Knicks at Magic – Recap & Reaction | POSTGAME SHOW | Knicks Film School

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Noah Janobi, you can make the argument he is as important to this team as Jaylen Brunson and more important to this team than anyone else. No Deuce McBride, who has been a lynchpin to uh successful basketball really over the last two years here. Um and no Landrew Shamut. And we’re going to talk more about Landrew Shamut as this night goes on because um I said, boy, I I hate it when I’m right sometimes. We said after the last game, where would this team be without Andrew Shamid? And yeah, it’s a thing that sounds good on a on a postgame live stream and it makes probably for a good a good social clip. Um, here’s the problem. I meant it. And it it that is was a scary thought at the time and it’s an even scarier thought now. But even when a team is down bad, and the Knicks are down bad right now, and they are a topheavy team, they were always going to be a topheavy team. There’s no like we we know what the formula for this team is for success and nothing I’m going to say tonight or nothing that happened tonight in this game, you know, I I I don’t think we should be drawing too many largecale conclusions from it in terms of what this team is capable of come spring, you know, April, May. I’m gonna tough to the word June after watching that effort tonight. Effort in air quotes. Um, but you know, there was a certain coach I remember who used to say something along the lines of, “You build habits during the regular season and you hope that those habits will get stronger and stronger and eventually be there for what you plan to be a long playoff run.” Uh the habits that we saw tonight from this Nick team and in the fourth quarter in particular are not habits that we are used to seeing around here. They quit. Plain and simple. They quit. And do they have excuses again for quitting? Yeah, I I get it. You’re playing a big nasty physical team that is feeling itself and has been feeling itself ever since Bayon hit that shot. And I watched the end of that game too against Portland and it was a crazy ending to a pretty competitive game. And I think something happened to this team when that shot went in. And I know they lost to Houston the other night. I watched most of the game. Uh they have they have I don’t want to say flipped the switch, but they are playing like the team many people expected them to be, which is an offense that like you know what is in a different league than the offense that we’ve seen for the last [ __ ] 15 years and the defense that is still big and nasty and physical and you know we’ll let uh Magic postgame shows have their own po conversations but I will just say I don’t know that that loss has necessarily hurt them. Um enough about the Magic. This is about the Knicks and the Knicks are an NBA team and they are supposed to be a good NBA team and maybe even a very good NBA team. And when you have the level of expectation on you that the Knicks had coming into this season, I think there is something inherent that you have to be able to call upon when you when you want to call upon it, if you need to call upon it to dig deep inside yourself and find something when the chips are down. And I look because here’s the thing like yeah I I I get it. This team knows it’s probably going to be there in May and this team has almost scaled the mountain top already. They have repeatedly been to the second round of the playoffs and last year they made it one round further than that. They probably know that they will be able to turn on the Jets when it matters. But that doesn’t really give me much confidence tonight when I am trying to think about what this team is and the habits that they are forming because of the fact of the matter is the team that went to the conference finals last year and the team the scrappy rag tag bunch of we don’t have anyone healthy tonight and we’re still going to fight you tooth and nail to to the very end. That team, the 232 24 team that that this city fell in love with in February and uh March and April into May, even though they didn’t have any healthy bodies, those teams had healthy had good habits. Even last year’s team, even last year’s team, which was such a slog to watch at times because their offense could not get of it out of its own way. I could count the amount of times on one hand, and I’ll be honest with you, I can’t sit here and recall a ton of them right now when I looked at last year’s team and was like, “Oh yeah, they quit.” And God knows I never said that about the team two years ago. despite the fact that if any team had any right to quit, it was that team. After OG went down and after Julius went down and Jaylen was banged up and even Chenzo missed the game and Hart missed the game and Mitch was not even back yet, it didn’t matter. Didn’t matter who they had. Didn’t matter if they had six healthy guys. They would go out there and they would give you help. And if you have a team with aspirations to go to the finals, you would love them to have that extra gear, that extra gear where you know what, when the chips are down, we know how to summon it. And I actually felt that way watching them in the first half. I I I know the Magic scored a million points. I know the defense wasn’t good. And there were some there were some culprits I thought that stood out more than others in the first half as far as why the defense was not good. But I can’t even I I I it would be disingenuous of me at least in this monologue to call out anyone in particular after this game because what happened over the course of the second half of this game and in particular the fourth quarter that was a team effort. That was a teamwide we’re done with this [ __ ] We’re moving on. And and I and you know what the like I think we had another game at some point this season where we we we watched them deliver a questionable effort level. Oh, you know what it was? It was actually the last Magic game where they were on a backto-back and we watched them deliver a questionable uh maybe not a questionable effort level, but like they got punched in the mouth and they didn’t punch back. This team has had two days off. Two days off. And you would you watch them again in particular in the second half. Like you know what honestly came to mind and this is really sad and and and troubling was there was a possession in the middle of the fourth quarter. Let me actually rewind. There was a game the next played it seems like a while ago now. It was like a week and a half ago against the Memphis Grizzlies in which at one point uh I forget honestly who the Knick was, but someone came around a screen and there were like three Grizzlies around the paint that stood around and watched as someone went up for a layup or a dunk. I again I forget what Nick it was. Um but like everybody from the Grizzlies stood around and watched. Timeout Memphis. And I remember watching that I’m like, “Oh, this team is broken. This team is broken.” And it was an exact play like that, at least one play. And there were a couple, two or one or two other plays bordering on that in the fourth quarter of this game where it was just the compete level. There was no compete level. The compete level was for a professional basketball team that is that has designs on winning a a championship. There was no compete level. The compete level was was not acceptable. Now, am I going to say the same thing about them that I said about the Grizzlies whenever I saw that play that they are a broken team? I can’t go that far. I can’t go that far. And maybe that’s that’s me being kind. I I do think though that this is a team and look I’ll go back to that 23 24 team to a man iheartenzo heart bronson um deuce burks you laugh but Burks precious then that season absolutely precious is um I’m sure I’m forgetting a a a key figure or two, but those are the ones. A bogey. There was no like you know, you knew what every single one of those guys was about. As my daughter comes in here and she thinks you’re going to jump on the bed. Glad she’s happy. Uh we’re staying over my mom’s in the city tonight in case you can’t see from the backdrop. Been a while since I did something from here. Izzy, you got to be quiet. Um, those guys didn’t know how to quit. Those guys did not know how to quit. Um, and it made for not always the most enjoyable basketball, but I don’t remember any game from January 27th of that year until they were eliminated in game seven at home against the Pacers where I felt anything like I do tonight. And then they started to change over the team. K came in, Mau Bridges came in. Okay. Even last year, I think the the gambit, their gambit, the the front office’s gambit was that there’s enough there’s enough of our culture here that even if the even if we’re bringing in players who are maybe not quite cut from the same cloth as some of the guys who went out and again, they couldn’t help with Arinstein, we’re still going to be able to retain enough of what made us us. And you know what? Honestly, I kind of think they did. Um, and they made it pretty far. I’m just looking what Mike Brown opened his his press conference. This is with James Edwards the third. This is from Mike Brown. Obviously, tough game for us, but I got to keep preaching about it being the next man up. But in our case, it’s the next man up, next man up, and next man up. Look, I I get that from Mike Brown. And and this is actually going to go directly into what I am saying. There is there is a a breaking point. There is a um I’m sure I’m I’m I always there’s a term that applies to this uh and I always forget what the term is, but there’s basically it’s a slippery slope and eventually you fall off of it. And yeah, if you want to say no OG, no deuce, no Landry. And honestly, frankly, right now, as it applies to this team attempting to defend the basketball, um, no Mitch, the Mitchell Robinson that we’re seeing out there that that Orlando was hunting and targeting and picking on, that’s not that’s not Mitchell Robinson. It’s not the Mitchell Robinson I know. And you hope that that guy’s going to be back. The guy that used to be here, he’s not here right now. So when you when you when you Yeah, I I get it. It is next man up. Next man up. Next man up. And I think Mike Brown is doing his team a solid by getting going out there and and saying that. I got to tell you. And look, I I get it. It’s why up until up until the last that last like five up until like the six minute mark of the fourth quarter, I’m like, “All right, going to keep it even killed. I’m going to keep it even killed for this post game. I know it’s probably not going to make for great radio. I’m going to keep it even killed. And then it got to a certain point where the guys that were out there, Tyler Kow wasn’t laying down and dying like a like a like a three-legged dog. Wasn’t Muhammad Diawara out there in the fourth quarter laying, you know, unrolling the red carpet. Wasn’t Ariel Hakorti. It wasn’t Pome Dier. Wasn’t any of these guys. It was the main guys. And you know, I I I’ll look right now and see how many minutes they played. I don’t I’m pretty sure nobody played that many. I mean, Towns was at 37. Bridges was at 38. Brunson was at 37. Okay, guess what? You know how I know those guys could play those that many minutes and stick with it until the final buzzer? because they did it every [ __ ] game that mattered last season. So don’t give me that. Don’t give me that as why we with two days off. No, those guys had enough and they were like to hell with this. I’m done. And that that is worrisome because and just to get back to what I was saying before, you know, you further changed the roster this year. Now you bring in Clarkson, now you bring in Yabiselli. Again, two offense first players. It was very clear how they were going to attempt to win a championship this year. It was going to be with offense even more so than last year. They were leaning even further into it. And the hope was, the plan was that their highlevel defenders were going to be able to do enough to keep them upright on that end. Well, their best defender, Ojanobi, did not play tonight. Their second best defender, Mitchell Robinson, is not Mitchell Robinson. their third best defender, Muel Bridges. I mean, look, Macau has done some amazing things this year, and he’s probably been their most consistent player from top to bottom from opening night until tonight. Offensively, I thought he was awesome tonight. Yet again, he’s been awesome pretty much all year. He is I mean, I was just say he’s past the stage of his career where he should be a a team’s best defender, and I think you saw that. And when you go up against a team like Orlando, like you can’t just stick mal Bridges on France Vagner and says go and and say go cover him. Mitchell Robinson was on France because they didn’t have any other choice. Cal Bridges can’t cover him, you know, and then so who and then who’s their who was their fourth best defender when healthy? Maybe Deuce. All right, he wasn’t there, you know, and then you get to Josh Hart and then you get to everybody else. So no, they didn’t have the bodies tonight. And if you want and if that’s going to help you sleep at night, that’s fine. I gotta tell you, I I I don’t know that it’s helping me because this is still these are still NBA players and defense is still about effort more than anything else. And they just stopped trying. So, the question that I find myself asking, turning kind of to the big picture, did this team sell a little bit too much of its soul over the last two years? Have they gotten a little too cute by half in trying to assemble, you know, the perfect roster top to bottom? It’s honestly an unfair conversation to have tonight because this isn’t the roster. This isn’t the roster and I don’t know when we’re going to see the roster again. Although I guess now at this point the roster in quotes now includes Landry Shamut because you know so it just does. He’s one of their most seven eight most important guys even if they’re fully healthy which is again crazy but that’s where we are. But you know I’ve been going on for a while. I I’ll end with this. When you are a team that has that certain extra something that Orlando has right now, that Detroit has right now, that Houston has right now, you know, there’s a couple other teams that I mean, OKC it’s that’s just that’s comical what they have. Um, you know, but you don’t even have to talk about them. You can talk about, you know, some other teams. It’s it’s 1 through 15. It’s 1 through 15. And it is it is a it is a collective selflessness and pride. That’s really all it is. It’s just pride. When the chips are down, we will still we our compete level will still be there. And tonight, it just wasn’t. Is that now part of their DNA? I hope not. I really hope not because that would be a really discouraging way for this story to end. Um I don’t think it is. I am again going to choose to not draw too many longlasting big picture conclusions from this game because of who was not there. But you cannot wipe this away with no. Oh, we didn’t have OG. We didn’t have Deuce. Landry Shamck got hurt. Um, you can’t you can’t just sweep this under the rug. Not with how not with how they brought this one home. You can’t you can’t do it. It’s disingenuous and it’s incorrect. So, I’m not about to sit here and do it um to start a postgame show, which look, we could talk about whatever you want tonight. Um we could if you want to get on certain guys. No one no one who played in this game tonight is above uh Reprieve. Um you know, and that’s I mean, yeah, some guys score. Jaylen Brunson had a nice offensive game. Jaylen Brunson’s as big a part of the problem defensively as anyone. You know, I got on Cat in the first half because I thought he stood out for me a little bit more than some other guys in the first half defensively. Jaylen Brunson was worse pro just as bad if not worse in the second half. And it again I’m just I’m I’m naming them because there’s they’re the two best offensive players on the team and they’re the guys who are the two quote unquote weakest defenders. But nobody defended. Nobody defended, you know. So, that’s where we’re at. And now it’s up to them to figure out where to go from here, figure out what kind of team they want to be, and figure out, hey, are we just going to continue to let injuries be an excuse for us coming into games and when we play a real opponent and the Magic or a real opponent, an excuse where, you know what, tonight’s not going to be the night for us? Is that what they’re going to be? Or are they look themselves in the mirror and say, because here’s the here’s the last part, and I I haven’t said his name once. I don’t even want to say it now. This would not have been a conversation under you know who cuz it just never was a conversation. You know, now they have to hold themselves accountable. you know, now the accountability has to come from within because there’s no psychopath walking through that door, you know. So, let’s see what happens. All right. Um, let us move on. Uh, before we get to the super chats, we are going to go over our uh betting and sweating picks for the night. So, this I was saving the the mention of this until now. Uh, we should say Landry Sham. left this game um with uh what looked to be obviously nobody there nobody’s reported on it yet. Mike Brown said he’s going to get imaging tomorrow. Lander Shamid left with what looked to be a dislocated shoulder and I just want to say just on a personal human level, I watched that happen and I was sick to my stomach. Um, literally uh like I felt queasy because Landrew Shamid has you want to talk about a guy who is espous who has espoused from the opening night you know until now has espoused the all of the qualities I’m talking about um it’s Lash Shamid all the stuff that we want this team to be let’s land Shamut is that to a te is he always going to get the defensive stop is he always going to make the three No, no, no. But that dude, you don’t know. You don’t know the meaning of not compete. So to see him go out and now potentially be gone for a while, it’s I just I don’t know. I’m I’m I I don’t know what like a not I don’t know even know what a positive injury report would be. So this is all to say that injuries um are grossly unfair to us as sports fans. Um, so there’s no reason why if you are um, you know, engaging with a sports book, there’s no reason why your sports book also has to be unfair. So our parlay tonight included um, something with Landry Shamut, three-pointers made, and then also included something with Deuce McBride, a certain amount of points. Now Deuce, different story. He was ill, he was supposed to play, he didn’t play. So, what ended up happening with this particular three-legg parlay was the deuce um points thing was voided and then because Fanatic Sportsbook does fair play where a player gets injured in the first half, wipes the slate clean, um the deuce uh or the Landrew Sham three-pointers made, that part of the parlay got wiped away. So, this parlay actually would have hit if um Josh Hart went over four and a half assists and Josh Hart um of course ended this game with two assists. You could thank me for that. Um I was back and forth between Hart assists and uh Mitchell Robinson rebounds. Neither one hit, so I guess I don’t feel bad uh about picking the Hart one over the Mitch one. In any case, um you know, again, injuries not fair. Your sports book, uh the least they could do is be fair. And that’s why, uh we love Fanatic Sports Book here at Nicks Film School. Okay, let us move on to whatever people want to talk about. Um and I am I am preparing myself. I will just say that we get started with Sam Garcia’s dad. Damn it, Shammit. Yeah. Um I mean, let’s just we could talk about it real quick. Like Ojanobi, he is I mean, is he going to be back by Christmas? Is he gonna be back mid de end of this mid in season tournament? We could be looking at another four weeks without Ojanobi. That’s entirely possible. Um and so Landrew Sham not being there. Um like they’re going to have Towns, Robinson, Bridges, Brunson, um Clarkson, Hart. I just named six guys. Those are pretty much the six guys you could depend upon right now. you know, Towns, Robinson, Bridges, Shamut, Brunson. No, I said Sham. I shouldn’t say Shamat. Um, so Bridges, Brunson, Hart, Clarkson, and Deuce. Deuce will be back. So that’s seven. The Knicks right now could depend on seven guys. Scary thought. Um, okay. Let’s keep going. Ron Tequila. Knicks would be lucky to make a second make the second round. The way they’re playing right now. Um, uh, yeah. Uh, I mean, they’re not playing like a team the way they played tonight. The way they played tonight, they wouldn’t beat anyone in the playoffs. Do I think they’re going to play like that in the playoffs? No, I don’t. But no, that’s how they’re playing right now. Another one from Ron coming up. Um, I’ve never seen a more appalling defense. It’s atrocious. It was atrocious. Now, if you’ve never seen a more appealing a more appalling defense, that means you uh started watching Knicks basketball approximately in 2020. Um, which is fine if you only started watching Knicks basketball in 2020. God bless you. You missed a lot of [ __ ] Um, no, I mean like for a competitive team that wants to do something, that’s about as rough a stretch there in the fourth quarter as you’ll see. Thanks, Ron. Drew P. Brown’s defensive system is awful. Also, he she uh she shouldn’t ref. Yeah, I mean, the refereeing tonight wasn’t good. Um, did it get in their heads? Probably. Am I going to blame the ref for what happened to this team tonight? No. Um, the defensive system, I’m not going to blame the defensive system tonight. Does the defensive system maybe meet need some tweaking or was what we saw I mean, this would be the most troubling thing. The most troubling thing tonight is if what we saw in the fourth quarter was a quiet rebellion against the current defensive system. I don’t have any reason to believe that is the case. Would that be insane? Yeah, you tell me. Thanks, Drew. JDM uh 3333. I think I got all those threes. The Magic owns us for years. Bad matchup, I guess. I mean, yeah, it’s not a great matchup. It’s not a great matchup when you don’t have anyone who could guard Fran Vagner. Um, generally a team with that much size when the Knicks are down OG and Obi and they’re playing all these guards, you know, and they’re resorting to freaking Muhammad Dawir to try to give them some size on the wing. Uh, yeah, you could say it’s a bad matchup, but like again, I if this was a I if if this was if they played like they did in the first half in the second half and they just missed shots and the Magic made some threes, I I wouldn’t be going crazy here. I really wouldn’t. I would be like, “All right, it’s tough loss. You’re hurt. Whatever.” We’re we’re we’re talking about the compete level. That’s the problem. Thanks, JDM. Colin Rearen, can you remember three straight good defensive possessions? Uh, I don’t know. They they probably put the last time they had three straight defensive possessions in a game against a team that was a real team probably against Minnesota. I thought they played okay defensively for stretches against Minnesota, but even that wasn’t wasn’t great. Um, and that’s the problem. They can’t string together anything good. Thanks, Colin. Robert W. Cross. Hello, Robert. First time a long time at your boy John. The Knicks defensive effort and execution is unacceptable. No ifs, ends, or buts. But TTS about it. #53 wins. Yeah. No, it’s it’s atrocious. It’s atrocious. And I And I do I like again, it’s all about slippery slopes. I do think that there is a slippery slope between from where it’s at at the top of the slope it’s a personnel issue and then you at the bottom of the slope it’s a compete level issue and it’s an effort issue and at some point tonight we slid down that slope. There are also personnel issues here. And I’m we’re talking about even if the team was fully healthy, there would be personnel issues here. But like, you know, you’re not blaming personnel on what happened there in the fourth quarter. Thanks, Robert. Another one from Robert. First time long time. It’s your boy John. Haitian Ferg said it on X and he’s right. We have no identity. Was a problem last year and remains a problem. #53 wins. Uh, it’s so funny how often I agree with Haitian and I was thinking it and it was the one there’s always something I forget to say in the monologue and this was the one thing I forgot to say in the monologue tonight. Team two years ago had an identity. 100% had an identity. You I mean and before that too. It what’s funniest about tonight the funniest thing about tonight is it was not that long ago that the Knicks were that team that the Knicks were the Magic that they were the team that nobody wanted to play. that they were the team and would come in and punch you in the mouth and if you got up to to punch back that’s fine. They that’s what they wanted you to do. Was not that long ago the Knicks were that team and then they kept changing and changing and changing and changing and now I know what their identity is supposed to be. Their identity is supposed to be a team that is capable of being the best offense in the league. The problem and now this is this gets into a little bit more of the actual basketball of it is against a defense like this you know and we could get on some guys it’s like now look the offense wasn’t the problem tonight but like even if you are a very good offense and tonight they scored a bunch of points what they scored tonight the Magic defense they scored 121 points that’s should be enough to beat a magic team you have to defend a little bit so in trying to become the best offense in basketball how much of your soul did you sell that’s what I said before and I’ll say it again Thanks, Robert. Mr. Fabro, what’s going on, Mr. Fabro? You could tell the Knicks weren’t going to win this one, even when they were up two at the half. Very concerning performance for many reasons. I maybe I’m in the minority here. I actually was encouraged after the first half. I thought Bronson and Bridges and Hart kind of put them on put the team on their backs offensively when Towns had a really rough half. Um, again, the defense was not good in the first half. But I thought their compete level was higher. Not not where it needs to be, but I thought it was higher, you know, and I I I was like I was hoping for a a gritty grinded out second half and we got the opposite of that. Thanks, Mr. Fabro. Dom Capui, what’s going on, Dom? Inexcusable performance. Good word for it, Dom. I don’t know what needs to click, but this team ain’t it right now. Defensive intensity is non-existent without OG. Get well soon. Sham. Wow. Yeah. I mean, again, you’re you’re you use the word click. Click to me is more of an X’s and O’s thing. Click is like, oh, just wait till the offense clicks, right? Wait till they they start really getting it, right? or even the defense, wait till they start really understanding like, you know, when to overplay the passing lanes and and and when to help off their, you know, overhelp and all that kind of stuff. That wasn’t a click. That was a that was a team that didn’t want to be out there, you know, and only they could answer why it looked like that. I mean, you want to tell me they were just so bummed about Shamut going down? I mean, I So, I don’t I don’t I’m not buying it. Not buying it. Thanks, Dom. Um I am uh I’m getting the the super chat names are funny tonight. Um I am 14 AEL. Uh this one admittedly frustrated me. I wanted this one. More importantly, though, get well, Andrew Shemmit. Hope to see you back out there soon. Um I’m glad you wanted it. Oh, no. This is IMAK, right? Yeah, I think this is IMAK. Um anyway, um I’m glad you wanted it. They didn’t want it. You wanted it more than the Knicks. Sure seemed like it’s never a good sign when the fans want it more than the team. Thanks, man. Hian Ferg, there we go. Um, I’ve been reluctant to criticize this team due to an adjustment period, but effort isn’t optional. Have some [ __ ] pride. We got [ __ ] punked and that [ __ ] sucks. We are not contending for [ __ ] this year. All right. Well, Haitian sounds like he’s just about out after 14 games. 15 games. How many games have they played? Um, 15 games. Look, it’s a combination of thing and I Hen, I’m not I’m not going to try to talk you off the ledge. I what I will say is I think where you’re at and where a lot of people are probably at tonight is a combination of two things. One, this was supposed to be the year, right? This was it was all building up to this. So, if it’s all building up to this and it feels like we’re backsliding, well, what does that tell you? And then number two, I really do think we for years now have gotten just I don’t really know how else to say it. We’ve we’ve kind of gotten spoiled um by the fact that no matter what was going on, minutes crap and rotation crap and you know, is the offense creative enough and are we playing too much drop and all that stuff. You never had to worry about the compete level, you know. You never had to worry about whether there was enough pride in the locker room to go out there and give the team a fighting chance to win. And it feels like for the first time in a while, like that is a question. And that’s a that is an that is an unnerving place to be. Thanks Haitian Robert Cross with another one. Thank you. Hian Ferg effort was straight up garbage. Marv Albert voice. How can I do it? Garbage. That’s the best I could do. Thanks, Robert Haitian with another one. When refs swallow the whistle, you got to buck up. You don’t curl into the fetal possession and pout because the game is physical. This team doesn’t react well to gut punches and that starts with Brown. Well, I look I am I really don’t want to get into a conversation about the coach. Um I don’t know. I I I’m wondering if there are how how many how many dogs this roster really has left, you know, like and that’s why it’s it’s kind of always been kind of comical to me whenever whenever somebody would suggest trading away Josh Hart. Is Josh Hart a perfect basketball player? No. Okay. Tra trade away Josh Hart. who who what what what what of your what of your core what of your foundation? What of your principles? What of your culture? What do you have left? Cuz like you look around and I I get he you know he got into it with Suggs and that’s not a great look for him. But like man I I could promise you that guy’s taking all this personally. I I I don’t know how many other guys that were in uniform are. I mean Brunson, you know, always does to some extent, you know, but again, the compete levels, it is what it is. Uh, thanks Han you spree. What’s going on? Really missed OG tonight. Wagner Vagner is a stud. Suggs is a floppy something. Uh, yeah. I know it. Look, the Magic are a team that gets under your skin, but you know who’s thrilled with the Magic right now? Their fans. I’m sure their fans are loving this, as they should. The Magic are a super fun team to root for, you know. Um, but yeah, I look I I think the OG’s absence is you’re seeing it right now. But again, OG is not OG should not does not impact the I I’m going to keep using this term. OG’s presence or absence should not impact the compete level. Thanks. Um, Deads 604. What’s going on, Deads? I know OG is out, but this defense is embarrassing. No reason the Magic offense should look like an offensive juggernaut. Yeah, I mean, again, I think the first half we were on the top of the slippery slope where you could ask questions about the personnel and you could ask questions about the scheme and then by the end of the game, we had slid all the way down and it was the effort. Um, and the Magic were knew they could get whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it. Thanks, Edwards. Um, next up, Hush Zoo. Uh, the defensive issues uh are way too glaring even with OG. Well, I’ll have something to say on that in a second. Um, I’m looking at Leon now. This roster is so flawed. I don’t care if it’s still early. We are Charmin soft. Um I mean the only push back I’ll give you on that is and I know it because it hasn’t changed because he hasn’t played yet or since he went out but their defensive rating with OG on the court is exceptional. It’s like 106 point something. It’s really good. Like when OG plays their defense has been good and that makes sense because he’s an alldefense level player and he slots everybody else into place. He slots Mau Bridges into place. He slots when Deuce McBride is there, he slots Deuce McBride into place. He slots Josh Hart into place. He slots everybody into place. Without OG, everybody has to take a step up and then when you’re missing OG and, you know, a deuce or a Shamid in tonight’s case, an OG and or a deuce and a Shamid, it’s a different story. Um, in terms of looking at Lyon, like they’re not I I I don’t know that there’s any big change that they are going to be able to make this season. Like this is the roster more likely than not. Thanks, Hush. Rich Mloud, what’s going on Rich? I know they’re missing guys. I know the refs were bad and I know it’s early, but this team continues to be really frustrating sometimes. Yeah, I mean it’s incredibly frustrating and it’s frustrating in a way that is very different from last year. You know, last year it was how they were being guarded and the maybe the decisions that were not being made to counter how they were being guarded and maybe a lack of offensive creativity. Um, all those sorts of things. This is a very different type of frustration, you know. And I I do want to say like I don’t know that we have had a game yet like this. I don’t think we have had a game like this because I would remember a game like this and I have we have not had a game like this. We’ve had but there has been a buildup over the course of the last month of generally defense that you watch and you’re like this doesn’t look like a team that’s competing for a championship in terms of the defense. So while this is only one game in terms of we’re we’re talking about effort and compete level and quitting and embarrassment and those sorts of things. It’s not as if this has come out of nowhere, which is why I am appreciative and understanding of everybody who is wanting to jump to some conclusions tonight. Thank you, Rich. Lewis, what is that? Estudo, what’s going on, Lewis? Thank you for the very generous super chat on a tough night. Really appreciate that. Lewis, it’s time to have the cat conversation. I mean, it’s I had the conversation three weeks ago and a lot of people yelled at me and um so yeah, I’ll just throw that out there. On the night on nights, this team is short-handed. Your stars need to step up. I don’t care if it’s injury related or something mental, but these listless or lifeless I either one the shoe fits uh performances from him are becoming all too common. Look, I I wrote it I wrote it the uh not not the next day. I wrote it two days after when I did a a newsletter on, you know, his perform a little bit of a deeper dive into his performance in the Bucks game and things that happen with Cat when when Cat’s going right, what’s going on when Cat’s not going right. I just don’t think there’s any way around it at this point. Like, if you are physical with Cat, you’re probably going to do do pretty well. he just doesn’t deal with physicality well. Whether it’s because it gets in his head and he makes poor decisions because of it or it takes him out of his game. Um or he’s just not able to do all of the stuff that he likes to do against physicality. He’s just not a player that has shown consistently enough that he is going to be able to succeed against very physical teams. Um, and I thought that was true for the most part against Detroit last year. Um, who I thought bailed him out a little bit on occasion by putting a five on him. And to his credit, he took full advantage of that. Um, but I mean, I don’t know. I mean, look, I’ve said all I’ve said all the things about God, you know, but tonight to single him out actually doesn’t really feel right. But um look, I’ve had the conversation, Lewis. I I I don’t know what else there is to add to it. It this is who the player is. He’s he’s it’s it’s a decade in the league. You know, it’s who he is. It’s not changing. Um who he is. Thanks, Louis. Next up, uh oh, we got more more cat comments coming up. Okay, here we go. Uh Hu Nicks, when can I start side eyeing 32? It’s still too early. Why is it JB that consistently shows up and not our $60 million player? Well, he’s a $53 million player this year in fairness. It’s the It’s the uh player option in the 2728 season. That is the That’s for 60 million. Just so annoyed. Let’s go Knicks. Um different kind of offensive players, you know, different kind of offensive players. JB can quote unquote get you a bucket when you need one. That’s just never been really Cat’s thing that he again feels comfortable doing consistently enough. And certainly not against teams like this. Not teams that are going to get through, you know, throw him off his game, push him around. He, you know, it’s not what he wants to do. It’s not how he wants to play. So, he wants to be Kevin Durant. Thanks, Lush. Uh, Drew P with another one. This isn’t it. Does Leon consider cat for ad? Oh god. I I I don’t know that swapping out one problem for another is the is the solution. I would rather personally. And look, I’m not going to shoot down that idea as like completely insane. I no, you know, Anthony Davis when he’s healthy is a top 15 NBA player. So, the notion that I I would sit here and be like, “That’s insane.” Uh, it’s not insane. And I said I said this when Sean brought it up to me rec on a recent show we did together where he was like, “This is insane.” And I was like, “I don’t know if it’s insane.” Um, or maybe it was Jeff. It was someone. Would I do it? No. One, because Anthony Davis, I think the best days of his career might be behind him from a health standpoint. Um, and two, I think the I still think the ceiling of this team is probably higher with CAT only because with CAT, you know, you can be the best offense in the league. And I do think that there are ways when you are fully whole and healthy. Even against physical teams, I think you’ll have enough in the I think you’ll have enough there to be able to score in bunches and then if you are right defensively, you will have enough at the other end to kind of mitigate what cat, you know, takes off the table. So, personally, I would not entertain that, but I understand if people are a little frustrated. Riad 92, what’s going on? We had watching this rag tag offense rape and pillage this atrocious defense has me really concerned. In the second round, Orlando and Detroit will both be a tough out. Um I would not call this version of the Magic um a rag tag offense. I think this is a real NBA team. They shot 39% from deep tonight. Um that is just not something you would have been able to say about the Magic in years past. Fron Vagner is an all-star level player. Um, you know, when Jaylen Suggs is, you know, I I think it, and this is how I think it benefits them, you and Desmond Bane is a borderline all-star level player. So, when Jaylen Suggs only has to be your third best offensive player and you surround him with spacing, when he is essentially the worst floor spacer on the floor, and right now he is the worst floor spacer on the floor because he’s surrounded by Bane and Carter and Dilva who’s hitting shots. shots. I know he didn’t shots tonight and Vagner and then you bring in um you know and Black Black you know he only took two threes tonight. He made one of them like he’s turning into a nice little offensive player like they have some real pieces now that they didn’t used to have. Bane changed everything for them. Um, so you know, a is a decent offense is it doesn’t in no world against a a a what the Knicks are capable of defensively should them or frankly any team doesn’t matter who they’re playing. You shouldn’t give up 133 points. This just doesn’t matter who they’re playing. But give the give the Magic a little credit. Thanks, Riad. Uh Jason M. Oh boy. Knicks offense can score against his team. Issue is the defense. You think uh can’t keep their man in front of them. Miscommunication, bad fouls, didn’t rebound. So, I’ll take those one at a time. I said it to DJ on the X’s and O’s show that I did with him um whatever I think it was last night, two nights ago. Um they can’t they can’t stop they can’t stop ball. They can’t stop ball. Nobody on this team right now without OG there, nobody can stop ball. Um rebounding, you’re used to having them with the clear rebounding advantage. Tonight it was even 3636. Magic had more offensive rebound than them. That was troubling. I thought that those that for me tonight were the first signs and this is where I will kind of blame Cat. I thought there were some really really poor um couple of really poor box outs um or attempted box outs or maybe not even attempted box outs by Towns in the first half. So problem and then the bad fouls. Yeah, absolutely. But then, you know, you want to blame that on the refs tonight. That’s fine. And then miscommunications like when when Towns and and Bridges were like they couldn’t figure out how I forget who the [ __ ] got wide open under the hoop, but someone got wide open under the hoop there in the second half. You know, I think I think the large the biggest part of it by far is they’re just not keeping anybody in front of them. It’s the biggest problem. Thanks, Jason. Ben Kim Gerby, 79 field goal attempts. Oh, Ben with the stats. 37 threes, nine stocks. Magic disrupted the hell out of us. How and why? # Didn’t win. Better learn. Look, the only one of those stats that matters to me, and it matters only a little bit, is the the nine stocks. They got five steals and four blocks. Um, I this this game was not about and and I know you know this Ben this game was not about offensive numbers. This game wasn’t about threes. This game wasn’t about field goal attempts, you know. This was this was about pride. It was about pride. Thanks, Ben. TJ2K, what’s going on, brother? We never seem to have a plan for when we get punched in the mouth and I keep seeing us get punched in the mouth. Uh I would Well, if you want to talk about this season, yeah, this season they don’t have a plan for when they get punched in the mouth. Last season, uh I saw this basketball team come from behind by they were come from behind twice where they were down by 20 in Boston against the defending world champions. So, they used to actually do pretty well when they got punched in the mouth. Uh do they do that now? Not so much. Not so much. Thanks, TJ2K. Um, Robert Cross with another one. First time long time. It’s your boy John. Let’s be clear. This team is supposed to be a great NBA team. Not good, not very good. Great. Oh gosh, Robert. I I trying to ask myself if I ever truly believed even before the season that this was a great a great NBA team. I really did want to believe it. Um I don’t know. They might still be a great NBA team. They might still be great. But look, we don’t we’re not going to go do reit go through the whole litany of how every move that got us to this point and how we got here and why we’re here and why we’re not somewhere else. But, you know, they’re here because a series of decisions kind of that they’ve felt like they had to make at the time got us here and here we are. Thanks, Robert. Okay, Hushu with another one. Pomeb can’t even sniff the floor. Good job, Leon. I mean, it’s a disaster, you know. I I I I I hope that pick I I I mean, it it accomplished a financial purpose. I know that. I hope that’s all they were counting on because that’s it’s it’s the fact that he can’t even get consideration right now is it’s kind of a disaster. Thanks, Hush. A John Liry. the Shaman injury highlights, not finding one rotation player in the last four drafts, even more. So, I was going to write about this for a newsletter, and I ended up recording a little video on it that we might put out at some point um in the near future. It’s It’s glaring right now. It’s It’s glaring. They They’re like even one one guy, you know? So, yeah. All right, we got a couple from Oliver Sykes. What’s going on, Oliver? Oliver, thank you very much for the very generous contribution. Really appreciate it, man. You can point fingers. I think our window was when Randall and Anobi were healthy. Then Hartstein left and we needed a center. They should have just traded those two first round picks for Walker Kesler. All right, let’s get Oliver’s next comment here. Leon Rose wanted something shiny in Towns and that’s when the mistake was made. You could even say it goes back to screwing up the Hardenstein contract. Just needed to get that off my chest. John Oliver, I’ll say a couple things. One, you’re not the only person who looks back and wonders, should Leon try to have gotten get Hartinstein for a third year. Now, was was would Hartinstein have been amendable to that? You know, would Hardenstein have been amendable? He was a guy who there was a lot of buzz about him. He had put up those crazy plus minuses. You know, he I’m sure his agent Sam Rose was reading the Reddit thread. Oh, baby, this guy’s Jokic in plain sight. The whole thing. Maybe he only wanted to sign for two guaranteed years. You know, maybe that’s what he wanted to do. I don’t know. We’ll never know. As far as the pivot, as far as the pivot, the other pivot, the alternate pivot, not to cat, to some other center. So the problem there is they had already given up the picks for Macau Bridges. So they really didn’t have they didn’t have anything left to trade for Kesler. You could argue I think you could you could say sit here now and be like did they have enough to even get Kesler from Danny Angels? A chance that they did not. You know when did they know Mitchell Robinson was going to miss basically the entire year? Should the fact that Mitchell Robinson was going to be out for pretty much the entire year, should that have influenced that their decision their decision as much as it did? Or should they have said, you know what, we’re going to take our lumps this year. We’re going to trust that Mitch comes back in March and if we have to live with Precious Aua and Scrap Heap Center X and you know what, like is it going to hurt? Yeah, it’s going to hurt, but we’ll deal with it. You know, Jericho Sims, how about that? you know, and will be the four seed or the five seed. Should they have done that? I mean, these are all alternate paths you could walk down. They did what they did. I’m totally fine with you getting it off your chest, Oliver, because if there’s a if this era does not end the way that we want it to end, there’s like five or six different pivot points you could look at. Ultimately, the CAT trade is the pivot point, even more than the bridges trade. And I say that knowing knowing that the Bridges trade and I don’t want to go too far down this road, but like we know that may impact at some point their ability to get or not get a certain guy in Milwaukee. But it’s going to be the catch trade. The catch trade is going to be the thing whether if it works, we’re going to look back at the cat trade and why it works. If it doesn’t work, we’re going to look at the catch trade as why it didn’t work. Thanks, Oliver. Appreciate the generosity there, man. I really do. Adam, what’s going on, Adam? That was a pathetic, pathetic defensive performance by the Knicks. Two full days off after a night where they should have lost to the lowly Mavs with no AD or Cup or um uh well flag. Cooper flag. Uh Cooper Cup. Cooper flag. I know. I know who Cooper Cup is. Uh no no Kyrie either. This game uh to me was very troubling. Season high for the um Magic. pathetic. Um, pathetic and embarrassed. Pathetic and embarrassment are the my two those are like my two hot button words that I I I don’t pull them out often. I really don’t. And I just can’t begrudge anybody for using them tonight. I just can’t I just can’t begrudge anyone for calling that effort again effort in air quotes. I can’t begrudge anyone for calling it like it was. I get it. They’re they’re down bad. I get it. They’re probably feeling it mentally as much as they are physically. I get it. I get it. It’s a long season. I get they know they’re going to be there in the end. I get they know how it’s going to what that what matters is not going to be for months and months. I get all that. You have a responsibility as professional athletes to go out there if you are a title contending team and compete. That is your only that is the that is the contract you sign. It’s more important than the contract that pays you whatever it pays you. It’s the only it is the unbreakable contract. Can’t get waved. That is you can’t get waved from that contract. You got to compete and they didn’t compete. Thanks, Adam. Joel focused. JB vanishing in the second half was disappointing. Cat is too. Um, I don’t know that I I mean, defensively, he was poor. Would I call what JB did in the second half a vanishing act? I think that that one that one I will put on the Magic defense. I think they did a much better job on him. But um yeah, that’s uh that’s fair. Thanks, Jaw. Johnny Chea, I’ve seen more ball movement in a unic. That’s funny. Uh I get it. You, Nick. Yeah, that was good, Johnny. Uh look, they it’s again another funny thing. I actually thought they moved the ball pretty well in the first half. I think they had 18 assists on 25 made field goals or something. Thought the ball movement was pretty good in the first half, but again, that’s not what we’re here to talk about tonight. Thanks, Johnny. Uh, Brad Ford Taylor, what’s going on, Bradford? Uh, Landry Shamid starting hot hid that Yaboo has been unplayable. Um, with OG and Landrew Sham out and the kid still not ready, I’m worried about this team’s playoff depth. Well, the I’m not even thinking about playoff depth yet, you know, because there’s a trade deadline, there’s a buyout cycle, there’s all these different things. Like their identity, their core, that their foundation, that is what it is. But in terms of the depth for the playoffs, they will have time. Right now though, oh man is it a [ __ ] I mean like you hope you get Deuce back the next game because then again at least with Deuce back then at least you get seven guys you could kind of trust. You could survive with eight. You know you could survive with eight. It’s Dicey. You could survive with eight but even who the [ __ ] an eighth guy you trust right now? Yelli it’s Clarkson Diawara or not Clarkson excuse me KC and KC had some decent moments tonight too you know. So, all right, let’s take a very quick break. Um, unfortunately, again, I’m not at home, so I don’t have my trusty ULE black edition ready to drink with me. And you know why I don’t have my ULE ready to drink black edition with me because I drank it earlier today. I was in a rush leaving the house and I grabbed the bottle and uh it was the strawberry banana flavor and that was essentially my lunch. And you know what I could say unequivocally? It filled me up until I had time to eat dinner about an hour and a half ago. So, if uh you haven’t picked up on the gist already, what is Ule? Well, it’s essentially a meal in a bottle. If you ever skip meals, if you don’t have time to have a complete one, if you just need some extra energy throughout your day, um Ule is the go-to for you. They have two great options that we’ve been talking about here at Nick Film School. the ready to drink black edition which is full of protein, vitamins, minerals under five bucks per meal. Or we have the daily greens ready to drink which is um developed by registered nutritionists and dieticians even more vitamins, minerals and superfoods. Don’t forget about those superfoods and it’s only 25 calories which is even better. If you want to make uh healthy eating even simpler, as simple as it could possibly be, uh you could either go into Target stores nationwide, which is where you could find both of the products I just mentioned, or you could get 15% off if you’re a new customer just by using the exclusive code KFS at www.ulehel.com/kfs. Again, the code is KFS and it’s uh hue.com/kfs. And please fill out the postcheckout survey to help support the show. Thank you. All right, let’s keep it going here. All right, Jordan Miller, what’s going on, Jordan? I know we’re missing guys, but I really just don’t know if a team relying on Cat and JB on the defensive end at the same time can make it to the promised land. You know what? I would love to be sitting here, Jordan, and having that conversation about how, wow, everybody else is doing their part and pulling their weight and it’s fine, and yet these teams keep finding cat and finding JB. Right now, Jordan, it’s going so much deeper than that, you know? And I just I want to get back to that place. I want to get back to that place where we could where we have to figure out all right, how do we survive like the the 15 minutes a night that we have to play these guys together. I’m happy to have that conversation. I want to get back to that place. That was a welcome conversation to have compared to where we are right now. Thanks, Jordan. Kevin Dennisky, what’s going on, Kev? I’m enjoying Ken Burn’s new documentary on the American Revolution. Instead of consuming any more New York Nick content until one day, I will finish that. You know what, Kev? Smart move. Okay, let’s keep it going. Oliver Sykes with another one. Rose wanted something shiny in Towns. Towns is soft. The team is soft. Too bad. Sucks to watch. It’s not great right now, Oliver. It’s not great. And you just got to hope they find a way out of it because Towns I got news for you. Towns is not going anywhere. Did Rose want a shiny new toy? I know. Maybe Kevin with another one. Hate it, but you’re right. Deuce for Een makes sense. I look Well, they could use some more size. We’re not trading anybody away tonight. Thanks, Kev. New York Tony, I know it’s still early in the season, but I feel like this team has too many flaws regardless of being injured right now. At one point in the season, would you hit the panic button? At what point in the season would you hit the panic button in your opinion? Not yet. Um, if I saw two or three more defensive outings like this in like like for instance, if they came out, see, here’s the tough part. They played Brooklyn and Charlotte next, so they’re not going to be I don’t think they’ll be tested. If they came out and defended like this and they allowed Charlotte or Brooklyn to score 130 points and like they lost one of those games, that’s a panic button moment for me. But I’m not there yet. I’m not there yet. Thanks, Tony. Appreciate that. OG team, Yaboo tricked me. so sad. Listen, man. Yu uh he ain’t it. Not right now. He isn’t at least. Next up, Trey uh Loay, thank you for the comment or the contribution. Appreciate that. Uh who is this? Zead Raheem. Hope Landry isn’t out for long. If he is though, might want to give Ben Simmons or Malcolm Brogden a call. Zad Raheem, if the words Ben Simmons or Malcolm Brogden who told y’all I’m good, thanks. Peace. Um, if that’s if those are the words coming out of your mouth, boy, do we have bigger [ __ ] problems than I ever realized. I I don’t think we’re there yet, though. I don’t ever want to be there. Oliver with another one. Oliver, thank you so much for the generosity tonight, man. Seriously, thank you. Um, even Walt Frasier said he liked Randall. Randall had issues, but at least he brought some toughness. All they needed was a rim protector. Look, I I I watched Julius Randle implode on a basketball court last night against the Phoenix Suns, and I said to myself, look, whatever problems Cat brings us, I don’t want to go back to that. I I would I would did not want to go back to that. I don’t want to go back to that. I understand Julius was tough. I appreciate that they wanted to continue moving forward and Oliver, trust me, because I’ve gotten on him a lot this year and I got on him a lot last year and I got on him over the summer and I got on him during the playoffs. Unless what we’re seeing is like the entire roster like internally rebelling against having to play with Carl Anthony Towns. And for to be clear, I’m not suggesting that’s what it is. I’m being facitious. what we saw tonight. That’s not all on that’s not even mostly on CAD. Like, does CAD have some issues? Yeah, Cat has some issues. We know what they are. We know it’s not ideal. This goes deeper. This goes deeper. Thanks, Oliver. Hush Zoo with another one. I’m going to take a long shot here, but if you’re Leon, do you do due diligence on AD? I’m shaking my head, Hush. I’m sorry. Or do we just keep pushing with what we have? No, you you don’t you don’t blow up the or you don’t attempt to blow up the roster because you lost a bad game to a a tough team that made your team look like a bunch of whips that you don’t blow up the roster with one game like that. And again, has their defense been bad this year? Yes. Did they quit tonight? Yes. Am I going to conflate those two things to the point where I say they have to blow it up? No. I’m not there yet. And I know honestly they got to sort it out themselves. They just hired a new coach. Let the give the coach some time to figure this out. How about that? But it’s not great right now. Job with another one. The Knicks were nine and five at this point last season and they ended the season playing completely differently in the made the Eastern Finals. It’s too early to be out. Um yeah, and they had their they had different issues last year. They, you know, this team has more defensive issues and I I hope this team doesn’t have locker room problems, but you never know. Look, it’s early in the year. Got to work through it. Got to work through it. There’s a lot of time, you know. It’s a lot of time. Thanks, Jaw. I am AK Legend. Well, that was weird. My name changed. Fixed. Glad you got it back. Thank you, man. Trey uh Lay, can ever will this team past adversity? You alluded to it, but we traded uh soul for a front runner. I I mean, look, here’s the thing I’ll say about Cat. While I don’t think he does great against physicality, I am not going to sit here and say he is not a tough player. I’m not going to sit here and say he isn’t a player that cannot overcome adversity. I have seen him overcome adversity. I have seen him be tough. I have seen him dig deep and find something in himself. I do think that there are certain situations where it is more challenging for him to do those things than it is for maybe other players. And that creates a hurdle for the Knicks to have to get over. And it creates a particular problem with certain members of this fan base that I may or may not be one of them who kind of have certain the way certain players go about their business. If it’s a certain type of shortcoming, it may rub them the wrong way. So, he’s just got to be better. It’s all there is to it. Thanks, Trey. Deads with another one. The NBA bird rights rules screwed us with iHeart. You’re right about that. Uh, really set a lot of things in motion that we’ve been complaining about, not only last season, but now this season as well. Yeah, I mean I wrote a whole piece about it two summers ago. You know, it sucks, but it happened. It is what it is. Thanks, Edwards. Greg Film Stuff, thank you for the generosity, Greg. Sorry, not going to lose my mind over one game, even though another loss to Orlando is concerning. Orlando always plays us like it’s game seven and we need to match their intensity. 0 and4 vers Boston last year and beat them in the playoffs. Just saying. I’m not losing my mind over a loss to Orlando. I’m not losing my mind over the fact that they that Orlando scored against them. I’m not losing my mind. I I haven’t lost my mind. You’ll you’ll you’ll note if you’ve watched any post games, and I know you watch the post games, people have been losing their minds over the defense. I keep I kept saying and saying and saying and saying, “I’m not worried about the defense. I think they’re going to pull it together.” And honestly, my stance there hasn’t even changed that much. I’m purely talking tonight about the level of competition, the compete level, the pride That’s what I’m concerned about because it was not something that I ever had to be concerned about for the last five years and I have to be concerned about it now and I don’t love being in that place. Are you right that we should probably not react because of who’s not there? Absolutely. You’re right. And yet I’m feeling the way I’m feeling. Thanks, Greg. Don with another one. Thank you for the generosity, Dom. I know you’re not pleased tonight. I honestly felt much more bad for Shamut than the team. Part uh partially because it’s back-to-back shoulder separations for a vet minimum guy has to be a huge career hurdle. Partially because New York doesn’t deserve any sympathy after dropping that dookie. Oh, they don’t deserve any sympathy. No, that and that’s again more than anything that’s why I opened the show the way I did. I was again up until the fourth quarter or like early in the fourth quarter I was going to open up here and I was going to be like guys let’s hold off on the on the on the torches and pitchforks. This team is down bad and then what they and they it was I was like I was like fighting the urge to be really mad and then I just didn’t fight anymore because I saw what I saw in the fourth quarter. But yes, I feel awful for Landry. Thanks Tom Ferris. What’s going on, Ferris? The Magic are a nightmare matchup for the Knicks. Suggs, Fron, and their length completely neutralize Brunson and force New York into bad shots. Yeah, no, no disagreement. It’s a terrible matchup. It’s a really terrible matchup without Ojanobi. Truly very bad. Again, my focus is not on how this game like went up to a certain point. My focus is that they quit at some point cuz they really embodied what you’re talking about. They were like, “Shit, man. And this matchup sucks for us. We’ll get him. We’ll get him next time. And that was just a little disheartening to me. Thanks, Ferris. No disagreement, by the way. Uh Sid O Magic 9998. Maybe we win against the Nets. Orlando didn’t even need their head coach in the second half. At this point, we’re a team of um Fiji drinking softies. I mean, I got a Fiji right here, so I don’t know what to say about that. Thanks. Uh, Sid O Magic Haju with another one. Do you still have faith in Yabiselli? I just don’t see it in him. I don’t know where the Philly version went. He looks like he’s running in quicksand. Disappointed. He needs to be in shape. I said it. I wasn’t beating around the bush. I know some people are beating around the bush. How about with that? Get in shape, dude. Get in shape. It’s all it is. Get in shape. Thanks, Hush. Trey Leay, another one. No defense is one thing, but not being able to shoot and rebound is sick from Cat. Sweet kid, but he’s just not that he’s just that sweet front runner and shies away from adversity. Um, so it’s the opposite for me. Uh, if he if he’s not making shots, I’ll live with that. If he’s not getting in there and getting rebounds and trying on defense, that’s where I draw the line. And I I drew that line tonight. Thanks, Trey. Couple more and then we are done. Sean with a W. Last year’s team also won on BS until the Boston Series. Different teams, Sean. Different teams. Come on. You know that. You’re better than that. Thanks, Sean. Solar Daz team culture got worse when Cat arrived. Comical. I mean, look, not putting this all I just I’m not doing it. I’m not putting it all on cat tonight. I can’t do it. Can’t do it. Wasn’t a great game for me. And then Adam DeFolvio, I still believe in this team. Nick’s got to get this right. Roster is what it is, so they have to get on the same page. 100%, Adam. Um, look, I I don’t know if this is the last comment, uh, last super chat. Kev, let me know. But I still have faith that this team can get where we all want it to go. Um, but they have a little bit more to prove to me now than they did before this game. And I have not said that. I have not thought that even after the Milwaukee game where I was very down on Cat. I have not thought that after any loss this season, after this loss, they now have more to prove to me. So, let’s hope they do it. I don’t know how much they’re going to be able to improve against their next couple opponents, but I sure as [ __ ] would like them to get some wins because this kind of sucks. All right, thanks everybody for checking out another episode of the Knicks Film School postgame show. Uh, be sure to catch me uh later tonight on Honda Sports Night up over on SNY where I’m sure I will have some very interesting things to say about this game and this team. As always, help the show out in all the different ways you can. Subscribe, like, review, rate, all those things. We will be back with more fun and games before you know it. This has been the Knicks Film School postgame show prevent presented by Fanatic Sportsbook. We’ll be back with more fun and games before you know it. Peace out. must be 21 or older. Gambling problem, call 1800 gambler. Connecticut, call 888-7897777. Massachusetts, call 800327-50. New York, call 8778NY. Maryland, visit mdgamblinghelp.org. Not available in all states. Terms apply. See the Fanatic Sportsbook app.

In this edition of the KFS Postgame Show, Jonathan Macri recaps the Knicks game against the Orlando Magic before hearing from generous contributors in the KFS audience.

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23 comments
  1. I was at the game. Wagner met little to NO resistance ALL NIGHT. Watching KAT play in person is even more frustrating than watching at home. Both offensively & defensively. I was just happy he didn't complain for a foul every time on offense. "Force-feeding" him isn't a recipe for success. I wish he would make quicker moves.

    Also, why do we consistently go away from Mikal in second halves?

    Overall, I'm not concerned.
    #LGK

  2. This is where I would disagree with John. I believe the Knicks were 9-7 at this point last season. Under Thibs, the Knicks always got off to rough starts. He almost got fired one season because of the start. The Knicks seemed to quit several times under Thibs.

  3. I know other fans will strongly disagree with me but if it were up to me, both KAT and OG are on the trade block. Point is we're either stuck with this core, or our best assets not named JB need to go.
    It's the unfortunate reality of missing on a calculated bet. Unless I'm wrong and the fans still believe in this core and want to just blame a coach

  4. Macri pretending he didn’t have this conversation last year. He spent the whole season saying Mikal destroyed the culture last year. There were also 10+ games where he said the guys let go of the rope last year.

  5. Its very difficult to find a star, and almost as difficult to find a 2nd star. We found one in JB, but in looking for a 2nd, we decided to pivot our overall team vision.
    Hate to say it, but you will never win with all offense when your best player is so deficient on defense. JB is my favorite player, but it's the truth.
    You have to treat JB like other nuclear offensive players that have defensive limitations: surround with athletic, rangy 3&D players, great defense and rebounding,…and of course, you need at least one other reliable scorer and/or playmaker when other teams take away the star.
    But thats way easier said than actually done, clearly.

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