kind of pressing rewind to last year when Tibbs got fired. Yeah. There was, there was a genuine identity crisis with this Knicks team where it's like, do they have enough in this league, in this modern NBA to win a championship? Is it. Is it the coach? Is it the players? Is it the roster construction? And I think honestly, winning a championship proves that not. It wasn't. It wasn't Tibbs's fault, but they were able to execute in a way, find a new identity. Sure, Mike Brown was able to push the right buttons to get them over the hump. The other aspect, he was a little
- [23:21]
Dave Gufour
like Tom Thibodeau was a little bit of a limiter for them. And a lot of that was lack of offensive creativity. It was, hey, Jalen, go make something happen for us. And you know, we've seen this. Tom Thibodeau teams are like that. You know, Derrick Rose wins an MVP because that's what Tom Thibodeau had him do. And it works to a certain degree. It wins you a lot of games in the regular season. And you can grind these guys to dust and win a bunch of basketball games in regular season. It just doesn't translate to the playoffs. And again, back to the evolution of Mike Brown, who has learned how to coach playoff basketball. He's making the right adjustments, he's pushing the right buttons.
- [23:57]
S. Baraheny
Who let dogs out.
- [24:00]
Dave Gufour
Yeah,
- [24:03]
S. Baraheny
that was Incredible, man. That was like the most bizarre. He did it for, like, 30 seconds.
- [24:08]
Dave Gufour
It happened for a very long time, and it happened twice. You know, I, I, I don't know. I think Mike Brown was just in the moment and didn't really know what to say. Yeah, yeah, it, it was, it was great.
- [24:20]
S. Baraheny
Okay, there's, there's two YouTube comments that I want to bring up. One from Academic Athletic freak who says Dylan Jones has two rings now in two years, one with the Thunder and one with the Knicks. I actually have a Dylan Jones story here. I was talking to someone that works with us at the Athletic, and I'm not going to spoil who it was because they, they're working on something around this. But Mike Brown takes coaching advice from Dylan Jones. He actually talks to Dylan Jones about strategy. And so I wonder if we're looking at, like, a future head coach. I swear to God, Dylan Jones might be a future head coach. Like, he has what it takes. So you will, you will hear about this at some point in time from, from people much smarter and more in the know than me.
- [25:04]
Dave Gufour
Talking about Dylan Jones sitting in on these Mike Brown press conferences has honestly taught me a lot about Mike Brown, and he does seem like a guy who's willing to learn from just about anybody. You know, what he learned under Steve Kerr. You know, he talked about this just being able to delegate, hand things off. You know, it made him a better coach. You know, you get to, you get to sit and be more CEO, think big picture. And yeah, I, I think it did that. I mean, he set him up as, as well as you could for the playoffs. And then when it, it came time to say, hey, we're scrapping, everything we did, they did it. And then they scrapped their pivot when it didn't work. And, you know, again, every single time in this series where the Knicks could have quit, I'm gonna credit, I'm gonna credit Mike Brown for picking them up and keeping them going. You know, this team, they've got some chemistry that I think is very, very difficult to replicate. I don't know if you could build a team like this. Where else other than what they've been able to do with this roster? Yeah. Truly fantastic.
- [26:07]
S. Baraheny
Yeah, it's, look, it's one of my favorite runs that, that we've seen just from a Knicks perspective, obviously, it's incredible that New York gets to celebrate here. We have a lot of, you know, at least I have a lot of Knicks fans in my life. My wife has become a Knicks fan over the last Couple of months.
- [26:25]
Dave Gufour
Andrew Schlecht has become a Knicks fan in the last few weeks.
- [26:29]
S. Baraheny
Well, okay, this is actually a perfect segue because I think this, this series and this playoff run has, in a lot of people's eyes, turned Victor Wembanyama into the villain. And this, this happens to a lot of the best basketball players ever that they turn into the guy to root against. It happened to LeBron James. It will happen to, I mean, honestly, it's happened to a lot of NBA players. It's kind of happening to Victor Wembanyama. Now where the, you know, in this game five, he steps under Jalen Brunson. Everybody's talking about, oh, well, he's going to get suspended. He didn't get the foul call, etc. Etc.
- [27:04]
Dave Gufour
Which was never going to happen.
- [27:06]
S. Baraheny
He was never going to get suspended. I'm sorry to break it to you guys.
- [27:09]
Dave Gufour
Also, Jaylen Brunson extends his foot on the, on that shot. I mean, we could debate that if you go to the, to the film. Like, he, he's, you know, it's not a natural shooting motion.
- [27:19]
S. Baraheny
Yeah. All I'm saying is that there is now a bit of a target on the Spurs. There's expectation, of course, on the Spurs. There's a target on their back. There's a target on Wemby's back. You know, there was so much conversation over the last, like, I don't know, a couple of weeks where it's. Wemby's out in the Himalayan mountains. He's working with monks. This guy is the coolest dude of all time. And I think the, the turn for a lot of fans has been really interesting because I see it online. I see people now being like, Wemby's kind of annoying, you know, okay.
- [27:55]
Dave Gufour
But this is just how America works, I think, and definitely how the Internet works. And this is the most exposure that he's ever gotten. This is the most Victor Women Yama most people have ever seen. And, and he's amazing. Everything he does is kind of incredible. And then he lost. I. I think that lends itself to this sort of stuff. I mean, you know, the discourse is going to be the discourse, but I don't know how you hate on a guy that's this talented and, and, you know, you listen to his post game stuff. It's really thoughtful. And he's not. He's far from the first player to get frustrated on the court and throw an elbow or something like that. So I, I mean, I just think all that stuff rings hollow and I suggest people go outside and touch some grass.
- [28:37]
S. Baraheny
Touch. This dude is important.
- [28:39]
Dave Gufour
He's amazing. He's incredible to watch. And you know, I think even for his, for his story arc here, if we're thinking like long term career narrative for him to lose in a series like this where they blew every game. I think him, how he bounces back from this will determine whether or not people treat him like a villain. If he bounces back and he's a world beater and, and he's amazing, I think he'll win people back over. But if he, if he doesn't bounce back, then I think people will say, okay, well you know, maybe he wasn't that great after all. But the hate only, I mean it comes from any point. Shay Gildas, Alexander, people, you know, they hate on him. Nikola Jokic, they hate on him. They were hating on Steph Curry. You know, there were people who called it shooty hoops because he shot threes. They, they hated him.
- [29:25]
S. Baraheny
They said Steph Curry ruined basketball because he shot three pointers. So yeah, I, I agree with you that that again it happens to every single superstar in the NBA.
- [29:38]
Dave Gufour
People did not like Michael Jordan at one point. I remember specifically growing up when people I knew bought David Robinson shoes before he won the time because they were against Michael Jordan. David Robinson shoes. Center shoes. No one buys center shoes. Yeah, and they were buying them. I mean, I'm just saying, like they're gonna hate on everyone. I'm sure Shohei Ohtani has haters.
- [30:00]
S. Baraheny
Look, he has a lot of haters in Toronto, I'll tell you that. How dare he? How dare he? Anyways, we're talking about San Antonio because we just spent the last 30 minutes talking about the New York Knicks and how incredible of a championship run it was. I, I, we could talk about the Knicks for hours. We probably will talk about the Knicks until they're parade. By the way, Zoran Mamdani said Thursday, parade. It's happening. They've, it's going to be absolutely wild. Between that and the World cup. It's, it's going to be an, it's insane moment for New York anyways, even in this game. Wemby, I thought he had his moments of dominance, especially defensively.
- [30:38]
Dave Gufour
You know the spurs five blocks very early.
- [30:41]
S. Baraheny
Five, five blocks very early. The Knicks were 8 of 20 on layups in this game. Like it, they, the, the, the absolute ability to wall off the paint. That is the Victor Wembanyama effect. And then in the end, man, like their fourth quarter offense was absolutely abysmal. And it comes down to what they've done basically every single game in this series. And it's a, it's a testament to what the Knicks do. We talked about the resilience of the Knicks, their ability to answer, their ability to stay calm, their Jalen Brunson's ability to stay composed in those moments. The spurs didn't have any of that. They scored 18 points in the fourth quarter in this one. And Dear Fox is the big story here. You know, before this game, Mitch Johnson says, I'm going to give the ball to Dear and Fox again.
- [31:34]
Dave Gufour
And, and he did. He did. But it was, it's like tin cup, you know, I'm just going to keep taking this shot and keep taking this shot and keep taking this shot until I get it. And they didn't get it. What did he wind up shooting for the game? Was it three of 14?
- [31:50]
S. Baraheny
Let's see. So De' Aaron Fox for the game was three of 15 in the fourth quarter. Let's see. Dear and Fox was zero for four in that fourth quarter. Zero points minus five in that fourth. He, I mean, look, since the conference finals, Dave, I saw this stat earlier. I can't remember who did it. He's averaging 13 points on 42% true shooting.
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S. Baraheny
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- [35:43]
S. Baraheny
42% true shooting. That's Jamal Shed. Numbers, you know and all respect to my guy, Jamal Shed but like he's de' Aaron Fox is like an all star guard. He literally was an all star this year.
- [35:54]
Dave Gufour
So I do want to just and not to totally give him cover because he played right but he was dealing with pretty severe ankle injury and playing through that is not easy. But this is I'm putting this on Mitch Johnson. If your guy doesn't have it, you've got to have the guts to be able to sit him down. And and you know Dylan Harper had it and there were too many possessions I thought down the stretch where he didn't touch the ball. I know he blew some layups late. Blue is kind of tough to say about a guy going up against OG
- [36:24]
S. Baraheny
Anobi at the rim 290 and Harper had a transition lay and it fell just short. You know, like that. That was that probably was the series
- [36:33]
Dave Gufour
right there for them, right? Yeah.
- [36:35]
S. Baraheny
On top of, on top of the million mistakes they made in game four to blow 29 nine point lead and the back to the back pass, whatever it was in game two between so many young mistakes for this spurs team where you know, you were talking about the margin of victory for them. This was the spurs led for 70% of the series. This was one of the closest NBA finals ever. And yet in it finished in five games. I think that comes down to a lack of execution for San Antonio and, and truthfully, this being a bad matchup. The Knicks were a bad matchup for the Spurs. And I say this as someone who
- [37:13]
Dave Gufour
picked the spurs, we picked the spurs
- [37:15]
S. Baraheny
of the series and I, I'm dead wrong in doing that. But yeah, it turned out that they were a very bad matchup for I,
- [37:21]
Dave Gufour
I do think like, you know, coming into the series we all knew that Carl Anthony Towns would be a, a matchup potential matchup problem for, for Victor Wenyama. We saw that in the first couple games. He's strong enough to guard him. Jalen Brunson obviously is just going to do his, his thing. I think the thing that I was most surprised by was just how effective Brunson was when he attacked Wemby. You know, he was really good at when he had him in space, got an isolation and would drive to the basket. He would make something happen out of that. In this game, he hit a couple shots around him and over him. The Knicks weren't playing scared with Wemby, you know, even though, I mean he was blocking shots like crazy, they still attacked. I mean you talked about what was they, eight for 20. You said they, you know, rough shooting night. But they kept coming and they wore him down. I mean they were playing the long game with him, you know, hoping that he was going to be out of gas the last five minutes of the game and if they could just keep it close, they'd have a chance. And you know, four out of five games that worked for them. It did it did it.
- [38:21]
S. Baraheny
It's when the spurs will be back. And I know we, we did say see a couple of comments in there, but I will acknowledge that it's really hard to return to this stage. And just because they're young doesn't confirm that they are going. I mean we just saw it with the Oklahoma City Thunder where it's like none of this stuff is given, you know, and when it comes to injuries, you know, obviously Wemby has had his fair share of injury moments Even in this series, in this season. Excuse me. Fox was injured at some point in the playoffs as well. Like none of this stuff is guaranteed even if you are a young team. And we've actually seen this throughout NBA history. Like people thought when Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and James Harden made it to the finals in 2012 that that was going to be their moment. That was going to be the start of a new era for them. That didn't end up being the case.
- [39:14]
Dave Gufour
OG Anunoby. Right. He, he plays in a fight well, doesn't play in a finals because he missed that.
- [39:19]
S. Baraheny
Yeah, right.
- [39:20]
Dave Gufour
And then you know he talked about this. I didn't realize it would be that hard to get back. Yeah. Victor women Yama talked about this.
- [39:27]
S. Baraheny
The same thing.
- [39:27]
Dave Gufour
Yep. Victor Wimanyama talked about it in post game. He said first thing I'm thinking is, you know, I just want to be back here. But it's got, we've got a hundred games that we've got to play to get here. And you know you think about what you go through an 82 game season is such a slog. I mean how many guys get injured and are out, they're not playing in the playoffs because they have a season ending injury tyres, you know.
- [39:51]
S. Baraheny
Yeah, that's just it. Things change so quickly in the NBA and while we can sit here and say Victor Weminyama is going to be arguably the best player in the world for the next 10 years and they have this young nucleus with Dylan Harper and all these guys, particularly Steph Castle and Dylan Harper who like are going to build alongside him. None of this stuff is guaranteed. And I, that brings me to the discussion of like what do you think they do this summer? You know and I, I, we will have weeks to talk about this but do you think they end up acknowledging the de' Aaron Fox stuff? I don't think they can trade Fox given at. He is at a low point in his value. He has four years left with $200 million. Like I just, I don't think it's possible for them to trade him. So what do you, what do you do you just bring the team back? Is that what you're thinking?
- [40:43]
Dave Gufour
I think it, Listen, it's tricky because Dylan Harper needs to be in the starting lineup period. Right. This guy is a star and he was their second best player in the playoffs, not just in the series and he just needs more minutes and he needs touches. Is he your, is he your point guard next year? I don't know but I mean you can I think we saw that you can play Fox Harper and Castle together and maybe that's where they wind up. You know, I think that's tough because you don't have the shooting out there like champagne. That's a spot that they need to upgrade. That four man spot. Vassell, I thought, you know, he was pretty good in the playoffs.
- [41:20]
S. Baraheny
He had a good.
- [41:21]
Dave Gufour
Yeah, had a really good game. Four, you know, and for them to lose the Vassell game, I think was really tough to bounce back from. But you know, they've got some decisions to make. But frankly, it's a destination I think people are going to want to come to because of these young guys.
- [41:35]
S. Baraheny
I don't know if you see this, but remember the, the Metta World Peace post game press conference. This is kind of what Carl Anthony Towns is doing right now is all of the two way guys hanging out with the Larry o' Brien trophy while he's doing the post game. That is really cool. That's a really cool moment. I.
- [41:53]
Dave Gufour
This Knicks team is fun, man. There's a lot of guys who are easy to root for. You know, I mean, I think the NBA has mostly guys that are easy to root for, but this Knicks team as a unit, yeah, it's just fun. Like they've got all these cool players. Some of them are weird, you know, like Josh Hart. How does this guy start on a finals team? You know, when you think about it,
- [42:13]
S. Baraheny
he's one of the, like, he's, he is, it's cliche because his name is literally heart, but he is quite literally the heartbeat of this team in terms of energy and never giving up. And like his ability to crash the offensive glass, push and transition, all of that, that stuff is so unique to, to what this Knicks team needs. Andrew is correct. We need to talk about the first ever double before we get.
- [42:38]
Dave Gufour
Yeah, that's right. Respect the cup. Finally. Okay, we get a rematch of the NBA cup final in the finals and the Knicks pulled off the double. How about that?
- [42:50]
S. Baraheny
Incredible.
- [42:51]
Dave Gufour
And I haven't heard that one time out here from the NBA. I, I'm sure I, I hope I get a note about that. But yeah, how about the double? Listen, this is kind of what, to me it was the best case scenario if you were going to do some sort of an in season tournament that the teams that performed well in that tournament wound up performing well in the playoffs. And we're definitely next season going to say, hey look, this might be an indicator for playoff success. You know, there's one game we don't in the NBA we don't get the single elimination game and maybe being able to perform in that like we just saw tonight, you know, the, the, the Knicks treated this game, I think like their own elimination game. They wanted to end it in game five because listen, you, you, you get back to game six all of a sudden with the way this series has gone where it's nearly a coin flip. Yeah. You don't want to go to a Game 7 against a younger team. Yeah, yeah.
- [43:44]
S. Baraheny
At home. By the way, the, The Knicks now 4, 0 in closeout games. Three of those 30 plus loss. Sure. This one was not, this one was not. But I mean it, it didn't matter because Jalen Brunson carried them to a win. I wanna just quickly on the Spurs I wanted to bring up something because they're doing the post game press conferences and this is a funny quote that just got brought up. Devin Vassell said that Dylan Harper was upset about his playing time. Yeah, I heard that during the season he said. I knew we all had talented players. I don't know if anybody knew he was this talented besides himself. He was upset with his playing time and different roles that he was in. But when we needed him, he stepped up most. So I mean to your point about earlier, about like how they are going to prioritize Dylan Harper, I think it's a valid question. You know one of the big reasons the, the Thunder lost James Harden was not just money stuff but James feeling like he could end up being an incredible player somewhere else, you know.
- [44:43]
Dave Gufour
Yeah, I don't think that that's going to be an issue here with Dylan Harper. You know, it's pretty obvious. I think the spurs internally from what I understand see this guy as a potential like all NBA first team guy. And judging by the way his rookie year went, especially this playoff run, I feel like they're probably, they could be even be underselling it a little bit. He may be a perennial all NBA guy. It's early so maybe we need to pump the brakes just a little bit. But I think one of the big tasks for this coaching staff and the organization this summer get that Dylan Harper, Victor Womenyama, two man game going because they, they are, they don't connect in the way that your two best players really need to. Especially when it's a garden, a big. So that's some stuff, you know there's, there's a lot of stuff to me that's low hanging fruit that the spurs are going to be able to pick up and, and Also, let's not forget that their best players are in their third year, first year, second year. You know, this is a team that I think. And again, it is hard to get back, but this is a team that's not quite ready for the moment that they were in under any other circumstances.
- [45:50]
S. Baraheny
And look, it was, it was clear that they weren't ready, you know, and on the other side, they played a buzzsaw of a Knicks team that was 100% ready. And they're. You know, someone earlier in the comments mentioned it, but. But the Knicks continuity showed in this. Like they knew each other, they knew what playoff basketball meant, you know, and honestly, they were zero. They had this like zero, zero mentality.
- [46:16]
Dave Gufour
Yeah.
- [46:17]
S. Baraheny
You know, and it showed every single game.
- [46:20]
Dave Gufour
S. They. They had one of the most important things that a team needs and it was trust. Trust in the roles that they were given, trust in their teammates. It's hard to build that. And this is where the, the team that the Knicks have built, personality wise, came through for them. They never got down on each other. Carl Anthony Towns fouled out and scored two points in this game and was celebrated just, just like everybody else afterwards. You know, even when he was heading off the court, there wasn't a dejected look on anyone's face. It was just, next man up and they got the job done again, you know, they are, they are. This is a little bit of a different team, just built by veterans who, like I said, journeymen that are all second, third or fourth team. And there was a certain kind of grind set that they had throughout the season and the playoffs that just gave them that little bit of an extra edge. And it's tough to run up against a team like that because their confidence comes from so much failure. Like, what are you gonna do, fail again? You know? Right. It's. It's there. There's no fear in that.
- [47:34]
S. Baraheny
Yeah, I, I also, I mean, I will say that's a big part of winning in general. Like the, the Thunder being able to win last year. We can talk about Halliburton's injury and everything, but, like, their ability to get to the finals and win in Game 7 of the Finals, it was because they lost to the spurs the year beforehand and they learned how it feels like to lose. I think the Knicks felt that multiple times. Jalen Brunson has felt that multiple times. Karl Anthony Towns has felt that either in New York or in Minnesota multiple times. And you see a team that just basically understands what it takes to win. Now this is also a little Funny note, June 13th is a very funny day for OG Anunoby. I don't know if you know this, the Raptors were won a championship on this same day, so OGN and.
- [48:20]
Dave Gufour
Oh, I didn't realize that.
- [48:22]
S. Baraheny
Yeah, OG Anunoby has won two championships on the same day. Basically June 13th.
- [48:27]
Dave Gufour
That's pretty amazing. Also June 13th, Jared Weiss's birthday. Happy birthday, buddy.
- [48:31]
S. Baraheny
Happy birthday to Jared Weiss. Yeah, yeah, my guy. 50 minutes in and we're giving birthday shout outs to Jared.
- [48:37]
Dave Gufour
That's right.
- [48:38]
S. Baraheny
Let's go.
- [48:39]
Dave Gufour
Yeah, we should probably get wrapped up here soon, but before, I mean, and we're gonna decompress and we'll come back with a pod, me, you and Xena and, and talk about the season and, and definitely talk about this, this series a little bit. But before we go, I do want to take a second. I want to thank a bunch of people because, you know, the show is kind of intense and it takes a lot of people to get it done. So I'm gonna start with Esperahenny, like one of my favorite people to collaborate with, Xena Kena, who is the hardest working, working person that I know that's doing sports media right now, flying across across the country to do studio shows and still making time to be ready and prepared to do this show. Andrew Schlect, who is, you know, one of my favorite people, period. It's like one of my close friends, Alex Spears, who. I think we gotta find him a game show to host, you know, like he should maybe be hosting Jeopardy. This guy is so talented and fun to work with. It takes this whole team to put this show together all year. So I want to thank you guys for, for making it possible for me to be at the finals. Yeah, you know, you got. I gave you extra work by being on the road and everybody picked that up. So I just wanted to publicly thank everybody because, you know, this is important to me. I love the game of basketball and to be able to talk about it is, you know, it's a blessing. So, yeah, thanks to you guys. And then to everybody who's watching or listening to the podcast again, we don't get to do this if you're not along for the ride with us. So thank you guys and it's a great time to go. Leave us a five star review like, and subscribe and all those things. But s. You got anything to close out the finals, man? Any. Any last thoughts here? It.
- [50:22]
S. Baraheny
I'm really happy for Knicks fans because. And not to make this about me, but it just it's really hard to win a championship, and from a fan perspective, you never really know when you're going to win again. I saw the Toronto Raptors win in 2019, and I told myself that, like, they could never win again and I would be completely satisfied. You know what I mean? And so I think for Knicks fans, and from a fan perspective, enjoy this moment, relish in it. Understand that it's few and far between. And yes, there are dynasties that we see in the NBA. Yes, there are, like, championships and historic moments, but relishing the victory today, enjoy the presence, enjoy the now. Because truthfully, it's. It's. It goes by quickly. So.
- [51:13]
Dave Gufour
Yeah. And hopefully safely and peacefully.
- [51:16]
S. Baraheny
Of course.
- [51:17]
Dave Gufour
Let's.
- [51:17]
S. Baraheny
Let's do that without saying yeah.
- [51:19]
Dave Gufour
Without saying of course.
- [51:20]
S. Baraheny
Yeah. All right. Well, I will also say big shout out to you because you are. I mean, as folks know here, you are a guy who never misses a show. You are a guy who does this thing. You know, it's called the NBA Daily for a reason. Should be called the NBA Daily because you basically are doing this every single day.
- [51:41]
Dave Gufour
I appreciate you, buddy. You know, again, it's fun. What a great job. I get to watch basketball and talk about it with my buddies.
- [51:49]
Grainger Representative
It's.
- [51:49]
Dave Gufour
It's not a bad life. I'm pretty happy here. Shout out to the Athletic. A great place with the best sports journalists in the world. And by the way, I would love to thank every guest, but we have too many of them to thank. I mean, every single person. This is the great thing about working at the Athletic, man. I. I work with some of my favorite writers in the world. I can't wait to read all this stuff tomorrow that everyone's writing and then to just watch them report on the fallout around the finals. So, guys, buckle up. I think we're going to have a crazy summer. We're jumping right into draft stuff. You know, S is doing interviews. We got a draft live stream set up, so they're going to give me some time off, which is super nice, but we've got a lot of stuff coming. We're going to be hot and heavy in summer league, and then, you know, next year we're coming back, hopefully doubling down on what we've been doing. So good vibes and good times. All right, that's going to do it for the live stream, guys. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening to the podcast for Esperaheny Zena K. Andrew Schlecht, Alex Spears. I'm Dave Dufour, and this is Ben NBA daily. Thanks for waking up with us.
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