Latest / Kenny For Real / Pacers vs Knicks Game 1 Was A Hardwood Classic
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: I don't know what else I could really say this.
- 0:03Speaker 1: This is why we love the sport. This is why
- 0:04Speaker 1: we love this game. This has game of the year potential.
- 0:07Speaker 1: This might be the game of the whole season. Y'all
- 0:10Speaker 1: Game one, Eastern Conference Finals twenty twenty five. We gonna
- 0:13Speaker 1: be going back in history to rewatch this game. That's
- 0:15Speaker 1: how electric it was. And my notes, the Knicks have
- 0:18Speaker 1: a set. The last note I have in my notes
- 0:21Speaker 1: seventeen point lead, six minutes, twenty seconds to go, seventeen
- 0:25Speaker 1: point lead.
- 0:25Speaker 2: I stopped taking oats. Boom. That was it. Knicks look amazing.
- 0:28Speaker 1: Canthony Towns finally shooting three point is something we've been
- 0:30Speaker 1: asking him to do this entire playoff run, Jay le Brunton,
- 0:32Speaker 1: this is unguardable, so much so that we ended up
- 0:35Speaker 1: seeing like Ben Sheeper, who wo didn't play the whole
- 0:36Speaker 1: damn game, come in and try to just mess something
- 0:39Speaker 1: up because Nie Smith is in foul trouble, Nim Hard
- 0:41Speaker 1: is in foul trouble.
- 0:42Speaker 2: Come on, Ben Sheppard, do something. I stopped taking notes.
- 0:44Speaker 2: That was it. New York goes. It's a game. I
- 0:46Speaker 2: won Eastern Conference Finals at home and win convincingly and
- 0:50Speaker 2: then the stuff started to change.
- 0:52Speaker 1: This Pacer team makes zero sense for them to be
- 0:56Speaker 1: able to do this basically three different times in one
- 0:59Speaker 1: post season run. Even if they don't win this series
- 1:02Speaker 1: makes them a legendary. Oh you remember this team team
- 1:05Speaker 1: regardless of what happens in the series. If they lose
- 1:06Speaker 1: in this one, they go to the Fighters. They win,
- 1:08Speaker 1: they go to the Fighters and lose. I will remember
- 1:09Speaker 1: the twenty twenty five Indiana Pacers as a team that
- 1:12Speaker 1: you could never put away up by seventeen and the
- 1:17Speaker 1: Nie Smith turned into Steph Curry turned to Trace McGrady
- 1:21Speaker 1: turned into a thirteen year old me That one time
- 1:24Speaker 1: I did a three point competition and hit five threes
- 1:26Speaker 1: in a row in the corner off the rock y'all.
- 1:27Speaker 2: Y'all was sleeping on me back then. I don't know
- 1:29Speaker 2: if I hit a corner three.
- 1:30Speaker 1: Since then, he does that thing, and then you get
- 1:33Speaker 1: the moment where I sometimes it always boils down to
- 1:37Speaker 1: to like make your free throw kids game one, okay,
- 1:41Speaker 1: se versus Denver.
- 1:42Speaker 2: We talked about how Chet Holmer got fouled. He went
- 1:44Speaker 2: to that line.
- 1:44Speaker 1: He did this big ass exhale and me and the
- 1:46Speaker 1: guys who are watching this together, was like he at
- 1:48Speaker 1: least missed and one of these he missed both Old
- 1:51Speaker 1: jenninobe get to.
- 1:52Speaker 2: The line he does this big old exhale.
- 1:55Speaker 1: He missed the first one, and not only did he
- 1:57Speaker 1: miss it, that was one of the hardest misses I've
- 1:59Speaker 1: seen from Ojeneral be all all night long. But it
- 2:01Speaker 1: ain't just him, becau Kantity Town's also missing free throws,
- 2:03Speaker 1: making free throws. Kids. This game is over in regulation,
- 2:06Speaker 1: but for me, the enjoy your ball. The guy that
- 2:08Speaker 1: has no sex in this, I'm so happy they missed
- 2:10Speaker 1: because man didn't lead to a legendary moment.
- 2:12Speaker 2: I'm in discord.
- 2:13Speaker 1: I'm watching this with Pierre because Pierre is a big
- 2:15Speaker 1: Knicks fan, and we all mute up because you know,
- 2:18Speaker 1: streaming is weird. I'm on Max, stay on TV. We
- 2:21Speaker 1: don't know if our games are sad up, so we
- 2:22Speaker 1: all muted. I kind of spoiled Harry's Halliburn took that shot.
- 2:26Speaker 1: I said, no fucking way. The ball bounce and like
- 2:31Speaker 1: reminiscent of Kawhi, Leonard went and not in the amount
- 2:34Speaker 1: of bounces, but how long the shot was in the
- 2:36Speaker 1: air before it finally cashed out. And you knows Tyry's Halliburn,
- 2:39Speaker 1: he's good at playing the hell, especially in New York,
- 2:41Speaker 1: especially off after the last year series. He was so
- 2:44Speaker 1: quick Reggie Miller's on the call, he is so quick
- 2:46Speaker 1: to give him the.
- 2:46Speaker 2: Good old with his fees on the line.
- 2:49Speaker 1: Ooh, you definitely don't want to lose his game now, Halliburn,
- 2:53Speaker 1: because that is gonna be worn on shirts. And gaining
- 2:54Speaker 1: number two and gaining up a five and gaining up
- 2:56Speaker 1: a seven if we get that, because you gave the
- 2:58Speaker 1: chokes sim with the game of the day.
- 3:00Speaker 2: They choked it at that point, but I told it away.
- 3:02Speaker 1: Overtime comes around and in the Knicks, I feel like
- 3:06Speaker 1: in this whole stretch they got so flustered where they
- 3:09Speaker 1: lost all of their defensive principles. There were many times
- 3:12Speaker 1: again watching this game together and I have it in
- 3:14Speaker 1: my notes where it felt like they didn't know if
- 3:17Speaker 1: they were going to play that drop coverage that they
- 3:19Speaker 1: played in like early in the game where Tyre's Halliburton
- 3:21Speaker 1: had what twelve fourteen points in the second quarter against
- 3:23Speaker 1: that drop coverage where they switching and in overtime it
- 3:26Speaker 1: felt like they were just flipping between the two and
- 3:28Speaker 1: so much so did.
- 3:29Speaker 2: They didn't know what the hell they were doing.
- 3:30Speaker 1: The Obie top and dunk that should have been a
- 3:31Speaker 1: nain to one was them, are we switching?
- 3:33Speaker 2: Are we just blitching here? Are we doing what? It was?
- 3:36Speaker 1: It was nasty and the Pacers are the last team
- 3:39Speaker 1: you can do that against. This is the This had
- 3:42Speaker 1: been one of the toughest series to me to predict.
- 3:44Speaker 1: Originally I picked paces and seven, then eventually I flipped
- 3:46Speaker 1: it to Nickson seven.
- 3:47Speaker 2: That's how wishy watched it was.
- 3:48Speaker 1: And when I was going for the Knicks or predicting
- 3:51Speaker 1: that the Knicks were gonna win, I was thinking about
- 3:52Speaker 1: the size of like Mitchell Robinson, Karnthony Towns and how
- 3:55Speaker 1: their offensive rebound and those extra opportunities could play a part.
- 3:57Speaker 2: And today it.
- 3:58Speaker 1: It kind of it kind of into it, didn't I
- 4:01Speaker 1: was thinking about those big the big wings and how
- 4:03Speaker 1: they can deter some of the stuff that the Indiana
- 4:05Speaker 1: Pacers wanted to do. I thought Ojia and Obi until
- 4:08Speaker 1: the last six minutes of regulation was really good tonight.
- 4:11Speaker 1: I thought Michael Bridges really good tonight. But all of
- 4:13Speaker 1: that goes away when you blow a seventeen point lead
- 4:16Speaker 1: Tyreys Halliburton was elite. Some of the.
- 4:18Speaker 2: Finishes he had.
- 4:19Speaker 1: One of the finishes had I don't remember if it
- 4:20Speaker 1: was in the midst of the run to in the
- 4:22Speaker 1: first fourth quarter, like I said, I stopped taking notes,
- 4:25Speaker 1: or that was early in the overtime where he gets
- 4:27Speaker 1: so much contact he's hanging in the air and he
- 4:29Speaker 1: flips it over his head. That is a tough, tough
- 4:32Speaker 1: finish and it was susker defense by the Knicks that
- 4:35Speaker 1: it was like, what could you really do? Josh Hart
- 4:37Speaker 1: went up straight, just com blinking and straight. Nothing you
- 4:39Speaker 1: can do but the finish or tip your cap that
- 4:42Speaker 1: he did finish that. Pascal Siyakam again, one of my
- 4:46Speaker 1: last notes was talking about Pascal Yakam, who didn't impact
- 4:49Speaker 1: this game positively at all. I thought early in this
- 4:50Speaker 1: game he was doing a really good job of getting
- 4:52Speaker 1: out early in the break and whether it was him
- 4:54Speaker 1: finishing or somebody else finishing, he got out there and
- 4:56Speaker 1: they reminded me of back during his Championship one with
- 4:59Speaker 1: the Raptors. There was that one meme that was like
- 5:01Speaker 1: any time the opposing team takes a shot and it's
- 5:03Speaker 1: the dude running down the street because that's who Pascal
- 5:06Speaker 1: Siakam was at that point of his career where he
- 5:08Speaker 1: was just really a transition player. Obviously, he's done so
- 5:11Speaker 1: much kids kids, he's done so much to evolve his game.
- 5:16Speaker 1: But Earlan's game, I thought that's what he was providing
- 5:18Speaker 1: for the team. And then eventually Carthony Towns just kind
- 5:20Speaker 1: of shut off his water. That was the one possession
- 5:22Speaker 1: with he shut off his water to two possessions in
- 5:24Speaker 1: the wrong. I'm like, oh, this's a different call in
- 5:25Speaker 1: the Towns out here. And then eventually, I mean, he
- 5:28Speaker 1: didn't have a good game, but it doesn't it doesn't
- 5:30Speaker 1: really matter anymore. You know, there were some questionable things
- 5:33Speaker 1: down the stretch for Rick carlilet least, that's what I thought,
- 5:36Speaker 1: but none of it matters because they won. Right, you
- 5:40Speaker 1: get to foul trouble from nim Hart and it's like, Okay,
- 5:43Speaker 1: who's gonna be That guy ended up being Ben Sheppard.
- 5:46Speaker 1: And Ben Shepherd's stat line is, what what do we have?
- 5:48Speaker 1: A seven minutes play, one assist, zero from one from
- 5:51Speaker 1: the field A plus fourteen.
- 5:53Speaker 2: But I promise you a lot of times.
- 5:55Speaker 1: At least it felt like this was the perfect match
- 5:58Speaker 1: for Jaylen brunts and Jaylen Brunton. Appsent was feasting when
- 6:01Speaker 1: he saw Ben Shepherd on the court with him, and
- 6:03Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, I know that nim Har right now
- 6:05Speaker 1: has five fouls, but eventually you got to get your best.
- 6:07Speaker 2: Offenders out there.
- 6:09Speaker 1: You got to see mouse Turner basically not close his game,
- 6:12Speaker 1: and I'm like, okay, what's that about.
- 6:13Speaker 2: But again, none of it, none of it actually matters.
- 6:16Speaker 1: Legitimately, none of it actually matters anymore because they went
- 6:19Speaker 1: on this run and whether you call the fools, go
- 6:22Speaker 1: to what this team is up one to? Oh, they
- 6:24Speaker 1: just took home court advantage in New York, and New
- 6:26Speaker 1: York was so loud. I got people there or I
- 6:28Speaker 1: know people there that were saying that, like they walking
- 6:31Speaker 1: around a concourse, they don't see a single Pacers jersey,
- 6:34Speaker 1: Like this is one hundred percent New York City vibes,
- 6:37Speaker 1: New York City hoops, and not nobody there was really
- 6:40Speaker 1: going for the Pacers And that's what it felt like.
- 6:41Speaker 2: And it didn't it didn't matter.
- 6:44Speaker 1: This team has been so ready for the moment, this
- 6:46Speaker 1: entire playoff run, that like, I don't know how anybody
- 6:49Speaker 1: can look at it and think that any of the
- 6:50Speaker 1: runs that they've been going on is like fictional, Like,
- 6:53Speaker 1: sure they've had some injury luck, but look what they've
- 6:55Speaker 1: been able to do. Whether it be the game against
- 6:58Speaker 1: the Bucks and when they get into over time, would
- 7:00Speaker 1: they be the game against the Calves, were Max Strewsto's
- 7:04Speaker 1: that dumbass pass and turn it over or this game?
- 7:06Speaker 1: This team is never going to give up. And you
- 7:09Speaker 1: do see a lot of the time in sports in general,
- 7:11Speaker 1: it is easy to be like, Okay, we're up by
- 7:13Speaker 1: so and so we could just we could just walk
- 7:15Speaker 1: our sleepwalk our way through the rest of this game.
- 7:17Speaker 1: You can't do that against his Pacers team. You just can't.
- 7:21Speaker 1: I just man, I don't know what else I could
- 7:23Speaker 1: really say. I thought that, for what it was worth,
- 7:26Speaker 1: I thought that the Knicks depth and their their bench
- 7:30Speaker 1: played a huge role in them geting to the point
- 7:32Speaker 1: where they were up by so much. Mitchell Robinson played
- 7:34Speaker 1: a really good game other than him getting lost in
- 7:35Speaker 1: at one play or I guess two plays, because he
- 7:38Speaker 1: got lost on the Obi top and dunk and then
- 7:41Speaker 1: on the put back that was also Obi top. It
- 7:44Speaker 1: was it Obie topping from the left corner put back
- 7:46Speaker 1: dunk Mitchell Robbs is just in no man's land, and
- 7:48Speaker 1: then on the dunk that obi top it got too
- 7:51Speaker 1: So maybe I'm going to take some of that have
- 7:53Speaker 1: a good game thing away from me. Two of the
- 7:54Speaker 1: most important players you got lost on. But before that
- 7:57Speaker 1: he was having such a good impact where he comes
- 7:59Speaker 1: to this and the Pacers at this point didn't miss
- 8:02Speaker 1: a shop. That's at least would it felt like at
- 8:03Speaker 1: first Coort he comes in and get a cup, offensive
- 8:04Speaker 1: rebounds immediately and it leads to open opportunities. Mouse Bridges
- 8:08Speaker 1: did a really good job throughout the course.
- 8:10Speaker 2: Of his game.
- 8:10Speaker 1: Cameron Payne, two of his fouls are like and one's
- 8:13Speaker 1: and him like faking like he wanted to take a
- 8:15Speaker 1: charge but he didn't actually take the tards.
- 8:17Speaker 2: And I'm like, what the hell are you doing on
- 8:18Speaker 2: the cord?
- 8:18Speaker 1: But like their debt pieces were good, while on the
- 8:22Speaker 1: other side of things, the pacers debt pieces in the
- 8:24Speaker 1: same time wasn't very good. Like you got a run
- 8:27Speaker 1: by TJ McConnell that was pretty electric, But like TV,
- 8:31Speaker 1: Thomas Bryant was not grabbing poors, He wasn't doing anything offensively.
- 8:34Speaker 1: He was flopping when he got graized in the chin,
- 8:37Speaker 1: and it was like, oh, this is not looking good.
- 8:39Speaker 1: But the Knicks had it all and this is just
- 8:41Speaker 1: one of them tough ass games to win or to
- 8:43Speaker 1: lose because your best player, Jaylen Brunson forty three points,
- 8:48Speaker 1: sixty percent from the field.
- 8:50Speaker 2: He was amazing today.
- 8:52Speaker 1: I sometimes still believe that he's over taxed, and this
- 8:55Speaker 1: Pacers team kind of showcased some of that, some of
- 8:56Speaker 1: the turnovers they ended up having and some of the
- 8:58Speaker 1: close call turnovers they ended up I have him like
- 9:00Speaker 1: when they trap him in the corner, which I want
- 9:02Speaker 1: to say, matter of fact, I'm all over the place,
- 9:04Speaker 1: but I do want to say.
- 9:05Speaker 2: This, in that moment of time, I've never seen.
- 9:09Speaker 1: So many NBA players afraid of the ball. Josh Charleston
- 9:12Speaker 1: win and bound. They've been putting full court, ninety four
- 9:15Speaker 1: feet pressure on Jaylen Brunton all game one, trying to
- 9:17Speaker 1: wear him down.
- 9:18Speaker 2: Understand what they're doing. They try to wear him down
- 9:19Speaker 2: and make them get into their actions.
- 9:20Speaker 1: Lay.
- 9:20Speaker 2: It's a smart move by Rick Carlyle.
- 9:22Speaker 1: Plea excuse the kids, excrem and you're gonna probably hear that
- 9:24Speaker 1: a lot over the next couple of years. We got
- 9:25Speaker 1: another kid on the way in a couple of months.
- 9:28Speaker 1: So Josh Sharton bound Jaylen brush is the only one
- 9:31Speaker 1: up there.
- 9:31Speaker 2: They got two.
- 9:31Speaker 1: They got one on the inbound and one on Jaylen Brunson.
- 9:34Speaker 1: Nobody else is up coming to play. Mitchell Robson was
- 9:35Speaker 1: in the court. Mitchell Robinson v lines to the rim
- 9:37Speaker 1: because the last thing you want to do is get
- 9:39Speaker 1: fouled and go to the free throw line in this
- 9:40Speaker 1: game as they close who that's understandable, but the rest
- 9:42Speaker 1: of the guys in the court are afraid to come
- 9:44Speaker 1: to the ball. So you inbound to Jaylen Brunton and
- 9:46Speaker 1: the dude that was on ball comes over and now
- 9:48Speaker 1: you're trapping him on his side of the court, and
- 9:50Speaker 1: he's got to try to make a ridiculous play try
- 9:52Speaker 1: to dump it off of I don't remember who it
- 9:54Speaker 1: was who was guarding him, trying to dump it off
- 9:56Speaker 1: of him, and luckily, luckily it missed and it ended
- 9:59Speaker 1: up in o Giono Noby's hands, and that's how we
- 10:01Speaker 1: get to the point, will John and we misses that
- 10:03Speaker 1: one free throw. So many people like I've just seen
- 10:06Speaker 1: it so much in this playoffs, seem like they're afraid
- 10:08Speaker 1: of the ball when the free throw game comes around,
- 10:10Speaker 1: and you got to go up to that line with
- 10:12Speaker 1: that confidence.
- 10:13Speaker 2: You got to go into that line and hit them shots.
- 10:15Speaker 2: And they didn't have it. Cornthony Towns did the one
- 10:18Speaker 2: thing that I've been asking for.
- 10:20Speaker 1: Right he has killed the Pacers all regular season in
- 10:23Speaker 1: this matchup and again tonight with his thirty five points.
- 10:27Speaker 1: Take the three pointers because they will be there against
- 10:29Speaker 1: his team. And in some of the previous series he
- 10:32Speaker 1: had games we's zho for one, one for two, one
- 10:34Speaker 1: for three, and it's like, damn, Cornelia Towns. You know
- 10:35Speaker 1: you're the self proclaimed best three point shooting big of
- 10:38Speaker 1: all time, best three point shooting center of all time.
- 10:40Speaker 2: We want to see that happen.
- 10:41Speaker 1: And some of it is because their offense is starting
- 10:43Speaker 1: so high up that they're pushing them away from the
- 10:45Speaker 1: three point line.
- 10:46Speaker 2: So if you look at his.
- 10:46Speaker 1: Three point shots throughout the playoffs before this game, a
- 10:49Speaker 1: lot of them are like logo threes, thirty footers, thirty
- 10:51Speaker 1: one footers sometimes and in this game he shot it.
- 10:54Speaker 1: And I love that for him because it opens up
- 10:56Speaker 1: the game so much more because now we have to
- 10:57Speaker 1: treat you as if you are Canthony Towns again.
- 11:00Speaker 2: Right.
- 11:00Speaker 1: He had a couple of really big shots in his game.
- 11:02Speaker 1: And the one bad part is, you know, the last
- 11:05Speaker 1: best in the game, Jaylen Brunson, airballs to three or
- 11:07Speaker 1: maybe a skipt the ring. Regardless they get the offensive rebound,
- 11:10Speaker 1: Kat gets it and I'm just thinking to myself, I
- 11:13Speaker 1: hope he doesn't rush it. And he did and they missed.
- 11:16Speaker 1: They tried to crash the glass off him. YadA, YadA, YadA.
- 11:21Speaker 1: This is a tough game to lose. It is a
- 11:24Speaker 1: demoralizing loss. Very far from endo the series, but a
- 11:28Speaker 1: very demoralizing loss because I thought, for let's see, for
- 11:34Speaker 1: forty two minutes, you were the best team. For forty
- 11:39Speaker 1: two minutes, you were the best team, and you lost.
- 11:44Speaker 1: And sometimes it's all it takes for the other team
- 11:47Speaker 1: to be good for the next that's forty two minutes.
- 11:49Speaker 1: Let's do some man, a handful of minutes. All it
- 11:54Speaker 1: take is for a handful of minutes at the right time,
- 11:56Speaker 1: at the right level, and whom you can win this
- 12:00Speaker 1: Aaron Nee Smith stuff is crazy. When I was previewing
- 12:02Speaker 1: the series, the one thing I was thinking about that
- 12:04Speaker 1: made me like again, I started pacers and flip to
- 12:07Speaker 1: Knicks was like, damn, this three point shooting is shooting
- 12:09Speaker 1: in general is just ridiculous. With Turner shooting, nim Hard
- 12:12Speaker 1: is shooting, and Nie Smith's specifically shooting. Do I trust
- 12:14Speaker 1: him to be able to do that again? This motherfucker
- 12:17Speaker 1: just hit.
- 12:19Speaker 2: Eight threes out of nine eight.
- 12:23Speaker 1: Eight.
- 12:23Speaker 2: You think about regression, no regressions to the means. Not
- 12:26Speaker 2: with Nie Smith.
- 12:27Speaker 1: He was shooting fifty percent from three for the majority
- 12:28Speaker 1: of this regular season. His true shooting percentage is a
- 12:32Speaker 1: one to one point six. Tonight, one of the threes
- 12:37Speaker 1: he hit the biggest one of when they come off
- 12:39Speaker 1: the screen, which I want to say, shout out to
- 12:41Speaker 1: Ricardlot because it is so easy to kind of go
- 12:42Speaker 1: away from the guy that's hot and go to your
- 12:44Speaker 1: star player. But the guy that was hot was really hot,
- 12:46Speaker 1: and he drew up a play for him out of
- 12:47Speaker 1: the time out. Josh Hart slips and falls, and he
- 12:50Speaker 1: takes one step to the side and pulls up and
- 12:52Speaker 1: the very next play, Josh Hard is in the action
- 12:54Speaker 1: on the office side the ball. Josh Hart slips and
- 12:56Speaker 1: fall too. Hey, get rid of him, Kobe six is man,
- 12:58Speaker 1: Go get a different sneaker go because he fails so much,
- 13:01Speaker 1: that he's slipped so much in this game, it was
- 13:03Speaker 1: kind of mind blowing to me.
- 13:04Speaker 2: But game of the Year, Man, I.
- 13:07Speaker 1: Don't care for nobody saying I don't care people saying
- 13:10Speaker 1: it was gonna be a bad match up for the NBA.
- 13:11Speaker 2: Just because it's not.
- 13:12Speaker 1: You know, so some elite superstardom on like, it ain't Braun,
- 13:17Speaker 1: it ain't Kurry, it ain't kd, it ain't the guys
- 13:19Speaker 1: were normally seeing Bro this hoops his elite. Man, you
- 13:23Speaker 1: can't convince me otherwise. Shout out to Rees, Shout out
- 13:25Speaker 1: to Cats, shout out to Brunt to shout out to
- 13:27Speaker 1: me Smith, I need six more of these please. I
- 13:31Speaker 1: would be so sad if this is a quick series,
- 13:32Speaker 1: because that game was just everything I could have ever
- 13:35Speaker 1: wanted any more.