Really all started with CJ making a comment about Jalen Brunson.

Yeah, he wanted to be the villain.

Yeah, I think he tried to be like a casual villain.

Yeah.

But first he says Jalen Brunson flops a lot. You know Brunza flops a lot. He started with that. We already know that. Which was obvious. Clyde says it. Then he continues to pick up his game, play really, really well, and sorts of milks the crowd reaction towards him when

Nick fans were chanting that, you know, CJ sucks or bleep CJ McCollum. And it was commented on by,

I forget which one of his teammates. Oh, Jonathan Cumminga came out and said, yeah, it gets them

going. And it gets the team going. So the conversation has been should the New York Nick fan, as passionate as they are, should they take a little bit of a hiatus from making someone a villain who isn't really that big of a villain? Right. So instead of Champagne. This isn't true. Well, I don't even think Trey Young was Trey Young. True. He made him a villain for no reason. At least he was, at least he was like an annoying player. Like you watched him play and you're like, dude, this kid is annoying. He ain't Reggie Miller. True. I'll tell you that right now. He didn't dominate you at moments and make you feel inferior. I just don't think like he was that villainy. Yeah. So I agree with you. If we buy that the crowd making someone a big villain somehow gets them going,

should the Nick fan go more traditional tonight and not treat C.J. McCollum bigger than he needs to be treated.

Here's the difference.

So, Trey Young, I'm just now stuck on the Trey Young comparison.

Trey Young felt like a little immature punk. You were just annoyed by him. He's a good player, but it was like, dude, you act like a idiot sometimes and stop being annoying. C.J. McCollum is not that. He's a 35-year-old veteran who's been around for 100 years? Who's good? And if you met him in the street, you'd respect him. Sure. You'd be like, dude, I'd great player, you know, had a long career or whatever. You'd respect him. With Tray Young, you just kind of want to hate on him. So it doesn't feel right hating on Z.J. McCollum. He's just trying to be the villain.

But it's not even about if it's right or wrong, it's more do we actually think that the crowd...

Believe what?

That he's your villain.

Right, but that's not even my point. It's do you think that treating him like a villain is somehow getting the best out of him?

Because sometimes players say that. We heard Jonathan Kaminga say that. That, you know, by putting him on that villain pedestal, it's getting the most out of him. Yeah. I mean, didn't Jalen Brunson even say that when he was, where was he at? Detroit. They were chanting flopper. And it made him, it incentivized him. Right. They gave him motivation.

It sounds crazy that anybody needs incentivization when they're in the postseason.

But if we believe this is true, does that mean that tonight at Madison Square Garden, there should be almost a, hey, all right, guys.

Hands off.

Ignore him.

Be loud, but ignore them.

...