Hoops Tonight - Spurs-Knicks Prediction: TIGHT & competitive series, Brunson & KAT over Wembanyama in 6 | NBA Finals

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Herd with Colin Cowherd – Hoops Tonight: Spurs-Knicks Finals Preview (June 2, 2026)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Hoops Tonight on The Herd with Colin Cowherd (hosted by the Volume/iHeartPodcasts) is a surface-level series preview of the 2026 NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks. The focus is on season matchups, key basketball tactics, and why the host ultimately predicts the Knicks (as underdogs) to win in a competitive 6-game series. The discussion is enriched by statistical analysis, film study, and matchup breakdowns.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Season Series Recap & Current Stakes

• Season Matchups: Knicks won the series 2-1.

  • Cup Championship (First Game): Spurs had a 12-point late third-quarter lead, but the Knicks hit several threes in succession to turn the game and win (05:08).
  • Second Game (San Antonio): Spurs win close; Wembanyama (Wemby) scored 31 before injury, Knicks blew an 11-point 4th quarter lead (Julian Champagnie hit 11 threes, scored 36).
  • Third Game (Madison Square Garden, Mar 1): Knicks cruised to a 25-point win during a dominant Spurs stretch. Knicks hit 17 threes; turned over the Spurs 22 times (06:16).

• What’s at Stake:

  • The Knicks are seeking their first title in 53 years.
  • The Spurs aim to start a new dynasty behind Wembanyama.

2. Matchup Data & Trends

• Key Knicks Advantages:

  • Massive volume of made threes (54 in 3 games).
  • Superior ball movement leading to open shots against a loaded Spurs defense.
  • Points off turnovers and fast break opportunities, partially due to cross-matching confusion on transitions (06:40).

• Cross-Matchup Impact:

  • Players guarding different position types leads to frequent mismatches in transition, favoring Knicks' offense and pace (07:27).

3. Series Odds & Betting Insights

• Odds via Hard Rock Bet:
  • Spurs: -200 favorites
  • Knicks: +170 underdogs
  • Host calls Knicks “clear value” at +170 and sees the series as a near coin flip (08:10).

4. Knicks Offensive Game Plan

• Initial Key Matchups:

  • Wemby on Josh Hart
  • Steph Castle on Karl-Anthony Towns (KAT)
  • De’Aaron Fox on Jalen Brunson
  • Devin Vassell on Mikal Bridges
  • Champagnie on OG Anunoby

• Key Advantages:

  • KAT’s size mismatch: Spurs struggle to guard him without Wemby, leading to offensive rebounding and easy buckets (09:05).
  • Jalen Brunson’s pull-up game: He excels at exploiting drop coverage, hitting threes off Hart screens while Wemby stays back. Host explains, “Brunson’s diverse attack actually lines up really well with the way that the Knicks want to attack this Spurs defense” (10:32).
  • Transition Play: Cross-match confusion lets the Knicks push pace and find easy looks.

5. Strategies Spurs Might Use

• Defensive Schemes:
  • Possibility of ‘one-man zone’ or pre-switching Wemby off screens to keep him near the rim, though effectiveness is debatable (17:31).
• Wemby’s Roaming: Can the Spurs protect the rim if Wemby is pulled out by Knicks’ shooters?

6. Personnel Notes & Rotations

• Knicks:

  • Questions over Mitchell Robinson’s health and possible use of Muhammad Diawara as a small-ball or shooting option (19:00).
  • Landry Shamet could provide additional shooting if Josh Hart is left open and cold.

• Spurs:

  • May have to put Wemby on KAT if KAT dominates early, adjusting defensive rotations (20:12).
  • Host speculates whether Jordan Clarkson gets playoff minutes after a big regular season performance vs. the Spurs.

7. Spurs Offensive Game Plan

• Suggested Knicks Defensive Assignments:

  • OG Anunoby on Steph Castle (preventing strong drives with size/strength).
  • KAT on Wemby (risk: foul trouble; KAT’s strength helps limit Wemby’s post positioning).
  • **Brunson likely guards lesser scoring options (Champagnie) to hide).
  • Josh Hart considered for De’Aaron Fox if Fox’s ankle injury limits his explosion (23:20).

• How Spurs Score:

  • Most successful regular-season action: Wide curl screens for Wemby set by Brunson’s man (often Champagnie), letting Wemby get favorable touches (25:50).
  • Spurs also use “ghost” screens and double drag actions to try and free shooters, but Knicks perimeter size makes life hard for Spurs guards.

• Keys for San Antonio:

  • Wemby must score at high volume (~27-28 points/game) due to limited guard advantages.
  • De’Aaron Fox’s ability to penetrate is critical to cracking Knicks’ size.
  • Turnovers are a risk for Wemby as the Knicks have “stonewalled” his drives and forced mistakes with physicality and help (27:40).
  • OG Anunoby will be “ranging” as a help defender off Castle, forcing Castle to hit open threes (28:20).

8. Intangibles & Final Thoughts

• Brunson’s Reliability:

  • Host: “Brunson will be far, far and away the most reliable offensive player in the series. Again, Shay (Gilgeous-Alexander) is a better player than Brunson, but Brunson’s diverse attack and quickness is a better matchup for the way that the Spurs like to guard.” (29:37)

• Physicality Favors Knicks:

  • Knicks have “a team that is kind of specifically built to give the Spurs issues on both ends of the floor,” especially with size, defensive IQ, and ball movement.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the series odds as value:

  • “I think this is an extremely close series, effectively a coin flip, and you’re getting nearly 2 to 1 odds on the Knicks side.” (08:10)

• On Brunson’s unique matchup advantage:

  • “Brunson’s diverse attack actually lines up really well with the way that the Knicks want to attack this Spurs defense.” (10:32)
  • “Brunson will be far, far and away the most reliable offensive player in the series.” (29:37)

• On the Knicks’ build vs. the Spurs:

  • “I just think the Knicks have a team that is kind of specifically built to give the spurs issues on both ends of the floor. They move the ball extremely well with quality play, finishing against the defensive looks where the spurs either try to load up or they roam with a guy like Wemby. They have the physical size and high defensive IQ to keep San Antonio’s guards in front and turn them into a jump shooting team.” (29:18)

• On physical matchups and Wemby’s challenges:

  • “Wemby’s offense is going to get a pretty tough evaluation in this series. He’s going to have to do some problem solving against a team that’s more physically set up to handle them.” (27:40)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 05:08 – Regular-season Cup Game recap
• 06:16 – Knicks' 25-point dominance in MSG
• 06:40 – Knicks’ three-point and transition advantages
• 07:27 – Cross-match transition issues
• 08:10 – Series odds and value discussion
• 09:05 – KAT matchup & Knicks' offensive plan
• 10:32 – Brunson’s pull-up attacking Spurs' defense
• 17:31 – Spurs' potential ‘one-man zone’ adjustments
• 19:00 – Knicks lineup options if Robinson is limited
• 20:12 – Spurs’ potential defensive adjustments
• 23:20 – Knicks' preferred defensive assignments vs. Spurs
• 25:50 – Spurs’ best series offensive actions for Wemby
• 27:40 – Wemby’s turnover challenges against Knicks’ defense
• 29:18 – Knicks' physical/strategic advantages
• 29:37 – Final series prediction and rationale

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Final Prediction and Closing Thoughts

• The host, after film review and matchup analysis, slightly favors the Knicks in 6 games (55/45 split), emphasizing their size, physicality, ball movement, and a reliable lead in Brunson.
• Underdog Knicks (+170) seen as a value bet because of how evenly matched the series projects.
• Acknowledges how close the series is and wouldn't be surprised by a Spurs win, but the matchups lean slightly toward New York.

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For a deeper tactical discussion, Sam Vecenie will join in a future episode, and further storyline analysis is promised later in the week.

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Summary prepared for listeners and NBA fans seeking an in-depth, strategic, and engaging preview of the 2026 NBA Finals between the Spurs and Knicks.

Transcript

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. I turned off news altogether.

[B]

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[C]

We got clear facts. Maybe we could calm down a little.

[B]

NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the Facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News, reporting for America.

[D]

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[A]

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[C]

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A Jonas is available now, and their first guest is a big one, Paul Rudd.

[E]

You know, Steve Carell is a great singer.

[B]

Can he tell you not to audition the office or.

[E]

Told him, whoa, we were filming Anchorman. Clearly, I was the idiot. Thank God he didn't listen to me, right?

[A]

Listen to hey, Jonas. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[F]

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[G]

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[F]

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[G]

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[H]

The Volume.

[B]

All right, welcome to Hipster Tonight here at the Volume. Happy Monday, everybody. Hope all you guys are having a great start to your week show. For you guys today, this is step one of our NBA Finals preview today. So today is just going to be pretty straightforward. It's going to look like a lot of our other series previews. I'm going to give you guys the season series information, the series prices from Hard Rock bet, and then we'll talk a little bit about both ends of the floor over the course of the next couple of days. Just so you guys know what to expect. Sam Vicini is coming on the show. We're going to do more of like a tactical kind of like strategic breakdown of the series. Sam's always really been good with that. So that'll be on the feed tomorrow morning. And then Wednesday morning we'll have something that's more along the lines of like the surface level storyline type stuff. What, what storylines are at stake as we head into this series before we go live on YouTube after the final buzzer of Game 1 on Wednesday. But today is just going to be kind of like that surface level series preview like we typically do. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. We are on the pathway. 250,000 subs. It's a big goal for us in this postseason run. So it mean a lot to me. If you guys would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button if you're already subscribed like this video, sign up for post notifications. That helps us a lot. All right, let's talk some basketball. So the season series went 2:1 to the Knicks. We had the cup championship first. The spurs actually had a 12 point lead late in the third quarter of that one. The Knicks made five threes in the next five minutes spanning the final two minutes of the third quarter and the early fourth quarter. That kind of flipped the script on the lead and ended up putting the Knicks up five and they basically stiff armed these spurs from there. This was also the the one of the games of the three games where the Knicks lit up the scoreboard against Wemby. The Knicks had a great offensive rating basically in every game, but of most of it had to do with them having success against units that didn't have Wemby on the floor. In the other two games in the cup championship game the Knicks offense scored very effectively against Victor Wembanyama. Again they did hold up better in the next two second game, a close spurs win in San Antonio. Wemby goes for 31 in this game but he leaves the game early with an injury. This was also the game that he was primarily guarded by OG and Anobi. We're going to talk about all the different matchups. There's been a lot of discussion about OG and Anobi as a primary matchup for Wemby. I personally wouldn't go that route. Not to say that you can't do it at time, from time to time during the series, especially in specific lineups, but I really like OG Anunoby as a matchup for Steph Castle. We'll dig more into that idea when we get later on in the show. The Knicks had an 11 point lead in the fourth quarter of this game after Wemby had left and the spurs came back to win without Wemby. This was the Julian Champagne game. If you guys remember, he had 11 threes and had a season high 36 points in this game against the Knicks. That was a Spurs win. A close spurs win. They they the Knicks hit kind of like a garbage time three late, they cut it to two, but they kind of were hovering around a five point lead down the stretch. The third game in Madison Square Garden March 1st. This was probably the best game to watch in this matchup for me as I was watching film to prep for the series cause the lineups looked relatively similar to what they are today. The spurs finally had moved Champagne into the starting lineup in the barn spot and it was also a game where the Knicks had their typical starting five. This is the game if you're a Knicks fan that you're looking at is the biggest piece of evidence that you can beat this team. This was during a part of the season when the spurs were killing everyone. In fact, this Knicks win was smack dab in the middle of a 17 game stretch where the spurs won every single other game with exception of this loss to the Knicks. They had won 11 in a row before the game and they won five in a row after. So they rolled up and beat the heck out of a peing San Antonio spurs team. The spurs did jump out to an early lead in this one, but the Knicks basically wire to wire kick their ass from the tail the la the last few minutes of the first quarter all the way through to the finish line. They hit 17 threes, they turned the spurs over 22 times for 24 points and they ended up winning by 25. Pulling up numbers like statistical evidence from this is is complicated because the NBA cup game kind of exists in an entirely different filter system for for most of the platforms I use. So I'm just going to kind of give you big picture data. The main areas that the knicks dominated this matchup. 54 made threes in the three games. They just did an amazing job of moving the ball versus the loaded up spurs defense for clean looks at threes and points off of turnovers and fast break points. Couple of those things are connected. So the, the points off of turnovers. I think the turnovers themselves have a lot to do with the Knicks size and how the spurs guards and Victor women, Yama himself kind of struggle to turn the corner or to gain advantage against bigger stronger players. Compared to like the dynamic against the Thunder where the guards were smaller.

[C]

Right.

[B]

The number of threes that they get in the fast break points. I want to like tie these two concepts together because there's a lot of like really funky stuff with the matchups in this series. Like people guarding different people on either end of the floor which creates these cross matches where whenever there is an interchange from offense to defense or vice versa, there's usually a guy that needs to go guard somebody that's on the other end of the floor because he was guarding somebody else on that previous possession. Those cross matches are a big part of why the spurs ended up giving up a lot of openings in trans transition off of those interchanges. It just, it just felt like they weren't matched up a lot of the time. That's going to be a tricky thing that'll be interesting to watch as the series progresses is how much those cross matches end up favoring the Knicks because they did have a substantial advantage in fast break points, points off of turnovers and again a huge advantage at the three point line. Now the lines, all of our lines are provided by our partner Hard Rock bet. The spurs are a minus 200 favorite. The Knicks are a plus one. 70 underdog. I can tell you right now that I think the best value easily is on the Knicks at +1.70. I think this is an extremely close series, effectively a coin flip and you're getting nearly 2 to 1 odds on the Knicks side of this. Right? So like even if you were like oh, I think the spurs are going to win, but it's super close, I just don't like that line as much as I do that. Knicks plus 170. So I think that's the value bet in this particular case. Let's start with the Knicks on offense. So I want to starting with the initial matchups the way that it looked in the, in that March 1 game, which is the closest thing we're going to get to what it looks like in a. In this coming playoff series. Victor Weyama Started on Josh Hart. That caused some problems with Cat underneath the rim. I'm going to dive into that concept here in just a minute. Steph Castle guarded Carl Anthony Towns Dear and Fox guarded Jalen Brunson. Devin Vassell on Mikhail Bridges and Julian Champagne on OG and Anobi. Several things about this look that give the spurs trouble. One, Cat just has a massive size advantage basically versus every spurs rotation player outside of Wemby in Cornette. That is something. He had some success against Steph Castle, just like catching and ripping and just using essentially his size to turn the corner against Castle just with quick moves, quick decision making and then the offensive glass. And this is where you know, especially when you have Wemby, who's coming closer to the level against Brunson in ball screens involving Josh Hart. If, if Wemby's even just up at like the foul line when the shot goes up, it creates this like inside seal dynamic where Carl Anthony Towns has an opportunity to get good offensive rebounding position underneath the basket. So starting Cat is just a funky matchup for them that he's just this big physical forward that probably isn't going to be guarded by Wemby, at least not to start the series. Which means he's just going to be operating with physical advantages all over the floor, really, against anybody who plays for this group. The one of the biggest things that stood out in the film for me as I was prepping over the last couple of days was Jalen Brunson's willingness to take and make drop coverage threes, in this case mostly from Josh Hart screens right because Victor Wemanyama is guarding Josh Hart and he's wanting to roam back around the basket. So if Josh Hart sets a good, a good pick on Dear and Fox out front and Wemby wants to hang back around the basket or near ish the basket, call it the foul line, call it the short, the. The semicircle. Wherever he might be hanging back, it creates this opening for Brunson to take a three off the dribble against that deep drop. This is, you know, like Brunson is not a better basketball player than Shay Gilgis Alexander. That would be a foolish thing for any of us to think, but Brunson is actually in many ways the perfect example of why Shea needs to add a ton of versatility. One of the reasons why I, I just flat out expect Brunson to have a better series against the spurs than Shea did is this specific dynamic he will take and make pull up threes against the drop coverage in that March 1 game. I think he hit like three or four of them just in that game. He'll, he will take those, he will work out of off ball action. He will go off the ball and, and be a screener. All the things that I've, I've said that Shay needs to add to his game, Brunson's kind of already doing so is Brunson going to be as impactful at the just straight ISO game that Shay is is arguably the best in the league at? No. But his versatile attack actually lines up really well with the way that the Knicks want to attack this spurs defense. And again, like you, it creates this dynamic where it's like okay, Brunson can pretty cleanly step into these pull up threes as long as Josh Hart sets a good screen. And if the the guard does chase over the top and stay attached to Brunson, Josh Hart's wide open on the pop, right? And like we saw in the Cav series, like yeah, Josh Hart can have cold shooting games but he can also get super hot and do a ton of damage, right? So if you stay attached to Brunson, then hearts open on the pop and even if Brunson misses the pull up three after a good screen, if Wemby's up around the foul line, it creates an offensive rebound advantage underneath the basket. Really for all the Knicks players, that includes OG Anunoby, Mikhail Bridges and Carl Anthony Towns. They're, they're all just carrying size advantages into the equation after the shot goes up. And then lastly all the cross matches make them vulnerable in transition. We talked about this a little bit earlier, but when you have Wemby guarding Josh Hart and Steph Castle guard and Carl Anthony Towns, when Carl Anthony Towns is not the guy guarding Steph Castle on the other end of the floor, it just creates this dynamic where everyone is running around to a different body as things transition to defense and that ends up causing problems when a Knicks team is really good at moving the ball up the floor and finding that quick open man to attack you early in the shot clock. I just think it's going to be a difficult matchup for San Antonio to handle all of the cross matching that that takes place in this matchup. Today's show is brought to you by presenting sponsor Hard Rock BET Florida's Sportsbook. The NBA Finals are here, the lights are brighter, the pressure is higher and every possession can define a legacy. Will New York finally end a 53 year drought and bring a title to the Big Apple? 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[A]

Number one hits millions of records sold Awards Sold out tours. You think the Jonas Brothers are satisfied? Nope. It's podcast time.

[C]

We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions.

[A]

A Jonas is available now and their first guest is a big one, Paul Rudd.

[E]

You know, Steve Carell is a great singer. Didn't he tell you not to audition

[B]

at the office or something?

[E]

I told him, whoa, we were filming Anchorman. Clearly I was the idiot. Thank God he didn't listen to me, right?

[A]

Listen to hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[F]

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas and I'm C.J.

[G]

toledano. And our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.

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Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luka and Austin Reed and finding ways

[G]

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[G]

So listen to Point game on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[B]

One of the main dynamics we saw in the regular season was just the Knicks in their ability to pull Wemby away from the rim because of their three point shooting. I wonder how much we'll see Sean Sweeney counter this with that kind of one man zone concept essentially being like, okay, I'm guarding Josh Hart to start the possession, but if Josh Hart is going to go set a ball screen on Brunson, perhaps I wave at, you know, let's say it's champagne. I wave at Champagne and go like, hey, dude, you go up to guard Hart and switch the ball screen so that he can't just immediately turn the corner or get into his drop coverage game and then I'll just guard whoever's in the weak side corner and you essentially. We saw this a lot in the early part of the Thunder series and it didn't work super well. But I wonder if that's something that we'll see the spurs try is essentially like let's just pre switch anything involving a screener running up to go get Brunson open because then at least we can keep Wemby on that backline as much as possible. But that, that's going to be an interesting part of that chess match. In general on the film, Jaylen Brunson looks really comfortable against the spurs guards. It's a very different matchup. He's low to the ground. It's very herky jerky. It's a very different type of attack than the Shay Gil Alexander. Like I'm going to drive into your chest and push off and and shoot like tough contested fade aways. Not that Brunson doesn't take tough contested shots. He certainly does. But Brunson's attack is, is. Is very much more dependent on like quickness and change of direction and change of pace and he's lower to the ground. He's got like legitimate like like a quickness advantage versus a lot of the spurs guards. That I think is going to bode well for him in this matchup. In the film Brunson looks pretty comfortable getting to his spots. Couple of last kind of quick hitters before we move to the Spurs. On offense, Muhammad Diawara played quite a bit in the regular season matchup. He had a game where he took 13 threes I think. I think that was the March game if I remember correctly. We don't know too many details about the Mitchell Robinson injury and just how effective he's going to be. I wonder if instead of going with like an aerial hook Porty if they just go small and play more Muhammad Diawara if Mitchell Robinson for whatever reason is not able to be impactful. But I do think Mitchell will end up playing. We always have the option for the Knicks to go towards Landry Shamit for more shooting. So for instance if if just leaving Josh Hart open is working because Josh isn't making shots, they can always go towards Landry and basically put the the spurs in the predicament of of not really having somebody they can help off. I do think that we will see at least at some point in the series Wemby just move over to Kat for the simple dynamic that Kat is having so many size advantages around the basketball and it gives him a better chance to hang back and then I think they would rotate to the pop. So like if he said a pick and pop you Wemby would just drop back to the basket and then they we would do. We'd see similar to that one man zone where they would rotate to Cat from the weak side and Wemby would just kind of naturally move towards whoever's in the weak side corner. And then lastly, Jordan Clarkson, he had a big moment against the spurs in the cup championship game this year, hit a bunch of threes, made a bunch of plays in the fourth quarter. I he hasn't been in the rotation too much in this postseason run, but I'm curious to see if he ends up getting an opportunity to play in this series. All right, let's move to the spurs on offense. These initial matchups I'm giving you what I think they should do. I'm not necessarily sure this is what they are going to do. This is what I would do though if I was coaching the Knicks. For how to match up with the spurs on offense, I would put OG Anunoby on Steph Castle instead of deploying him on someone like Victor Wenyama. Couple of specific reasons for that. One, I actually think Cat does a really good job on Wemby. Now foul trouble will be an interesting thing there. I think one of the biggest subplots of this series is just Victor Wembanyama's ability to get Cat in foul trouble and force him to leave the floor. But Cat, when he beats Wemby to spots and is just physical with his hands, like he does a pretty good job of doing basically what Hardenstein did of just using his strength and lower center of gravity to prevent Wemby from getting deep paint touches. Right. So like that's the first part of it. Like I actually just like the Cat matchup on Wemby. The second piece of it is OG Anunoby is the perfect type of big physical forward to neutralize the way that Castle likes to drive the basketball. Castle is not a first step quickness, like light you up with speed type of guard. He's very Jimmy Butler esque in the way that he kind of just use. He plays off of two feet constantly and he basically just kind of methodically works his way into the lane using his size and strength. OG and Anobi can counter that because he is bigger and stronger. So I like that specific dynamic with the with OGN and Obi on Castle and Cat on Wemby because not only do I think they both guard each other well there, guard the their matchups well there, but it also gives them the ability to switch that action, especially with Castle's kind of sketchy three point shot. And if a Cat ends up on Castle on a switch, he can just Give space and basically force him to take a contested pull up. And there you have OG and an OBI on Wemby where he can cause some problems by getting physical underneath him. Jalen Brunson on Julian Champeni. File that away because we'll talk more about the different ways that the the spurs will look to attack Brunson. And then with Hart and McHale, you could go with Hart on Vesel and McHale on Fox. McHale has typically guarded the speed guard for the other team. The one thing that I would consider doing here though is because you can go both ways with this. I consider putting Josh Hart on Dear and Fox so that you can switch the Wemby Fox pick and roll. Right. If you put hard on Vassell and Mikhail is on Fox, I think Mikhail is going to be a little physically overwhelmed against Wemby in particular. And I think Castle is a little bit more capable of bullying a guy like McHale than he is a guy like OG. But if you have Josh Hart on Dear and Fox and this is where that injury, the ankle injury, like I wonder if the Fox ankle injury will just make Deer and Fox not fast enough to really punish Josh Hart in the speed advantage that he has. So if Josh Hart is capable of guarding Fox kind of on an island one on one, then he could also switch those ball screens. And if og, Cat and and Josh Hart are on are on those particular the Castle, Wemby Fox. You just switch any ball screen involving those three guys and it gives you a better chance to to kind of shut down the roll man attack that San Antonio uses so effectively. The one kind of like wrinkle there is like, okay, but what if Dear and Fox gets Carl Anthony Towns on him on a switch? Is he able to kind of break him down off the bounce and create something again? You're playing, you're in the finals. These teams have really good offensive players. There's no perfect defensive solution, but it's something that I think that I would, I would consider so that you have the ability to switch your big physical wings onto Wemby regardless of where he's at on the floor. The most successful play type that the spurs ran in this matchup was a cleared side off ball action where Wemby would start like in the corner or on the wing and essentially they would have Brunson's man. So usually Julian Champeny. But you know, there are different guys that Brunson would be guarding at different phases in the game, but they would basically just have him run over and set a screen for Victor Weyama on the wing. Now, yes, OG Anunoby spent some time on Victor Wyama in the regular season, but a lot of the reps were just centers. Mitchell Robinson or Carl Anthony Towns. And those guys tend to struggle to navigate screens. And Brunson's not going to want to just switch on to Wemby. The spurs got a lot of good looks for Wemby. Like little just curling 15 footers, curling dunks down the lane. Like, oh, he went way under and I just took a three. Like Wemby got lots of good looks off of this very simple action. Just him starting on the left wing, having Brunson's man go and set a pick. Brunson doesn't want to help. Wemby just curls the action and he looks to attack off of the catch there. And then again, if, if Brunson does hang back in the lane and help or switch in any way, shape or form, that's where Champagne, he gets wide open slipping out of the screen. That like when it comes to the. The other ways to attack Brunson, like Champagne slip screens, for example, like Champagne coming up to the ball handler. So like Fox, for example, and just setting a ghost screen and slipping out and Brunson throws a hedge. You can hit Champagne there, you can hit a little a three at the key. But one of the things I noticed in the film is like in a lot of cases, the Champagne would just struggle to actually set enough of a screen to get Brunson to actually help. He would either slip and Brunson wouldn't hedge or the defender would just fight through the Champagne screen and they wouldn't get any advantage there. They tried a lot of those same double drag, you know, pinch screens that we saw in the OKC series too, where Brunson would be involved. But they just do a pretty good job of funneling it into a drop coverage. Look where they're okay with a guy like Castle or Fox just kind of going into the lane and taking a contested 15 footer. What I like about those wide screens, those off ball screens for Wemby is it gets your best player of the ball in a clear situation of advantage in space to catch and be aggressive. It is so much harder to protect Brunson in that specific situation, dear Fox is one of the biggest keys of the series just simply because the other guards struggle against the Knicks perimeter size. Dylan Harper and Steph Castle both try to overpower players a lot, and that's just difficult to do against a team in the Knicks that is so big on the perimeter. Darren Fox and how explosive he is and how good he is at beating the that that first layer of New York's defense and generating quality kick out threes, that's going to be one of the big keys of the series. Like the A lot of the best stretches of offense for the spurs in the regular season started with Fox just getting good dribble penetration against that Knicks defense. This series will put a much higher emphasis on Wemby scoring this because the guards don't have as much of an advantage like they did in the last round. Wemby's going to have to be the guy that provides more volume scoring in this matchup. I think in order for them to win the series, he's going to have to be up around 27, 28 points per game. Wemby was turnover prone in the regular season against this team mainly because they just stonewalled his drives. Whenever he would look to drive, they would just get physical with him and flatten him out and they would sink in with like OG or McHale and just start digging down at the basketball and he had some big turnover issues. Wemby's offense is going to get a pretty tough evaluation in this series. He's going to have to do some problem solving against a team that's more physically set up to handle them. OG Anunoby ranging off of Castle and help Steph Castle did not shoot well in the OKC series. OG Anunoby is one of the best help defenders in the league. He functions as like a secondary rim protector behind Carl Anthony Towns. There's a lot of emphasis on Steph Castle making OG pay by knocking down the wide open catch and catch and shoot threes that result from OG helping at the rim. So again I think the spurs offense, it's really going to come down to how well they attack Brunson, the different actions in which they do so. Again, I think those wide screens for, for Wemby are the best way and then Darren Fox and Victor Wyama because I just don't think this is going to be a Steph Castle Dylan Harper series necessarily. Dylan Harper more so than Steph. I think Dylan will have some moments but I like, I think Steph's going to have a rough series. It's. It's just a tough matchup for him. So it's going to put a heavier emphasis on those guys to be able to score my pick. So I thought I would come in this morning leaning slightly towards the Spurs. That was how I was feeling when I was talking with Colin yesterday. But after watching more film and really digging in, I actually lean slightly towards the Knicks. It's very close. I have it like literally 55, 45. So as close to a coin flip as it can be. But I just think the Knicks have a team that is kind of specifically built to give the spurs issues on both ends of the floor. They move the ball extremely well with quality play, finishing against the defensive looks where the spurs either try to load up or they roam with a guy like Wemby. They have the physical size and high defensive IQ to keep San Antonio's guards in front and turn them into a jump shooting team. All of that cross matching really opens up their transition attack. And then four. I just think Brunson will be far, far and away the most reliable offensive player in the series. Again, Shay's a better player than Brunson, but Brunson's diverse attack and quickness is a better matchup for the way that the spurs like to guard. So I'm picking the the Knicks to win this series in six games. But it's very, very close to me. Again, 55, 45. Would not be the slightest bit surprised if San Antonio ended up winning. And again, if you're looking for betting value, I think The Knicks at plus 170 makes the most sense because you're getting nearly 2 to 1 odds for roughly a coin flip series. All right, that's all I have for today. Again, Sam Vesini will be coming on the show tomorrow to to do a more tactical breakdown on the series and then we'll have some big storyline stuff on Wednesday and then live on YouTube after the final buzzer of game one on Wednesday night. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show. I'll see you tomorrow morning.

[A]

Number one hits. Millions of records sold, awards, sold out tours. You think the Jonas Brothers are satisfied? Nope. It's podcast time.

[C]

We get to ask other people questions. Cause we're sick and tired of being asked questions.

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Hey, Jonas is available now and their first guest is a big one, Paul Rudd.

[E]

You know Steve Carell is a great singer. Didn't he tell you not to audition

[B]

at the office or something?

[E]

I told him. Whoa. We were filming Anchorman. Clearly I was the idiot. Thank God he didn't listen to me, right?

[A]

Listen to hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[F]

What's up fam?

[G]

It's Isaiah Thomas and I'm CJ Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast Point Game the Playoffs.

[F]

We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season and I'm looking back on some my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was firing you just understood that's how personal it get.

[B]

Wow.

[F]

Then after that game seven, Marquis coming to you, he's like, you know I love you dog. You know it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

[G]

So listen to Point game on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[C]

If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down.

[B]

Portia accusing Kelly of sleeping with with a married man.

[H]

They holding K Michelle back from fighting.

[I]

Drew Pinky has financial issues on the

[C]

podcast Reality with the King I, Carlos King recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise, the drama, the alliances and the tea everybody's talking about. To hear this and more. Listen to Reality with the king on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast Happy Pride from

[I]

the Outspoken Podcast Network. All month long and all year round, we're celebrating being loud, proud and always original. It's me, Brandon Kyle Goodman, host of the podcast tell Me Something Messy. Check out my show for unfiltered takes on dating, relationships and adulting. Listen to High Key for the best pop culture takes. And there are no girls on the Internet for all your tech news. For your favorite celebrity qqs, check out Outlaws with TS Madison. Learn to love yourself unapologetically with BFF Black Fat Femme and start your day with intention with Waking up with Ryan coming in July. Celebrate Pride with the Outspoken Network. Open your free iHeartradio app. Search Pride and listen now.

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This is an iHeart podcast.

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Guaranteed human.