There is NO BETTER playoff duo than Karl Anthony-Towns and Jalen Brunson 👏 - Perk | Get Up

Start spreading the news.The New York Knicks are the junior varsity to no team ever.They are, in fact, on the kind of heater that historically only the very greatest teams and very greatest players have ever matched.And they absolutely could win the title in the next couple of weeks.Let me lay this out for you.The Knicks are the fifth team ever to win 11 straight playoff games in a single year.

The others featured in chronological order, Magic and Kareem, Duncan and Robinson, Shaq and Kobe, and Steph and KD.Just digest that for a moment.That's the entire list.And among those, The 2017 Warriors had the best point differential, okay?They entered the finals outscoring their opponents by 196 points.These Knicks are a plus 271 in the playoffs.

That is 75 points better than a team that was so good that people said it was ruining the sport.But here's the thing, you know all of that already.What you want to talk about is an easy path to the finals.So let's talk about easy paths.Did you know that none of the last three NBA champions ever faced a team seated higher than fourth?I don't think you did.

Last year, OKC, they played the 8, the 4, the 6, and the 4 seeds.The year before that, Boston, they played the 8, the 4, the 6, and the 5.Before that, Denver, they played the 8, the 4, the 7, and the 8.The point is, this is nothing new, so let's stop talking about it.And then finally, there's this, the enormous advantage of rest.By the time the Finals start, the Knicks will have played four games in 23 days.

There are only three prior teams to have that profile since the playoffs expanded.They were the 2017 Warriors and the 2017 Rams.Lakers, and the 99 Spurs.All three of them won the finals in five games.So, whether you love or loathe New York and its teams, just be aware of this.The Knicks are not lucky.

They're not a fluke.They're not the JV.They are right now playing about as well as any team ever.And in about two weeks' time, they absolutely might win this whole damn thing.That's what needed to be said in the midst of all of this nonsense.Let me bring it out to the table.

Monica, I think out of the corner of my eye, I saw you nodding, so I hope you were doing so in agreement.

Absolutely, Greeny, and I think it's so important.I love that you went back to the past of the past three champions.This seating thing, that's the way it works when you're playing great basketball.

Yes, getting to a finals hoisting the Larry O 'Brien is hard work. Perk, you put it in perspective for us a little bit today, but it also requires a little bit of luck. And so are they a little lucky in terms of Philly maybe taking Yeah, but did they do what they were supposed to do in an emphatic fashion? Absolutely. I loved it, Greeny. What do you think, Big Purdy? The New York Knicks are soul snatchers. They snatch your soul. They make you tap out. Tap out. I don't want to hear about the conference being weak. I don't want to hear about the Cavs not being mentally tough. Because who did the Cavs play before? They played the Detroit Pistons. And you had to bring a level of what? Physicality and toughness. So they had to do that in order to get out of that series. You just faced a team full of dogs that's ready, a team that play agenda -free basketball, that's led by big -body Brunson. So all the people that's out there talking about, oh yeah, the winner of OKC and the Spurs, they gonna win. Nah, you a liar and the truth ain't nowhere near you. All right, Perk, here we go. I'm looking at Benny's face and I'm waiting. I can just see, like the cat that ate the canary. What do you got? No, no, no, I think it's a little too much dip on everybody here.

here.But I will give the Knicks credit in this way.If you look at the Eastern Conference the last few years the team that has come out.has been a team that lost in the Eastern Conference Finals the year before.Indiana got swept by Boston, the next year they came back.New York lost to Indiana, next year they came back.

This is kind of old school NBA.You lose, you learn, you come back.It doesn't mean, it doesn't guarantee that they're going to win the finals, but they have taken care of business in an in an impressive fashion that you cannot deny.But you also can't deny, they'll be the one, they are the one three seed since playoff expansion.The one three seed that has gotten to the finals without having to take out the two or the one.And that's not their fault.

It's just a statement of fact.

Let me Q and A you.Come on, let's go.Name me a better duo.that's in the postseason right now, then call Anthony Townsend and J Lo Brunson.

Don't have one for you.

Okay, so I've never seen a team complete and win a championship without having a Batman and Robin.Do the Spurs have a Batman and Robin right now?They got a Batman.No, I'm talking about the Batman.Don't badger the witness, Spurs.I'm just asking a question.

You badgering the witness.Do OKC have a Batman and a Robin right now?

No, no, they're robbing this hurt.Okay, then.But the Knicks do.So, are you telling me?No, because what Perk does is he presents the case and then comes with a different conclusion.So, Perk, you are presenting the case.

I'm going to treat you like a hostile witness now.Don't treat me like the criminal.So you are telling me all of this, all of these reasons why the New York Knicks should win the NBA title.If they play the Oklahoma City Thunder, if that's where we are, next Thursday, who's winning the series?Listen man, I would have that series going seven games.

Hold on, give me a time out.Keep a cool booty.When you usually pick a series in seven games, that means it can go either way.I'm with you.Okay, so what I'm telling you is, is this.If they get the Spurs, they gonna beat them at six.

OKC, they gonna have a little trouble with them, but guess what?I wouldn't be surprised.I really wanna straddle the fence and say I don't wanna pick, but y 'all know that's not my nature.Right.But at the end of the day, what I'm telling you, Vinny, is they check all the boxes.What OKC had last year that got them over the hump?

Two -way players.Do the Knicks have that?Do they have it?Of course they do.I know they do.

Here's the other thing they have.But one of the reasons I wanted to make those points in the essay is that it's not just luck.That was a beautiful essay, Bob.The key also is usually the team that stays healthy winds up winning.I got it, yeah.All those kinds of things.

How do you stay healthy?By taking over business when you can.By not wasting games.By rampaging through the playoffs.I mean, OKC won the title last year, at least in some parts, because Tyrese Halliburton blew out his Achilles before, you know, in Game 7 of the Finals.

Maybe they win anyway, but maybe they don't.But OKC also went through some adversity.They went through seven games in the second round against Denver.They had some calluses in the playoff.

The Knicks didn't?They went on the road without O .

G.and a nowhere in Philly and they swept them people.

I was only addressing his point about Oklahoma City.I wasn't saying the Knicks didn't experience adversity or not.

All I'm saying is, all I'm saying is this.Here's what I'm saying.Go ahead.People thought the same last year.Now one could argue, and I'm glad you brought this up, one could argue if Tyrese Halliburton didn't tear his Achilles, that the Indiana Pacers probably would've beat the Oklahoma State.It's really hard to win a Game 7 and NBA Finals on the road.

Hold on, hold on.Listen to me.Because the way that it was going, Tyrese Halliburton came out on the tear.The momentum was going their way.So what I'm saying is, don't dismiss, because we keep disrespecting the East Coast,by saying it's weak when all of all.

You know, I'm just saying because of the Knicks have and they've been so dominant.That's the reason I wanted to say this.

My booty is neither warm nor cold.I can be completely honest.I don't actually, I don't actually have one.People are saying, oh, the Knicks won the junior varsity.They have no chance whatsoever against OKC.All that kind of stuff.

My point is, none of that is true.The Knicks have done what champions do.I think they have a 50 -50 shot at beating whoever they play in the final.

And I think that's fantastic.Greeney, the numbers, basketball is about numbers, and particularly this era that we're in in the NBA.The other thing that kind of is working against OKC, if it is them, is we haven't had a repeat since the Warriors did it.

OK, so history is working against them.Speaking of Giannis, I want you to hear Wendy yesterday on the prospects of the Cavaliers trading for him.

I don't think it will be long before you start to hear Cavs attached to Giannis Santacompo.Would they consider entering that market?You know, if they put Evan Mobley on the table, as hard as that would be, Evan Mobley is in his mid -twenties.When they drafted Evan Mobley, okay, they drafted him to be another Giannis.What if they could turn him into Giannis?

All right, so the question is, you got Windy Big Perk talking about the possibility of Giannis to Cleveland.You're also obviously aware that there was a great deal of conversation about the possibility of LeBron.going home to Cleveland.You look like you're already shaking your head no at me.

What are your thoughts?Because why, Wendy?It's two things that make my skin crawl.Number one is the drama surrounding Giannis in Milwaukee.Is he going to leave?Do they want to leave?

Do we want to get traded?And then the Cavs again.I wanted to leave them in the past, especially afterhearing Kenny Atkinson and Donovan Mitchell and James Harden speak on the microphone, those post -game interviews after shooting round.You know, Kenny Atkinson said something the other day that was the most asinine thing that I've heard in this postseason.Right.

Right, about the analytics.Why would Giannis want to go to that house?It's almost like he's shopping for a crib.Why would you want to go to that house?It looked beautiful on the outside.until you find out when you walk in the inside that the people that lived there had kids and they had pets.

So it stains all over the carpet.And then all of a sudden you realize that you gotta change that carpet out before you can even think about buying this house.That's the way I look at Cleveland.It's not just the bucks, trading Giannis to somewhere they want to get value back from, they have to do right by Giannis Antetokounmpo.

That's what you, that's what is missing from the calculus here.If the relationship between Giannis and the Bucks is not beyond repair, then you go to your superstar and you say to him, Where do you want to go?And usually teams don't trade close in that proximity.If I'm honest and I've had the health issues that I've had the past couple of years with the cab and the knee and I know he sat a little bit this year.I want to go to a team that has a definitive chance to win and this is going to sound crazy.What about Oklahoma City?

Don't they need as much?No, seriously.With Big Vic there, you need, you need bodies.Like the price of the brick is going up on Giannis.

San Antonio.You meant San Antonio then?

No, no.He means you got to deal with Victor.

You got to deal with him.Oh, I thought you said...

And OKC has all the picks in the future.Here's the one thing I would throw in and I'm going to let you cook.Chemistry is so delicate.And when you talk about teams that are on the brink of contending, Chemistry is so delicate, and I think you have to be careful that all superstars don't come with, cool, I'm gonna take a step back and say.in.That's all I would add to this conversation.

The Cleveland of it all.We just talked about how the teams that lose in the conference finals in the East make it to the finals next year.The Cavs don't feel like that.They don't feel like they are staying pat and we'll get there.They are not close.How about LeBron?

I mean, I'm always interested in your take on LeBron.Could you see him finishing it back where it all began?I can.

I can.But they're gonna have to pay him.He's not gonna do it for the vet minimum.And this is the...That's another problem.I don't understand...

Like, I'm gonna start calling James Horton a stick -up kid.I've never seen, I've never seen a player that always have an agreement in place before he actually go out there and deliver.Like sticking those, like all of a sudden, the news break yesterday, it's like, oh yeah, the Cavs plan on giving James Harden a contract extension.It was agreed to before the trade, exactly before the trade.But that is ridiculous, man.That is ridiculous, and to me, it's premature, like it's immature in my opinion, for him to do that.

But here's the thing, I'm gonna say this.Another team that should close the door on Giannis Antetokounmpo is the New York Knicks.I don't want to hear anything else about Giannis to New York.You have that chemistry, you have your duo.Let that play out for the next three to four years with Bronson and Karl -Anthony Thomas.

I agree with that one, and I am really glad that this group got an opportunity to run it back.I know, Vinny, I know.But I just...To me, the other thing about it, too, as good as Giannis has been, and I take nothing away from him being a top -five MVP candidate however long that stretch has been, but the injury that he has and Bodewell for the style that he plays.I don't know that it's getting better.So are you sure you want to risk your house in the future?

I wouldn't.

He does feel like he's teetering just a little close to being that guy who's always going to be hurt.Now I'd love for him to prove that wrong.I'd love for him to have a bunch of healthy years and be the dominant player that he was again.But if I were risking my career on it, I'd be nervous.Miami.Miami, I would look at them.

That makes sense.What about Detroit?

Him and K cutting that.Detroit has a longer runway.And I don't, like you said, Giannis, I'm not sure how great Giannis is going to be for the long term.You make a deal for Giannis if you know you have a very small window and you want to maximize that window.Detroit has a little bit of a longer runway.

I think Detroit has better options.Because we talked about one of the theories on Detroit.It's going to be a very interesting off -season.They got to get it.