Are the Knicks Finding Their Groove? Sixers Await | NY Got Game

What's good everybody? Welcome back to another edition of New York Outgames. It's your boy Dexter Henry with my guy Brian Fonseca right here to the next to me. Brian, five games have gone in the Knicks season and guess what? I got some news for you. What's that? The Knicks have the same exact record as they did last year. Remember when people were about to jump off the ledge because they were 0-2 and then 0-3? Same place they were last year after five games. Although they did the reverse this year. They were 2-0, they were 2-0, and then they lost three straight on the road. They followed that up with a five-game winning streak to their credit. No credit. Sounds like what you're saying is it's a long season. It's still too much to go. The main thing for every single team, not to take this in too serious of a direction at the start, the main thing is just being healthy at this point and whatever happens. And we've seen a lot of injuries around the NBA. The Knicks have... One, Jose Alvarado dealing with an ankle injury, which is not expected to be long-term, but throughout the league, reportedly there was 79 players on the injury report for Wednesday's games, October 28th, which is, I forget what percentage of the league, but it was a healthy percentage. And basically, that's two and a half per team or a little more than that, if you're doing the math. So this is crazy. It's a crazy amount, and this is why, look, You want to be healthy. It is a long run. You can't go too crazy about things this season. It's early. It's early. It is a long run. But we got a lot to get to in this episode. We have some things to talk about. We're going to highlight some players. We are also going to look ahead to the next schedule, what they have coming up next, including a fantastic interview that we're going to have with one of my fantastic good friends and good basketball writers that will be joining us. But I want to... Start off, just start by talking a little about what we've seen over the five games. Very small sample size in what we've seen from the Knicks over the five games. Now, look, people were worried 0-3. They lose to the Magic on Sunday, but they bounced back this week with a win home against Detroit. And then, back-to-back, which is the first back-to-back of the season, they take it to Chi-Town and have a... Fantastic comeback victory against the Bulls, where they kind of looked like the Knicks we had seen before. Granted, it is the Bulls. I'm not saying to read too much into that, but the Knicks came back in a game in which they were down 19 and then won this one. How do you feel about them needing the comeback against Chicago? Oh, you shouldn't like that they need it. We talked about this a couple of months ago, right? What did we say one of the keys was to the Knicks having themselves a successful season? And it was, you know, they can't play with their food. You don't want to get into the habit of having to come back too much. We understand it's part of their identity last year. We understand it for the best. You don't want that to be a habit. You don't want it to be a habit. It almost cost them their season in the playoffs, if you recall. You don't want it to be it. It is something nice if you can reach back to and dig deep and find it. And you saw that last night. Yeah. Had a magnet ball in the second half. Watching that game, but I do think, I will say this, I do think good things carried over from what we saw for two quarters against Detroit, okay, into the second half that we saw against Chicago. They cleaned up the defense. They were able to force some turnovers, which the Knicks can still do a better job of that, forcing turnovers. They haven't done a great job of that. We'll crunch those numbers a little bit later. But they also just hit shots. They shot better. You know, it was about time it started happening. Your offense took a major jump from where it was. You know, earlier in the week, I had Vinnie Goodwill on, and he told me after the Orlando game, we looked at the numbers. They were 30th. In offensive rating, they've now moved up into the mid-teens. So it shows you what a couple of good games can do for you in a small sample size. And now they're down to 20, which five games in. It could change dramatically. It could change dramatically. We saw last year it changed dramatically after they saw the Nets, and they're going to see the Nets coming up on Monday. Yeah, we'll get to that. Nets and Bulls, Monday and Wednesday, that may help your offensive rating. Yeah, so overall, and, you know, we'll touch more on this later. Overall, I think if you're a Knicks fan, look, would you like it to be flipped and they were 3-2 instead of 2-3? If you're a Knicks fan, you want a title. Like, I'm really not trying to hear it, honestly. Some people out here will be like, we're not trying to hear y'all. You're too calm. No, it's like, yeah, just one. It's not even Halloween. I mean, like, come on. Now, we will talk about some of what we've seen, obviously. It's been a very fast-paced NBA season so far. I'm really not trying to hear too many of the complaints. Like, we just did this. We just did this for an entire year, and look at what happened. Not that they're going to win the title again. I actually don't think they're going to go back-to-back because it's just way too difficult to do it. But they can do it. They're good enough to do it. We had somebody in the comments who I replied to, and I'm sorry I'm forgetting your name, but I responded back to them because they were like, I don't understand why Dexter, and he called me out, doesn't understand that fans are bothered by this start. This was after they were 0-3. And I was like. Because they played 3% of the season. It's 3% of the season. And then the person responded back to me and said, oh, well, you know, after their title winning years, Oklahoma City was this record. He had a larger sample size he used, like 25-4 or whatever. And then Boston was this record after 27-28 games. And I was like, yeah. But what happened with those teams? They didn't win the title. You beat one of them in the playoffs. Right. The Knicks beat one of them in the playoffs. I'm like, so the point is... Your start doesn't matter as much as what you said, my friend, which is, are you going to be healthy and play your best basketball towards the end of the season? That's the secret to the NBA. Are you healthy and playing? Are you healthy and peaking in the spring? That's it. That's all this is. This is what you want to see. It is a process. Mike Brown has talked about adversity time and time again. They're going to have adversity. Do you like it that the adversity hit him early in the season? Well, the adversity hit him last year early in the season. And it's going to hit you again. And they're going to find adversity again. It's too long of a season. That's why you can't go crazy. You'll feel it again in December, January. You'll feel it again right before we get to, like, April. It's just going to happen. It's a long season. It's 77 games. I think what you have to trust is, do you have the people in the makeup of your team that can overcome the adversity? That's... Which they've shown that they have. Right. So if you know that you have that and the Knicks fans know that that is out there, there isn't a real cause for worry. Yeah. I'm personally not worried. Do I think they're playing their best basketball even right now? No. I think you've seen two good quarters against Detroit and one and a half good quarters against Chicago. Yeah. Is what I would say. But last year we saw them play their best basketball in the spring. So, if they peak later and get healthy at that time, that's all you really care about. Is that an excuse for, like, Mikael Bridges averaging five points a game? No. No, well, speaking of that. You know, but. Speaking of that. In the grand scheme of things. That man saw 13 minutes against Chicago. Mike Brown, who. That was interesting. I thought it was. Now, will I say I'm concerned about that, people? No. No? Did it raise my eyebrow? I don't ever really raise my eyebrow. But yes, it did. Because I said, huh. But what I'll say is, we've seen enough from Mike Brown to know from everybody. If you ain't got it, he's going to pull you. That's my takeaway from this. Mike Brown doesn't care. And he shouldn't. He doesn't care how much you make. He doesn't care if you're the star of the team or you play all the time or whatever. He's like, he's comfortable enough, especially post-championship. He's comfortable enough where, and he basically said this, like, he said absolving the starting five, but I think even including most of the starting five within reason. He's like, I'll just bench you. I mean, he sat Cat for an extended period, even when he was in foul trouble in that opening game when he didn't really have to sit up for as long as he did, but he did it anyway. Like, he just doesn't, He doesn't care. And I'm not saying it like in a bad way. No, I get it. He doesn't care. But he's like, I have a title. Like, I can coach how I want to coach. Right. Yeah. Exactly. And he has, I think he's done that before. He's coached how he wants to coach. But to your point, it's even freer. Yeah. He's even more free. He's like, who's going to stop me now? The pressure is legitimately off of him at this point. Right. So you can coach freely. And I think that will allow the team and the players to know you can play freely. But there is with accountability. And anybody knows me, I'm a fan of accountability. There's nothing wrong with that. All right, so the Knicks are 2-3 after five games. And as you said, fans, you should not panic at all whatsoever. This is a – the start is fine. They've got some interesting games coming up. We're going to get to that later in this show. But what we are going to do first, Tim Kittsrow, take us to our first segment. Who got game? Okay, got a segment for you guys called this one, Who Got Game? Now in this segment, what we're going to do is look at the player. That defined the most recent stretch of basketball that we've seen the Knicks play. So for this, the player who most defined this five-game stretch that we just watched the Knicks. And Brian and I talked about this before. And sometimes we're going to have the same players. Sometimes we're going to have different players. We'd like to sometimes have different players to discuss. But I think for this five-game stretch, Brian, we both agreed there's one player to define this two-and-three stretch for the Knicks. And it is none other than Karl-Anthony Towns. Yeah. Carl Anthony Towns, who is looking to get the bag and wants his money. And has been very efficient offensively, despite the turnovers. Has been efficient offensively. A lot of turnovers. We'll get to that. But he's been really, really good. What has stood out to you about how he's been able to impact the Knicks through his first five games? There's a carryover from the playoffs, I'm noticing, in just his confidence. He's really hunting that trailing three. He loves that ----. Like, we're watching him try to shoot this at different points every game. He's been knocking them down so far. He's 41% from three on... The same amount of attempts that you would expect, right? Like four and a half per game. He was at 4.1 last year, 4.7 the year before. The three-point attempt rate is similar. Per 36 minutes, he's averaging five threes a game. He was around five the last couple of years. So on similar volume, he's making 41% per three, which is encouraging. Has not shot below 50% from the field in any game so far this year. The main thing is he needs to clean up the turnovers, but I still think defensively he's engaged. That's carried over. From the postseason, it doesn't feel like where he was last year during the regular season where he was getting lost and things like that. I actually think he's been solid defensively so far. Teams aren't hunting him in that same way, so that's been a strength. Now, offensively, they all kind of need to get on the same page collectively, but he's done his part, I think, better than anybody else on a consistent basis. Jalen Brunson's been rough shooting the ball. He was better against Chicago, obviously, but he's been rough shooting the ball in totality this year and kind of more inconsistent. Cat's been more steady so far. He's rebounding really well. He's been double digits every game. Has a 20-rebound game against the Detroit Pistons. They didn't have Jalen Duren. Still against the Detroit Pistons team, who's very tough on the glass, who actually boxes out, who actually competes for a lot of possessions. Um It's just the fouling and the turnovers that he needs to cut down. But overall, I think he's been really good. And they haven't leaned into the playmaking a ton, Uh probably because of the turnovers and fouling. Five assists against Chicago, though. Yeah, five against Chicago, the four against Orlando. very We said last year, I think... A point Kat or a point center Kat, if you want to call it that, much. is something that they'll lean into if he's not turning the ball over as much. It feels like that's Mike Brown's thing. It's like if you're not fouling and if you're not turning over, then we can do this more often. So if he's able to cut those down, we might see him get more five, six assists games. I'd agree with that. Again, I think Cat's been very efficient. The one thing I think you look at this from being a complete positive on Cat is, like you said, some fouls. And then the turnover. So I tried to look. Granted, this is a small sample size. I want to also be very clear and keep saying that again. We're talking about five games. But when you looked at last year, just so you can understand where there may be concern and how do the numbers match up to what your eyes are seeing. Well, Kat's turnover percentage, and this is according to Cleaning the Glass site that a lot of you know that I love here that takes out of garbage time stats. Turnover percentage was 14% last year, Brian. That right now, 24.1%. Yeah. Okay. Where does that place him in the league? Just so you can understand that is in the ninth percentile. Not good. That's got to be cleaned up. Do I think Kat will clean that up? Yeah. Our Jarius Schwartz asked Mike Brown about that the other day after the Detroit game where he had seven turnovers. Mike Brown talked about it, how some of it is a little bit of communication. Cat not forcing passes. Guys actually being more intentional about when they're cutting to the basket. So I think that's going to be huge too. But the thing you mentioned that I thought was really good in what you said is, and I just want to also be clear when we talk about turnovers, the assist numbers. are moving in a positive direction. Granted the small sample size. Right. Assist percentage last year. through the whole season. 14.2%. Right now it's at 17.8%. so you're starting to see it go up in the right way. It's just. That's the assist to usage ratio. Is up a little bit too. From .57 to .70. No, you just want to see those turnovers go down. And the assist percentage. For the playoff run. Was about 24%. Yes. So. I don't think it's going to get there. Because that's. Probably not in the regular season. Really. Yeah. Really high throughout the course of the regular season. But. If it continues to trend upward, that's just going to add another dimension to their offense that they're able to go lean on more consistently. You talked about the rebounding. And the Knicks, a couple of things with the Knicks. When you look at them, their offensive rebounding percentage through five games is actually higher than what it was last year, which is interesting considering they do not have Mitchell Robinson anymore. And part of that is Cat. Cat has had a huge impact on that. His offensive rebounding percentage has gone from 10.5% last year to 13.4% this season. So if you're starting center, who is mostly better known for being a strong defensive rebounder, which he has been and is doing that in an elite level this season, is really good. Because when you look at it last year, the 10.5%, just think of the jump. And I'm not saying Cat's going to stay at the 13.4%. I expect some regression to the mean here. 66% last year, now in the 94th. So he's elite in terms of offensive rebounding right now. We know how good he is in terms of defensive rebounding. But currently, it's even better than it was last year. 27.7% last year, now 28.6%. That's in the 97th percentile. That's among bigs, okay? So he's doing an elite job in those. I think the thing for me is also you talked about the shooting numbers. He's really efficient with his minutes pretty much being the same, okay, and his usage pretty much being the same. So you're getting a more efficient Cat, and you then wonder, this is the thing people are going to wonder, he could even be more efficient, which is scary, if he cuts down on the turnovers and stays on the floor a little bit more with the fouls. And I think that's the encouraging thing for me for Cat because I agree with you, there is a sense of confidence you're seeing. How does he then build on that and clean up a couple of things? And then do you really get an even better version of Cat? I think we don't think about this enough. Confidence is so big in everything you do. It is huge in sports. But what, we talked about how last year before the playoffs, Cat needed to be unlocked. But now we saw him unlocked in a way and come up in big-time situations. Now you have to start wondering, okay, well, what did that do for him this year? And what does that do for him going forward as he's trying to secure the bag for one last time? I think he's off to a good start this season. I just think he's got to clean up a few things. I don't think he's bad, and I think that's why, for me, he was a player that defined his five-game stretch. Yeah, it's going to be hard to sustain some of the efficiency because the field goal percentage is outrageous. 58.3, he's never been higher than 54. The three-point percentage, I mean, he shot 40% in two of his last three seasons leading into this year. That's actually not something that's outrageous to maintain. The rebounding percentage will be the best of his career, His best two rebounding percentage years were the last two seasons. So since he's gone to the Knicks, he's become a better rebounder by the numbers in terms of percentage, not just the raw numbers, although last year was not a career high in terms of raw numbers, but you also got to factor in that he averaged 31 minutes a game, which is the fewest that he's had to average in his career to this point. So he's rebounding the ball really well too. We'll see at what level he can maintain the scoring, Right now. He's playing really well, just really needs to clean up the turnovers and the fouls. But I think overall, he's been their best player so far. Yeah, I think so. I think there was a, you can talk about the impact. If you look at some numbers, it'll tell you about what the impact Josh Hart is having. Quietly, he's been really impacting the team with his on and off numbers. Low-key Clarkson, too. Clarkson actually is the best on-off on the team so far. We will get to that man just a little bit later. He's been really good, too. We'll talk about in the next segment. But I think if you're looking at Cat and you're hoping he can build on this, and I think he's showing the Knicks. Yeah, he's financially motivated, man. That's, that, that, that, that. That's just a real – you talk about confidence and motivations and all this. Some of this could just be, look, I really want my money. And I know what I asked for. I know what I was offered. I know what it's worth. And I'm going to play for it. And listen, if that's what gets you to have your best career season to this point, Thank you. it gets a lot of people to have their best career season. You know what I mean? We've seen that happen in sports and in anything really time and time again. If you're at your job and you know that you could be competing for a raise in three to six months, You might have your best three to six month stretch. Like, this is kind of how that works. Yeah. Look, small sample size, cats off to a good start. Some things you can still get better at. But I think if you are a fan of Carlton Towns, you wanted to see him start the season strong, well, you've seen it here. Game recognized, game! Time for Game Recognizes Game. We're going to try to recognize a player who I would call, you know, Brian, an unsung hero. A Brian Fonseca All-Star. You've been rocking with me and Brian for a long time. You understand exactly what that means. A Brian Fonseca All-Star. So, you know, somebody who maybe doesn't get to shine. in the play that you know plays or the wins that you've seen right might show you a skill that you might not recognize in the game a really good play so we want to give some shine to the folks that maybe don't get the spot unsung heroes unsung heroes there we go or i'd like to say these folks need and deserve recognition as well too so the knicks i think this week was interesting because i think the knicks could have had a couple of people That you could have looked at for this. And I initially had a player who was a starter. And then I decided to switch and say, no, I'm not, I'm not going there. I'm going to go with it. That means you had, you had Josh Hart. I did have Josh Hart, and I decided to not go with Josh Hart, who's done some really good things, and there was a good argument to be doing, but there was a player for me that showed out in the Bulls game that I really liked, and then you also had a player as your unsung hero for this Game Recognized game segment. And what we're going to do is we're going to look at the film. We're actually going to look, so it's like a mini film breakdown. We're going to look at some of the film that we have, and we are going to look at some of the players, these two players, They had an impact in games, plays that worked for them. So we're going to bring up that film right now, and we're going to take a look at these players and just show you the plays that really worked for them. So it's a lot you can look at in this, and there's things you're going to be able to see. So Brian, just to get us started, your player was Landry Shamet, who's had himself a pretty good game and has played very well there. So, yeah, what do you have for Landry Shamet that you like? For Landry Shamet, it's a combination of things. When he's playing really well, it's three-point shooting and it's a defense. It's also how he's getting three-point shots, the relocation threes, and being able to just... have other guys play off of him too because there is a gravity that he brings because of how good he is as a shooter um and he understands like where to be when his teammates get an offensive rebound where to be in transition where to be i mean even in a half court set like he understands his role more than just about anybody else on the team so it's really just it's a shooting combined with knowing his role on defense uh there were times last year where he looked better defensively than The McHale Bridges. According to people internally, as Stefan Bondi let us know, because I mean, frankly, he was defending at the point of attack better, right? Like that's something that he can do really well. You could also put him on a shooter like he's pretty versatile with, you know, respect to how he can guard guards in that way. But he's also a guy that is a good connector and you can play him with a lot of different lineups and lineup combinations and things of that nature. And I think he's done that well. Start the season, but more so these last couple of games or so. Yeah, and I think that's definitely why you've seen Coach Brown have such a love for him and the ability to mix and match and put him into different situations there. So, yeah, let's go to the video. Let's show what we've seen in the video from Landry Shamet and how well he's been able to play thus far this season. You'll see it in both the old clips that we have here from the Chicago game. So when you look at the Chicago game, Landry Shamet, in his first play there, we're going to see this is going to be a lot of people going to look at Landry Shamet and what he can do in terms of shooting the three. But Landry Shamet has shown us already he can impact the game without just shooting the three. And his movement without the ball is really important to the Knicks. So let's take a look right here at this first play from the game in Chicago with the Knicks wanting that comeback there. The screen by Cat. Watch this. So look at Shamet moving without the ball already. Ha, ha, ha. Like, actually, we should go to the start of this. And this is a big part of it, right? He's moving without the ball because he's somebody who doesn't need it. So here's Mikal Bridges going through the lane as Cat sets the screen. Here's Shamet. Okay, I'm going to hang out in the dunker spot. Shamet in the dunker spot, which you're not going to see a ton, but look. No, but I kind of like the look because that also throws the defense off. They're thinking they can ignore him here. That's not usually the kind of guy you worry about in the dunker spot. And the type of guy that you really want to worry about here is, well, it's twofold. It's actually Cat in the middle of the lane. So Caleb Wilson's there and Josh Giddey's there. And then you have OG in the corner. This is OG's three-point shot. So, okay, cool. Cat has a decision to make. The decision would normally be just hit OG right here. But he's like, yo, I got Landry Shamet in the dunker. And watch Cat's eyes. He's looking towards the rim and looks that off. And Josh Giddey's like, oh, ----. I appreciate it. If you're watching this, it's too late. Yeah. He's like, oh, well, Shamet recognized that play really well. And he's like, I could just stay right here. I don't think a lot of people would have said, hey, he could. When I watched the game, I was like, oh, didn't see them throwing it down. Dunking off the verge. You know why? October. And if this were April, you know, this might be a layup. I don't know. Andrew Chabot could let us know. But it is a great, great play design, but also just great execution here. Execution is obviously a word that you really lean on during the season in particular. This is important. But, like, look, miscommunication here. Josh Giddey knows. Look at Josh Giddey's body language. He's like, damn, we let that one go. Norman Powell is in the vicinity, too, but he has to worry about Mikael Bridges. I mean, I don't know if he does give him the start that Mikael has had for the season. Nonetheless, this is a great, great play here. Yeah, it just shows you how Shamet can impact the game, and then we'll see another play here so he can move on. It doesn't have to just be threes, although we're going to see a three-point shot right here where you see how valuable he is to the team moving the ball. Here's your other play, Brian. What'd you like to hear? Yeah, Tyler Kolek has had a very good passing season so far, stepping into backup point guard role for Jose Alvarado, who's injured. Thank you, Richard. Suspicious timing given potential... What are you saying? What are you trying to say now? It feels like an early showcase for Tyler Kolek. I'm not accusing anybody of anything nefarious on this particular front. Okay. We have Tyler Kolek here with the ball. Landry Shamit, pay attention to him. He's going to be over here in the corner. Here's the pass. I mean, that's a dime, first of all. This is a great pass because you think the entries come in the cat, and then Kolek right here. This is just perfect. Spacing, that's too late for a shooter like Shamet. Boom. Norman Powell did his best. But this is really about Shamet knowing where to be because some guys might just stay in the corner here. That's not going to help a lot because you need... Doesn't help the spacing. Right. Doesn't help the spacing and you need Kolek, the ball handler, to be able to see you. And he trusts that, yeah, Kolek can potentially make this pass if needed. So Kolek going up here to the wing is important because now he can see the entire floor. And if he wants to throw the entry to Cat anyway, he has the space to do it. You're not going to throw that from the corner because it's going to be too tight. And then Shamit just pops up a little bit here. Just ever so slight with the movement. Just slight movement. And now this is the look he has, essentially. Eyes on the rim. Powell is coming from out of the paint. So this is too late. So that's just great. It's simple. It's very simple. But these are the margins you have to work with in the NBA because everyone's so fast, so athletic. Um. And the pace is just out of control now. I think Zach Lowe said the slowest team today would be the fastest team in 2010. But, like, these are the kinds of things in a split second that make the difference. No, and Landry Shamet is a fantastic player at being able to react to all that in this. Now, my player that I chose to watch, and it's funny because it would be an impact with Landry Shamet in this, was Jordan Clarkson. Jordan Clarkson was tremendous against the Bulls. 18 minutes, the man is 17 points. Two steals. Vintage Jordan Clarkson. Three rebounds. Except, is it vintage? Because it doesn't exactly... From a production standpoint, yes. Okay, from a production standpoint. Because it doesn't look the same. It does not look the same. It does not look the same, my guy. It doesn't look the same. We've talked about, he's got rid of the three-point shot for the most part, although he made a couple. And he's reinvented himself into being a very, like, very good defender at times. That's a thing for me. He's coming into these games. He's the 10th man. He does not know whether he's going to play or not on some nights. It is limited. This man has only played 33 minutes a season. Most of them in this game, yeah. Over half of them came in this game. And this man, you don't got to get ready if you stay ready. And this man stays ready, okay? It's a small sample size of what I'm going to say, but Brian alluded to this earlier. It's the team. The Knicks net rating, this is according to Cleaning the Glass, taking out the garbage time numbers, 6.6 points per hundred possessions. It's better. Now, again, only across 32 minutes. That is a very, very, very, very, very small sample size. But the point being, you saw what he could do when he came to this game. And for me, it was how he built space. It was how he even impacted the team defensively and then turned it into offense. So we're going to watch it here on this first play, how he was able to turn defense into offense. You see Landry Shamet guarding Norman Powell. You see Jordan Clarkson in the corner on Caleb Wilson. And watch Clarkson, how he is able to immediately keep his eyes on the ball. Remember, the hardest thing Clyde always says is watch the ball. Watch your man. Clarkson's doing this. Let's let it run. So, Shamet was able to take away the space, right? So, you got to credit Shamit on this, too. Defending without fouling. Defending without fouling. Norman Powell was not ready. Shamet also was trying to draw an offensive foul, which he could have done there, too, and that could have been an offensive foul. He did clip him. He actually didn't catch him in the jaw. He definitely caught him there. That's an uppercut. That's an uppercut. Shamet's a strong guy, so he took it. But here's Clarkson ready with the steal. But now it's about, okay, when you get the ball. Can the Knicks get easy baskets, right? You have numbers. You've got numbers. This is technically a four on two. Clarkson gives it up, makes the right pass, right, to your point guard. And Shamet, who's amazing at relocating, think about it. He just took one to the chin. And did it fall on the floor like 99% of NBA players do now? Here's Brian Carlson, people saw. I'm not saying that. Yeah. He relocates to the corner. So you just see the impact of what Jordan Clarkson was able to do getting the steal, and it led to a fast-break opportunity, which was a huge run for the Knicks, as you see the scores at 109 in this game, and that gave the Knicks the lead. So a huge play by Clarkson there. This isn't the end of just this clip. This continues. Because on the ensuing possession, Clarkson makes another play. Right here. That leads. Keep going. Clarkson's right here. Keep your eye on Clarkson. Let it roll. That cookie's right there. That's twice in a row. And then is able to finish and score on the other end. That is a guy knowing his impact and locked in. Back-to-back steals. Think about that. That's two possessions. For the Bulls. In the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, almost halfway through. Just almost six minutes to go. Where it's a tie game, and you have a five-point swing that is caused by one man. His only two steals of the game came right here. There were two huge steals that helped the Knicks build a cushion, and this is not what anybody would have thought of Jordan Clarkson. Yeah. I'll even say three years ago. Yeah. Nobody was thinking about this for Jordan Clarkson. Before he signed with the Knicks two years ago. You know how when you watch a football game and then you have usually somebody who's a defensive player, we'll just say like Jonathan Vilma, he'll be in the booth and then he'll break down an interception and he'll always tell you, pay attention to the eyes because the defensive back is looking at the quarterback's eyes and the quarterback is like just looking and then they go for their number one target. Clarkson here is staring down Trey Jones the entire time. Like the whole time. He's like, watch. All right, I got Caleb. I love now. Trey Jones is here, like not even a half-court yet, and Jordan Clarkson's like, whoop, okay. He knows he's going to make this pass. Yeah, because to set up the offense, we've got to go to the middle of the floor. So. See that dribble right here? This is when he makes his decision. Yup. As soon as he makes the dribble with the left hand and he looks over, Clarkson knows. I know what's coming. He's like, yeah, I'm going forward. I'm going for it. And this is high enough where if the gamble doesn't pay off for whatever reason, then okay. You can recover and get back. But this pays off. And you see Trey Jones. Ha, ha, ha, ha. As soon as it left his hand. Yeah, yeah. As soon as it left his hand. You can see his teeth a little bit. You see, it's like, aw, ----. He sees Clarkson, and then boom. Clarkson, we can't see. His eyes got big. That's not easy. Darrell Revis. And it's a good finish right there for Clarkson. So there you go. Two unsung heroes for the Knicks. Jordan Clarkson, Landry Shamet, getting it done. there and so that's going to do it for this portion with the film but you like what you saw from those two guys and so when you're looking at these guys in game recognized games you got to recognize what these guys are doing because this is part of winning this is the little contributions I want to call them little because they're big that can help turn things around for the Knicks and I think some of the veteran role players have been huge in the Knicks just being better in the last couple of games and now we're going to see if the Knicks can be better With who they've got coming up next. They've got an interesting stretch of games coming up next. We're going to talk about that now. Who got next? All right, everybody. So now we're going to look ahead to what the Knicks have next. And I've mentioned this before. They have a very interesting stretch coming up. But the NBA Cup starts, which Brian and I, we both love. We love the NBA Cup. This is true. That starts on Friday night. The Knicks are going to be down the turnpike in Philly for the second meeting between the Sixers and Knicks. Sixers taking the first game on opening night. And now we're going to preview a little Knicks-Sixers. And we're going to do it with my guy. He. You've seen him as a huge part of the Locked On Sixers podcast. He also covers the Sixers for the Sporting News. And he also got to mention, he is an alum of the best university in the world, the University of Pittsburgh. It's my guy, the big bro, Keith Pompey. Keith, what's going on, man? What's up, fellas? How y'all doing? I'm good, man. I don't think I knew the Pitt thing. Oh, you didn't know the Pitt thing? I didn't think I knew that. You have never been on a podcast surrounded by this much Pitt excellence in your life. Maybe except for you and Jam mocha. Yeah, that's about it. Yeah, come on. It's always hail to Pitt with me and Keith. We know that, Keith. Yeah, it's always hail to Pitt. Keith, I'm glad you... We just hope our football team can get some more victories. All right. I ain't even going to talk about that in basketball. Basketball season's coming, Keith. I don't even want to talk about that either. So, that's it. Keith, let me ask you this. Because the Sixers won that first meeting at the Garden, you've seen more of this group together. The Sixers now come to this one. They're 4-1. What have you learned about the Sixers team that you didn't know on opening night that you don't think they may have grown a little bit since then? And what do you think the Knicks should be better prepared for with the Sixers team than they were last week? That's an extremely great question because the thing that I learned is that defensively, They're pretty good. I feel like in that fourth quarter, they did certain things where they got in certain matchups where, you know, they had LeBron James covering Karl-Anthony Towns, right? Like, in the past, let's keep it real, KAT and them would expose Joel. They would get him in space and expose him. And I feel like the one thing that the Sixers did is they're a completely different team. You know, you've got Jalen Brown, who was guarding Brunson, you know, he used his length. So what the Sixers do is they get a lot of hands on the ball. They try to use their defense to get them in the transition basket the other way. So that's the one thing. Now, offensively, the Sixers are still one of those teams where I'm still trying to figure them out, right? You know, there are certain times where you have. You know, Max, like Maxie will start things out and then all of a sudden Joel Embiid will get his touches and do things. And then it's like Jalen Brown. But, you know, it just seems like they always go into a lull. Right. But they've been able to overcome it. And, you know, I think that this is going to be a little bit of a different animal because I think, you know, we all know it's a rivalry. And I think the Knicks maybe look at it like, yo, we got out to a slow start. And this is a game that we go out and prove that we are the defending champs and we're trying to contend for another one. So I'm really intrigued to see what the Sixers are going to do. So, one of the things I'm intrigued about, Keith, we were talking about this a little bit before we started recording, but do you think the Knicks fans are going to take over the Sixers' trap again, like we saw in the playoffs? Do you think the Knicks fans are going to come in there and take over the Wells Fargo Center? I was down there a couple weeks ago for the preseason opener. I mean, the Knicks fans invaded that building. Is that going to happen again? You know what? And the crazy part about it, and let's just say if LeBron James wasn't here, right, and the ticket prices didn't go up to the way they are now, I would say yes. Now, the only thing is, it's kind of like I think the fact that everyone is bored in and everyone is hungry for a championship, you would assume that there are going to be some Knicks fans, but it's not going to be like a home game or Madison Square Garden South as it has been like the last two years or last three years. So I think we're going to see some Knicks fans, but I'm telling you. I don't think it's going to be the takeover that it was the previous season. And if it is, that's a bad sign for the Sixers. Because you mean to tell me, like, you got LeBron James and you got all this hype and New York fans still chanting, let's go Knicks. Like, you know what I mean, dude? I'm just going to tell you all this. And I'm sorry for being right. But it got to a point, the Knicks fans got so loud that they had to start blaring up the music, right? So you couldn't hear the Knicks fans. And then it got to a point, they start doing that all the time. And I'm like, why did the Knicks fans do that? This music is getting on my nerves, man. I want to watch the game. I'm tired of hearing the Philly Anthem theme songs over and over and over again. I mean, New York likes some of those joints. Like, if it was Freeway, like... A lot of New Yorkers are going to know those lyrics, too. But hey, when you're in there trying to cover a game, you're not trying to hear it that loud. Yeah, yeah. Keep it up. Keep it up. It's kind of crazy, because sometimes it's kind of like you want to just... They wanted to, like, tune it out, like, so people on television could hear. I'm like, yo, they can still hear the Knicks fans. All right. The stadium is in South Philly. I'm like, the people in Northeast Philly can't hear the fans. Like, y'all can't drown them out. Man, it's going to be interesting to see. And it's a cup game, so it's going to be interesting to see. One more thing I had to ask, because you talked about the offense, Keith, and you talked about how you were impressed with how they look defensively. When I watched the game the other night against the Pacers, Tyrese Maxey, he was clearly the closer. He brought it home for the Sixers down the stretch. Is that the known hierarchy in terms of who's going to close here with the Sixers right now? Or are they still figuring out? Is this Maxey's, the ball is in his hands when he needs to close the game down the stretch or are the Sixers still trying to figure it out? Will it be a little bit of him, Jalen Brown? What's the deal in terms of who's closing games for the Sixers? I think it's going to be. I think it's going to be basically whoever the hot hand is, right? But I will say this. It was a lot of high IQ basketball and a lot of unselfish basketball yesterday in Indiana. Because what happened is they saw, realized that Maxey was on. And LeBron and Jalen kept telling him, bruh, keep shooting, keep shooting. I mean, LeBron only had one shot attempt in the fourth quarter. And the same thing for Jalen. And, you know, they were just like trying to get him open, setting screens, doing whatever they could for him to get hot. So I feel like, you know, right now, the one thing I will say about them that... A lot of people were wondering if the Eagles will come into play and they seem to set those things aside and I think they really want to win, right? I mean, I know they really want to win. So with that being said, I feel like, you know, let's say if Jalen is hot. And then they're going to be like, Jalen, we're going to ride you. You know, Embiid is hot. Like the one game against, they lost to Detroit, but Embiid was playing well. And they were going to him a lot in that one particular game. So I feel like, well, not Detroit, excuse me, Milwaukee, because he played in the Milwaukee game. They won that one. And they were going down to him down in the stretch. So I feel like it's just a matter of who the hot hand is on any given night. We talked about the rivalry a little bit, Keith, already, but I wanted to ask you, is this the most that it's felt like a true rivalry? Because we've had different points, and up until recently, the Knicks were bad for a long time, and then the Knicks and Sixers were bad at the same time, or one team was good, one team wasn't. But this feels like the first period of now multiple years where both teams are in contention. So is this the most that it's felt like a rivalry since, I don't know, in how long, I guess? You are correct, because I always felt like, you know, everybody talks about the Sixers and the Boston Celtics, but I always felt like that, I mean, that is a rivalry, but I always felt like that always took away from the Sixers and Knicks rivalry. But I do think the last couple years, you know, because let's keep it 100. You know, Philly has a reputation. I grew up here, and we got a reputation of being a tough, blue-collar, gritty. Fan base, right? You know, everybody talks about the boo on the Santa Claus and this and that. But when the Knicks fans came in here a couple years ago, we're not talking about last year. We're talking about two years before that. And when they took over the city, it was like they embarrassed Philly. And I think that right then and there in itself kind of elevated the rivalry, especially since you got. Three guys from Villanova, you know, your front office is from South Jersey. So with all that, I think, yes, it did ignite the rivalry a lot. And like teams do, the Knicks win the championship, what do the Sixers do? They make major upgrades. You got to keep up with the Knicks. So, yeah, you are right. The last couple years, I feel like it went on to a new height. And, you know, these teams really hate each other. Yeah, they really hate each other. If we're going to keep it real. Yeah, I mean, tell us a little bit more about that. Because I know we're seeing it from the fan bases. Because when we do shows. Sixers fans will come and talk in the chat, whether it be to us or other commenters or what have you. But like we see it from a fan's perspective. But can you tell us about like from a from a competitive standpoint, from a player standpoint, from an organizational standpoint, like where are we with this rivalry? And when I say hate each other, I'm saying like that tongue in cheek, like because, you know, when you see Brunson and Maxie, we all know that they like each other, right? They're cool guys. You know, you look at Brunson, you look at Karl-Anthony Towns, they're Eagles fans, right? So, you know, but I do feel like there is when they get on that floor is a sense of. You got to beat this other team. Like, you cannot lose to them. It's like straight up bragging rights. And the fact that, you know, Brunson and Josh Hart. And Bridges played at Villanova. It's one of those things where, you know, it's like, yo, we had success in this building. We know that people know who we are. We're going to show out whenever we play them. And the same thing like Embiid, when he goes to New York, he cherishes the boos. Like he wants to make people look, you know, regret booing him. So, yeah, I think that it is a heated rivalry and the players know it. They all nowadays, it's not like back in the 80s and the 90s where they hated each other literally, but I think that it's one of those things where it's all about bragging rights and you have to win. You have to win when you play each other. See, Dex, this is why Tyrese Maxey hit the pads with Boots Ennis this summer. He was getting ready. He was getting his mind ready. I'm not even ready. I'm not even ready. I'm not even mad at that. When you look at this matchup, Keith, On Friday, I think one of the things I look at is rebounding. You know, you talked about the bigs. You talked about Towns and Embiid here. The thing about Philly, and I was a little shocked at this when I looked at the data, although my eyes told me this in some of the games I've watched with them, they've been out-rebounded in all five of their games. So controlling the glass is an issue, if you want to say, early for the Sixers, despite them being 4-1. Thank How much of the issues are you seeing with them? About who's been available and who's not, because we know Embiid's not always available. And then some of it is just the lack of center depth, which Philly has. Or just the fact that there's going to be tough matchups like Cat, where it's going to be hard for them to handle. What's wrong with the Sixers in terms you. of being able to rebound the ball? And how much do you think that'll be a factor in the game on Friday night? Yeah, I think it's going to be a major factor in the game on Friday night. Here Here's the thing. A lot of it, you can look at it and you can say center depth. Yes, but I also feel like. It's the roster construction, right? When we look at the 76ers, you know, Ariel Haportis is hurt, you know, he was the third string center there. we But they were looking for him to be a guy who could back up Joel Embiid go. and start on the nights that he's not playing. Well, the other center that they have on the roster is Adem Bona. Now, Adem Bona is listed at 6'10", but he's actually... 6'8". Yeah. Right? So when you talk about Dean Wade, you know, Dean Wade is 6'10", and, you know, we all know that he played with Cleveland last year, but, you know, he was like a slash, what they call a 3-4, like a guy who starts out playing the three, but then he can play the four as well. You know, his game is shooting threes and defending. Like, he's not a rebounder. And and then so. Then you have LeBron James, you know, and LeBron is like he wants to be a facilitator. He gets out and go. He does a lot of things. So I feel like it's all about roster construction. Now, you know, the thing is, some people might say, well, we got Taco Fall, but come on. We all know that. Taco Fall is more of a guy who's a development player that, you know, you're trying to see what you can get out of him. He's going to be a two-way player. Then they have a couple, a guy by the name of Dom Barlow who hasn't played yet. But I don't know if everything was equal, if he was healthy and everything was equal, how many minutes he would get in the game. You know what I mean? So I feel like the 76ers right now with Haporti going down. And y'all know him more than I do, what he can do and what he can't do. But with him going down, it kind of like left a huge hole in there in regards to what they think they can do rebounding because of the players that they have. That's just not their skill set. And unfortunately for the Sixers, you know, they've been able to win games, but it's been noticeable, like how they've been getting destroyed with second chance points and things like that. I expect Josh Hart, you know, he's not big. But I expect him to have a big game in regards to rebounding tomorrow. Yeah, the Knicks have been actually rebounding the ball well. I guess the last thing for me here, Keith, when you look at this Sixers team, because this has been the big question for everybody here in New York and probably throughout the NBA, are the Sixers the biggest threat to the Knicks in the East? In your eye, I'm just curious for you as somebody who covers the team, if you look at them as the biggest threat to the Knicks and the team that can actually knock the Knicks off the top of their throne. When somebody asked me to give my prediction, and I did a prediction, and I said the Knicks was going back to the championship, but I had them defeating the Sixers in the Eastern Conference, right? Um, but right about now, and, um, I look at the Detroit Pistons, right? I feel like Detroit is a pretty good team there. You know, we all thought that they were going to take a step back. It's still early, but they look like a team that, you know, in the past, I know, you know, they lost the last game, but in the past they matched up extremely well against Detroit. I mean, against the Knicks, they also match up extremely well against the Sixers, right? I think the big problem that we have with the Sixers and we talk about the Knicks, you know, the Knicks have a lot of continuity, right? More so than when they won the championship. I feel like right now they have to get over that championship bug, so to speak. But when you look at the Sixers, there are questions as good as they are. How many games is Joel Embiid going to be available, right? And then LeBron James, you know, how is he going to do over time? Because Father Time is an amazing thing, like, or a difficult thing for people. He's 41. He's going to be 42. So, to me, those two guys, it's... They have a lot of question marks right now, health and age. And then we talk about the backup center. If they don't go in there and get somebody who is really going to help them. I don't think that they're going to be the second best team or the team that's going to give the Knicks the biggest trouble, right? I think it's going to probably be Detroit, right? But if they're healthy, yeah, they will. But I still think that when we talk about continuity, we talk about matchups, and we talk about having the right pieces, I still believe that the Knicks are going to come out of the East. All right, there you go. You heard it from my guy, Keith Pompey. Pit legend himself doing a fantastic job with the Locked on Sixers podcast and sporting news. You can check him out there. Keith, I will see you soon, my brother. We will see you soon. Appreciate you joining me and Brian here on New York Out Game. Yeah, thanks for having me on, fellas. Thanks for having me on. Anytime, man. Hail the Pit. Hail the Pit. Alright, well, the Knicks, they've got themselves an interesting schedule. They've got the NBA Cup game coming up on Friday, as you mentioned, just talking about that with Keith Pompey. Then they've got the Nets at home on Monday, followed by the Bulls. You'll see them again at home next Wednesday. And then they travel to Cleveland, where you'll see the Cavs for the first time. So, interesting stretch for the Knicks coming up. They could get right. There's some decent competition in there. They could have some get-right games in there as well, too. What are you looking to see from them over these next couple of games? It's really the offense, while it did elevate against Chicago, I just want to see it against better teams and sort of how it looks. The defense has actually been good so far. I'll say that much. But the offense is where I'm like, okay, can they get to a place where it's a little steadier? Can they get to a place where they're actually taking advantage of the shot quality that they're getting? Slow starts did not leave them in last season. We're still seeing that. Although they haven't been the exact same fourth quarter team yet. So just a little bit more consistency on the offensive end is what I'm looking for. And the continued rotations, like to see if Jordan Clarkson is going to continue to get these opportunities. And as of right now, he should. And see like what Tyler Kolek can continue to bring at the backup point guard spot for the time being. Because. I don't know if you saw, but Pacome Tadieur's option, as we've been telling you, has been declined, so he will officially be a free agent after this year, so it does feel like the Knicks are potentially gearing up some things, and, you know, gearing up to do some things, and minutes-wise, you know, like, we've seen Mikal Bridges take a hit, we've seen Andre Drummond's minutes sort of be, yeah, Dior hasn't really played, Dottier, I think it's over, and Andre Drummond, you know, like, the minutes have kind of been Up and down, we'll say. Amen. And the play's been up and down. So I'm curious to see how Mike Brown's going to tinker with that moving forward. Definitely things I'm watching for next week. Hopefully by the next time we are recording, we'll have obviously a couple more games on the belt, another three games or so. So we'll have a little bit more of a sample size. I do agree with you, Brian. The defense has been good. When you look at the numbers from Cleaning The Glass, they're 11th in terms of defensive rating, 110.4 points allowed per 100 possessions. And in offense, getting better after the Bulls game is 16th right now according to Cleaning The Glass at 111.4 for 100. So, remember, that's taking out the garbage time. So, we'll see how the Knicks try that trend. I think those are some things to definitely watch over the next couple of games. How's the offense look? How's the defense look? To Vaughn's point, how do they look against quality competition or expected quality competition? And that starts with Philly on Friday. NBA Cup Group B is a slaughterhouse, is what I'll call it. It's a group of death. It's going to be a killer. The Knicks are going to be very interested to see if they can come out that again. They are the defending NBA Cup champions. We'll see what they're able to do. That's going to do it for this edition of New York Got Game. Special thanks to our guest on this one, Pete Pompey with Locked on Sixers podcast and the sporting news. And thank you to fans. Let us know what you think about the Knicks, how they've looked in their first five games, what you expect from them in this upcoming stretch. For my guy, Brian Fonseca, I'm Dexter Henry. We'll catch you next time. And thanks for watching New York Got Game. Boom shakalaka.