WE DEMAND RESPECT! | KFS Weekly Recap | Knicks Film School

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1:00and you don't wanna miss it. Hey there, Nick's fans, how you doing? It's your boy, Jonathan Macri with you for another episode of the Nick's Film School, weekly recap coming at you on a Monday at 6 p.m. as we are set to enjoy a night off, much well-deserved night off. And I am remembering to turn my lights on and welcome in Jeremy Cohen. Hello, Jeremy, how are you? Hello, John. I am so glad that this week was the order in which it was supposed to go with the Cavs game, the Bucks game and the Spurs game, and most certainly not in reverse. That would have been really good.

2:00So the Pemda's of the week was pretty great. And that's part of it. Oh, I'm feeling good. How about you? Good call back to Pemda's, man. Let me see if I like to be, I taught for how many years parentheses, exponent, multiplication, division. Oh, man. Oh, Jesus, this is gonna kill me. This is not the way I wanted to start off the show. Can you give me a hint? Sure, kind of the sum of partying. Addition, subtraction. There we go. Damn it. It was always the easy ones to catch it. It's like showing up and trying hard in a basketball game. You think it's be so easy. And yet it alludes us from time to time. So you're good. You're good because of the order of the week. And to one week, it was nice. How about you? How are you? I'm good. Yesterday it was a lot of fun.

3:02I could genuinely say that out of, you know, it's now late enough in the season. I mean, obviously the next game is a 60-second, which means they will only have 20 left after tomorrow night. You know, everything kind of starts to run together. And it was around this time two years ago. Well, it was around this time, three years ago. And around this time, two years ago, where I think we started to make the joke of like, oh, is tonight the night for the latest best win of the year? Because it seemed like every third game, there was a new best win of the year. And then last season, not so much. I don't even know. Like, off the top of your head, what was the best win of last season? We did a whole draft on it. And I've... I know. And yet I didn't even... Yeah. There's like a week in February that... I think it's in February that kind of stands out

4:03where they beat the, if I recall correctly, the nuggets, the kings and the Grizzlies. Does that... The Grizzlies game was one of my favorites. That was the first game Mitch came back. Yeah, there you go. That was around this time last year. So, yeah. In any case, this season, they're actually... But there's like a legitimate... I don't know, we're getting up, I don't know about 10. We got a nice handful, though, of nice candidates for best wins of the year. And yesterday was certainly one of them. And I mean, we could take the conversation in a number of different ways. I figured we would start out with where... I think a lot of Nick Finns are. And then there's certainly some, like, actual basketball stuff that we could get it to. But I thought we might start with the conversation surrounding this win. And the fact that, you know, your traditional national outlet, your Bill Simmons' and your Brian Winhorse of the world and so on and so forth. As I predicted after the game, did not make this about the next winning their second game of the season against the San Antonio Spurs

5:03in very convincing fashion, giving them their first loss at a month, but made it out about the Spurs and what they need to do differently in Yadda Yadda. So, what was your take on the conversation coming off of this win? That's what I saw, which was talk about the Spurs. And, you know, the question was posed to Brian Winhorse about the Spurs and he talked about it out there. Really good team that shooting isn't always there. I think also with the 65 game criteria, they're trying to keep Wembee playing as much as they can. I'm curious, right? Because I believe he's not missed enough games to no longer qualify for a win. He has, I think, four games left that he can miss. So, with that award in mind, you know, he looks tired. He looked a little sluggish. I was at the Spurs game and just watching him. He seems like the warm-ups, it was a little bit more gingerly than I would have expected. Now, my idea is this is seven foot four human beings. So, he's going to warm up differently than others probably would,

6:04but it just seemed like and durability was fine during the game, but they can't play phenomenal defense on him. I didn't really see a whole lot of that in the mainstream media, but it also the feeling I walked away with with when a lot of it was like, well, what can the Spurs do differently? He was, all right, don't keep the focus on the next. That's fine. Let the next 14 out of 18 of their last 18 games in quiet. That's okay. We can rejoice by ourselves. We don't need the pad on the back in order for us to feel good about where the next are. That's really it. They rebounded incredibly well from a two and nine stretch and they've used that time to show us, all right? Let's get back to the basics. Let's tinkering. It's almost like, again, there's their times where it's good to fail. Just learn from your failures and keep moving forward and the nicks have seemed to move forward with the failures that they had in place.

7:04And play good ball. It doesn't mean that things have been great. Obviously, the Cavs game, very sluggish, very sloppy, did not, they looked uncomfortable in that game. But this team, still even with that loss, it was one of, again, four in the last 18. Doesn't matter who you're playing, that's impressive. So the Cavs game, I agree with you. The Cavs, they were sluggish in the Cavs game and there was, I went back and I actually did the, the math honor. I think there was a 16 minute stretch against Cleveland where they scored 16 points, which is not a recipe for success, generally speaking. That said, there was a seven, almost seven minute stretch at the start of yesterday's game where they scored, I think, five points. And if you go even a little bit further and go, I think, like, either the first eight or so minutes of the game, eight, nine minutes, it was, I think it was like nine points.

8:05It was, it was like, they were, there, this team is not above going at a point a minute for longer stretches than we would like them to. And yet, the Cleveland game, I think, we would be a lot more comfortable tossing aside if it were not for the distance game that happened four, five days before it. And I, hearing you just reference, like, they rebounded from the two and nine stretch well, but we still have the pisses game, we still have the Cavs game. I just thought of this question, I'm going to ask it to you and I don't even know what my answer is. I think I know my answer is what I'm going to ask you. What do you think has done in the perception of the next more the two and nine stretch or the third loss to Detroit? The two and nine stretch because those were games. Well, those were games that they were losing to teams that they just don't, shouldn't have been losing too.

9:05Right, exactly. Again, it's, the reason I'm not saying it's the distance ones is because how can you say that and then also disregard the year before with the Celtics and getting obliterated and losing four times and winning none of them. I mean, the very first game of the season, mind you, it was the first game of the season, the Celtics were shooting at what looked like to be a record breaking amount of threes. And fortunately, they did not, but that's why to me, it's the sample size. It's a little bit larger. Of course, it's still loving games. That's a little bit more than a tenth of a season versus three games against the pistons. I might hear the pistons had a good week. They played tough competition. They played the OKC without some of their best players. They hung on to win. They lost to the spurs. There's another really good team that they beat the calves in a game that, yeah. The calves absolutely, I mean, important life. Yeah, it was, yeah, I was rooting for the pistons because I don't want to see it as attainable.

10:05So it was nice to see the Cavaliers lose and the calves almost lost to the nets as well. So that's why that stretch clearly something was a miss. And yes, it's frustrating that the Knicks have lost those three games. I'm excited for the week that's coming up because there will either be statement wins or opportunities for Knicks to learn how they can get better. And even in the wins, they can try to find ways to get better because when you're going to Denver, which is a tough place to play, when you're going and facing Oklahoma City, even if you're at home, that's a great team, reigning champs. And you've still got the Raptors who are the fifth seed. You got the Lakers who are, I believe, the sixth seed in the West. Back to the back, L.A. It's not going to be easy, yeah. Not at all. So with that in mind, to me, you just keep stacking up wins and you keep learning lessons the entire time. And this team is finally clicking and jelling in. And I know that this week feels a little different because it's two wins where, I mean, they shot the lights out against the bucks.

11:06The offense starts to jell and run some brilliant. But the games that preceded them fell chippy and not in a physical way, per se, but just in a way that was like, you should be putting the bulls away. You shouldn't be this ghost. Why is it taking an 18-point comeback or so to beat the Rockets when that sort of thing, but they capitalized and they won. And it's when you're able to get contributions from key players that things feel a lot better, certainly. So I think the thing that I kind of felt the most, this spurs when reinforced to me. Does the team really want to see the nicks and the playoffs? Because I have confidence, especially moving forward, that the nicks can win four out of seven games. And that's really how I think it needs to be looked at. The regular season is grueling. Every game is a different opportunity to feel a different type of emotion you maybe weren't expecting. But the playoffs. They don't tell me. Right, the playoffs is where this is built

12:08and why this team is built for that moment. I mean, I think Duce is still sixth on the team and minutes played and he's the top. Only going, he might not even eclipse 40 games this year. So it just goes to show of how each game is played and where the energy is focused on. And I hope that the last podcast, I don't remember if I said it or just maybe it was misinterpreted or whatever it was, the regular season does matter. I don't want to give off the impression that I don't think you doesn't have anything. I didn't think so either, but I just want to declare that because these wins do matter. These losses and everything does stack up. You don't want that Easter's game to be, I think Andrew even said this, like the type of loss that you have or you're like, damn, if they'd won that game, maybe something's a little bit different. But what you are taking from this and how you're able to create the best opportunities for yourselves come playoff time, this is a tough out this team. That's why every time that they stutter, I can't help but just think they know when to turn it on.

13:10They know when to be a great team. And if they're treating their regular season as training ground for the playoffs, I accept it because I know what their ultimate goal is because we share the ultimate goal with them. And that's where I kind of hit my foot off the gas of hearing as much as one might, but the Spurs game itself, I mean, the offense was nice. Of course, I can well actually really wasn't. There was some, it was very, I was well, I mean, it wasn't nice. It was nice. Yeah, 44 to 22, it's quite good that run, but it was the defense that stepped up and that has not been this team's calling card. So I think it feels a lot better, at least for me and maybe for other fans, seeing the defense click into place more, it's that backbone. It's that I know that we're at least, if we're not gonna hit shots, we're gonna defend well. And that I feel more reassured about, and I would hope other fans feel that way too. Well, I think fans should feel reassured about that. I think if you were going to be a host of a national podcast

14:13and talk about yesterday's game and talk about the team that won by 25, you might want to point out that this wasn't all about the Spurs playing an afternoon game and multiple days off in New York City. And they were due for a lot down or whatever other nonsense you want to put out there. You might want to talk about the fact that the team that held them to their season low end points is the same team that is the number one ranked defense in the league over the past 18 games. And that suddenly has a defensive infrastructure that works and isn't something that can be easily picked apart. I mean, the Cleveland game, I were talking about it earlier today, I was showing and Jeff on take down. Like nobody played well in that Cleveland game. Like I think both defenses were better than the offenses. But like, even if you say Cleveland didn't play particularly well, they only scored 109 points. Like whereas bad a game as that was for the nicks,

15:13like their defense at least did show up in that game as it has largely for almost two months now or a month and a half, I should say. And it starts at the top with OG and then yesterday we got McCall and like, that could have very easily been the talking point today. Like, oh my God, the thing that we said would be the nicks biggest weakness coming into the season, we meaning people who just talk about basketball, have they solved it? You know, with the ESPN stats information thing about the nicks defense on possession or quality of town's guarded Victor Roman Yama, that it was like the best defense that they played all game yesterday. Which is maybe not something you expect. So all of the things are there to all the pieces were there to suddenly answer the questions that maybe we're outstanding about the team. To go back though, and this is why, and yet the conversations is what it is about the nicks.

16:15And I think the reason, or I should say the conversation is not about the nicks, it's about the spurs and people are not paying a much attention to this from the next perspective. The reason I think is because it goes back to the question I asked you a minute ago. I don't think that they would be better off if they had not had the two and nine stretch. I think they would be better off if they had showed up against the pistons and won that game, even if they had won a close game. And the reason why I think you said it, you said they were losing to teams during the two and nine stretch that they had no business losing to, right? No one thinks that the nicks have ever thought that the nicks are a team that would actually lose the likes of, let me go remind myself some of the losses that they had during the time, lost to the maves and the freaking kings and no offense against the sons, but like the sons twice, the hawks, I mean, my God. So all of these teams, everybody knows the nicks are better than those teams, everybody knows when they show up and everybody like they could take care of business.

17:16I think it was the pistons game that did them in. And the reason why they beat San Antonio, they've beaten Denver, they've beaten Houston, they beat Boston, Boston Game was before that, but still. Like all these games that they're racking up when they could beat Oklahoma City this week, I still think because of that pistons game, the narrative will be sure. The nicks could beat all these other teams, but when it's the big bad bully piston standing in their way, and to which your answer is, well, look at last regular season with Boston versus last playoffs versus Boston, and I don't know how much that's going to translate. I guess here's where I'm confused about, number one. Well, actually, let me set the stage. Are we talking about in terms of where the nicks are at from a playstyle perspective, or are we talking about perception? Perception. Now we're talking about perception, surely perception. Last week when we had the conversation, yes, you talked about perception with the pistons,

18:18all the pistons forget about perception, it's ignore perception. Now we're talking about perception, again, about pistons. I think perception of the nicks in relation to the pistons, yes. Nothing's changed. The pistons are a better team. They have a better record. That's regular season. They this week, again, it seemed herky jerky for them. They still won two of those three games. And if we're talking about stacking up resumes, pistons have the opportunity to say, well, we beat the thunder. And we beat the calves. And we didn't beat the spurs, but they were on a nine, eight game winning streak entry in that game, I believe. On momentum, yeah. No beat. And they could say, Cade was in foul trouble, and other guys just were kind of interesting. Right, exactly. But they've also beaten the nicks three times. They've beaten the Celtics several times. So like if we're talking purely about perception, the pistons, for example,

19:19have a very good resume of teams that they have beaten. Sure. And I understand that from the nicks perspective, it'd be nice to hear why is it not, look at what the nicks did instead of, we'll look at where the spurs didn't do this. And what do they need to do in order to do this? Oh, I get it. I guess it, to me, it's just like, the win was the statement. The ability to beat a spurs team, which going into the game, oh, I wasn't very confident that the next would win, because the spurs had a few days off. They'd been in New York for a while, to that point, but not of like a going out, but like they're situated. They haven't played at home since February 7th, so they've been on the road a lot, but they've been winning those games on the road. And then, you know, again, historic five spotting the other team, a handful of points. Josh Hart doesn't have it going with the shot. He finds other ways to win. And I think the thing about the spurs win that I loved was it showed so many different multitudes of what this next team can look like, because it's like, wait,

20:20Josh Hart, he doesn't have the shot going, like in his own words, how else is he going to energize the rest of the team? Yeah, not being this offensive jug or not, but playing great defense on Wembee, rebounding the ball and putting in points where he had to. Dylan Brunson having nice scoring runs. Moji Awara, obviously, they decided to leave him open, made them pay at certain points. So it's just, Michele Bridges had going off. He clearly likes playing the spurs. I mean, you, you mentioned the player, you can find a storyline for why that player helps the Knicks. And to me, it's just the spurs. Like I saw their second, you know, do I call a second best player? You just got paid to be the most expensive player on the roster. So Deer and Fox scored zero points in the second half. Was that it? Was that him not being aggressive? No. Was that the Knicks not letting him? Jerry, I was agreeing. I knew you were agreeing with every word you're saying. I knew you were. All I'm saying is that the the the business of sports media in terms of not giving the Knicks credit,

21:24I am less caring about it, because I saw what I needed to see, which was, yes, it was very nice to see the Knicks put down. One of, if not the hottest teams in the NBA, and I say, if not the because they had the longest winning streak in the NBA. So it would have been great to be like, look at what the Knicks did because it's not a surprise. But even when these comments were taken out of context, when B was complimenting the Knicks on how they beat them, the spurs. And it still seemed like a takeaway from that was, oh, when B doesn't think that the Knicks are a good team. No, that wasn't what he was saying. He was talking about the fact that the Knicks do different things and they're not going to be the most physical, but they can find ways to be physical. And they can beat you several different times. It's several different opportunities. And that was that. It was a compliment if anything. So yes, is it at least like 1% or some that when the Knicks have these successes, it's more about why did the other team that they have anointed or praised lose that game?

22:28Yeah, of course. It also doesn't really impact me, because what's in front of us is what's so important. It's the record, it's the performances, it's the jelling, it's all. I could play a agree. It's the perception of them and the conversation about them does not necessarily matter to me either very much. My only point is that if you keep the two in nine stretch exactly as it was, with the losses exactly as they were with James Dolen not going back to his seat after half time of what was it that was the MLK game, I think. All that stuff. If they had come out and one against the pistons in the first game after the break, I think and everything else was the same. I think the conversation leading up to this game against Oklahoma City on Wednesday

23:30would like national media wise would be, oh, okay, this is the finals for you. Not definitely, but like there's a pretty good chance that this could be a finals for you, because the one test that Nick's needed to pass left this season was Kenya handle the pistons who had smoked them the first two times. Second time obviously missing a bunch of mixed mixing players. And they passed that test when they came out and they took care of business and the whole thing and they played like we know what capable thing. Because they didn't do that, I think we're not getting any finals preview talk ahead of this Oklahoma City game. And I think we're, we got the much more paying attention to the spurs angle of this win than the next. Again, does any of that matter? Probably not. I just, it's just interesting to me and it's a for me, it's a thought process in terms of like what are the things that actually dictate perception in the league? Because again, I completely agree with you on paper.

24:31It like an 11 game stretch should have far more weight than any one game. Doesn't matter who that game is against. And yet I just don't think that's the, that's the reality book. But even if they said one one, the pistons would still have a tiebreaker. So I don't even, I don't think the standings would matter. I think it would just the fact that they would have gone out there and proven that they could be this year's pistons team. Which is, I think most people feel like it's taken a step up from the version that didn't explain the playoffs. It sounds like you may feel differently. Last year, how many times was it shoved in our faces? How they were winless against the Celtics, the Cavaliers, and the Thunder? The entire season. There you go. The next have performed better. I mean, look at all the top 10 teams. The only teams that they have not beaten pistons, which isn't going to happen in the regular season, and the Thunder, and they play them twice this month. They've won against all the other teams. The question moving forward is the teams, the games that they haven't played yet,

25:35or the, you know, like the, the nuggets and the lakers and even Toronto, I mean, they're maybe 11th by record, like winning those games. Because if you're able to just shore up those wins, then you're saying, okay, sure, we didn't beat the tippy top, but does that even, no one's going to be talking about that, if the nicks are able to advance, and then I'm really simulating here. But if the nicks are able to move through the playoffs and get to these recurrent finals, and the pistons are unable to meet them there, then the nicks versus pistons talk means nothing, because one team would be there, and one team wouldn't. That's why that third game, like if we're talking about respect, I screw it, it doesn't, like I don't think that that would have changed it, because there even when things have been good for the nicks, there have always been reasons for, for members of the media to go out of their way to talk about why the other teams have been impacted. We're seeing Mandela affect, in effect, with Jason Tatum, about how, oh, if Tatum hadn't gotten hurt, there was still some time that they could have

26:37all of that, like, well, but that's, that's what I'm saying. That's what it goes. The nicks don't get the benefit of the doubt, and that's fine, that's the world we live in, that's what we've accepted, and that's what makes it even more fun to win these games, because you're not the team that you're expecting. Well, still there, you sleep on the nicks at your own peril, that's how it feels, and I'm fine with that. You know, what's so funny is, with the Celtics, it was very much a, I don't want to call it an exes and those things, but it was kind of an exes and those things, which is like, the nicks have two weak spots on their defense, the Celtics, and the Celtics have, they go five out and thus, they are better suited to exploit those two weak spots than anything in the league. And then on the opposite side of the ball, the Celtics are super switchy and they have big wings who could, they could neutralize towns, and it's not really going to, it towns is not going to stress them out, because they have, you know, the Pristops who could protect the RAM in addition to obviously Tatum,

27:38you could put on towns and KP could be a rover on the whole thing. It was very much steeped, it was grounded that conversation in something that was concrete, black and white. This year, it's actually, it's kind of been flipped in that you look at different teams around the league and you're like, oh, well, the Spurs, Spurs content creators are saying today, oh, well, the nicks are a bad matchup for the Spurs. Nuggets, I'm sure then for Nuggets people at this point are probably like, not the best matchup for us when talking about the nicks. You could say the same thing about the Cleveland Cavaliers. The nicks have Mitchell Robinson, how are the Cavs going to stop him? And you could find some other teams as well. And then with the pistons, that conversation is not really steep. I mean, there is some black and white Xs and those stuff too, but that's more steep than like, oh, the pistons are so physical, they play so hard, they're so tough. Did the nicks have what it takes to counter that? That's where that conversation is, which is so different from the Boston conversation.

28:40And I don't know what's better or worse, it's just different. Well, it's also regular season and the playoffs are completely different animals. And I feel like there's a lot of projection about what works in the regular season. And well, that's what's going to work in the playoffs. When you look at the outside shooting, or the lack of a secondary ballhandler that the pistons are living with, that's going to catch up with them. Or at least it would feel as though that's something that other teams have dealt with where it's been problematic. Cade would have to truly be, have a generational run in order to have the pistons go from not winning a single playoff series in his career to winning two to three or even four, which would be the championship. And his first, like in that one fell swoop. Usually it is a gradual progression. It's why so many of the game's best players won their championships in their fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth seasons because they had to take their lumps

29:45earlier on gain the exposure. It's not every player, of course. They're going to be some who are just fantastic. Like would it put it, would it surprise me if the spurs with Wembee not having one any playoff rounds before made it to the Western Conference Finals? It wouldn't surprise me. Because of the West Finals? Western Conference Finals. Would it surprise me? No, but history is not exactly on Wembee's side because of the fact that this would be his first playoff experience. It's the regular season plus of playoff games, different matchups, different time. It takes these guys time to get acclimated. The Knicks said it before. They're very battle-tested. This is not something that a lot of other teams can have. Now, the Thunder, you could look at them and say, well, they were young, they won, and that's absolutely right. They did. It was close, though. The Pacers had had opportunities before. They had more experience in Siacum. Haliburton's been in the league for quite a while, but long enough. But for that, it was just they were able to, they were great team, and they found a way.

30:50They had the MVP on their team. That certainly helps. Having the MVP push you through and becoming the Finals MVP as well. Well, you have the best team around you can possibly have. Worked in their favor. That said, I felt OKC wasn't immortal last year, but no team really was able to attack them. Quite like the Pacers were. It was close with the Timberwolves. They didn't get there. They were very close to make it two and two. They wound up losing by a few points in that game. So I just feel like even with Jan Williams not playing, and the Thunder still being great team, there is there's their vulnerabilities there. And that's why I'm very excited for Wednesday's game, because that's a start. It's let's feel it out. Let's see where things go. As memory serves, the game they put in OKC last year, things felt really good. Things were great. And the first quarters of that game were an out-of-body experience. Exactly. And then the wheels fell off. So if the Knicks can win against the Thunder, then perhaps that feeling of,

31:50man, our system going to be taken seriously by mainstream media feels different because of the fact that they would have beaten the team that is the reigning champs with probably the repeat and reigning MVP. And they would have done it at a time where they're excelling. But that's what this week will unfold. That's what will happen. If assuming they're able to win that game. Listen, the Knicks right now, third in offense, a little bit of a distance between them and the top two. Nuggets and Celtics have been kind of going back and forth with the top spot. All year, Knicks are about two points for 100 possessions behind them, but they're also a solid point nearly ahead of the fourth best offense in the league, which is the Charlotte Hornets. Shout out to Charlotte, man. More importantly, they're the eighth best defense in the league. And they are a sneeze away from from being six because it's it's really

32:54neck and neck between them. Toronto and Boston. If they again, I don't want to put any cards before any horses, but if they can take care of business in Toronto, which I'm sure that won't be an easy game, like the Raptors, like everybody shits on the Raptors and yet all the Raptors keep doing his winning games. Like they're fifth in the East. So that's not nothing. If they can take care of business against the Raptors, when you know the Raptors will play hard, know the Raptors going to run, try to run them out of the gym, the whole thing. And then if they do emerge with the victory on Wednesday night, I'm not saying they should. I'm not saying they will, but like they, as we know, the next time a shot to win any game there, because they're really good. If they come out of that and they are somehow, and they even maybe nudge up, they'll live in further in the defensive rating rankings. And they're like in that five, six range. I don't think people are going to have a choice at that point. I think people are going to have to look at them and they're going to have to say everything that you're saying right now. Last thing, and you just maybe think of it with regard to Cade, and we'll give some some

33:59game balls. What do you think the pistons are ranked this season in effective field goal percentage? It's all recently. It's like 16. You won off. They're 15. I actually would have guessed like 17, they're 15. This is all according to MBA.com stats. Over the last five years, the NBA champions have had effective field goal percentage percentages that have ranked in receding order, seventh, second, first, third, and second. So the lowest among those by far is last year's Oklahoma City Thunder, who had the greatest defense in like the century, if you account for league average and all that sort of stuff. The NBA runners up, the teams that lost in the championship, fourth, seventh, 25th, ninth, and third. So the lowest of those with one exception was ninth, and the exception, of course, because they're the exception to every rule,

35:03was the Miami Heat team that emerged from the AIDS seed and shockingly beat everybody and root to the NBA finals when they lost to the Denver Nuggets. I guess my point is that you do kind of have to be able to shoot it a little bit in the playoffs and the fact that the pistons don't really have a ton of shooting. I don't know. Mike, come back to hurt them when you're playing. It's also half court offense. I mean, that is something that is so undervalued in general, because like, for example, the pistons to your point, I mean, the offense isn't their calling card, but clearly the glass would have their half court points per play as ranking 18th in the NBA. That's tough. The next for context are ninth. Which is where they also rank, I should say, and affect the field goalers. They're ninth.

36:03Right. So you'd like that to be a little higher. I will just say. Of course, absolutely. I mean, it would help if the nicks could finish at the rim at a better clip. They don't. I think that's probably what's doing them in largely. But you know, I mean, when you seem to help bridges do beta waves instead of drawing contact and then hopefully converting on fast break points, for example, that might be able to get you a little bit closer in terms of efficiency, but whatever. So again, that's why it's like there's certain things where it's the teams that I really take seriously and the teams that I just feel like you got to prove it. And the regular season to me isn't the time to prove it. The playoffs are, but the regular season, you put yourself in the position where you can have different challenges that are easier because you've won more games. You've capitalized. I mean, the thing about the pistons as well is they had a real tough schedule ahead. And then they played the three teams we talked about.

37:03And now the remaining schedule is similar to the nicks, which is very easy. So all of their schedule right now, they're going to keep winning games. And it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. The thing I'm curious about is the calves because the calves seem to have a level of comfort playing the pistons. The other thing being JB Bicker staff, there's familiarity there where if you're the calves, you know what's probably expected come playoff time. So if you're the Cavaliers, do you want to go face the nicks? Probably not. In the second round, do you want to face the Celtics? Probably not. Pistons? Maybe. I mean, it's going to be interesting though because you've just mentioned the pistons of the nicks, Detroit, 60sia schedule, next 50sia schedule, calves, 30sia schedule. So, you know, the calves are going to win some games as well. That stretch,

38:04you know, and you mentioned, I think you mentioned Boston 8th hardest schedule. And tonight, Yannis is back. And the rest of the round, round paid up. Yeah, and Tatum's out as well. And the thing I want to say about the Celtics too very quickly because I would imagine the, there's a possibility that Tatum comes back this week. It'll be tough for him to be reintegrated into the system, not because he doesn't know the system, but because Jason Tatum is going to be a different player. If physically and emotionally and mentally, there is going to be a challenge for him to getting back to who he was. Now, it could be, he snaps right back into place. Things are fine. But then it brings me to Jalen Brown. And I think we saw firsthand with Julius Randall when you let that player, I don't say this immediately because Jalen Brown, I mean, this is someone who won finals MVP. He's quite good. But Jalen Brown has in his mind, I could see it being as he's in his own words. He said he's the most consistent

39:09two-way player in the NBA. Which is a nice, the day-to-day part, nice way of saying, colliders, it doesn't exist, it doesn't qualify. But being able to say, I've gotten us this far, you know, who's, this is kind of my team as well. The reason I bring up Julius Randall is it's so hard to put the genie back in the bottom. When you're that good, even if you're inefficient, like Jalen Brown has been, like Julius was, your game has been working. You have someone that's complimenting you and that's great and take some of the pressure off. But now you've got someone where it's like, we had a flow going and now we're trying to work you back into the fold. We've also got a really tough schedule. So if the Celtics lose tonight, then the nicks are only a game back. The nicks currently would hold the tiebreaker. There's one more game to be played. But with Boston schedule and the nicks playing the way they are, I mean, obviously they've got some tough games ahead of them over the next couple weeks. But there's still a chance the nicks could finish

40:10with the second best record and have home court advantage through the Eastern Conference semi-finals should they advance that far. That would be nice. But last year's show, they don't necessarily need that. Teams have played really well in the road and the playoffs. Mike Green talked about this on a broadcast not too long ago. It's just a home court advantage isn't quite what it used to be. So I just have confidence in the nicks no matter what they do. You should. And we all should, for as much as they've done enough to make us skeptical, they've also done enough to give us confidence that they could go in and win in a series. They're the next last last thing we'll give out game balls. The team that is going to have probably the most to say about who finishes within the two and the three seasons in the Eastern Conference, Charlotte Hornets. They play the Celtics three times from here on out. They play the next twice from here on out. Both of those times, by the way, both of those games against the nicks are within the next final 10 games. So one way or another, the Hornets who, if you listen to the Simmons

41:15bot today, you'll know have like, you know, the best net rating league for however long it's been. They will be a factor one way or the other in the Eastern Conference here down the stretch. Okay, we'll get some gables. Let's do it. Like it find my better here. It's okay. There we are. Game ball. Given to one player coach or entity that there's a special recognition for their accomplishments over the last week, you correctly picked two and one last week. Congratulations. I'm very happy that they went two and one, supposed to one and two. I would like to go three and I picked three and no actually. You did, which whatever. Who do you want to give your game ball to? I mean, I could give it to the player who was nominated for Eastern Conference, player of the week. I didn't even see who was nominated. Is Janet Brownson? I did not see that. Good job on you. I could, but I'll give it to the man of the hour, Moody at Warra. Because that's what the people are yearning for. Give the people what they want.

42:22Exactly. I know that there's talk of what's going to happen this summer and what can the next do and all of that. Let's pop the brakes on it is my recommendation because there's a lot of time between now and then the other, the only other thing I'll say on that right now is you could point to the arenas provision, which was named after the arenas roach, named after Gilbert Arenas, which was one of the warriors, lost Gilbert Arenas for agency because he was an early bird free agent that they had drafted and had enough money to keep him and it was a whole thing. If you're concerned about that, Moody at Warra in his first year right now is averaging just over three points per game. Usually teams don't throw big bags to players that are lower in the scoring realm and for arenas rules. Gilbert Arenas was averaging 18 points per game after his second year. So it should just show comparison of teams usually shell out larger for the offensive production

43:25and primary scoring as opposed to more of what the award does. But raised with the award, I mean, he was so key in terms of changing up the Spurs structure on defense and how they were playing. They were leaving him open and treating him as though he couldn't hit three. Now, my view, going four of 13 from three isn't exactly something to write home about, but the fact that he made those four threes, the release of it, just how his shot looks but the ability to keep taking them and not play into the Spurs hands, the creation abilities that he showed a little bit against Milwaukee, the defense. I mean, this pick was incredible. No matter what happens after this year and I'm not too worried about it, this pick has really helped center the Knicks and I still can't believe that he fell to 51, but he did. And the Knicks snapped him up and the way that he is not just playing, but the way that he is talking just oozes confidence. And that is so important and shows how playing for a winning team can really help players that

44:31are developing, but you got to be ready for it and you have to have winning minutes and it's really hard for rookies to have winning minutes. Do you are doing that consistently? So just based on where he is at in his career right now, I'm going to give it to Mo. Do you are? Fun pick. I'm certainly not going to argue against it. I can very easily go with Jalen Brunson, who is shooting 55% from three this week. He has made like just, I should probably just look at the totals here. I think he's made 11 of 23s of my quick math and my head is correct. I could certainly give it to Macau Bridges, who had I think what a lot of people feel like was his best game of the season against San Antonio. I'm going to go a little bit off the grid here and I'm going to give a shout out before I do it to DJ Zulu, because one of the things that I love about what we do here at Nick's Film School is no matter how many rants I might have after a post game or no matter

45:32how much shit talking Sean might do from time to time or no matter how much fun Andrew pops on and has with whatever Andrew's having fun with them a given day. We are still the place to come for grounded analysis and that's why I love you and the way you look at the cap and all of the things that have to do with that and that's why I love DJ and Benji because they always again bring it back to the film and DJ for the Nick's Film School Patreon today put out a video about, I think it's 2020 five minutes long I watched it earlier and went through the evolution the real time evolution in the Spurs game of Josh Hart and how he came out and that was a really, really rough watch over the first, you know, handful of minutes of that game and he showed why some of it was on heart and some of it was on the fact that they were playing Wendee who was a one-of-one defensive player

46:33that does things that nobody else does and then he showed how starting in the first half with continuing into the third quarter, Hart evolved and Hart figured it out and how him figuring it out it wasn't just that he, you know, took this thing that the Spurs were doing and like and he like dealt with it. He turned what was the strength for the Spurs into a strength and an advantage for the Nick's and so I'm going to give my game ball to Josh Hart for not getting to down on himself which he you could tell he was in the opening minutes of the game and for and for keep working hard and all the way through even as the offensive issues were befalling him. He kept playing hard, he kept defending, he was a big part of the Nick's defensive showing as was everybody in this Spurs game so he will get my game ball for the week. Trying to think, do you think anyone's had a more inefficient week and received the game ball?

47:37Josh Hart this week, 33% for the field, 24% for three, probably not. Not even arguing against it. I think Kat would have also been a good pick even though he didn't. I'm very easily given it for that. But yes, it's the evolution of the ability for Josh to recognize what's working, what's not and change it up. Because that's the DJ tweeted about this too with coaching and your concerns about the starting five are not invalid, they're better but they're still times where like the third quarter of the Cavs game, it was really close and then of course it got a little less close at the end of the half and then the third quarter everything just collapsed. Do I think that was just the starting five? No, but played a role, but even Mike Brown, if you're moving past that, Mike Brown said the Bucks game, he used pretty much the same minutes distribution and play calling, not the calls themselves, but the minutes plan for the Spurs

48:42game. That's working. What was the, but also the, what was it? Jose, Alvarado, Mo, OG, Bridges and Kat lineup. I'd love to see more of that. That was great. Sure. Things like that. But even though Josh is not a part of that, the self-awareness that he had to change things up and be the team player, that's always what he embodies. Did Lee the theme and assist this week? Shout out to him for that. Okay. Detention given to someone that a player coach or entity deserves to go into a dark room for a long time and think about what they did wrong and can do better the next time. I'm not giving this to a player. I'm giving this to anyone who had a national podcast today and did not give the nicks their due. So sorry, Bill Simmons, get to go into tension. Sorry, who collective folks need to go into tension. Look, I get it. Talking about the nicks as being good at this point is already an old story,

49:46even though they sucked for two decades, most of the two decades. But like, it's still kind of fun for us. So if we have a big win over a team that hasn't lost it a month, I don't know, maybe give them a little bit of love just to tidy out. That's all I'm asking. So y'all go into tension. It really bothers you, doesn't it? bothers the wrong word. I don't even know if annoyed is like the right word. It's just having now, like I used to not think of like content creation. I used to just go out and talk. And now over the last few years, I've kind of had to think about this more as a job. And I've realized that yeah, there are absolutely things that like you know, like I'm sure you do. You know that there are certain things that you say that have a chance to go viral and things that you say that don't. Even if that is where your mindset is and I'm not suggesting that any of those people that that is where their mindset is solely, there is always

50:48room for just plain old, level headed, like accurate basketball talk. It doesn't all have to be, you know, something that could fit neatly into the take cycle. So it's just more of like, I don't know. I just wish we could all be better, including myself by the way. Fair enough. I was also struggling with who to put into tension because the only player I thought would maybe qualify. And I just, I didn't feel good putting them in there was Jose Alvarado because I just like, oh, I felt like he was the least productive. But it's, but he there was productivity there. And even hearing the he was mic'd up for this first game, listening to him afterwards, hyping everyone up and being a great teammate. It just felt like, all right, cool. That's like, that's your role. That's a great role to have. That's something that is really nice that the nicks have at their advantage, considering how sometimes it might feel like

51:50from the outside looking in that there's not as much leadership there. So I'm honestly still struggling with who to put into tension, not even necessarily from a nicks perspective. So, if you want, that's easy. But he barely, he sure, but he was, he was in garbage time for two of the games and the third, everyone was pretty much trash. Um, you know, I'll just say Stephen A Smith in a similar. Sure. Why not? Blue and orange guy is kind of just, yeah, all right. I'll, I'll take a picture of what you're doing. And, you know, never a bad time to put Stephen A Smith in, in detention. Okay. Here we go. Predictions, uh, no, there are not three games this week because there's five. Wait, we're not, we're not going to record after the leak. Oh my god. So I'm just going to think this off and I'm going to, I'm going to redo this. So there are five games this week. I'll say it as I retiple this. Um, there are four games this week, but we are going to pick

52:51five games because we are picking one day's game against the LA Clippers, which of course is NLA. Uh, before that, we have games coming up against the Raptors. That is the one home game followed by a road trip. Um, sorry, I mixed that up. No, in Toronto, that's the road game. Okay. Then we're home for one game, one freaking game they put us at home for in Oklahoma City and then road Denver Lakers Clippers. Um, and then there's the road trip continues after that. But that's what we're picking. You have the first pick. We go with three and two. Okay. You know, I understand that there's back to back in there and we'll see if Mitchell Robinson will be playing. He had a nice long rest against, I don't think he played the second half. Did he against the spurs? Mitch? I'm trying to remember he had was out there for a very long time and they did not play together. So they went small in the fourth, but Mitch, Mitch played in the Mitch absolutely played the second. There's no number one. He, he, well, hold on, I'll, I know he

53:55absolutely played the first. That was 15 minutes in a game. There's no way he played 15 first half minutes. He must, he must have snuck it. I'll look for it when you're, yeah, it was a short, it was a very short stint, but yes, that's why it wouldn't have felt. Uh, but yeah, I'm going to go three and two. Uh, if Mitch is not playing in a back-to-back, curious as to, I would imagine he played the Lakers game and Lesso the Clippers game, but the Clippers has been pretty good as well since they're, they don't have their pick. They have no one's set with those, you know? Yeah, it depends also if it's going to play, I would imagine, but okay, it always be a random entry. Did you find the Mitch minutes? No, I'm looking off. Thank you. I went three and two. I went three and two. I'm going to go with that. Okay. I would take three and two, I think, is the correct pick. I, um, I said before this, I looked at this as a six game stretch before the first game, because I consider the Clippers

54:57to be like a real team. And I said, you know, we would, we would have to be okay with three and three, if we got three and three, I don't think anyone should be complaining. That said, shoot for four and two. Well, now they've gotten the one. And if they go three and two, then that's, that's a, that's a really good, that's a really good result. Do I want to get greedy here and predict four and one? No, because then if you lose to Toronto, which is, I don't think they're going to, but like if you lose the Toronto, that pick is just fucked. Um, I don't think they will go two and three, but I'm going to pick two and three. I'm going to pick two and three. I, I, I just four and one is asking. Let's asking so much of them. Five and it was available to just say now. Just saying it is. You know what? Never mind. You know, I, I, I did it last week. I went three and all last week. I didn't get it. I'm going to do the same. I'm going to go four and one. I'll, I'll, it is really hard. It would be a, to ask them to go four and one in this slate with the, with two,

56:01right? It's two back to backs. One back to back. No, it's two back directions. I got the date wrong on the. And it is two back to back. It's two back to backs. Yeah. And think of all the travel. It's going to Toronto, coming back to New York, going to Denver. And then going. And playing back to backs. Listen, if they go four and one, then everything you said about why no one's talking about this team is valid, especially one of those wins against OPC. Yeah, I was about to say, oh, except if it's, they don't win against OK, so I just think the Denver game and Denver, now here's the thing, Denver is not played well, lovely. Like they, they, they, they've been, you know, their defense has been really bad for months. Wolf's game last night was pretty, pretty bad. Yeah, no, it's been, there's been like real legit red flags for, for, for Denver for a while. They've been like a 500 team for, for quite some time. And I know you'll get yours out for a lot of that, but yeah, obviously, I record, um, yeah, screw it. Four and one.

57:02Okay. So that's my pick. That's it. Um, watch party on Sunday for anybody in the city. We're doing that. Of course, I don't come to the flyer handy, but that is a pin six kicks off at 230. There's a bottomless brunch option. If you want, um, I know from talking to Sean today that we have a ton of RSVPs already. However, if you are thinking of coming, please do RSVP. I'm going to double check right now and make sure that that is still the pinned tweet on the Nickfilm School Twitter account. And it, um, is indeed. So I have to do is go to at Nickfilm School, SKOL and the RSVP link is right there. Um, again, Nick's first linkers watch party, such a 230, brunch in with Bronson. Great name. Thank you. Um, very good. I appreciate. Uh, yeah. Well, there's also a non-bottomless option. Yeah, you don't have to. You can go and sit on club soda for the whole time if you want. Um, that's there, there are many options.

58:05Uh, anything else? I'm forgetting. Anything with the chat. This is why I keep you around, Jeremy. Uh, okay. We got a couple chats here from one, I'll give you one guess through the first super chat from. All right. Hey, how, heck, Kevin, how are we doing? The Nick should punt the OKC game with the back-to-back and then for Friday. Kevin sometimes says the darkness things. Yeah, the Nick should, should not try to win a game. I agree. But look, I mean, we'll see if they're, if they play a mids or not against Toronto just because he is on the, not in the injury report and available doesn't mean that they'll play him. They could game plan it and then he simply doesn't show up and they play him then. Possibly. But does that mean that the next your punting? Like, what does, what does punting really mean? I think he means just like sit all of your starters, which would get a huge fine from the NBA. It definitely would. Absolutely. Not that, uh, I don't know if James Dolan would care.

59:09No, they're not going to punt the OKC game nor should they. Um, Brolyk Jesus, do the playoff Nick's absolve all the sins of the regular season. So I don't know how I interpret this question because of the question is like, if the playoff Nick's like succeed, which to me that would mean they made the finals, will that absolve all the sins of the regular season? The answers, of course. If you're asking us, like, will that happen? Um, maybe I hope so. Um, I'd like to know a little bit more about what exactly the sins are because this is a team that has the fifth best record in the NBA. Yeah. I know that they're not rating. I know they've struggled at times, but a lot of things stop talking sense. Just stop. I got to cut you off. We don't. It's worth I'm just asking the question. We know what it is. It's the, it's the, it's the, and again, I referenced this on the post. It's more than it says, I said this on the post game last night. I want to repeat myself,

1:00:09but briefly, there is, there is the inconsistency that comes with every team in the regular season, where every team's fan base feels like, oh my god, this fucking team is putting me through the ringer unlike every other team. No, every fan feels that way. I think the nicks have gone like one notch above that with their lack of efforts and or lack of execution in some of the games. And yet, as I say that, I know I am seeing that from the perspective of a nick fan. Go talk to a nuggets fan. Go talk to a wolves fan. Go talk to a fucking rock. Go talk to a lakers fan this season. If they're already left, my god. Go talk to any of those fan bases. And you will probably have calves fans. My god, talking about people that wanted to jump out of windows for the first two months of the regular season. Go talk to any of those fans. It's what fans are truly happy this year. The pistons, the Celtics, the Spurs, and the Thunder. Yeah, you know, now maybe that says something about the nicks aren't in that group.

1:01:14But well, I think the other thing with those teams is three of those four. The expectations entering the season were not to win an NBA championship. It's a great call. The Thunder, of course, with the reigning team and they were on pace for, you know, I mean, what they start this season, 26 and 2, something along those lines. And then since then, they fell off and, you know, shout out to Chris Finch to really get NBA reps to start calling things on the Thunder more. But that's the thing. The teams that feel graded because they're not shackled by the feelings of crushing expectations. Now it's whatever happens feels like gravy in so many ways. And the next don't have that benefit, which is fine because that's that's just simply what the expectations are. It's why so many people live for the January 2024 team. That team did not have expectations. It's the what if that will always live on. And if that had been realized and the nicks didn't do well on the playoffs, January 2024 wouldn't be memorialized like summer 2016 is for whatever

1:02:15reasons it should be like that summer was not as great as we all say it was. It was fine. It was a fine. I mean, I don't know what you're talking. I maintain what I said earlier. If they had beaten that Pissons game, this would not be it. We would not have this to project. I just I don't think that's true. I just don't. I'm not getting off this. I'll die on this. I know. Yeah, that's fine. It's fine. You're dying on it. You got blood. That's all over the hill. But in terms of what this team is and like blood every question is being asked, I don't think it's because of the pistons third. That's fine. It's fine. It's great. It's great. It's great. All right. We're going to get out of here. Anthony, I can't remember the last time I had that good of a feeling from beating a good team like yesterday. Cat seems to be on the right track as of late. I truly think we haven't seen the ceiling of the starting five yet. I'm with you, Anthony. I don't think we've seen as stealing of those starting five yet. And specific. It's funny. You mentioned cat. I completely agree with you. The cat is on the right track. But I think I want to see. I want to see them tap. And this is nobody's fault.

1:03:19Collectively, I want to see them figure out how to tap into cat's individual offensive prowess because you can't say they're not tapping into him as an offensive force. Always do his look at the on-off numbers for that. Clearly, they are tapping into him as an offensive force. But I, you know, we know he's capable of scoring so many points. Not that that always is it the best thing for the team, but I think I want to see a little bit more of that. I agree. I'd say also in a press tweeted about this today. I can't find it, but just cat passing out a passing out drive. He's passing out a drive like exponentially more than he did before the break. And that's helping the ceiling. It absolutely is. And good job by him to do that, because that's always kind of an issue for him. And then last one, I'm going to let you read this. I mean, sit OG, Brunson, Mitch, detention for you, Jeremy, you know, come between detention every friggin' week for a new thing. At this point, I just made it my home. I just live there now,

1:04:21rent-free. It's fine. That's cool with me. So it is. It's my fault for having literally DMVS. It's my fault for DioWara walking this summer. We're not walking like anything. It's my fault for so high on playing like it's always my fault. So you know what? I'm in detention regardless. It's fine, Kevin. I'll just stay there. I have I got nothing. I hear you know what? I'm going to throw Kevin Bone. If this if they just like proactively decided to like sit half of their roster against OKC, I would respect it. I don't know that I would I'm like rooting for it. I don't know that I'm advocating for it. I would respect it. If that's a decision that they came to as an organization, I'd be like, you know what? Fine, whatever. Why? Why are we respecting that? Because because it is a grueling week and they have obviously another back-to-back coming up right after this back-to-back. Again, I would respect it. I wouldn't agree with it. I would understand it.

1:05:29That's all. That's I'm nationally televised game. I would not. I wouldn't respect it. It would feel like running from the opponent. OK. And then it would feel like if they lose, well, it's an incomplete game. Because if they lose with a healthy squad, then it's the concerns of well, what are they going to say? What are they speculating? It sounds like demand are respect. It sounds like the regular season matters a lot to the one co-host of this podcast. I'm just saying, I feel like it would be good for all parties involved that the nix and the thunder play the healthiest versions of themselves. I would like to see how the nix do against the the real nix do against the thunder. I think that's and again, and I say that knowing that the thunder are not going to be whole, but just whatever the thunder I have to offer I would like to see. How the nix do? OK. That's it. Now we're done. Anything else? Hope to see folks on Sunday. Hope to see folks on Sunday. Thanks, everybody. We're checking out another episode of the nix folks go podcast.

1:06:30You know how to help out the show if you dig what we do here. Obviously, if you're watching on YouTube, smash that like button. Subscribe on the YouTube channel. Follow us wherever you know. It's always fun to hear smash that like button. That's what the kids say. And like 2013, maybe yes. Yeah, it's OK. When it goes, there's another as my daughter who is bad at me right now because I yelled at her for not finishing her her suffer. What the what the what the what she says, but what what what the people that she watches say about hitting the like button. We're touching it or whatever. Pressing it. Whatever. This guy's that like button. Absolutely. Smash that subscribe button too. Smash everything. That's the whole thing. Smash the review. Yeah, I'm done. OK. Thanks, everybody.

1:07:30We'll talk to you all very soon. Peace out.