The Knicks Win a Game 2 Thriller with Jon Krawczynski!

I need a drink. I'll smoke. I might need a cigarette. What a game in San Antonio, a game of runs, a game where it look like. Despite falling behind multiple times, despite Miles McBride and McKielbridge is carrying the nicks in a stretch when cat was on the bench in foul trouble and Jalen Brunson, Jalen Brown, Jill, my brain is broken. We're resting that the nicks were just going to rest control the series and Fox one crazy and Wembee did some stuff and then came down to the end of regulations first take the lead, nicks tie it up, then some crazy stuff happens to turn over a mist free throw, Wembee misses two jumpers. There is a lot to talk about, but first and foremost, the New York nicks are 14 and two in the playoffs have won 13 consecutive games and are on one of the most magical. I don't even know what other word to use runs in the history of professional sports and are two wins away from their first title in 53 years. The end of the game was nuts, John Cruzinski from the athletic is here. We go blow by blow through the big plays in the game, the larger trends in the game, cats outrageous first half, Wembee responding to the critics in the second half. The nicks surviving a bad jail in Brunson shooting game. And yet, of course, he makes the tying jumper and the winning free throw and they escape in the end with the Wembee jumper. What a series. We talk about what the spurs can do to get back into it in Madison Square Garden. And we just talk about a lot of stuff. It was an incredible game. I hope you enjoy it and that's all coming up on the Zack Lo Show. What a basketball game in San Antonio. A game of runs a game where it felt like the nicks had solved San Antonio in two critical stretches. The last of which was when cat picked up his fourth foul after playing like one of the best hats of his entire career. They were pulling away. Victor Webayama was yelling in the huddle and suddenly behind the air and fox making some buckets. Victor Webayama playing with force. A Missed Brunson layup that became a goal tend at the other end on a Dylan Harper layup and then an and one dunk by Victor Webayama. The spurs stormed into the lead and then a bunch of crazy stuff happened. John Cruzinski. I might miss recount it. Brunson makes a two point shot with like 39 seconds left over champ penny. Wembenyama after a timeout misses a jumper from the left side of the floor going for the two for one with 30 seconds left. Brunson then misses a jump shot with like 16 seconds left. Wembenyama gets three bounce spurs. Have a chance to play for the last shot outlet pass. Staff castled not looking for it off his back out of bounds. Brunson steals it in his fouled not out of bounds. Brunson steals it and his knocked out of bounds is fouled one out of two. Luke Cornett maybe kicks the ball on the rebound spurs timeout. Wembeny misses another jump shot a second miss in 30 seconds of game time. Nick's escape with the one point win. Wembeny I thought answered the critics who were howling in half time with the pretty goddamn strong second half, but our game of runs and the nicks had the last gas and John Cruzinski. I think we just have to start now. This is one of the most remarkable things I have ever seen in sports in any sport ever. I said before the series, I think the nicks have some sort of magical alchemy going and I believe in it. Even I didn't think they would win both games in San Antonio. And when the spurs finally took the lead on that punch by Wembeny, you thought, OK, one one we're set for an epic finals like we all expected. And the nicks somehow some way escape with a win. And this is becoming one of the greatest stories in the history of sports if they wrap this up the 50 whatever your drought. And one of the greatest playoff runs of all time 13 wins in a row. And the nicks are coming home to wins away from a title. Where do you want to start as we try to digest this game? Do you want to start at the end? Do you want to start with Wembeny? Do you want to start with the nicks winning a game where Brunson was what seven of 25 I think from the floor? What's what's the number one headline for you, John Cruzinski? Zacklow, you're not going to be surprised to hear this other people who know where I'm from are not going to be surprised to hear this to me. The story of this series in these first two games is Carl Anthony Towns has been the best player through. You know, what are we at seven of the eight quarters? He is playing incredible defense on Victor Wembeny. I'm a Wembee played really well in the second half, but really didn't get going until those two questionable calls put Carl on the bench and got Victor to get a little bit more rhythm going in that third quarter. And then the efficiency that he's playing with, getting everyone involved, he has been remarkable. And for a player who has been so maligned, slandered all those things, some for good reason, a lot for not. I just think that this has been his coming out party in such a major way. And for a guy who's covered him his whole career. I'm just happy to see him rise to the occasion here, because he has been tremendous on both ends of the floor. I thought the first half you and I were texting about it at halftime was given the stakes, AKA higher than any stakes he's ever played in in the NBA was maybe the best half he's ever played in his life. And yet 18 points. So it wasn't like I mean, he's had a 50 point game. It's not like he hasn't scored that much in a half. You only had three after halftime because of the foul trouble. But I just thought the story of this game until the last five minutes when I felt the Nick started leaking oil on offense it and kind of just all of a sudden didn't have a plan. The story of the game was they had an answer for every defense the spurs tried to mix in. And when you have when Banyama, you have as many levers to pull defensively as any team has ever had. You can have him guard catch straight up. You can have him guard Josh Hart. You can have him play a straight up zone. You can have them play like a hybrid zone where it's hard to tell who he's guarding and when. And the nicks sniffed it out time and time again every time they got him on cat. They just ran a Brunson cat picking roll and they knew exactly how the spurs were going to respond. A cat was going to pop when he was going to peel down into the paint and the third guy was going to rotate on the cat and they were ready to swing that baby around until they got what they wanted and maybe the defining possession of the game was that action. Brunson cat third guy rotates when B peels down four minutes in the second quarter, five passes and drives in a row by the nicks to get the blender going because when he makes you keep that blender on and on and on. And it ended with I think an an it no bridges hits a three from the right corner bridges who felt like you didn't miss a shot the entire game. And that was one of the I mentioned to two defining stretches of this game. That late second quarter stretch was one when Hart was on the bench with three fouls and the nicks puts jamming in his place and played what I call their best super shooting lineup. And you know it's like and also when when he was on cat during that stretch, one time they just gave him the ball up top and ran their flex action and Mikael bridges got a back cut out of it. Just every button that Mike Brown and his team could press they pressed it when he was on when when he was playing his own. They would clear they would get him to he when he plays zone, he toggles from one guy to another. And when he would toggle on to a guy the nicks liked like and an obi or shammett, they would clear everyone else to the other side of the floor and run a two man game and they got good stuff out of that. And that second quarter, it went from spurs ahead to nicks ahead at the half was on defining stretches of the game and towns had his fingerprints all over it. He got a post up on a switch again when when he was on them and they switched to pick and roll. He got a kick out pass on a switch where he just wrapped around four guys and found bridges in the corner his defense and the nicks pick and roll defense over all has been outstanding. He had his fingerprints all over that game got on the lead and then the other defining stretch until the end game was when he did pick up four fouls. The spurs had momentum and all of a sudden, Duce McBride made a moon ball jumper and the kill bridges became Brooklyn, the kill bridges and the nicks just held the fort without Brunson and without cat. That was defining stretch number two, but I agree with it was bridges, shammett, Alvarado, Duce and Mitchell Robinson for that stretch at the end of the third quarter. It was against Cornette at the beginning and I wrote in my notes, I wonder if this is why they're risking the non Brunson, I mean, cat was out with foul troll, but also sitting Brunson earlier the usual. And now that Brunson was tired at the end of the game and that's one of the reasons the nicks offense went off the rails a little bit, but I thought, okay, they're risking it here, timing it with Cornette's minutes and then when he came in and they still played that line up and they extended the lead to 11, I think going into the fourth quarter. Two just massive stretches and then they open it up to 12 or 13 or whatever in the fourth and you just felt like in that moment seven minutes six minutes. to go whatever it was. The spurs had missed their chance. It was now or never with that group in the game and it looked like it was going to be never. And to the next credit, they just they they manufacture buckets. Their their collective skill level is off the charts. If you're going to play the way I describe in that blender and figuring out every answer to every defense and pulling all the lever, you need five guys who could shoot pass and create off the dribble. And depending on how hard shot is going, they have that and they have a big man who stretches everyone out. And then the spurs come roaring back. And somewhere in that stretch, I went from analyst to just mouth a game fan of what was going on. And I don't really know where he want to start in that. But I agree with you. I thought that first half was just unbelievable. If the next win, Brunson will probably win finals MVP because he's jailing Brunson. He made the big shot in the big free throw tonight. But Kat has a case for it. We're not there yet. He's been outstanding. Yeah. And I would say that one of the reasons that it did get away from the mix in the fourth quarter was that they got out of running the offense through Carl Anthony Towns. And you look, Jalen Brunson is one of the best clutch players in the league. We saw what he did in the fourth quarter of game one. He deserves to take those shots and get it. But I do think that they got a little to one dimensional. And I do think he tried to force some things that were not working. And that allowed the spurs to get back into it. One kind of defining characteristic of Carl Anthony Towns earlier on in his career was the throw ahead, you know, behind the back passes, the wild turnovers, the offensive fouls, like all of those things. That's been eliminated. He is playing with composure and control and making simple reads and simple plays. And when he is doing that, the nicks are so hard to guard. And the spurs don't have an answer for that. And when they got away from that in the fourth, that did open the door for the spurs to get back into it, credit to them for staying with it and not giving up. But I do think that Brunson really just tried to make it happen on his own. And the shots just were not falling tonight for the most part. And if they had continued to kind of run their offense, I think that this would have been a much easier victory. Towns was plus 11 in a one point win. I mean, that's just like that shows what he brought to the table. Towns going into this game, 17 into playoff, 17 points, 11 rebounds, six assists to two and a half turnovers, 56% shooting, 47% on threes. And he had a couple classic like peak Atelman, Minnesota era threes tonight, where he had Brunson set a little down screen for him and he moonwalked back and he hit a three. Like I made me think of the wolves. We don't see it as much anymore. And 60. Yeah, there you go. 60% on twos. And the way he's playing defense, he has been every bit the superstar that the nicks thought they were trading for every bit the superstar that looked like maybe it wouldn't happen under Mike Brown and at various points in the season. He has been unbelievable. And I don't know. Oh, and just yeah, at the end, they, they, oh, you mentioned his just passing another play where they had a Wembee on cat and a cross match because cats guarding Wembee, Wembee can't get off and they immediately run. This is this is the play where I thought it's probably over now. Midway through the fourth, Wembee stuck on cat Brunson cat pick and roll, switch and rotate out. Cat ends up with Fox on him. They throw it to him in the corner and he looks around and he throws it all the way to Annanobi in the opposite corner and Victor scrambles out and LG beats him off the dribble and kind of is like, am I gonna dunk it? I think I'm gonna dunk it and dunk it with it with Victor right behind him. That was the point where I thought it was over and then it wasn't over and we should probably talk about the end game. Where would you like to start in the last? I don't know 90 seconds. Let's pick it up like when Brunson, Brunson beats Fox off the dribble misses a layup that would put the nicks up five run out goal tend. I thought Cat actually got it on first glance and I was wrong completely. And it's down to one. Where do you want to go after that? What stands? What are we going to be talking about from that last minute forever and ever? I think that one play that you're gonna be talking about is Wembee gets the ball down one with the chance to go up and throws the ball off of Castle's back. And that is just like one of those plays where it looked like he got sped up in the moment and there was a little miscommunication and was that experience? Was that too young guys just not on the same page? Whatever it was, but that to me felt like the kind of error, the kind of mental faux pas that you just cannot have in a championship game in a in a in a finals type of a setting if you are going to win a championship before you're expected to win it. And so they have been largely great. These young guys all the way through the playoffs. But I thought Wembee doing that, getting the ball and then rushing a little bit and throwing it to Castle while his back was turned to him was just like an absolute put your hands on your head. I cannot believe that just happened moment. Four turnovers for Wembee in the game. Two of them happened in rapid succession right at the end of the first half and both of them were like those were the turnovers that were the reason Kenny Smith I think at halftime said he looked shook because one was just a hop potato like I got it. He actually had an advantage like he caught it in semi-transition cat was not quite in front of him. He could have attacked and he just threw it right back and into the back court and then another sloppy pass. I can't remember exactly this one. I just rewatched. I'm going to be interested to see how they talk about it after after the game. We're recording this literally the game just ended. So we're missing all the post game media comments. He he takes like a dribbler to and Castle looks back at him expecting the outlet pass and right is Wembee picks up his dribble. Castle starts to turn back up the court thinking I guess he's not going to pass it to me and then the pass comes. I don't know really whose fault that is traditionally the guard would expect the big man to give him the ball. Maybe Wembee waited a beat longer but yeah you just can't I mean that's a a play that you look back on if you lose the series and say that could cost us. I mean you again you can't boil it down to one plate because we've already highlighted these two defining stretches of the game that matter that set us up for that moment but that's a moment where you have a chance to win the game in regulation and go one one and it goes so badly that not only do you not you don't even get a shot. They get a foul. They win the game. Wembee misses a good jumper at the end. It just can't happen. It was reminiscent of like a couple of the rockets turnovers in whatever game that was against the Lakers. Well especially to Zach in in that part when when you're making that pass theoretically you are starting at least a transition or semi-transition and what we saw from the spurs in the fourth quarter and coming back is Castle Harper going downhill to the rim like that is where they were having their success and so you can say in your mind's eye that I would bet that the spurs were going to score off of that play somehow some way and not only did that score but then they put Brunson on the line and they end up down one coming out of it. It is charged in the official play by play as a Wemba Nyama bad pass turn over. I mean obviously they can't give the turn over to anybody else because Castle never touches the ball but that is how it was it was how it was charged and yeah Brunson misses the second free throw they call time out. I'm going to look again as we're doing this at the last shot they're they're litigating the Cornet kick as I'm watching this. I mean it's it's a good shot like it's a clean I'm looking at it out of the last shot of the game it's two seconds left Mitchell Robinson who I think is really well considering his injury gives a pretty good contest it's a 16 footer from the right elbow it's probably like a 40 to 45 percent shot for Wemba and the other 55 percent came up and you could sit here and say I thought in real time I thought they took a little bit too long to get into anything like I'm gonna watch it again now Fox gets the ball and he just kind of stands there two seconds there's 4.8 when Victor comes up to set the pick I would have liked that to go a little faster because you could say like oh they could have tried to get fouled two free throws they win the game I think that's a perfectly fine shot and Victor just missed it I don't think he missed it because he choked or he's not up for the moment I think in the second half he answered a lot of the questions we would have wanted to see answered I think he needed to have that second half I mean certainly you know what cat did to him in the first half and what the nicks in general did to just get him out of rhythm it was glaring and so I understood why you know the half-time show was focused on that and and and and finding a way to get Wemba and Yama going and honestly Zach like after watching him for most of these playoffs usually after the spurs lose a game in a series he comes out in the first quarter guns blazing and just like it's 14 six and two and the the spurs are up big and I thought that you know because that did not happen in this game right after the first quarter even though the nicks were still down I thought they were in good shape because they did not get that Wemba and Yama haymaker but it did start to come in the third quarter and you know I thought he started to get going and then when cat went to the bench it got him going a little bit more but yeah, Victor played really well, especially considering he's 20 two years old and he's played more minutes and more games you know this this season than he has in his life he's probably a little tired he's an incredible player but I think the Knicks have done a really good job of just making him work as hard as humanly possible for everything so maybe in that last on that last shot maybe his legs were a little heavy maybe he was just a little bit winded and and all of the accumulation of the little elbows to his ribs the shoulders everything all added up to that moment just being a little bit off on that shot and there was another one now that I'm remembering it I think there were less than two minutes left in the game Knicks up three where Wembee got a switch and he took Mikael Bridges into the post and Bridges made a sensational play and batted away the entry pass and Wembee caught it and was just like I guess I'm just going to take a turn around three from the corner which missed horribly and I didn't like that shot from him but yeah in the second half I mean you know he did what you wanted him to do and that an emblematic of that was that one lefty half layup half floater around cat in the post where he just when he takes that extra pivot or fake takes the Steve Smith spin and then goes back the other way he's at the rim and that's all you want him to do and he made he made that shot. Let's go through some Knicks players OG and an OB just like a metronome yeah 17 points two of five from three I mentioned the dunk and he had who did he block I think it was Harper in transition and then someone on the Knicks hit a run out three probably Shamit or Bridges right after that was Shamit I think so yeah I think that's right and then there was another sequence like that in the first quarter were castle missed a layup at the rim and Brunson got a run out three in transition and he just like I mean both of these teams the transition defense has been unbelievable through two games the spurs unbelievable for the playoffs but and and only made a couple of those plays in transition that were just pivotal back breaking plays and he's just such a reliable guy made three and he made the three for three free throws late after Mike Brown challenged a plus challenge I guess by Mike Brown and they survive a Brunson 7 of 25 and four turnovers which is really unlikely and they only had 12 turnovers and I was looking I we were texting before the game that I was sort of looking at where Brunson already ranks in a lot of all-time Knicks categories and it's going to be extremely high but one of his superpowers is his turnover rate is just routinely like super low for a guy who handles the ball so much and the Knicks again had another low turnover game and just I mean what a and the pendulum of Josh Hart like the hero of game one and 18 minutes 5,000 minus 3 in game two and they find a way to win the Knicks you mentioned the early lead for the spurs the Knicks are just a skillful thoughtful professional goddamn basketball team who walk you down who do not get panic who keep keep playing their game who figure out immediately what you're trying to do on defense and they're just hard to get away from when it feels like the classic game like here comes the home team they're about to get this to 1617 the Knicks do not let it happen there are no breaks that you get with the Knicks and credit to Mike Brown for this whole season plain Landry Shem at playing Miles McBride playing you know Alvarado giving these guys quality minutes to get ready for moments like they had in the third quarter like any there's so many other teams act that once you know towns goes to the to the bench with foul trouble when Brunson is out that is when the wheels come off and instead they just bow their backs and keep fighting and they seem to just get a charge out of the challenge of that and I do think that the chemistry that they have as a group is something really special like the they are so connected all the way up and down that roster that the belief never waivers whether they're down 22 against Cleveland in the fourth quarter whether they're down 12 against the spurs in the freaking finals it's just stay with it keep going and the door will open and if it doesn't open we're gonna kick the damn thing down that's what these guys are doing right now it is one of the more remarkable things I've been covering this league almost 25 years and to see the way that this has come together and the way that it just does not stop it's an unbelievable story in the annals of this league's history let alone what we're seeing just day-to-day here well I mean look the NBA the NBA website has not updated it's not updated yet for tonight's game going into tonight the next we're 13 and two in the playoffs with a plus 281 margin net rating plus 19.1 and you know a lot of the people who had spurs in five spurs in seven by the way an outcome that's still very much in play like this person out of the series no question it's a big uphill climb and it's hard to recover from two losses like this but I can't I mentioned that I was at when I was at game one of Cavs Knicks and the Knicks made that remarkable comeback there was some snickering from people who were at the game and I keep saying like not front office or coaches from either the two teams like agents other people who were there about how coming on the wake of thunder spurs game one like oh this is a fun game it's kind of cute it's like the JV series and I was like I don't think it is like I think that something hit real has happened here for the Knicks they're 13 and two now 14 and two they've won 13 games in a row let's just say they win in five let's just say it who knows what's gonna happen they'll be 16 and three with a plus 18 net rating it it would be in the if they finished the job it would be in the conversation for the greatest playoff run in the history of the NBA it's it's up there statistically with whatever the warriors did with the ramp with the 2001 Lakers with the best Jordan teams you can poop who the competition but the Knicks obliterated the competition in the Eastern conference and they just won two road games in San Antonio a very hard place to win it is without hyperbole as you said one of the greatest stories I've ever seen in basketball and in sports well and you you look at just all the individual stories within it you have this Carl Anthony Towns redemption you have Landry Shamit as Joe Flacco you just like getting on this heater that is unexplainable you have Josh Hart playing like a bat out of hell you have you know Mitchell Robinson making the contest with a broken finger whatever he's got going on you have OG you have you have you have bridges not missing shots then you have Jalen Brunson who isn't shooting well at all but found a way in the fourth quarter just go supernova and like all of those threads are weaving together to just create this unbelievable quilt that is going to stand the test of time if they are able to finish it off and you write Zach I want to just like really hit the pause button say that this series is far from over but everything that has come together for them and the way they can also walk out of these two games saying we haven't gotten a really good jail in Brunson game yet we we there's been a few other things that could be much much better going back home and they're going to just have confidence flowing through them and I just I cannot even imagine what Madison Square Garden is going to be like for game three up to whoa it is going to be on fire it probably already is right now going on right now it's just going to be incredible you know when you were talking about the next players have made me think about just like McHale Bridge is game game four of the Hawk series are they going to bench him is he going to be it was this trade of a stake yeah and then he comes out and he has this month now of just consistently excellent two-way play Josh Hart on the bench during the next rally in game one against the calves on maybe you know they they just need to go all shooting he comes out and he has just a classic Josh Hart he's everywhere and he makes five threes game Alvarado out of the rotation for you know a good chunk of his Nick's stent has leapfrog Clarkson comes in in game one in an emergency situation where Brunson has to go locker room and just makes every right read like talk about a guy who who who is it wired to if the opposing big is on cat whatever else you think we're doing we're going right into a picking roll with me and cat and we're gonna see how the defense responds it's just been all season I said the nicks were reminded me of this sensation watching them play of having like a word or a trivia answer on the tip of your tongue and you know it but you just can't quite get there and then they'd get there they'd be in the zone for two three four five games and eight and one stretch and then they would lose it and you just wondered would they ever get it back would they ever be able to sustain it if they got it back not only did they get it back they found it even higher plane of existence and they've sustained it. and they are playing like the best basketball team in the world and they're two wins away from a title. But they are two wins away from a title. And one of the powers of having home court advantage is not only game seven at home, but if this first split in Madison Square Garden and win game five, they only got to win one more row game to to put everything on the line at home in game seven. It's a three one come back is much more realistic from the team with home court. And so going forward, let's try to come down from like the ecstasy of a crazy game. What did what did you see whether it was in the last five minutes or just overall from the first two games? Stuff the spurs did that could carry over into a hostile environment. Well, I mean, I think a couple of things. One is that to see when Benyama start to find his spots and figure out ways to attack and be productive. I think is the most important thing. He did look flustered certainly in game one and in the first half of game two. And and he just didn't seem like he knew where he was going to get his offense. Now it looks like he can go back to this film. Look at the second half. Look at the fourth court and say, okay, now I understand a little bit more about where I can be effective. The other thing those act, I mean, I know other people have talked about this isn't super original, but Dylan Harper plus 12. And I just think that when you look at he played 32 minutes, that may even need to be higher. Like I just think that getting the ball in his hands and letting him go with it like Deerin Fox played pretty well today, but like I just am not as afraid of the spurs when the ball is in Fox's hands versus when the ball is in Harper's hands. And maybe you can play, you know, him, Castle and Fox together, but at some, they they have to, I think, transition to Dylan Harper is a featured part of what we're doing all of the time because of his physicality, because of his unflappable nature. And if they empower him more, I think that's their best chance of getting back into this and flipping it in a way that can be sustainable, not just for one game, but for four games, which is what they need to dig this thing out of the mud. I mean, I don't know how much more you can ask of him than 32 minutes and 15 points plus 12. I don't know. I'm sure they can dial up his minutes more than that. I mean, Castle, I believe the game for a little bit with 1,000, the hardest foot and then it seemed to hurt his foot and come back in. Fox was very good tonight and came alive in the fourth quarter. He stepped back three up and under around Brunson and other ISO against Brunson. And to me, all of that, including Harper, I think they need to aim even more of their offense at Brunson. And yes, just on just on the ball, not even necessarily like to keep, they keep running these double screens or staggered screens or Wemba Nyama screening on one side and whoever Brunson is guarding screening on the other side. And Brunson's escaping that stuff pretty easily. They're not even really using his man. They're using Wemba instead. And the Nick's pick and roll defense has been again, a skillful, thoughtful team. They are bumping Wemba Nyama on the role early when they set those stackers. I might not even set the stacker screens anymore because what it's doing is it's putting a Nick's defender up high and in position to hit him early before a second guy hits him or threatens to hit him late. And they're just not getting anything out of the Wemba Nyama pick and roll. So I might make them even simpler. And just I would go at Brunson. I would just hunt them with my guards a little bit and attack him physically with castle has had some success. I would do that even more. And when he's standing on the mention this after game one and he's totally right, he needs to hammer people on these picks. He's getting out of them too early and he's not getting his guards separation. And therefore he's not making towns and Robertson shift over at all. And the roles are just there are two or three possessions where you can see a lob is there. And the guards either don't see it or don't have the confidence to make it or they're being covered so tightly from behind that they just aren't comfortable making it. But for the most part, the Nick's are playing spectacular defense. And part of that too is like you go back and watch their closeouts. They're short to Harper. They're short to castle and they're closing out hard on everybody else. They're short to Keld and Johnson who has not made an impact really at all other than one offensive rebound. Like they are not messing up basic schematic things ever in these games. And it's it's hard to beat a team that doesn't beat itself even at all. Yeah. And I do think like that is another part when you look at what got this verse here and what hasn't been there in the first two games. Stefan castle had some unincredible games against the Timberwolves against the Thunder. And he hasn't had that big game yet where he's hitting all of his threes. He's getting to the basket and scoring at the Ram use what five for 14 tonight. I can't remember what he was in game one, but he was not effective. And so you know that is one where you can look at and say, you know, just like the Nick's can say, you know, Jalen Brunson may shoot it better at home or you know, a few others like I think Stefan castle is going to be better offensively. Certainly just more dynamic from a scoring standpoint, going forward. And maybe it's the physicality. Maybe, you know, it's the stage or whatever, but he's so mentally tough. Like he will figure some of this stuff out, but he is a road map to, okay, if if Stefan castle gets it going, that allows them to exploit Brunson a little bit more to and just find switches and and go at him or or even bridges or any of these other guys. And so I just think that he is going to have to step his game up and really look more like the castle from the western conference finals from the semi finals to kind of really put the nicks on their heels a little bit more. And I don't know how much more Wemba and Yama can play in 40 minutes tonight, big minutes in game one. They're just losing the cornette minutes, even when Brunson is off the floor over and over again. You know, Carter Bryant at center was floated as a solution. He just hasn't looked ready to play in this series. So I don't really know what they're supposed to do there. If French vanilla is even an option, they just haven't really used that and I don't love it for them. I don't think their team really is built is built to play that way. I would go back. The first thing I would do if I were on the spurs coaching staff is have a drink. The second thing I would do is queue up my film and watch the last five minutes of our defense versus New York's offense and see did we find anything in that stretch or did the nicks just kind of slow down? Did they get tired? There was that one possession where Brunson kind of just stood in the corner and McHale bridges dribbled around for a bit and committed a turnover because the defense they went to in that stretch was the victor zone where he's just tagging, tagging off and switching off on one player after another not guarding towns, not guarding heart who was on the floor off the floor on the floor and the spurs are trying to mix up their defenses. I think to be unpredictable like Hilt Victor will start on town straight up and then next possession will be in his own next possession will be on Josh Hart next possession will be on towns again and part of that is you can't always set the defense you want, but I think a lot of it is they're trying to be so unpredictable to throw the nicks out of rhythm and the nicks are too smart the nicks are just sussing it out immediately and I wonder if that if that zone ends up being their best answer, but the nicks have figured out how to beat how to beat Victor in his own and the way they've done it is bringing him into the action on the ball, finding him and bringing him in a two man game that he can't really get out of or hasn't figured out how to get out of and yeah, he's in the two man game is Victor, he's huge. They'd rather have him out there on the floor than at the rim and also like there's again, when he's guarding Josh Hart, it's happened in both games. They will go right to a cat post up because they don't have the size to guard cat and Josh Hart will be the entry passer and Victor, when the arm is like pressing him out there and I'm like, you're just letting Josh Hart not, he's not even pressing him because if he were pressing him, he wouldn't be able to pass. He's on him, but not on him enough to dissuade the entry pass and cat is feasting in the post again and then, you know, cat gets little cornet for a possession and drives by him for a floater. Just every element of cat's game is singing. So I don't know what they found in those in those last five minutes, but I, Kelden Johnson played 16 minutes tonight after eight in game one. He's the one guy they have that if you want to play around with Victor on Hart or Victor in his own and not worry that you're overmatched physically by cat. He's the closest one still giving up size, but I don't know if more Kelden, Victor minutes together is anything, but I mean, they almost won the game tonight and they had a chance. They had the ball in their hands and I can't wait to go see the quotes or what's being said about that, that pass that is going to go down in spurs history right up there with Manu fouling dark in in 2006 and all of that like or I think it was 2006. It's just an all time learning moment, I guess. Yeah, and I'll say I do want to go and watch this game back just to get a note, get my mind around it because my brain was melting as I was watching that fourth quarter, but my initial impression as I to watch the game and that you know I picked the mix and six um oh even more aggressive than I was I picked nix and seven okay yeah but I you know as I was watching those last five minutes it felt to me in real time like the nicks were letting the spurs off the hook more than the spurs were dictating the rules of engagement and figuring things out and getting stops like Brunson was taking some tough shots he makes some of those but all of that ball movement all of that intelligence had kind of dissipated and it was more one-on-one more ISO and I thought that just really played into the spurs hands you know your point about the zones act is we a lot of teams struggle with the zone if they can't shoot it from outside or if they can't move it and the nicks do both of those things so well that they're almost zone proof even with Victor going against them so I mean you know maybe they will maybe they did discover something but my initial thought as we're talking about this right after the game is that the nicks were more responsible for that lead slip in a way than the spurs were for going out and grabbing it and taking and getting back into it and there's probably some fatigue factor too I mean yeah the nicks the nicks starters are all playing big minutes I mean you know did you see how about the fox Brunson little teta teta like that was interesting we had some dust stuffs in this game Brunson just stares and then bridges it gets in you just wait for your college buddies to come break up the fight we had the Josh Hart trip on Cornell I was a coordinate I think that's right I thought that was I thought that was correctly called as a flagrant I thought there was a little too much to reach up and grabbing there we had the Mitchell Robinson tech jostling with Wembee which I thought was a horrible call yes I just thought that's hey that's a blow the whistle say hey settle down yeah yeah especially from Tony Brothers he doesn't do that stuff come on Tony let them play by the way I'm going on one of my many sports techs threads two friends of sure rain nameless nicks fans earlier today purchased plane tickets hotel rooms and game tickets to game five in San Antonio and are now thinking what are we going to do if there's no game five worst case scenario one says visits to the Alamo and a fun Mexican meal if if David Sterns was David Stern was so with us no way does he not make sure there is a Saturday night NBA finals game next weekend there didn't now they're plotting what to do in case they're in San Antonio with nothing to do yeah I thought that the the thumb was on the scale when cat got those two files in the third quarter and they were a little questionable and I wonder if Adam made the call from from the stands there but that would be a good problem to have if you're a nicks fan I would still go and just wear your nicks guard up and down the river walk and yeah that'll go all in that'll go well for you just just obnoxiously show up after the series is over when when why not you're you you haven't won a title in 50 years just like I mean you you got to do whatever you can to celebrate this if that if that does happen I'm trying to think what else I want to hit from from this game um we've we've hit a lot of it I mean it was like a a B game from Wembee yeah but I think I think he did a lot enough that I think he had 22 points in the second half um I think he at least answered the um you definitely answered the was it was a little bit odd or shaking yeah it was yeah it was by no means a bad game from Wembee or one that it was like oh he's not ready for this kind of a thing it was it was a quality game but it's probably not what they need to win they need they need an A game out of out of rickton woman yama to beat these nicks the way that they're playing right now can we just to talk about jail and brunson for a second please I so I sent you these basketball references I did one was for a regular season had to play over 140 games with the nicks that I wanted to include cat um and some other stats he's career regular season average is 26 point three points for game only Bernard King and Bob McAdoo have averaged more as nicks in that many games um he is currently ninth in all time scoring already for the nicks in the in the regular season he will if he stays with the nicks he probably will not he's not gonna catch a uing but he'll be number two all time in regular season scoring and playoffs scoring he is already number three um and points per game 29 point two number one uh over Carmelo Anthony and the advanced stats are he's even higher in those and towns has matched him in those in the playoffs and in less games like to to to the point of you know if they win the title there will be is jail and brunson already the greatest nick of all time um yeah or or like let's say greatest nick since the 73 championship game championship team because two titles for a guy like Clyde Frazier is that's it yes um but he is it's a conversation post that post wall Frazier like with apologies I don't look I grew up on Patrick doing Patrick has 23,000 career points as a nick like the jail at brunson has 7,000 some um but it at the very least it will be a conversation and if you care about longevity that much but if he if he carries them to the finish line and breaks the drought the the conversations are going to be deserved and what are the conversations is going to be like this is like up there with Lebron at the max to Miami and uh whatever other free agency signing you want as like the greatest signing in NBA history yeah I think like yeah I heard uh bill and max colorman talking about this a little bit uh on their pod and and yeah I don't think you can put him ahead of Clyde maybe Willis Reed too uh they're both in the conversation right with the with the championships and they they've won and and and just all of the accolades over multiple seasons but when you look at everything not and and like I'm a big picture guy's act like of course I'll look at the stats and and break those things down but I like to talk about the cosmic significance of things and to me when you talk about Jalen Brunson you know signing with the nicks it was unharrowed at the time you know a lot of people even question if it was an overpay at the time and the way that he has sort of single handedly changed that entire franchise it's been unassailable and not only did he do that then he takes less money on the next contract so that they are not in the cap hell that the timber wolves were in and why they had to trade Karl Anthony towns um and so they are they're better suited in better position because of the way that Jalen Brunson is going about his business as a nick and then just all of the last second shots the the incredible and it's also you look at it as this is an undersized rocky bell boy type guy I know he's Philly but like this is the kind of player who is unexpectedly great and I think that New Yorkers Nick fans not only you know would you love to have LeBron in your uniform and do not of course you would but to have a guy like this of this stature with this kind of game emerge as a crunch time killer the way that he has and really just carry himself in a way that has completely changed the whole vibe and feel of what was a an embarrassing franchise quite frankly yeah he deserves to at least have that conversation Patrick was there a lot longer but he wins it if he wins that title and what he's already done with everything else economically and vibes and all that he of course believe belongs right in that conversation for best since the 70s yeah it it would be it would be hard he's averaging 20 they just updated the stats he's averaging 26.6 points per game in the playoffs six assists two and a half turnovers 46 percent shooting overall 33 percent on threes towns is averaging 17 a game now up to 57 percent shooting 48 percent on threes 11 rebounds five and a half assists almost as many as this is Brunson obviously the size the rebounding I there's an argument to be made and the advanced stats would make it for you that towns has been the best player on the nicks in the playoffs it's hard for me to get all the way there with a near ten point gap and scoring and just how clear it is that Brunson is the fulcrum of the the ball handling fulcrum anyway of the offense and towns is obviously had flirted with foul trouble here and there in some games but I think I don't think it's a stretch to say that it's it's close at the very least like that's how good towns has been on both ends of the floor and you throw in the just sudden and dramatic uptick in his assists he's been like 48 percent shooting on threes he hasn't taken enough but he's like it's it's incredible and you saw this up close so I will let you weigh in but I've said this before I will always I will like in the first round of the playoffs there are eight series so many series and so many games that I naturally and other sort of don't necessarily check out but my my attention level to detail when a series goes three oh for game four and beyond wanes a little bit and one of the exceptions and one of the reasons I changed that and now I pay pretty as I'm almost as detailed now for those series is that Minnesota Denver series thank you in 2023 and I wrote it at the next year when they swept Phoenix I thought the last three games of that series were the turning point in town's career in the playoffs. Now he fouled out of two of them, but he played 38 and 36 minutes. So it's not like he was just like fouling consistently. And in games that probably history will not remember as consequential because it was a three O series games three four and five. Again, not spectacular 27 points on 10 of 17 17 11 on five of nine and then 26 on nine of 17. But there was a new just like the Memphis series before he was so frenetic and in foul trouble. And before that, he had only played one series and I just sought those games. Those games from afar seem to mean something. Do you remember them? Do you remember thinking about them? Yeah, I do absolutely. And like I think that people who are familiar with me and people are not like I've covered him since he came into the league. I generally have been a cat guy and even went a lot of people have not been a cat guy. Just because I've seen all of the things that he had to endure in Minnesota, both personally front office wise coaching wise, all of that stuff and Jimmy Butler, why all of that and Jimmy Butler wise. Yeah, he's a great way to put it. You know, he just kept his head above all of that fray and kept going. And so I always respected that about him. But in that series in particular, they were not the better team. Like they were going to lose that series. That was clear. But the way that he found kind of a composure and an ability to take some of the, you know, we call it stray voltage here in Minneapolis about, you know, kind of the way he is frenetic in times. And I do think he turned a corner and then it carried over into the next year because a cut one, you know, two other things that have been lost to history, they swept Phoenix in the first round. And in game four, they were, Booker and Durant were playing great and was not playing great. And the only reason that they swept them and finished that off was because cat was terrific through the first three and a half quarters and just kept them in the game until the cavalry arrived. Then you get to game seven against Denver in that second round. And it hits the big three, Rudy hits the turnaround shot. There's a bunch of other, a bigger highlight plays, but cat was the one who was scoring and playing within himself throughout it to keep them from the keep the game from completely getting away. And that was his ability and that's been in his ability in these playoffs too. And I just think that this one in particular, where if you want to separate him from Brunson a little bit defensively, that makes up for the ten point gap to me and scoring what he's doing right now on Victor Wombayama. What he did on Yokech in against Denver, what he did on Kevin Durant against Phoenix, he has that ability to do it. It just it hadn't been done consistently. And now we're seeing it every single night and it's another level of Carl Anthony Towns, one that I thought that he would get to. But to see it actually happen here in real time is been remarkable like to see just like everything that he's doing on both sides of the court, including you that one played defensively in the fourth quarter where castle comes in. And it's two men cat is guarding two guys at the same time and he forces castle to make the bad pass to that O G intercepts. Oh, that's right. Yeah, that's not going to show up in the statute. No one's going to remember that when you look back. It's not going to be on the highlight reel, but cat holding his ground and being in the right place that those little things that he's doing now. I just make his game so much more effective and impactful and I agree with you it started in Denver in 2023 in a series that they lost in five games. And that was the one. That's the one where Nas Reed is out in Janet McDaniel's is out, right? That's here. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Both of those guys were out. Yeah. So it's funny. Before I remember writing this like before he had played 13 playoff games before game three of that series. And I think two play in games in include so 15 total games and included in those games were an eight point game a five point game at eight point game and 11 point game at 10 point game. I think in one of the play in games. It's another which is not showing up in the game log because those games effectively like don't exist. Uh, I think one of them is in another single digit game. The clipper game was terrible plan. Yep. Yeah, that's right. And then since then, you know, look, the shots going to go up and down, right? Like against Dallas and the conference finals in 24 he didn't shoot it very well. But he's been pretty goddamn steady in the playoffs and, and, and, you know, this playoffs has been. I mean, spectacular. Any concluding thoughts, John Krasinski? I mean, I just think that I've been thrilled with the first two games just in terms of the competitiveness of them. Uh, how intense it is. I'm not in that building, but you can just feel it coming off of the screen like how physical these teams have been. How they're going at each other. Um, no lead is safe. And yeah, the nicks go home to know. But the quality of play, even though the games haven't been like beautiful in terms of a ton of efficiency and shot making stuff. It's beautiful to me in terms of like these two teams are standing in the middle of the rain and throwing punches at each other's faces and not getting out of the way and see who's standing at the end of it. Like that's what it's been. And that's like old school awesome highly entertaining basketball. I hope we get four more of these at least. Like, I mean, that's just been how much fun I'm having watching these games. Yeah, I was at game one. I left San Antonio to do some family stuff today. And I'll be back at the garden going forward. But I, I, it was a ten point game in the end. And I was talking to people after games like that was one of the most intense environments. I've ever been in for a game. And everyone agreed everyone was like, yeah, I don't know game one. It's not game seven. It was, it's not like it was Cavs Warriors 2016 when I felt like I was going to combust on press roll. It was really, really intense. And part of the nicks fans in the crowd added to the atmosphere added to the sort of heat in the atmosphere. It's been awesome. All right, John Grzinski, like just one of my favorite guys to talk hoops with covers the wolves, but covers the general NBA to for the athletic. Thank you for staying up with me. Where can people find your stuff as we guys, we gear into a potentially interesting Minnesota temporal is off season. Yeah, I appreciate it. We have at the athletic.com. You can find all my wolves stuff. I have the John Krasinski show on talk north weekly wolves talk. And there's going to be a super intrigue in summer to see what they do to try to keep up with this birds thunder and nicks. I think they're going to make some moves. So come on over there and check it out. And we'll see and I'll I'll have a bunch of more cat stuff come in throughout this series. I think from afar as well. So lots of going on here. Great. All right, John. Thank you so much for your time. But I'll see you down the road. It's always great to talk to you. Thanks, Zach. All right, that's it for a late night edition of the Zach Lowe show. Get some rest. Hug your family. We got two days before game three of this sensational so far finals. Can the spurs get back into it? Or is this a march to a historic New York Knicks title? Thank you to John Krasinski of the athletic. Of course, thank you to Jonathan and Michael on production. And thanks you all for listening to and or watching the Zach Lowe show. 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