Speaker 1: Welcome into NBA puls and production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and the NBA. I'm sarahcu Stock, NBA analysts for the
Speaker 1: S Network. Today is Wednesday, December one, and from our
Speaker 1: fabulous core group of NBA journalists, we are joined by
Speaker 1: NBA dot Com senior writer Sean pal No one better
Speaker 1: to discuss New York basketball being back baby New York coops,
Speaker 1: both the Knicks and the net surging, as well as
Speaker 1: a huge matchup in the East tonight the Bucks and
Speaker 1: the Caps. Will get to that. Sean, thanks so much
Speaker 1: for joining us. Hey, my pleasure, my pleasure, and to
Speaker 1: talk about the Knicks and that's of course what what
Speaker 1: better I was gonna say? You are you are very
Speaker 1: familiar covering these teams, as you did for a very
Speaker 1: long time with Newsday. But let's first get into the Knicks,
Speaker 1: because they just had a big win last night consistent
Speaker 1: with they're scoring a straight win and they're gonna have
Speaker 1: the Raptors coming into the garden here tonight. But just
Speaker 1: dominated against a stepless Curry Go State Warriors team. What
Speaker 1: have you seen out of how they've been playing in
Speaker 1: this win streak? With Tom Thibodeau, has these guys doing
Speaker 1: no surprise on the defensive end, but just some really
Speaker 1: big performances by a lot of their key players. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think he just said it, Sarah. I
Speaker 1: mean they're key players are stepping up. Julius Randall for one.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know last year was sort of like
Speaker 1: a last year for him. But you know when Jalen
Speaker 1: Bronson comes to this team and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: he has the ball, Julius Randall's not starting to place,
Speaker 1: He's finishing place. And you know that's really his strength. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's really the role he had a couple of years
Speaker 1: ago when he was an All Star. So credit both
Speaker 1: players for that. Number One for Julius Randall for getting
Speaker 1: back to his roots so to speak and finishing there
Speaker 1: the ram with that strong left handed lay up and
Speaker 1: all that stuff. And then you know, what can you
Speaker 1: say about Janele Bronson and the dynamic he's brought to
Speaker 1: this team, the leadership, steadiness, you know, the fact that
Speaker 1: in his first year here he's got the respect of
Speaker 1: the players, he's got the respect of the coaching staff. Uh,
Speaker 1: and he's really charming the city. And I think that's
Speaker 1: a good showing. Obviously. R j Barrett as well. Uh
Speaker 1: So now you've got that three man nucleus really playing
Speaker 1: well during this time, um really controlling the ball, setting
Speaker 1: the tempo for this team, and setting in I think
Speaker 1: a spirit of winning this if we can say that. Uh,
Speaker 1: the fact that they're on this hot streak and they're
Speaker 1: feeling good about themselves, and it's been a long time
Speaker 1: since the Knicks have felt good about themselves. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: it's great to see you mentioned just how Julius Randall
Speaker 1: has come back and been playing, considering just how last
Speaker 1: season when Jalen Brunson has been traum I mean talk
Speaker 1: about a pickup of I think there was a lot
Speaker 1: of excitement about him, but maybe tempered in what exactly
Speaker 1: he would bring. But it's been everything that the Knicks
Speaker 1: could hope for and more Quinn Crimes as a player
Speaker 1: coming off a nineteen point nine, but it's just been
Speaker 1: really steady and solid, Emmanuel quickly off the bench, Uh,
Speaker 1: Sean is is sustainable. I know there's a lot of
Speaker 1: feel good and feel good with how they're playing through
Speaker 1: this winning streak, but in the context of the season,
Speaker 1: as the Nick sit uh currently in six in the
Speaker 1: East or percentage points behind Philadelphia for fifth. Is this
Speaker 1: sustainable for them to hold on to a playoff spot? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously, Sarah, that's a big question. I mean
Speaker 1: if even if you look at this streak, I mean,
Speaker 1: they beat the Warriors team you know, there's no step
Speaker 1: Curry the Hawks. I mean, when they beat the Hornets,
Speaker 1: they didn't have uh La mellow ball and Hawks and
Speaker 1: have the Jean T. Murray. So we can nitpick, I
Speaker 1: mean all day, but you can nitpick with a lot
Speaker 1: of teams. Uh if you go down who they beat,
Speaker 1: what players are missing from the other team, maybe they
Speaker 1: caught some teams on the second of the back back,
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. But the bottom line of
Speaker 1: the facts of the facts, you know, the Knicks are
Speaker 1: on the winning street. Sustainability. Okay, we'll see. Um. I
Speaker 1: want to see what they're gonna do before the trade deadline,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean we've heard certain players be bandied
Speaker 1: about there whether or not they can get a fourth
Speaker 1: player to go along with the three man nucleus. How
Speaker 1: much more are we going to see? How much more
Speaker 1: of a ceiling or are we're going to see from
Speaker 1: the players they have? I mean, can R. J. Barrett
Speaker 1: even take it up another notch. They've got three players
Speaker 1: who can really score, you know, and that's really the key.
Speaker 1: They have players who are young and good, but they
Speaker 1: also have a higher ceiling. And so after this winning streat,
Speaker 1: maybe when they lose a game or two, how will
Speaker 1: they respond and will those young players who have a
Speaker 1: higher ceiling? Can they take it up another notch? I
Speaker 1: think that's fully with the Knicks. Is this the best
Speaker 1: that they can do? Or can they taken up another
Speaker 1: notch either through their young players and the growth of
Speaker 1: Randall or do they have to make a trade to
Speaker 1: trade DeLine to try to put themselves up in the
Speaker 1: mix with you know, the top teams in the East. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be fun to watch. Um. I'm born and
Speaker 1: raised in Chicago, and I covered the Balls when TIBs
Speaker 1: was with Chicago. And so despite the fact that I
Speaker 1: called Brooklyn Nets games, there's nothing that I love more
Speaker 1: than to see great basket ball on both sides of
Speaker 1: the river with UH with New York coops. And so
Speaker 1: with that being said, let's move over to Brooklyn. Um.
Speaker 1: As we mentioned, both teams are surging. The Nets currently
Speaker 1: on a six game win streak. They're sitting in forth
Speaker 1: a game and half behind third place Cleveland. Uh, that
Speaker 1: Golden State team that got whamped by the Knicks last night.
Speaker 1: We'll have to come to Barkley's tonight. What have you
Speaker 1: seen their thirteen and three last sixteen games. Obviously a
Speaker 1: lot going on with this team, And don't I don't
Speaker 1: need to document at all because I think everyone has
Speaker 1: noticed all the changes on off the court. But in particular,
Speaker 1: Jack Von has been tremendous since taking over Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: playing at an all star level. Kyrie Irving has been
Speaker 1: exceptional since coming back to Irving and Durant direct books
Speaker 1: still finish. But Sean, for you, in seeing this team,
Speaker 1: was jumped out to you with how they've come together. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, it's interesting. Uh we're talking about the nets
Speaker 1: and we're talking about basketball. We're not talking about other things,
Speaker 1: and and and that's it really. I mean, once it's
Speaker 1: about basketball, and once their stars are on the court,
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving and k D are playing basketball, I mean
Speaker 1: nothing else matters. I mean we see the result of
Speaker 1: finally see the results of these two stars to gather
Speaker 1: playing harmoniously, playing at such a high level. And we
Speaker 1: waited a long time for this, you know, because of
Speaker 1: the injuries, because of COVID. Now we're seeing it. It
Speaker 1: comes to rants hell fires. What we're not seeing is
Speaker 1: the consistency of the third star. You know, I know
Speaker 1: everything's great with the Nets right now, but how much
Speaker 1: better can they be when Ben Simmons finally gets comfortable.
Speaker 1: I mean, I still think he's trying to find himself
Speaker 1: within this team. I think he's still trying to find
Speaker 1: that next level that we saw for years in Philadelphia
Speaker 1: when he was an All Star. Uh So that's probably
Speaker 1: the good news with the Nets is that they also
Speaker 1: have a little bit of a higher ceiling because we
Speaker 1: want to see, uh Ben Simmons just really joined those
Speaker 1: other two stars and give this team that's three star
Speaker 1: rotation that you know they planned for so long. And
Speaker 1: then you know they had some other X factors, you know,
Speaker 1: Joe Harris also, you know, coming off injuries and things
Speaker 1: like that, just trying to get his legs and his rhythm. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, he's shooting very well from three point land,
Speaker 1: but we need to see more of the volume three
Speaker 1: point shots, you know, where he's making five and six
Speaker 1: a game. Uh, maybe we'll see that I don't know.
Speaker 1: And then the other acts factors chief t J. Warren, Uh,
Speaker 1: we've seen little snippets here and there. You know, Uh,
Speaker 1: maybe whether or not he can really rise in that rotation,
Speaker 1: and and some nights, some nights score like around twenty
Speaker 1: two points, you know, give Kyrie and Katie a little
Speaker 1: bit of a breather. We saw the bubble. T J. Warren.
Speaker 1: We don't know if we'll see that again. I mean,
Speaker 1: that was just an amazing stretched by a player who
Speaker 1: scored fifty points in the game, has such a great
Speaker 1: playoff run. We don't know if if he's going to
Speaker 1: be that player. But but there's a question whether he
Speaker 1: can so when you look at the nets and what
Speaker 1: they've done so far, when you see Kadi and Kyrie, Okay,
Speaker 1: we expected this right, but now who can join them
Speaker 1: and whether or not they can really muscle their way up.
Speaker 1: You know, with Milwaukee and Boston, that's really the only
Speaker 1: question with this team. You mentioned muscle. Uh. Nick Claxton
Speaker 1: has been a revelation in his improvement here in his
Speaker 1: fourth year is a big Ben Simmons has been playing
Speaker 1: some five Uh. There's options for this team in terms
Speaker 1: of a lot of length and going small but still
Speaker 1: being big across the lineup. Do you think they need
Speaker 1: to make any type of moves to fortify that front
Speaker 1: court as a trade deadline, you know, these next few
Speaker 1: months approaches. Well, you know, normally I would say, you know,
Speaker 1: a guy like Claxton is good enough. I mean, um,
Speaker 1: you know, he's playing well, young player, very active, energetic
Speaker 1: and when you have Katie and Kyrie scoring, you really
Speaker 1: don't need to do that. But when you look at
Speaker 1: the Nets, you have the size of my against who
Speaker 1: got side against Milwaukee? You know they've got two very
Speaker 1: good bigs. Okay, who's going to combat that? If you're
Speaker 1: the Nets, you know, you know you're measuring yourself against
Speaker 1: a team like that. What about Cleveland they've got Biggs too. Again,
Speaker 1: if you're your Nets, your mession shop, if you're looking
Speaker 1: at the trade deadline and who can we add to
Speaker 1: this team, you're saying, Okay, you know we've got to
Speaker 1: go against those really big teams. Look at the Celtics.
Speaker 1: They've got Robert Williams back. Okay, if you're the Nets,
Speaker 1: how are you going to combat that? So I think
Speaker 1: the Nets are fine right now, but as they rise
Speaker 1: in the East. Okay, and it becomes a parent who
Speaker 1: their main competitors are. Then they have to look and see, Okay,
Speaker 1: how can we come back the size of Milwaukee? Got
Speaker 1: Janest running down here, Book Lopez, how can we come
Speaker 1: back the size of Boston? You know with Robert Williams
Speaker 1: and the Cleveland Cavaliers, you know with Jared Allen. How
Speaker 1: can we do that? And what can we do to
Speaker 1: help this team match up more favorably in that situation? Sean,
Speaker 1: you're a pro. You're too good at this. You teed
Speaker 1: up what we're coming up with after the break. The
Speaker 1: number one team of the East, the Milwaukee Bucks, face
Speaker 1: the number three team, Cleveland Cavaliers. We're gonna get to
Speaker 1: that right after this. Welcome back to NBA Pulse, Saracoustock
Speaker 1: joined by Sean Paul, and we got a good one tonight,
Speaker 1: seven pm Eastern on NBA League Pass. The Bucks the Caps,
Speaker 1: the number one team facing the number three team in
Speaker 1: the East and top two teams in the league in defense,
Speaker 1: but some offensive firepower on both sides. Sean, First things first,
Speaker 1: just jumping out to you, what what do you see?
Speaker 1: I think both sides, for the most part, have the
Speaker 1: full complements of the roster. Uh. What stands out to
Speaker 1: you about this matchup? Well, I mean you have can
Speaker 1: I call the Bucks the old guard I know they
Speaker 1: you know, they an old team, but they've they've continuity
Speaker 1: for as long as but has been there in the
Speaker 1: continuity of that corps. Yes, you can't, Okay, And then
Speaker 1: you got the new upstart obviously with Cleveland. You know
Speaker 1: the you know what, Donovan Mitchell was brought to this team. Uh,
Speaker 1: and suddenly you know they're threatening, you know in the East. Um,
Speaker 1: Donna Mitchell just I think has just been the biggest
Speaker 1: edition of any team in the NBA. I mean, how
Speaker 1: could you not say that. I mean, he's the number
Speaker 1: one option in this team, fits in so well, his
Speaker 1: teammates respect him right away. Uh. You know, in big moments,
Speaker 1: he's right there. You know he's going to get the
Speaker 1: ball and he's delivered more often than not, so all
Speaker 1: you know, all of a sudden, he's giving them that
Speaker 1: dynamic and that's why Cleveland is where they are. But
Speaker 1: the Bucks, I mean, first of all, they're two and
Speaker 1: against the Calves this year. Um, so you know they've
Speaker 1: got that going for them. Uh. And then again again,
Speaker 1: this is a team that's been to the NBA Finals,
Speaker 1: been deep in the playoffs with j honest. Oh by
Speaker 1: the way, honest playing pretty well. Right, yeah, it's not
Speaker 1: like you and it's like, yeah, that's just what he does.
Speaker 1: You know, we can't take this guy for greted right,
Speaker 1: so uh, you know, look that that will just be
Speaker 1: great for them. Um, you know, look, I mean Chris
Speaker 1: Middleton obviously is the question mark with this team. When
Speaker 1: you're talking about the Bucks. Um, he hasn't shot the
Speaker 1: ball well in its limited time back. Um, we will
Speaker 1: see what he can do with more reps and more
Speaker 1: consistency and how he fits in everything. But the Bucks
Speaker 1: have actually played pretty well without them, I mean, um,
Speaker 1: you know what, And actually they've actually played well without
Speaker 1: your honest or four one without you honest. Obviously, they'd
Speaker 1: rather have be honest in the line that out of
Speaker 1: the line of obviously against a team like the Cavaliers.
Speaker 1: I just think this is a good matchup for the
Speaker 1: Cavaliers to match themselves up against the Bucks one more
Speaker 1: time and see if they can figure that team out
Speaker 1: after losing the first two games, and for the Bucks
Speaker 1: trying to say, hey, you know what, all year people
Speaker 1: are talking about the Boston Celtics. Boston Celtics. Well look
Speaker 1: look look who's number one and East it's us, right,
Speaker 1: So they're trying to, you know, hold onto their territory,
Speaker 1: rise up a little bit. They've got Chris Milton back.
Speaker 1: We need to Chris Milton's healthy and Morgan rhythm. But
Speaker 1: if you have Milwaukee Bucks, you really like where you
Speaker 1: are and how you've played this season, even with Chris Milton. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you said it in first and another, it was
Speaker 1: nice to see and we'll see what ad he is.
Speaker 1: But Joe Ingles, finally coming back from that a c
Speaker 1: L injury, played for the first time at New Orleans.
Speaker 1: This is the second game of a five game road
Speaker 1: trip for Milwaukee. Cleveland though, and you mentioned that they
Speaker 1: dropped the first two to the Bucks. There are a
Speaker 1: team that's got a new piece in Donovan Mitchell, who
Speaker 1: has been an exceptional fit. The young ish front court
Speaker 1: of Mobile and Jared Allen. The Mitchell Darius Garland combination
Speaker 1: has been tremendous. Fine Sanchel Stanchell. Check my niece, Jeff.
Speaker 1: That's a number of times gotta removed shot. A lot
Speaker 1: of young players still working to figure it out as
Speaker 1: they sit third in the East. May have surprised some
Speaker 1: people they have had jumped this high and have been
Speaker 1: this good this early. Do you think that they view
Speaker 1: this as a measuring stick game for them? Does this
Speaker 1: at this point of the year, and know we're still
Speaker 1: in mid December? Um, is this something that they view
Speaker 1: differently potentially than other games? Well, I mean for a
Speaker 1: December game? Absolutely? Um. You know calvs. You know we
Speaker 1: talked about what doco Mitchell Robrock to the team, But
Speaker 1: to be fair to the team itself, they played really
Speaker 1: well defensively. I think they have the number one defensive
Speaker 1: trading right now. Uh, and now they can put that
Speaker 1: to the test. And how do we guard your honest,
Speaker 1: how do we make them just the slightest bit uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: bring him down to earth a little bit. Not obviously
Speaker 1: not going to stop a player like that, but how
Speaker 1: can we guard him to the to the point where
Speaker 1: we're comfortable enough, you know what, we can contain him
Speaker 1: enough and give ourselves a chance to win a game.
Speaker 1: And so when you're playing games like this against you know,
Speaker 1: teams like the Bucks, what you're doing is you're just
Speaker 1: trying to say, okay, you're trying to unlock secrets. You know,
Speaker 1: you're trying to say, okay, what can we do against
Speaker 1: them this game? Maybe we don't win the game, but
Speaker 1: maybe there's a victory in the loss. Maybe we've helped
Speaker 1: the honest maybe we try to figure it out. Maybe
Speaker 1: we'll force them to spots where he might be a
Speaker 1: little bit uncomfortable. You're trying to figure things out for
Speaker 1: much further down the road, when maybe you got to
Speaker 1: meet this team in the playoffs. Now you can go
Speaker 1: back the scouting reports and what you did, what worked well,
Speaker 1: and what didn't work well when you met them three
Speaker 1: or four times in the regular season. Work on that
Speaker 1: and then maybe you can use those, you know, those
Speaker 1: tactics in the playoffs series and maybe you know, come
Speaker 1: out ahead. But again, I mean for a December game,
Speaker 1: you know, a matchup between you know, the Bucks who
Speaker 1: have been to them what an NBA championship and quite honestly,
Speaker 1: if they had Chris Milton last year against the Boston Celtics,
Speaker 1: maybe they would have had another championship. You're cleaning, you're
Speaker 1: the upstart. You're just learning as you go learning learning thing.
Speaker 1: What can we do against his team to to maybe
Speaker 1: come out ahead and the playoffs if we meet them. Sean,
Speaker 1: we appreciate your time, time, we appreciate your insight, and
Speaker 1: we look forward to continue reading your stuff on NBA
Speaker 1: dot com. Okay, thanks for having me. All right, well
Speaker 1: it is Sean leaves us and talking about Janice. Speaking
Speaker 1: of Michael C. Wright returns with a new m v
Speaker 1: P Ladder on Friday. This is NBA Pulse with Syracuse Stock,
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