ESPN on NBA Cup: Orlando Magic, New York Knicks set to clash in East Semifinals; Thunder 23-1 record

ESPN on NBA Cup: Orlando Magic, New York Knicks set to clash in East Semifinals; Thunder 23-1 record

Raptors hosting the Knicks and the Knicks finding their footing on the road going on to win 117101. CarlAnthony Towns with the double double. Knicks led by as many as 24 in this one. Jaylen Brunson leading the way with a game high 35 points. He now has 87 30point games in his career. That’s tied for the third most in Knicks history. The Raptors, meanwhile, they drop their fourth game in a row. Meanwhile, Knicks move on to the Cup semis. They’ll face the Magic on Saturday in Vegas. We’re joined by CBS Sports NBA analyst John Gonzalez is one half of the semis has been determined, including the Knicks cruising to a dominant win over the Raptors. And Knicks fans, I looked at my Twitter, I cannot lie, they have to feel good about this product that they saw on Tuesday night, just especially considering they were three and six on the road entering the night with an offense that, let’s be honest, hasn’t been as potent. But what do you think changed against Toronto? Yeah, Knicks fans got to feel good about this. The Knicks have to feel good about it. And you know, the league office Kiana is thrilled that the Knicks, you know, with apologies to the Toronto Raptors, thrilled that the Knicks are now going out to Las Vegas for the semi-finals and potentially the finals. You always love to have a New York team involved in these things when you’re trying to get eyeballs on your product. But yeah, as you mentioned, they hadn’t been a good road team. Now they’re four and six. They get a much needed win. They they’ve got a little bit of momentum at their back. They’ve won four in a row. And the offense has been pretty good overall. They have the third best offensive rating in the league this year. But it’s nice to see them finally start to do it on the road. As you mentioned, Jaylen Brunson 35 points, third most 30point games in Knicks history behind only Patrick Hewing and Carmelo Anthony. That’s really good company. You’ve got Carl Anthony Towns going for a double double. I think what also h helps here is that they’ve got OG Anobi back healthy. Male Bridges always uh plays right. But Josh Hart recently reinserted back into that starting lineup. Josh Hart goes for 21 points tonight, Kiana. Then he gets four for seven from deep. So what does that do? That frees up uh Jaylen Brunson to go and score at will. It frees up Carl Anthony Towns to do what he does. and they can’t really key on um those two guys when you leave Josh Hart open now he’s knocking down shots that makes that offense all the more potent. So yeah, that offense was humming tonight. And then the Raptors, conversely, uh not a great night for them. They’re now they’ve now lost four in a row. Yes, they didn’t have Emanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett tonight. Brandon Ingram looked good, but everybody else had a really poor shooting night. So big win for the Knicks. I want to go back to something you said at the top. I mean, the league’s got to like when you have a New York team in Vegas, but we will see on Wednesday. There’s a team out in LA that’s still alive in the cup. And I mean, I think that’s great for TV, but we’ll see how that takes shape as the Lakers face the Spurs. But on the other side of things, why can’t the Magic just have nice things? I mean, they they’re healthy with Ben Carroll’s return and then they lose friends Vagner at 48 hours later. But nonetheless, they did open up the quarterfinals with a bit of a slow start, but things heating up quickly as they coasted to the win over the Heat. I want to get your thoughts on just how they were able just to shoulder the offensive workload with Vagner not in the lineup. Yeah, I’m kind of I’m not used to this. You’re not used to it. People who have followed the Magic forever, for the last however many years, they’ve been a bottom third offense in the NBA. And now all of a sudden, they’ve won seven of their last 10. They’re almost top 10. They were 11th in offensive rating coming into this game. And as you mentioned, they fall behind in this game, 150. Right. The Heat scored the first 15 points of the game. And I thought, uhoh, this isn’t good. No, Fran Vagner. Where are they going to get their offense from? Well, the answer is Desmond Bane goes for 37 points tonight. Also had six rebounds and five assists. But he was six of nine from deep. He was just on fire in that second half. And that’s the type of player and the type of offense that the Magic wanted and thought they were getting when they traded for Desmond Bay. This is a kind of guy where that outside shooting that was sorely lacking in Orlando for years and years and years. Now all of a sudden, you insert him back into this team or into this team. and Palo Ben Carro who’s kind of a little hit or miss tonight. Well, you’ve got a little bit of wiggle room now when you don’t have a Fran Vagner and you maybe don’t have a Palo Ben Carro playing at his best. You’ve got uh Desmond Bane out there just scoring in bunches and that was more than the Heat could uh overcome. So, yeah, big win for the Magic who now all of a sudden after a slow start to this season are really finding themselves and that defense that defense is never a problem. They’re always good at that end of the floor. So, now if they can find some offense, Kiana, and make it consistent, they could be a problem in the East. Okay, so if they can find some offense because up next for the Magic is a meeting with the affformentioned Knicks that we talked about, which if we all recall in their meeting this past Sunday, Desmond Bane launching the ball at OG Anob’s head that resulted into a hefty $35,000 fine. But take a look at what he had to say ahead of their semis matchup. With with the win tonight, you guys go to Vegas this weekend. What What does that mean for the group to advance to the semi-finals, get some extra money and all that? Uh, it’s huge, man. I mean, I just lost 35,000. So, so I I got to I got to go get it back somehow. You know what I’m saying? But, uh I’m excited. Uh great opportunity for us to play some meaningful full basketball early in the season. So, um I know the group’s excited. Maybe an opportunity to recoup some of that money that he lost with that fine. But we do have Bane and OG again in the Cub semis on Saturday, not even a week later. That’s at 5:30 Eastern. They did laugh it off after the technicals were assessed, but I want to get your thoughts on this rematch between the two. I’m loving this. Kudos to the league office script writers. Congratulations. To have the rematch this soon is brilliant. You’re doing it in Vegas. Desmond Bane is already leaning into it. At first, Kiana, when I when I saw it live, I thought Desmond Bane is losing his mind. And then I watched it again and I just laughed and I thought, “This is fantastic. It’s worth the 35,000. Everybody’s gotten a ton of content out of it, including us. And now Desmond Bane is trading off of it as well. This is going to be mustsee TV on Saturday when these two teams meet in Las Vegas for a chance to go to the NBA Cup finals. You know, they’re trying to make the cup a thing. Well, they should have just had Desmond Bane peg OG Anobi earlier and then everybody would be paying attention to it. You said this is the makes the 35,000 worth it. I think we can say that. I don’t think Desmond Bane can say that it might be worth it. But nonetheless, while half of the semis are set on the other end, I mean, the Thunder roll into the quarterfinals sporting just, you know, one loss across their first 24 games to open the year. But they’re coming into their cup matchup, winning 15 straight and are the third team in NBA history to start 23 and one or better. John, let me lay this out for you. The Thunder are playing the best basketball since who? Yeah, I’m going to reach way far back into last season. and they are playing the best basketball since last year’s Oklahoma City team. And that might sound a little lazy, but that’s how good Oklahoma City was th last year. And how much better they’re somehow this year, Kiana. They’re fifth in offensive rating and first in defensive rating. As you mentioned, it’s the second best start through 24 games in NBA history. They only have one loss. That was when they lost to Portland at Portland without Jaylen Williams, who by the way was an all-star, all NBA, and all defense last year. And they also had no Lou Dort. So they were missing twothirds or two-fifths of their starting lineup, right? So last year they beat opponents on average by 12.9 points per game. Kiana, that was the best point differential in NBA history. This year they’ve improved on that mark. They’re now beating opponents by 16.1 points on average. They’re crushing the record that they just set last year. Last year they had the best defensive rating in the NBA by a mile. But this year they have improved on that number one defense, right? I mean it’s just everywhere you look. SGA might be the MVP again. Chad Homegrren with WBY out and not qualifying potentially for the 65game threshold. Chad Homegrren might be your defensive player of the year. They’re going to lose Isaiah Hartinstein and Ludor most likely as cap casualties this coming off season. It’s not going to matter because they go and they find AJ Mitchell. They’ve still got that Clippers pick that’s owed to them that could be really high in this upcoming draft. Sam Prey is a wizard. If you dunked him in a river, he’d float and he’d have all kinds of problems. It’s really impressive what they’ve done. They’re outstanding. I I I mean I everyone every GM in the NBA should be taking note of what this Thunder team has been able to do, what they were able to build over these last several years, and it’s right here, right in front of us. We are witnessing history. It’s just how much better can they even get yet to be seen. We’ll see how everything takes shape the rest of the way. But as always, John Gonzalez, we appreciate you stopping by with the best. $35,000 though. I’m just saying. John makes it sound like it’s nothing. But the NBA Cup semies do continue on Wednesday with a double header. OKC looks to remain redot as they host the Suns. That one at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. Then at 10, the Wimilless Spurs facing off against the Lakers. We welcome back Marcus SM. Winners advancing to the West Finals. You can catch that action out in Vegas. If Nationwide could be a great insurance and financial services company,

ESPN on NBA Cup: Orlando Magic & New York Knicks set to clash in East Semifinals, Thunder 23-1 record