If my team doesn't win, I'm rooting for the thunder to win the lottery because I think it would be smart for them to just continue to kick the can down the road. So go to a team that didn't win the lottery, maybe a team like mine, the nets and say, hey, give us a boatload of future picks. So you kick the can down the road. So when they get bad? Yeah, you're always loaded with picks. Like you just, you turn it into more. So we'll see. It was a fun night of basketball last night.

The Sixers advanced, so it into more. So we'll see.

It was a fun night of basketball last night.

The Sixers advanced.

So it's going to be Philly, Boston, which ensures that if the Knicks advance, we've got a road trip in the second round. That's what that ensures. All right. Philly and Boston are, you know, easy trips. A couple of quick thoughts. We'll go more detailed tomorrow as the Knicks get set for the Hawks.

I was rocking my brain last night when I was thinking of myself, all right?

We're all going to pick the Knicks, right?

It's going to pick the Knicks, right?

It's going to be boring around here, the Knicks and five, the Knicks and six. And you'll get those predictions tomorrow from everybody. And it's going to be universal. So I started thinking to myself, all right, barring something stupid like a big injury, what would have to happen for the Knicks to lose

this series or for this to become a dangerous series? And so I started looking into what the

Hawks have accomplished really in the second half of the year because the truth is they have

been a really good team since, let's say, early January. They have. And one of the things they

do incredibly well because they're long defenders, they switch, they force turnovers, they can beat you in the fast break. And it kind of reminds me a little bit of what did the Knicks in last year in the Eastern Conference Finals against Indiana. And I told you, I was being a geek all year, I was keeping these geeky stats about the Knicks. Their record when they out shoot you, their record when they get to the line more.

And one number that jumped out at me is their record when they lose the turnover battle.

And this sounds like football, but it matters in the NBA.

Last year in the conference finals against Indy, they turned the ball over 18 more times than the Indiana Pacers.

This year, they did a really good job of not losing the turnover battle,

but when they did during the regular season, they were 9 and 17.

This is an Atlanta team that not only forced the fifth most turnovers in the NBA this year,

but again, if you just look at the metrics over the last two months, they've been elite.

And so I'm not telling you that's going to happen.

I'm telling you, if this thing goes sideways, that's how it will happen.

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