The Knicks found their ‘IDENTITY’ 🗣️ NBA Cup Semifinals PREVIEW: Knicks vs. Magic | NBA Today

The Knicks found their ‘IDENTITY’ 🗣️ NBA Cup Semifinals PREVIEW: Knicks vs. Magic | NBA Today

The West semifinals will be set tonight, but the East, it was settled on Tuesday. So, let’s head to Toronto. That’s where the Knicks look to take on the Raptors in the knockout round of the NBA Cup here, Monica. This was a performance by the Knicks, I tell you. That’s for sure. Jacob Brunson redot here. Yeah, he’s and and he’s been a little up and down from three this year, but last night he got it going. Actually, postgame he thanked a fan apparently that was chirping and helped him have that big time first half. Well, yeah, he had 26 points. That’s the most he’s had in a half this season. Josh Hart slices it inside. And then later here in the second, Carl Anthony Towns faking the handoff, drives. Nice finish there. Just a drive. Talk about snatching the screws out the rim. And then a few minutes later here, OG Anobi gets the steal and then finishes all the way coast to coast for a little two-handed jam here. Monica, it’s good to see him back and playing this well. These are two games back to back now where he’s been excellent. And then this stat is the efficiency, Malikica. When this team is efficient, they’re very, very hard to stop. Yeah, the three of them outscoring the whole RA Raptors team 552 in the first half. And then here’s the final touches here. Brunson to a deep three. He finished with a game high 35. The Knicks cruise to a win here. Let’s take a listen to Brunson after the game. You guys have found a move since Josh starting lineup. What’s What’s been the key to that? He’s just playing well. What’s that? What’s it like to see him shoot with confidence and and let opposing coaches know about uh you should shut up and let them keep leaving them open. All right, so the Knicks have won four straight and eight of their last nine. That dynamic one of the best in the NBA, but is that alone, Monica, what’s fueling this Knicks run? Well, I you know, those two are hugely important, but I think this offense this year and particularly the way that they’re shooting the three. They’re getting the most corner threes. Jaylen Brunson obviously is back to big body Brunson basketball. But here you’ll see this action. They do this corner thing so well. They make defenses decide if they’re going to acknowledge the action and there’s not a ton happening here in this play in the paint or if they’re going to get to this three-point shooter. Muel Bridges has been off to a fantastic start in this offense. He’s one that reads it so well and he’s been shooting a three really well around 40%. Here, same thing. Jaylen Brunson gets to his spot, y’all. Josh Hart, the way he’s shooting the basketball. You combine that with his rebounding, his defense, his versatility, he’s having an incredible season. I think he’s around 38% from the three-point line. And of course, we mentioned the six of nine from Jaylen Brunson last night. Now, here’s Josh. I told you 38%. But what I like is Mike Brown said earlier this season, he wants his team to get up 403s. They have done that. Now, I will say you can look and see when they shoot 38% or better, what how it correlates to the wins or losses, but they’re taking shots with confidence. There is no hesitation. And that’s up and down the roster. And look, I get it. Big Body Bronson is the best player on the floor as you can see his numbers right here. He’s the best player on that team. Josh Hart is the heart and soul of that team. OGNobi baby aka baby Pippen. We know what he’s doing. But call Anthony Towns is the most important player on this squad, right? And he sacrificed a lot scoring wise, but he has been cleaning up that glass like a fresh bottle of what, Malikica? Windex. Windex. He’s second in the league in rebounding and also one of the best shooting bigs to ever play the game of basketball. Look at that catch and shooting transition. Here go another one using this 29 see ball in man. Great box out one hand snag runs the floor. Joshart pushing the pace. Give it to Cat again. Now look, you have to respect him with with so many people, so many bodies, but then we forget how skilled he is by putting the ball on the counter. and going to the rim and snatching the screws out of it. And this is the part that I love the most. Fired up. Hell yeah. You got 17 double doubles. Second most in the NBA. Trailing who? Jokic. If you’re trailing Jokic, that ain’t a bad thing. No, it’s not. And I’m glad you called this out, Perk, because he has had maybe not the scoring outburst or he’s not shooting 46 42% from the three-point line like he did last year, but I actually give him a ton of credit because he’s getting it in the flow of this new system. And it was a little Florida clash between the Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat. So, let’s head down now and see how this one shook out here. Starting with Miami. They started out hot here. Miami up. Bam. Autobio. Norm Powell been a huge addition, Bobby, for Miami. It has been terrific and they got off to a 130 start. Just got out of the gates here. Tyler Herro gets to the paint. Gets that one to go. The 150 run that you mentioned. That is the longest unanswered run to start an NBA Cup game. Miami up after the first quarter. In the second here, the Magic trailing by 14. Here’s when Desmond Bane, Monica, starts to get going. I listen, when shooters get hot, you shoot to stay hot and you shoot to get hot. And he was on fire through the course of this one. If you’re confused why this isn’t a Cup court, we’ve had some issues with Cup courts around the league and slipperiness here. But don’t worry, this is an NBA Cup game and the Orlando Magic making a comeback like they know it here, Perk. I know. And look, Jaylen Suggs, he’s elevated his game over the last couple weeks. He’s going to be key to their success. He was keeping them. Suggs and he shall appear hitting a little midi there. Perk a light little fundamental Orlando taking Miami 16 points. It marked their largest blown lead of the season. It didn’t get better. And that’s what I love out of Desmond Bangs. Like a lot of people Yeah. think that he’s just a catch and shoot guy, but he could create off the dribble, but he know how to utilize the pick and roll as well. He’s underrated in that aspect. Paulo Beno finding Bane there. And then once again, Bane driving, finishing, and then look at this. He points at Tyler Hero there after the bucket. Bane had 37 points. The third 35-point game this season for the Magic. Oh, it’s huge, man. I mean, I just lost 35,000. So, so I I gota I gotta 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 basketball early in the season. So, um, I know the group’s excited. That 35K Desmond Bane was referring to missed it. Uh, also, any chance we get to show you this video again, we’re going to take it. This buying was for chucking the ball at OG Anobi to try to trigger the out- of- bounds call. Uh, clearly he was already out of bounds. Was not a first defender in this. So, you get a dodgeball rematch. There you go. I love it. Hey, here’s a look at the NBA Cup brackets. The Magic, we know they move on. And the Knicks, we know they advance to the semi-finals in Las Vegas. And they will be joined by the winners of tonight’s Suns Thunder matchup, which Perk has already taken the Thunder in that one. And then the winner of the Spurs and Lakers game as well. And by the way, if you feel like you’ve seen that Eastern Conference semis a few times recently, a few. Yeah, you’re not losing your marbles. This will be the fourth time the Magic and Knicks have met in just over a month. Orlando won two of the first three games, although the Knicks won their most recent matchup this past Sunday. And Monica, those Magic wins, they had Fron Vagner in them. Vagner out now two to four weeks, but you see that as a a huge differencemaker for I do because Vagner was giving the Knicks the business quite frankly. And I think in those two games, in fact, the Magic were the only team that the Knicks had dropped a home game to over this first stretch of the season. But I think in those first two games, for whatever reason, chalk it up to early season figuring it out. The Knicks weren’t prepared for the physicality that the Magic play with. Um, that was not the case the last time these teams met in the Garden. Of course, you wish Vagner well, but I think the Knicks are now prepared. two things prepared for prepared rather for the physicality and also shooting the three ball really well as a team. So it’s gonna be a tall task for the Magic. You you know I always look at I’m always look at Carl Anthony Towns especially with a matchup like this. Who’s going to be able to stop him? We saw those clips of his ability to be able to take off the dribble. I still think the Knicks could find that balance of utilizing him a bit a bit more on the low block. But the way he’s been playing his passion, I think, you know, the way that it opens it up for everything in this new offense and if he continues to stay engaged. Yeah, that’s the thing. When you have an engaged call, Anthony Tiles, you have a great Carl Anthony. I I just think they found their identity. New York has. And I think there was a stretch in that that second quarter where they really blew the game up where we showed the Anobi dunk where good defense turns into really good offense here. And when you have what Josh Hart has been able to do, uh, you know, there was six losses, I think, total on the road here. They’re of course a better home team, but three of those without Josh Hart on on the road there. And Bobby, that’s a great point when you say they found their identity, right? It takes time. They got a new coach. And and the thing I got to give a lot of praise to when it comes to Mike Brown, he’s been very open and honest about situations that he’s had to deal with, holding himself accountable, leaning on his coaching staff to get better and put guys in position to be better. And we’ve seen teams use the NBA Cup as a stepping stone here. Obviously, Oklahoma City didn’t have the showing in Vegas that they wanted to, but they use that to help propel them to get over the top in a bigger goal at the end of the season. Could this be another stepping stone here for the New York Knicks? What I look like with the heat on fire on the

On NBA Today, Bobby Marks, Monica McNutt and Kendrick Perkins preview the NBA Cup Semifinals matchup between the New York Knicks and Orlando Magic.

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