Which Version of the Knicks Will We See in the Playoffs?

Let's talk about the New York Knicks.

Uh, everybody's favorite.

Mid-tier team.

Uh, you are so, you are so Boston.

It is just, no, look, I, I, I watched the Spurs game on Sunday.

We're not gonna talk about that.

They've had two great wins in a row.

The Knicks have won 4 of their last 5.

they go to Milwaukee, beat the Bucks.

No Giannis, but that's a, a good win.

Uh, beat them down actually.

They got, come home, they beat the Spurs.

That's a better win.

Now, I do want to qualify the Spurs win.

Just gotta say this, the Spurs were, uh, on.

They're on the back end of that long road trip that they take.

The, I think that was the 4th game of a 5-game road trip.

They had been in New York all weekend long, more than all weekend.

Well, Thursday they got there, they played Thursday night against Brooklyn, but then they had the weekend off in New York City is what I'm saying.

Friday, Saturday.

They've been there since Wednesday, I think they played Wednesday, didn't they?

They play in Toronto.

I think they were in Toronto on Wednesday, so they got there late Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

So it's really, it's the weekend, a weekend in Manhattan.

I know it's snowy and it's cold, but you know.

You got guys from Texas.

Also they had won 11 straight going into at some point you're due for a loss.

They were , they were due for it, um.

But a good win for the Knicks nonetheless.

You beat the Spurs.

And now these last couple of games, you're looking at the Knicks, you're saying, Wow, are they really a, are we seeing this version of the Knicks that is a contender?

You got Mohammed Diawara.

Just joining the rotation.

Everyone's with 3 quarters of the Knicks fans, man, Knicks fans are ready to put him on their shoulders, slinging it against the Spurs.

He was 4 for 13 from three point range, but wasn't he, wasn't, wasn't the attempt some record?

Like it was like some, some certain number of 13 attempts in a certain amount of time, slinging it, right, is, is like some sort of record or something like that.

Look, the thing we have said about the Knicks all season, we were gonna talk about them last week, is they've been in.

Consistent.

That is the major knock on the New York Knicks.

They've been inconsistent.

To be inconsistent, not only do you have those bad stretches like a couple weeks ago, but you also have to have good stretches.

Otherwise you're just consistently bad, right?

So they're not bad.

They're inconsistent, and there are times out there where they look like everyone knows what they're doing and they're playing guys in smart ways.

I mean, Josh Hart like really came through yesterday.

They asked more of him because he wasn't really being defended in, in the way that he obviously thinks he should, but.

The Spurs did not think he needed to be, and they, they put him more in the mix, and he answered the bell on that.

I mean, I just think that there are some days where you look at this team and you go, man, they're tough.

Man, Jalen Brunson is so clutch and so good.

And man, Karl-Anthony Towns just gives them such an offensive advantage in some places and all of the different things you can say about them.

And Mike Brown's that breath of fresh air they needed and X, Y, Z, and there are some games where you look at them and you're like, what is going on with this team?

And I, I just don't know which team, which version is.

Gonna show up in the playoffs.

So I didn't learn a lot from this win or even the 4 and 5 games because they've been inconsistent, and this is the good part of the inconsistent.

Yeah, um, some of the numbers, just to put them out there.

They're 3rd in the NBA in offensive rating, that's really good.

They're 9th in defensive rating, that's really good.

If you're a top 10 team in offensive and defensive rating, you are, you are in the mix.

39 and 22 on the season, so they're pushing 40 wins as we speak.

They've got the two All-Stars in, uh, Brunson and Towns.

I, I'm kind of on with, with you on this.

What worries me is when I watch some of these games, and maybe more so when I read some of the quotes after the games, they still seem like a team that is trying to figure things out.

You hear Mike Brown say after the Spurs game, we're figuring out the right shots to take.

We are 3 quarters of the way through the season.

You cannot be figuring out the right shots to take.

Uh, talking about figuring out the right roles, uh, Things that should have been sorted out a long time ago, they still seem to be working through it.

It feels like every 10 games, we have a curious quote from Karl-Anthony Towns about his role within this team.

Like, these are not.

They're not red flags, but they're kind of yellow flags right now.

And the Knicks, more than any team in the Eastern Conference, have that win or bust mentality.

You think about it.

Detroit, they would like to win, but their season and their, uh, their season is not an abject failure if they get beat in the 2nd round.

Boston.

Playing with house money.

Just they are.

This was supposed to be a rebuild season for Boston.

They got 40 wins.

We're gonna get to them in a minute.

Philadelphia, they've got their issues.

Milwaukee, they've got their issues.

Cleveland , I mean, it's important for Cleveland too, I guess, but less, less so than New York.

Like James Dolan said early January, this team has to make the finals.

This team should win a championship.

And I don't see it.

Like, I, I don't see the level of consistency to use that word you brought up again.

I don't see it.

And, and when I hear guys talking after games about , all right, we, we, we figured it out for this game.

We did it right, or we did this right, like, you, you should be doing the right things all the time right now if you're going to be considered a championship contender.

Yeah, I mean, look, the pressure on them is completely self-inflicted, right?

I mean, the statement when Tibbs was fired basically said, we think this team is a championship team.

It has not gotten up to that level.

They fired a guy who got to game 6, right?

My memory is Game 6 of an Eastern Conference Finals better than people thought they were.

Like, most people thought they're gonna get smoke going to the finals.

They were at Halliburton injuries winning that damn thing, dude.

I thought they were winning Game 7, you know, until he got hurt.

Um, yeah, and basically that wasn't good enough.

I mean, the most success that team had had in 25 years up to that point, that wasn't good enough.

So the expectations that have been placed on this team, I think are always a weight and are always sort of something that that people have in their heads and can be a distracting factor .

Am I in the exact right spot?

What if we lose another one?

That kind of thing.

And it's self-inflicted, again, by the ownership.

I mean, I just don't understand.

Even when he says he's taking like a step back, he cannot help himself.

I do not understand that.

I don't get it either.

Um.

The, the thing with, with the Knicks too is that some of the things I've been hearing about them, look, you hear good things about Mike Brown, he's a good coach.

But Tom Thibodeaux was the most granularally detailed coach.

In modern NBA right now, I won't say NBA history.

I don't know if they can go all the way back, but modern NBA, this guy was detailed down to every, down to possessions.

You don't, from what I'm just hearing from people, you don't quite get that with Mike Brown.

They don't.

Yeah, you don't, you don't get that same, and that was the point, by the way, which, you know, look, and I get collaborative.

Mike Brown.

It's a whole organizational thing, but Tom Thibodeau.

Not to make this all about Tihibs once again because he's been gone for 10 months, but Tom Thibodeau, he'll be back though.

He will be back.

They, they believed lock, stock, and game plan in Tom Thibodeaux.

Like whatever he was going to give them, they believed that if they executed it, they had a great chance to win.

I don't think there's that same.

I agree.

I think, I, I think they could end up in the finals, this team this year.

I'm not saying they will, but I just, I don't, you said I can't see it.

I can see it.

I think, I see them getting to the finals.

Look, I can see just because I think Detroit's a flawed team.

Boston, we're gonna get to, you know, now that Harden's got a broken thumb, like what's going on with Cleveland.

Like there's, it's not like there's a boogeyman in the Eastern Conference.

I just, they, they're just not giving off the vibes, and they're still like in what, 3rd place right now.

They're not giving off the vibes of a team that you should have a lot of confidence in.

At the moment.

Like, they should be neck and neck with Detroit for the number one seed.

They have, the band is back together from last year.

They made a coaching change they thought was gonna make them better.

They should be better than Boston.

They should be better than the Celtics who, like, again, we're gonna get to them.

I don't get too deep right now, but the Celtics are like, hm, who can we pick up off the street that's gonna turn into a good player for us right now?

Like, oh, look, here's Ron Harper Junior.

Hey, how about we give you a starting assignment and give you real minutes.

Like, it's, it's unbelievable.

So, I just think, I, I think the Knicks should be better.

Than they are right now.

And we got a quarter of the way in the season.

Still got time to keep building, get more comfortable, all this stuff.

But hearing some of these things about how, I don't know, like we're, we're figuring out a good shot selection tonight.

We got that done.

Like I don't know, you should be hearing that stuff in March.

Who would they play in the first round if the season ended today?

Toronto as we're looking at this, which I think is a good matchup for them .

Yeah, I think that's a good matchup for them.

I don't want to be the team that faces Charlotte in the first round if that happens.

No, but no, Charlotte's doing some nice things .

But like then you get a Boston rematch and like, and wouldn't that be just like you like could Mike Brown, and I hate making fun of Mike Brown because I'm not making fun of him, but like I, I like the guy.

But like Mike Brown on this pod, but like.

Like the crowning achievement of Tihibs last year was beating the Celtics in 5 games or 6 games, I guess it was.

Um, and that wasn't like Tatum's out, whatever.

They're up 3-1 when Tatum was, was down.

Um, if you, if you go up against Boston again with Tatum just coming back from an Achilles tear and you get beat.

That's a tough one to, to, to rebound from.

That's a tough one there.