The Knicks Are Heading to the Finals! Series Breakdown and Lottery Reform.

The Zach Lowe Show

The Ringer

Sports, Basketball

4.8 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2026

⏱️ 98 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Zach is joined by Howard Beck to react to the New York Knicks advancing to the Finals. They discuss what has led to this moment, how they’ll fare against whoever comes out of the West, and what’s next for Cleveland. Then, John Hollinger joins to discuss the vote to reform the draft lottery. (0:00) Welcome to The Zach Lowe Show! (2:26) What up, Beck?! (2:55) The New York Knicks are going to the NBA Finals (15:50) Mike Brown deserves a lot of credit (28:04) Is Howard aware of Danhausen? (32:26) Kenny Atkinson’s comments (41:25) James Harden series autopsy (45:42) Does trading Evan Mobley for Giannis make sense? (56:01) Let’s run through some other NBA news stories (1:03:20) One thing you’re looking forward to in OKC-SA Game 5 (1:11:09) John Hollinger joins the show! (1:13:38) Lottery reform (1:22:17) On how these new rules affect the Memphis Grizzlies next year (1:25:29) Let’s look at what a credit type draft would look like Host: Zach Lowe Guests: Howard Beck and John Hollinger Producers: Mike Wargon, Jonathan Frias, and Billy Gil Social: Keith Fujimoto and Michael Szokoli #ULTRACourtside could get you closer to the game! https://michelobultra.com/courtside MICHELOB ULTRA®️ COURTSIDE ’25 to ’26. No Purchase Necessary. Open to US residents 21 plus. Begins on October 1, 2025 and ends on June 30, 2026 Multiple entry periods. See Official Rules at https://michelobultra.com/courtside for free entry, entry deadlines, prizes, and details. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit https://fanduel.com/playwithaplan to learn more about the resources and helplines Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Coming up on the Zach Lowe show, it happened. It really happened. The New York Knicks
0:13.6	demolished the Cleveland Cavaliers again for their 11th consecutive playoff win, another double-digit win, another blowout.
0:24.1	And for the first time in 27 years, since 1999, since before Y2K, the New York Knicks are in the
0:33.9	NBA finals and they are rolling.
0:39.8	Can they actually pull this off?
0:41.3	What is the city like?
0:42.1	It's crazy.
0:43.8	Who are they going to play?
0:45.4	Who should they want to play?
0:46.7	Doesn't even matter.
0:49.4	Howard Beck is here to reflect on the Knicks.
0:51.5	Quarter century journey,
0:52.8	back to this moment,
0:54.1	Jalen Brunson, all the highs and lows, everything.
0:57.0	We'll talk a little bit of Western Conference Finals.
0:59.7	We'll talk Jalen Brown's all NBA stuff.
1:03.4	Scotty Barnes getting snubbed and a little bit of Western Conference Finals game five is maybe the game of the year tonight.
1:10.6	I guess every game these two teams play. First Thunder will be the game of the year tonight i guess every game these two teams
1:12.1	plays first thunder will be the game of the year until that series is over and the finals begins on
1:17.0	june third a lot of rest for the nix they're healthy they're deep the other teams are beating the
1:21.1	hell out of each other boy oh boy is it all lining up for the nix and then john hollinger is here
1:25.7	the perfect guy to talk about lottery reform yeah it's it's on the ballot this week. Is this a good idea? Is this a bad idea? Let's take a deeper dive than we've taken with a guy who's actually qualified to do it, some of the pitfalls, some of the benefits. All of that is coming up on the Zach Lowe show. The Zach Lowe show is brought to you by Fandul. The conference finals are here. Think you know how it'll go down? Take your shot with Fanduel and get closer to the action. Fan Duel is the best place to bet the teams, the players, and plays during the NBA postseason. Build the same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout or try live betting and jump into the action after tip off.
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