That's the Nick team that we're going to see and the team that we saw Friday night in

Milwaukee. That's a contender team. That's a team that plays defense. That's a

that's a team that actually took 48 three-point shots yesterday. It's insane. But really,

for me, you know, it's always about defense and it's always about holding a team under a hundred

points in the NBA is quite an accomplishment.

And of course, San Antonio, you know, they weren't shooting the ball very well.

And quite frankly, the Knicks, you know, they needed these last two wins.

They needed it all to calm down around them.

But that's the playoff Nick team.

You know, that's the team that I was saying that there was two weeks ago we were talking about this saying,

I'm not going to get all worried about up and down and performances.

And I know that Cleveland and Detroit kind of owned them this year.

But the point is, is that if that team that we saw yesterday against a very good Spurs team who has beaten OKC quite a bit this year and has obviously, you know, this super freak in Wemagnama, if they're going to play defense the way that they did yesterday, that that actually shows you that they are capable of doing it.

So to me, as a Nick fan and watching this yesterday, and it was great watching it because it was intense. You know, they got off to a horrendous start, and you thought that they were going to get blown out of the building. But then all of a sudden, they turned it on, they started hitting some shots. And then when you take a look at the amount of shots that were taken per guy, again, Carl Anthony Towns only nine shots, but yet another double double. Josh Hart had a

double double. You look at their top six players. I think everybody had at least nine or more shots.

Nobody had a like a 30 shot performance. And it was really well balanced and they played

exceptionally well defensively. And that's exactly what we would want as Nick fans. So they can do it. It's in there. We saw it yesterday. And now the question is, is where are they going to end up in the pecking order when it comes to the playoffs? And still, you know, 20 games to go or whatever. But to your point about Carl Anthony Towns, you know, no two games are the same. Like yesterday when you look at the shot distribution, when Mikhail Bridges is hitting like he's hitting and playing the way he's playing, you know what? More shots are going to go to him, and they should. And you talk about the defense. He had four, maybe even five steals in this game, and he had the one that led to an open court dunk. they had the runs, you mentioned in the front, they didn't get out to a good start. That run between the first and second quarter goes 26 to 2, and then even in the fourth quarter. So I was doing a short show from Maryland yesterday to get us to Nets pregame, and I'm following the game on my phone. I'm like, man, you know what? You look in the fourth quarter. Here comes San Antonio. They're down nine. And in a blink, it surged back to 20 as they go on that 13-1 run. And I'm with you. That is the team that back in December, when I sat here with Willie Cologne, I said, this is the team that can win the Eastern Conference. And if that's the version of the Knicks you are going to get, then you're going to be in for a ride come May and June. So 17 three-pointers made by the Knicks, I think it was only eight or nine by the Spurs. And the Knicks didn't shoot well from the free throw line either. This could have been even a bigger blowout than it turned out to be.

But again, I look at the opposing teams score, and you look at the opposing teams, players,

and then you say to yourself, this was more smothering defense than it was.

I'm more impressed with that than I am the offensive part of it.

Although, as they would say, and I don't want to get into all these different cliches, the ball distribution and all that other crap, but when you saw Jose Alvarado on the, on the, on the, uh, the doors on my mouth, uh, yeah, I mean, like you could see the, the energy that he brings. And again, you know, he's had, he's had to adjust that now I think he's starting

to feel a little bit more comfortable. And Diarwa is another one. You know, he hit four three-pointers. Two really big ones in the fourth quarter, I thought. Exactly. To kind of stem the tide a little bit and to slow things down and to get the momentum back on the next side. So again, this is all that, and by the way, I was reading this morning

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