Brian Windhorst delivers STRONG message for Mitch Johnson 🗣️ 'The Knicks never quit!’ | Get Up

The New York Knicks will be knock, knock, knocking on the door tomorrow night of their first championship in 53 years.Thanks to the miraculous tip -in from O .G.Ananovi that capped a 29 -point comeback in Game 4.Series now shifts to San Antonio.Game 5, Spurs and Wembley looking to extend the series.

They obviously had every chance to do it.the other night.But that one tip in severely swung the analytics in favor of the Knicks, who now have an 86 % chance to win this series.So that feels like a steep hill to climb for San Antonio.But according to their head coach, Mitch Johnson, they may not be that far off.

By no means am I not acknowledging the Knicks and what they've done and give them credit for playing good basketball.But we feel like we've decided the outcome of all four games.

Very interesting way of looking at it.Brian Winhorst, and we see Vincenzo jumping in with us, as well as Tim McMahon.Wendy, what's your reaction to what the coach said?

I've made this mistake, too, Mitch Johnson.Last year, when I watched the Celtics blow those two leads against the Knicks in that series, I said, you know, it's 2 -0 in this series, but I kind of feel like the Celtics are still in great position.No, no.I saw the Knicks finish them off and I've seen the Knicks repeatedly do this to teams.I've seen it them to do it to the Cavs and now I'm watching them do it to the Spurs.When the Knicks are down by 15, they have you right where they want you.

You think that's a joke, but that's how they play.They never quit.It is their design to wear you down.Their team knows that their team believes in it.Mike Brown knows that he's not afraid to coach that way.They're never afraid when they're behind.

And in many ways, it puts them at ease thinking that you have control over a series is the fatal flaw against the New York Knicks.

Actually, Tim McMahon, I thought you made a really interesting point on our call this morning that Mitch Johnson may be right, but he may not be making the point he thinks he's making.

Yeah, I mean, what he's saying is not wrong, but what he's telling us is the Knicks are ready to be champions.The Spurs are not.The Knicks are the ones thatsexiest cockroaches.You've got to not just stomp on them, but squish them, flush them.Like you can't get rid of these guys.

They keep, dude, the story wasn't even necessarily that the Knicks are finding ways to finish.They're finding ways to come back from double -figure leads.I mean, 29 -point lead, a historic comeback in the finals.But if it's close late, The Knicks are proven closers, Jalen Brunson and that crew.And let's just be honest, this is where the Spurs inexperience has reared its ugly head.

What do you think, Vinny?

Yeah, I think Michael Wilbon says it best.And even though we try to chastise Michael Wilbon for applying 80s logic to 2020s basketball, you've got to get your heart broken.And they are getting their heart broken right now.We thought that they had gotten over the hurdle by beating the Oklahoma City.But the thing about the Knicks is that their stamina, their collective stamina, is greater than any other team.They don't play the score.

They play the actual game.And once they go up 15 or whatever it is, the Knicks just seem to start chipping away.They get more confident.They are more sure about how they play than any other team in the league with the Spurs.If your most experienced players, De 'Aaron Fox, And De 'Aaron Fox is committing rookie mistakes in the last 15 to 20 minutes of the game.What are we going to expect from Stefan Kassel and Dylan Harper and Victor Winminyama?

This will be a learning lesson, no matter how or when this series ends, whether it's Saturday or whether it's Tuesday, the Spurs are going to look at this years from now and be like, this series helped us grow up.

Now, I think sometimes I've always said, Wendy, Coaches talk to their teams through the media a lot.So I think you've got a glimpse into what his message Mitch Johnson's message is to his team.Guys we've controlled every one of these games.If we just don't make these kinds of mistakes down the stretch we should have won.We easily could have won all four of the games in this series so far and clearly that is true.Do you have any sense.

how they are bouncing back from what has to go down as one of the worst, if not the worst, defeats in the history of the NBA Finals?

Well, I think that's what he's doing.He's focusing on the positive.He's saying, let's not look at how we lost the lead.Let's look at how we got the lead and see if they can replicate it.I would just say that as they analyze their game plan for game five, they've got to do a better job of managing Victor Wembenyama's energy.And that is going to be at the forefront.

The other thing is Jalen Brunson is starting to stitch it together.The first two games, they really held him down.The last two games, he's shooting almost 50%.His three -point shooting has come back, and his fourth -quarter scoring is happening.They may need to tighten the screws down on their Brunson game plan.

All right, so once again, Joe Fortinbaugh with me, as he is on Fridays, with some of the best bets.What are you looking at for tomorrow night?

Let's start with the Spurs jumping out early, which is something they've done all season long.First -quarter bet, Spurs minus one -and -a -half points.Look at this series.They're 4 -0 in the first quarter against the Knicks, with a plus -47 point Yes, you are seeing that correctly.The Spurs are outscoring the Knicks by almost 12 points per first quarter in this series, which begs the question, how the hell are you down 3 -1 when you're jumping up to leads like this?Spurs have been the best first quarter team in the NBA all season long, so we'll lean into that.

Bet number two, let's look at the Knicks.How many points are they going to score?Team total is set at 106 .5.I'd bet the under there.I know that might come as surprising, but look at how well they shot in Game 4.It was their best shooting night of the season, or I should say of this series.

It was their best three -point shooting night of the series, and on top of that, it was their most free throws of the entire series.And despite all that, They only scored 107 points.Both games in San Antonio featured the Knicks winning, but scoring 105 and 105.I think they're in for a lower scoring game tonight.All right, so you and I, back to the NBA Finals where the Spurs had a collapse for the ages in game four.

After being up as many as 29 in the second half, San Antonio went ice cold.allowing the Knicks to methodically chip away.And while many Spurs had poor execution down the stretch yesterday on first day Kendrick Perkins pointed his fingers squarely at Wim Benyama.

Now who should get a lot of is Webby Webby because he folded.He was scared in the fourth quarter offensively zero post moves whatsoever.6 '5", 7 '5", wanted to beat Kevin Durant, shooting all those damn jumpers.Get you a signature post move offensively.Last night, he looked like a front runner.When things was going well in the first half, he was, ah, ah, flexing, I'm in your head.

But boy, when they start chipping into that lead, he got quiet as a church mouse.Interesting there.

Brian Winhorse, what's your reaction?

I don't think it was due to him being scared.I think it was due to him being fatigued.And I and I've had this conversation with perk and perk has been in the arena and he says when you're playing at this level, you don't allow yourself to get fatigued.I just don't think that's what was happening with Wemba Yama.You know, he had played 44 minutes in this game green.That's the most minutes he's ever played in the regulation game in his career.

He did play 48 minutes in the last round against Oklahoma City, but that was a double overtime game.He played 33 minutes through three quarters of this game.That was a flaw in the strategy by Mitch Johnson.It was five minutes more than he had played in the first three quarters of game three, which was a much closer game than this one.They've got to protect women Yama's energy.If you want him to have energy in the fourth quarter to move, you've got to make sure you make the hard decisions to take him out early.

Tim, you don't have to move when you're shooting free throws, right?And if you're going to be doing all the yapping, all the clap and you know, the Taunton, all that kind of good stuff,when the game's on the line, you got the biggest free throws of your career, you can't break them both.Okay?He wants to be the face of the league.He's embraced being a villain.

I respect that he embraces everything that comes along with it, but there's pressure that comes along with it.And when the pressure was highest, I'm not saying he folded, but he failed.What do you think, Vincenzo?

I mean both things can be true, but I don't think that he was out here choked.I think he choked, but I don't think that he was out here running from the pressure or running from the moment.We saw what he did in Oklahoma City.I don't think the stage of Madison Square Garden is something that severely affecting him.When you saw a lot of those plays late when he got to the rim, he didn't have the legs to catch the lob.He didn't have the legs to play through the contact and that was a byproduct of the Knicks.

Touching him up throughout the course of Game 4.The flagrant fouls, Jose Alvarado going at his legs, Mitchell Robinson, Karl -Anthony Towns.They wanted retribution for what happened in Game 3 and Mitchell and the coach Mitch Johnson did not give him the requisite rest throughout the course of the game, especially when you're leading by 20.Mitch Robinson is gassed, Karl -Anthony Towns is in foul trouble.There was no reason for Richter Wimby -Yama to be out there playing as often as he was leading into the fourth quarter.It was a learning lesson for all involved, but most importantly, for that coaching staff.

I think it's an excellent point.And Vinny, I would take it a step farther, and that is to say that one of the things Perk pointed out is he needs some, a signature post move or something like that.He doesn't have it.He's an unfinished product.What we are watching is the development of a guy who is going to be the best player in the NBA, and maybe already is.He does so much on both ends of the floor.

But Vinny, the reason he didn't go to a signature post move late in that game to preserve energy or whatever it is, is because at this point in his career, he doesn't really have one.

No, he doesn't have one, and he's not a guy that you're gonna dump the ball down to old school.basketball you know play it with your back to the basket that's not the type of player that he is and honestly i don't think he's going to necessarily develop into that type of player maybe he catches the ball at the elbow and develops a move or two but here's the thing you can talk about him developing a move he got to the nba finals as an unfinished product clearly playing this way has been good enough You talk about fatigue and everything else, but I don't think he needs to change who he is right now to get better, just sharpen up a few things.

No, I'm, yes, clearly.Tim, what I'm talking about is the work that players do in the summer, especially when they're 22 years old, to develop parts of their game.I'm old enough to remember when Michael Jordan didn't have a jump shot.That was the knock on him coming into the league.People stopped saying that pretty quickly because in the summers he worked on his jump shot and he became lethal.He also developed a post game as he got older because that was a valuable way of not expending so much energy, Tim.

when he wanted to preserve some.

And Wimby recognizes the need for that.That's why he went and visited Hakeem Olajuwon on Hakeem's ranch last summer.That needs to be an annual deal.There's a lot of development, a lot of growth to be done.And, you know, it also gets back to just the strength.He came in the league as a string being.

He's gotten steadily stronger.That needs to continue because to develop the postgame, you've got to be able to get to where you want to go and not be moved off your spot.

All right, let me jump over here to Joe.We'll have much more with these guys as we go.Wendy, stay close by, but let's do hitting the mark, Joe, which is brought to you by DraftKings Sports with some of the props we're looking at for tomorrow night.Give me something on Wemby.Offense.

Twenty -five plus points.High floor in this series.His worst night was 24 points.Average of 27.So we're not asking him to do too much outside of what he's already been doing.He's coming off his worst performance of the series from a shooting perspective.

I think that helps us here.Eight three -point attempts was tied for third most in 21 playoff games, less threes, more twos, more points overall.How about Dylan Harper?Six plus rebounds.Great price here because he's coming off his worst rebounding night of the series with just four boards.But look at the other three games.

Nine boards, eight boards, six boards.He's been getting a lot of minutes because he's been playing really good basketball.Last three games, 32 or more minutes per game.And I think the Knicks cool off a little bit tonight, which means more misses and more rebound opportunities for Harper.And for the entire Knick team, what's your favorite prop?Josh Hart two plus steals.

Nice plus money wager here for a guy who's done this in ten of eighteen playoff games.So it's happening more than half the time.Number two in the series and steals with seven trailing only Jalen Brunson who has eight.I'd expect him to be ultra aggressive like we see from Hart on a regular basis in a game that has closed up potential for the next.

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