Transcript of Dan Le Batard Celebrates His Beloved New York Knicks | Local Hour New

Daz, how are you and the group coping with what it is that my beloved New York Knicks are doing?

I—

it's, it's not bothering me. You know, maybe it's because they're gonna run into like something bigger and badder in the finals that they haven't seen yet in the Eastern Conference. I do think the Knicks have a chance to win the championship, but it's, it's not bothering me. I don't know.

Well, it's because they haven't won it yet, so you're, you're bracing yourself. It'll look something like this. It's only going to get louder, you know.

I mean, I would tell you, like, 2 years ago when the Celtics advanced to the Finals, that, that, that was very tough to handle. And like, I don't, I don't feel that way right now about the Knicks.

I don't get how it is that you and Mike, who came up through all the same Knicks stuff that I and Cody did, Greg Cody, that this is generational where both me and Greg Cody are looking at the Knicks as the Miami Heat's biggest rival and you and Mike are not there. You guys keep thinking that it's the Boston Celtics just because But because over the last 20 years the Knicks haven't done anything, but at the beginning of the Miami Heat being something that mattered nationally, before Shaq got here, the Knicks were the thing that kept getting in the way. And the Knicks are responsible for the single most heartbreaking loss in the Miami Heat's history.

Yeah, the Knicks gave me my biggest sports heartbreak growing up, and it was 3 consecutive years that they did it to me. But I guess because it's been so long that—

and they didn't end up doing much I— and there wasn't the same kind of animosity towards like the LeBron Heat and, you know, Hispanics down here in Miami, which is a different type of hatred.

Like, if we take— if you match up how you felt about the Knicks and the Knicks fan back in the late '90s versus how we feel now about the Celtics and the Celtic fan, I feel like this is worse for the Celtics.

Yeah, I hate the Celtics. I, I don't like them, either of those two teams, right? But, uh, to me it's, it's pretty clear that it's the Boston Celtics that are the Miami Heat's greatest rival.

But you've lived through both of it and you don't agree.

I don't agree, but I also wasn't doing what Mike is presently doing, which is dropping more than a dollop of Boston racism into the mix, because New York has Washington Heights and has some Hispanic people. Mike is holding on to more than I am the fact that WEEI was entirely racist toward my father. Like, how is Mike holding on to that more than I'm holding on to that?

That's a ride or die right there.

It's— I hadn't even considered the fact that you also had that Boston tinge of racism everywhere. And as I like to remind both Mike Shore and, well, just anybody, Boston fans shit in Bill Russell's bed. That, that comment, I think, ended Bill Burr's and Bert Kreischer's podcast, just telling Bill Burr that again and again as he got angrier and angrier. And his baseline is angry. So, like, he's He's got resting angry face, and then he got angrier and angrier because I just kept saying to him again and again, but they shit in Bill Russell's bed.

Why'd they do that? Bill Russell was so good.

This is the Don Levitar Show with the Stugatz Podcast.

I believe that I can say without equivocation that the Knicks are playing the best basketball over 11 games I've ever seen. You've ever seen over 11 games? Yes. You can't beat opponents that play off on the road the way that they're winning. Road playoff games are hard to win over the last 11 games. Look up for me the numbers on just their last 6 road wins. Chris is here. The last 6 road wins. What is the total number of points that they've won by? Because we can diminish this if you want by saying, well, they're doing it against a 4, a 6, and a 7 in a weak conference, but they're not playing close games like they're— what, what they're doing is they are totally beheading teams.

161 total points in the last 6 road games, an average of 27 points per game. That's a molly whopping.

Per Tim Bontemps, the Knicks have now outscored their opponents by 262 points across the last 11 games. This is the best point differential across 11 games in NBA history, regardless of whether it's the regular or the postseason.

See, see, that's— yeah, like, that's where it doesn't matter who they're playing, because we could talk about the Boston Celtics from a couple years ago and, oh my god, they had the easiest run in the Finals, star player was absent from every team they faced. They weren't doing this to teams. Like, if it was so easy, they would have done this. The Knicks are killing these teams.

But the numbers that he just gave you there, keep in mind, when other teams have done something like this during the regular season, they're playing bad teams. Not bad playoff teams. Bad teams. The, the Knicks, what they are presently doing has changed my mind. Uh, over the last 3 years I have thought you cannot win if Jalen Brunson is your best player at that height. That player at that size doesn't end up winning the championship. But numerically the sport has changed so much that the Knicks have now changed my mind on that. I do believe that they can pose a set of problems to both OKC and San Antonio that they too haven't seen, because when they You make 18 threes and a half against Philadelphia, that beats anyone in the sport.

So the question I have, all that considered, is where do you then place Mike Brown and this coaching performance that he's had, not just in the stretch, but you leave Sacramento, you're down bad, you get fired, and now you do this and you make a significant coaching change in the middle of the playoffs when you're down to the Hawks.

Their bench is a good deal better. They had last year with Thibodeau— I know it's an easy narrative with Thibodeau, uh, and a lot of people seized on it, but I believe the guys they were using off of the bench the last few years aren't even in the sport anymore.

That's right. You're right.

And, and what they have coming off of the bench now doesn't quite make them OKC scoring 60— what was it, 74 points off the bench in Game 3, but makes them formidable from 3, which is where you have to be in the modern age. OKC, look, they have not faced a top 5 defense. That's what they're going to see in the next round, no matter who emerges from the next round. But they can also be a top 5 defense. Their perimeter. You really do have to salute that management team around James Dolan that they've covered up the stink of James Dolan with the moves that they've made. You can question all you want the Bridges acquisition, but the Knicks fan believes in playoff Bridges. They believe that that's something that's, that's real. And the thing that they have, Landry Shamet's 11 for 12 from 3.

He's Ray Allen now.

So when you say the Knicks fan believes in playoff Mikel Bridges. You, you're saying you believe in playoff Mikel Bridges?

I do not yet. I have not yet come around on Mikel Bridges, but I do believe they have more ways to beat you offensively than most teams. Their best offensive game ransacks these teams. Can you— I had not admitted to being a Knicks hater until 11 games ago. It was literally 11 games ago when they lost that game to Atlanta that I for the first time admitted, yes, I'm a Knicks hater. I got joy simply from their suffering. It wasn't and happiness for Atlanta. It was just seeing that happen to loud Knicks fans. And since then, they've been the most overwhelming basketball team I've ever seen. Because you guys are talking about the Celtics from a few years ago. That's not what I'm thinking of. I'm thinking about the Warriors of Steph Curry that were winning 73 games and were beating everybody by double digits. These point totals are lunacy.

And it's not just the 11 straight wins and killing all of these teams. Their only 2 losses of the playoffs are by shots right before the buzzer. They lost the— they're so close to being 14-0 this postseason.

Playoff wins are hard to come by. Road playoff wins are really hard to come by. And the way they're doing this is not normal. But I do want to give an award, uh, because we're not going to be able to talk about them for a while, for most delusional organization in the history of sports. Because it's not just Kenny Atkinson doing this foolishness earlier in the series when they were down 3-0.

Analytically, I think we won the expect—

I said 3 out of 3, we're 2 out of 3 in the expected. I don't know if you guys follow that as an expected score, and we won 2 out of the 3.

I don't know if you follow that.

Analytically, they are champions. Put it on the poll at Levitard Show. These are some real loser quotes here because that's not even the worst of it. James Harden, like, I really do feel like James Harden should have tried to sneak out of a side door, some sort of special portal that they put in. It was his contract so that he would not have to talk to the media. But he said the worst possible thing. You know, obviously they just— they dominated us, uh, 4-0. But yeah, I don't know if I can necessarily answer that question just because genuinely I do feel like we, we are, we are the better team. But series-wise, you know, it didn't show it. So tough question to answer.

I mean, at least Donovan Mitchell after the game said, we played like ass, we were ass out there. James Harden standing up there with a serious face saying We were the better team when you lost 4-nothing and you lost all the games by 1,000.

But like, let's be real. James Harden is trying to solidify the bag. We're the better team means keep me on this roster, keep me paid. The continuation of the James Harden finesse is undefeated.

I don't know how you can have as successful a season as they had and end with such loserness because they would have been better off losing in the last round than the way that they went out here where they just smear Harden at the end. And after blowing a first game unlike any first game or any playoff game that's ever been blown, up 22 with 8 minutes left, something that never happens, they never stopped collapsing after that. They lose by 11 in overtime and then they're just terrible the rest of the way. Like, just from, from being up up 22 with 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter, they just kept choking. It's not just choking those 8 minutes, not just choking in overtime, they just kept gagging as if they had their souls ripped away. And it's why, and it's why I would simply say to you that the New York Knicks have never in my lifetime— I wasn't— I was alive in 1973, but I was 5 years old, okay— they've never felt as good or as hopeful as they do right now, because that team that got swept by the Spurs in 1999 doesn't have the hope that this one has infused in the city, where Timothée Chalamet is, you know, traveling around the country following his team and not getting courtside seats because Dan Gilbert— again, just an organization of losers— they will not allow Tracy Morgan—

crying Tracy Morgan and Chalamet—

they were Fat Joe— they will not allow these people to sit courtside. They make them— they insult them by making them sit in row 2.

Just kept gagging is crazy.

I like that they didn't allow them to sit in the front.

Well, I, I found out like they did late in the game, which is a, a weak move by the Cavs. They put Chalamet in the front row like in the second half.

Really?

First half, second row. Then they found some seats, put some together for him.

I like it. Yeah, yeah, get back there in row 2, slum it with the normals.

But they were on the court after the game hugging the players.

I I— look, I don't have the animosity, at least right now, for this Knicks team that I probably should, but watching Chalamet on the court, who's a real Knicks fan— Met Gala was last night, he'd have still been at the game, tell you that. And Chalamet's on the court, he's like— he's a regular person in that spot. He's hugging the players, he's shouting to call them over, and I feel like it's so relatable to me because it's one of those deals where Chalamet is obviously very wealthy. He's a really successful actor and he's really young. And I feel like if that was me, if I had a lot of money, I would be doing this. I'd be following my favorite sports team and sitting front row and being super sports fan. And that's exactly what he's doing. I think it's very relatable.

This was a great weekend for celebrity couples. We had Taylor and Travis at the Cavs game having cute moments where Travis is like, oh, I want to bet. She's like, how much? Oh, that's exciting. They had that moment. We had Olivia Dunne saying the F-word when Paul Skeens gave up a home run on the first at-bat of a game.

You saw it, Dan?

She mouthed the word "fuck." I should have just not said it, but I said it, so you guys are going to have to bleep that out.

And then she immediately went right into her phone.

And then we had Timothée Chalamet, Kylie Jenner sharing a shot of tequila during the game. Like, what is—

that's just the—

I'm being dead serious here. I don't know what the best celebrity couple was this weekend. They were all fantastic this weekend.

And this Kylie Jenner, she's a great girlfriend because I feel like a lot of girlfriends, you know, they'd be kind of an, "Alright, can we go? Can we, you know, come on, let's get out of here." she's there and she's so happy documenting it for him. She's so happy for Chalamet. She's like genuinely happy for him.

I love— isn't there a curse there?

Yes, the Kardashian curse. I thought was undefeated the first one. I think the first one's probably Lamar Odom and Khloe. Yeah, probably also Kim and Ray J. Ray J's career has declined since the—

rough weekend for Ray J.

Really tough, rough Rough.

Chris Humphries.

Chris Humphries. I mean, the list goes on and on. James Harden, we saw that. We've seen Devin Booker. He hasn't been the same since Kendall. I mean, I think Kylie Jenner might actually be the only one that isn't a curse, but also he got her to go to Cleveland. There's not much going— remember, Joakim Noah said, ain't shit to do in Cleveland.

Here's, here's what really happened this weekend, Dan. You got the Kardashian curse like Trista just mentioned. Clearly not as strong as Danhausen uncursing the Knicks. You saw that, right? Danhausen uncursed the Knicks. Come on now.

Juju, you were making a face when Chris Cody mentioned Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift courtside. Travis was also chugging beers. Was there any sort of objection that you had to what it is that Chris was saying?

Nah, salute. I got an objection though. My first contribution analytically. Kenny Atkinson will not be the coach of the Cavaliers by the end of the week. Book it.

I think it's going to be by tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he's fired. Yeah.

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Don Lebatard.

It's the Jets coach, sweetie.

Stugatz.

I should go say hello.

This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugatz.

Put it on the poll: analytically, is Kenny Atkinson fired?

Analytically, he'll still be hired, but he will actually be on unemployment.

Like, you got a few things working against Kenny Atkinson right now. Number one, uh, saying that they're winning the series analytically obviously is embarrassing. You then have what happened in Game 1 where they blew the 22-point lead, and he thinks the timeouts carry over from Game 1 to Game 2. And you have the New York Knicks, who last year lost in the Eastern Conference Finals, which you would say was a successful season. They hadn't been there in 25 years. The Cleveland Cavaliers are in the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time minus LeBron James, for the first time since 1992. The Knicks still fired their coach and it got them to that next level. Cavaliers are going to fire their coach.

I think a lot of people though are doing what I'm doing, which is I didn't believe the Knicks had a chance, and now I can't stay entrenched quite as solidly in that position because of how the 11 games have looked. They were up and down all seasons, as, but there were stretches where they were a top 5 offense and top 5 defense, and it's what you need to be in order to beat San Antonio and OKC. And the other thing you need to happen, years and 20 years ago, Magic Johnson blew out his hamstring right before a final. The Lakers were going to win the championship and then they got swept. You need to stick around for San Antonio and OKC and a broken sport that breaks its players to have them just beat the hell out of each other and see if you can get some more injuries because you still have games left to play. OKC is incredibly deep, right? So, and, and both of those teams are young, but the nature of the sport makes it so that the Knicks are getting there healthy. They were really scared about the Anunoby injury, but they're going to get to those games in the Finals healthy.

I have no assurances that OKC and San Antonio— they're already breaking down.

And let's not forget, the Pacers almost did it. Like, they went to Game 7 and their star player injured his Achilles. I think the Knicks are more than capable of giving the Thunder a run for their money.

1000%, because now you got Jalen Williams— he's probably not coming back— AJ Mitchell, Well, he's got a cash drain, probably not coming back. This is the most injured that OKC has been in the entirety of what we see of them now. So much so that they're already talking about moving up to get Cam Boozer and maybe trading away Jalen Williams.

Sunday's win by San Antonio was just as big for New York as last night's win sweeping the Cavaliers.

Well, they, they got fortunate a few different ways, right? Uh, Embiid being healthy for 3 games so that they could knock off Boston, getting rid of Detroit. Cleveland, I told you before that season before that series started, the two best teams that have huge matchup problems with the Knicks were Toronto and Cleveland. They don't have a real chance against the Knicks. Uh, one of the few predictions I got right in terms of just— they cannot play against the Knicks over the last 3 years. I know Cleveland— when, when you look at the architecture of things, the Knicks started building everything they did around, oh, Boston's winning, we've got to do things to be better than Boston. What's Cleveland going to do to be better than the Knicks, because what they have out there is not going to get past the Knicks unless the Knicks are injured. It's not— there's no way your blueprint against their blueprint is going to result in anything good for Cleveland.

Got to trade them all. Like, you got to move Donovan Mitchell. You got to look at moving Jared Allen. You got to look at moving Evan Mobley. Get pieces, start again, and hope you can figure it out.

It's, it's going to be such a weird offseason for Cleveland because I do believe they're going to do the loser move and give Harden the contract extension. I feel like it was kind of like agreed upon when they traded for him. And you don't want to lose Harden for nothing when he traded away Darius Garland. And then on top of that, you know you're gonna have all the LeBron rumors out there.

And credit to Leon Rose because he didn't whale chase, he didn't whale hunt. He went after, uh, what, Mikal Bridges, Landry Shamet, re-signed him. Malcolm Brogdon, salute wherever you are, great move by you allowing that to happen. And I just think that that move for getting rid of Tibbs was a questionable or dangerous one. And it worked out well.

But they did. They did get a whale. They traded Julius Randle, a bad postseason player, for Karl-Anthony Towns, who is really important for them a lot of different ways. This stat from Haberstroh: James Harden now has— if they re-sign him— James Harden now has 33 playoff games with more turnovers than field goals. That's more than the combination of LeBron James— this is all combined— LeBron James, Doncic, Steph Curry, Giannis, and Jokic combined do not have as many playoff games, 33, with more turnovers than field goals. You cannot trust that.

I was gonna just say, because this team was all in on Donovan Mitchell, they— the Knicks wanted him, he wanted them, it was all but done. You had Worldwide West telling Fat Joe it was pretty much a wrap. Then Cleveland comes at the last moment and snatches the hometown hero away. I actually think you can't win with Donovan Mitchell. And despite what Becky Hammond had to say, I think Jalen Brunson was the whale. They just didn't quite know that they had him when they got him.

Donovan Mitchell, she's got it blown up, says Lowe. I know after like 3 games ago, we would not have said that.

Oh, I just don't think they have the guts to do that. I mean, like, they just got— they got to the Eastern Conference Finals again. For the first time since 2018 and the first time without LeBron since '92. I don't think they have the guts to blow it up.

I think they're wait-and-see mode for LeBron. Yep. And, and see what he wants. So I think they're going to be in a holding pattern for a little bit unless there's back channeling. And if LeBron goes back to Cleveland, it's going to be on his terms, and they'll construct the roster around him because they know that this isn't good enough. So why not go all in for the nostalgia tour, the farewell tour, trying to make LeBron happy.

Well, do you think, Mike, then— because there's just no way. They had already said that James Harden was a fait accompli— that big word— fait accompli, that he was already going to get re-signed. I think you have to rethink that if LeBron is rethinking that.

Yeah, Trista, I know what fait accompli means, but Chris Cody, I don't think he does. Can you explain that to him?

Well, she just said it's a word, and I don't think it's a word.

I said big words.

Sounds like a delicious dish.

Remember, they drafted Wiggins, number 1 overall, and LeBron got to town and said he's not gonna stick around. In fact, he omitted him from his SI statement. It was very clear what LeBron wanted, and obviously they catered to his needs there. Now I know he's 42 and not the same kind of player, but in Cleveland he's the same kind of legend, and they will absolutely do whatever he wants.

I'll take the grilled complet, please.

Thank you.

They should trade for LeBron and Kyrie.

Accomplished Juju, let's, let's not forget though, Giannis is another big piece out there, and if they want to chase him, they can make some moves. So let's not forget about the Giannis.

Uh, you can't forget about Giannis for Boston. You can't forget about Giannis for OKC either. Like, Giannis is going to be available for anybody that gets blown up early this season to make a seismic move, and most of those people aren't going to want to go to Cleveland. I'm not sure LeBron is either. Like, LeBron flatly said that in that Memphis controversy when he was trying to double down on, hey, I'm allowed to say I don't like Memphis as a city and they should move. One of the other things that he said is I don't like going to Cleveland either. Like, he, he only mentioned two cities as not liking to travel to them. Now he's going to move from the longest place he's ever been, Los Angeles, back to Cleveland.

Quick correction, LeBron didn't say that. To try and defend LeBron, Rich Paul added, LeBron doesn't like going to Cleveland anymore.

No, I think LeBron also said it. We'll look it up. I thought LeBron meant— you might be right. Rich Paul also said it, which makes it true because he would say LeBron's feelings there. But I also felt like LeBron— I thought I saw LeBron also say it.

Is Rich Paul like Mike's inner monolog for LeBron?

I just had a conversation. You know, this is what's funny about these damn puppets that we had made around here. They were rushed to order because I was talking to Max Kellerman and independently before we even made the puppets. He's like, yeah, we're going to make a puppet for Rich Paul, and so that the puppet can say what Rich is actually thinking.

So it was an arms race.

It was, yes, to the puppets.

We didn't even have a plan, and we just had to beat Max Kellerman. How's the Rich Paul puppet doing? Are they just waiting for creative to catch up?

I don't know if they've actually unleashed the puppet yet. I have to—

well, they saw our launch and they're like, let's think twice, let's, let's get a plan in It was indeed Cleveland, and it was indeed LeBron James.

He said, I'm 41 years old. There's two cities I do not like playing in right now. That's Milwaukee, and that's Memphis. What is the problem with that? I don't like going home either. Shit, and I'm from there.

Oh, okay, put it on the poll. If you're making a correction, do you have to make sure it's correct? @LeBittardShow. Not necessarily.

Uh, well, no, clearly not, but I can't get past what Zazz just said about Kyrie and LeBron.

That'd be a good duo.

Trade Donovan Mitchell to Dallas, get a pick with Kyrie, and then go ahead and add Kevin Love for one last ride for a free agency year at the minimum.

They miss each other. Kyrie and LeBron did realize upon leaving each other soon thereafter, they both realized that they missed each other.

Don Lebatard!

Teammates can't shoot from 3, now they're gonna see a different Jimmy. Now he's just, just playing Nickelback in the locker room and Stoogatz. Now play D and shoot threes as they chase the Nets for the 6th seed. These bad words in his head scream, are we winning games yet?

This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stoogatz.

Jeremy speaking reminded me of that thing that he did when he was at a Heat rally and he claimed that everyone was throwing babies up in the air. And last night with the New York Knicks, we have New York Jeremy as a reporter who is basically outside creating a total and real insanity.

Nairmi.

Oh, look behind me! See behind me! For the first time since 1999, it's a go! It's pandemonium, it's euphoria, it's nothing but New York joy! Oh, what a time to be a New York City Bill! Thank you!

He's more excited than any of the people there, but it did remind me of Jeremy here. I don't remember, this was a regular season game, I believe.

It was Game 2 of the Finals.

Okay, they were actually in the finals.

Duncan Robinson game.

Also a watch party.

All right, let's see what Jeremy did here.

You're catching us right now as the Miami Heat have just won Game 2 of the NBA Finals. You can see that this crowd here is hoisting babies into the air. This crowd is ready from the moment this game started, and it has continued here as the Miami Heat have just upset the Denver Nuggets. We got fans going crazy, we're high-fiving, everybody's ready for an unbelievable night right here in Miami.

I think it was a Saturday Night Live skit. I'm remembering of the Arsenio Hall Show where the crowd would make all sorts of noise and stuff, and, uh, they had a spoof Arsenio Hall come out and he had an incredibly long finger. And then as the crowd kept getting more and more escalated, you just saw babies thrown up in the air, just, just tossed up. Both of those scenes are crazy, but I want to go back to the New York scene for a second because I think— and you tell me, you scan the background here and you tell me if you think this reporter is is far more excited than any of the people that he's reporting on.

Look behind me, see behind me. For the first time since 1999, it's a go New York go! It's pandemonium, it's euphoria, it's nothing but New York joy! Oh, what a time to be a New York City Knick!

Do you guys disagree with me when I say this is the best that the New York Knicks have felt in your lifetime? All of you are younger than I am. They won a championship in 1973, but I believe the way this team is playing, growing over 3 years, suffering a little bit, making the changes, I believe it's all culminated in right now the Knicks feeling better to their fan base than they ever have and creating more hope than they've ever had because for 25 years they've been a punchline.

I mean, honestly, it feels, Mike, it feels a little bit the way I think we did in 2023 with the Panthers. Now that Panther team, they weren't good in the regular season, but they did have the expectation and then they, they make the improbable run and they return to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 27 years. It's the exact same amount of time, 27 years, that the Knicks fan has been waiting to get back to the Finals. It probably feels a little bit similar.

Yeah, but with the added juice of the Knicks are a national brand. They make sure they're on everybody's mind even when they're bad. So this is a really hugely satisfying moment for them. You know, they could be the first team that gets the double. A special, special season. An IST and an NBA Finals. That's NBA history right here.

I didn't even know what you were talking about when you said that.

Neither did I.

That is the famed OG Anunoby game. It's when he announced himself as important to these Knicks. He is wildly important to them.

I mean, guys, if you look at the in-season tournament, it's been a predictor for future success dating way back to when the Pacers made their run against the Lakers. I mean, you could have a Finals rematch of the IST.

That's what I was just about to say.

Yes, just totally forget about the Milwaukee Bucks. Just cast that one aside. But in all other instances, it's a, it's a bit of a predictor.

IST.

I—

Look behind me!

That brother got a random drug test in the mail this morning.

Uh, we should try to get him and have him discuss with Jeremy who it is that did that better.

I'll text him. Text him right now.

I mean, it's very obviously me.

Yeah. Well, you had the help of a baby near you.

Yeah.

And I described the scene.

Let's pit them against one another immediately. The thing that is unusual beyond the fact that I'm telling you the New York Knicks have just played the best 11 games of basketball that I have seen played. And it started— I remember saying to you guys, and I know you thought it was absurd when I said said it, the first quarter that they played against the Hawks in that game where they ended up up 72-22 offensively and defensively, and Atlanta just kept giving the ball away, was being taken from them by really aggressive defense, that, that's the best I've seen a team play this year. And since then, they've just kept playing like that, where you have these scores and these results of, of road playoff games that infuse Knicks with a hope that isn't delusional anymore, Zazz, because if you're paying attention to this, you can dilute it if you want by saying, well, it's the bottom half of the East and the East isn't that good. But there are other teams losing here to teams that are, that are advancing, right? The other teams are losing so that Atlanta can get in the tournament. Philadelphia can get in the tournament and Cleveland can get this deep.

Cleveland was playing good basketball.

It's an impossible question to answer. I'm gonna ask it anyway. Like, if Oklahoma City was playing the path that the New York Knicks just did, best guess, are they winning 11 in a row and winning the games by an average of 20 points per game?

They won their—

like, I don't think so.

They won their first 8 games of the playoffs because they played Phoenix and they played the Lakers without Donchich. So they did win 8 in a row, and then they ran into San Antonio. I'm just saying basketball can't be played a lot better than that. When they make 18 threes in a first half and a half against Philadelphia, and their record before that was 19 threes in a game, and they're making it in a half. When you're talking about a, a basketball team— says this is nuts, right? Over the last 25 years, they've won 10 playoff games. This season they've won 11, like, in one year. And they're not close. Like, you've got a couple of games— the only ones that are close are the two they've lost.

What if I told you that in this series, in the Eastern conference. Like, if I told you before the series started, Juju, I didn't tell you what's gonna happen, but in the Eastern Conference Finals, Karl-Anthony Towns is gonna average 16 points per game. Do the Knicks win that series?

In my head, they don't. But the resurgence of Mikal Bridges during these playoffs, I think, is one of the most important things going on in these playoffs. On the other side, you already know, Wemby, SGA. On this side, uh, Jalen Brunson and Don. But Dylan Harper and Mikal Bridges, to me, are two of the most important things in the playoffs. If they're rolling, their games are rolling.

So we talked a good amount about the Shamet shot at the beginning of Game 1 that helped bring them back from 22 down with 8 minutes left. But the Bridges shot, uh, I don't know if you guys remember the one I'm talking about. Shot clock's going down, Cleveland's folding up. You can feel Harden is starting to miss, feel starting to miss free throws. And then all of a sudden, Bridges, as the shot clock goes down, makes a shot from 25 5 feet away. They have what every sports community wants with its hope. They now have a belief they did not have before. Like, you can hope. Hope is one thing, faith is something else. And they have transferred— the way that they're playing has made it so their fan base is forgetting 25 years of this organization betrays me. They're forgetting 25 years of our owner stinks. They're erasing it with the way they're dismantling people. Do you know how rare it is to be sitting there watching your team and it's up by 30 all the time? All the time it's up by 30.

Wild.

It was crazy.

I was just going to ask, in terms of that, you add in just changing the entire dynamic and feeling of the fan base. Face. And where do we then put Jalen Brunson in this category? Because I feel like if you can do that, if you can ascend to these heights but also change this from hope to faith and betrayal to it's all washed away, Jalen Brunson has got to be maybe the best Knick ever.

Well, uh, they made fun of me a few years ago when I said he's the most beloved, uh, because, uh, size makes It feels to me, to New York fans, like he represents us, our city, our grittiness. Like the, the thing that when you said that Chalamet is relatable, these guys are bigger, most of them, than anyone you will ever meet in your life physically. You will never be anywhere with people as big as the average NBA player and certainly not as big as giants that play the game. Brunson always being the smallest guy on the court and then also being the most clutch allows regional identity to become— he represents us the best way. He's tough, he's gritty, uh, he— big moments don't scare him. So you have somebody representing the city differently than Patrick Ewing.

He takes less money.

Uh, well, Pablo needs to look into that. Uh, the Emmys are tonight, by the way, and Pablo is going there with Amin and David Sampson. What?

Uh, how many Emmys are there?

Uh, the Sports Emmys are tonight. There's only the Sports Emmys once a year. What are you saying?

I thought it was like, you know, the big Emmys.

Same.

I got a question. More importantly, because we already— I think Jalen Brunson, most, uh, famous or beloved Knick ever, is good, and we already know that. But more important question, better Knick legend, bigger Knick legend, Jeremy Lin or Landry Shamet? Balls in your court, Dano.

Well, Lin's done and got unmasked by the Miami Heat and forgot how to dribble.

What a night that was.

Soon after having all of his success and was never the same after that. And Shamet is still playing basketball games. I saw Stephen A. Smith say that if he wins the championship, Brunson will be the best Knick ever. Is that really required? Is that something— I'm asking you guys this question definitely seriously. So he's got So he's not the best Knick ever now, but 4 more wins and he could be the best Knick ever? That's what we're doing?

It's not just 4 more wins, it's the freaking championship!

It is just 4 more wins though.

But it's the championship!

It's the double.

It's the double. He's already won a title there. He wins 2 in 1 season, no one can say that for the New York Knicks. He'd be the first.

I've told you how I feel about this stuff now that I'm getting older. I appreciate the journey just as much as the destination. And I would tell you, the way the Knicks fan felt in '73 after they won the championship, I— like, this right now probably feels just as good as they did then because of what this journey has been. So I guess the answer to the question is, yeah, I think Brunson's already there.

But the reason— I think so too, uh, but the reason that I would say that, when you just said what you said about Karl-Anthony Towns and 16 points a game, there is no confusion about who Knicks fans had that hope transferred into belief and faith by. It's one guy. It's not the rest of them. It's not like maybe it'll be Bridges sometimes, maybe it'll be Shamet sometimes, maybe it'll be the bench, maybe it'll be Mike Brown, maybe it'll be Karl-Anthony Towns. But it's one guy that they trust implicitly, and it's because he's the best fourth-quarter player in the league statistically, empirically.

I don't understand why we're still hyperbolic around this. They lifted a trophy months ago. Josh Hart gave Jalen Brunson the, hey, how's They are reigning champions. Why are we— why are we doing this?

Is the "hey, how's your uncle" the finger in the butt?

Yeah.

Okay. Just wanted to be clear there.

Okay, Trista, we're going to need you to keep up. All right? Keep up, please.

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