Early NBA Finals preview: Could Spurs make quick work of the Knicks?
Yahoo Sports senior NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor and NBA contributor Tom Haberstroh take an early look at the upcoming NBA Finals - with Victor Wembanyama and San Antonio facing Jalen Brunson and New York, setting up a rematch of the 1999 championship series. Check out the full conversation on “The Kevin O’Connor Show” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
I worry about this series for the Knicks, Tom.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, I, I, I need to dive into it.
I wanna watch their prior matchups from during the season.
I don't know how relevant they are.
They last played in early March.
The other two s- the other matchup was very early in the year as well, but And of course the, the NBA Cup, this is, a rematch, right?
Of the, of the NBA Cup.
Yeah.
So we got a rematch of the cup.
The difference is Wemby was coming off the bench in those games- Yes early in the season.
20 minutes.
Yes.
It, it was a totally different environment, totally different season, and I would say, to the Knicks' credit, they would say, "Yeah, we're a totally different team as of, you know, a month ago."
but still, like you, you, you can't really read too much into the regular season matchups.
NBA Cup Final, we can watch that, but so different, both teams, ever since then.
And I think, I think the biggest factor for me, watching this, this Knicks team up to this point, the thing that gave them the most trouble, and the reason why they went to Carl Anthony Towns as the fulcrum of the offense, was because of the N- Nikhil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, the length that they had, the defense that they had, and the physicality, the perimeter defenders that they had that they could throw at Jalen Brunson.
The Cavs didn't have that.
The Sixers didn't have that.
You know who has those l- long, in your jersey defenders?
It's San Antonio.
It's OKC.
And they got a lot of them.
A lot of them, man.
Yeah.
And they're here for it.
They're here for that life.
And so going from the, the Sixers, a- and, and the matchup that you're seeing in this w- the Cavs and Sixers, going from them to the San Antonio perimeter defense is gonna be night and day.
And so that's where I think Jalen Brunson is gonna be really tested.
It's gonna be exhausting going against, Dylan Harper, Champagnie, Devin Vassell.
Stephon Cass was gonna get that assignment.
And man, they're, the piranhas of San Antonio are gonna be out for Jalen Brunson, and that's why everything, man, it comes back down to Carl Anthony Towns.
Can he be the facilitator and the playmaker that he was up until this point, averaging just about seven game, Carl Anthony Towns?
Or is he gonna revolve back to that guy that we saw last year and in Minnesota runs previously, where he's just gonna try to be that scorer and go at you, in ways that I think Mike Brown has unlocked something in Carl Anthony Towns?
And that better be the case against the San Antonio Spurs, 'cause they are gonna give Jalen Brunson hell out there in this finals.
I think piggybacking off what you said, Tom, I'm curious for, for, for people watching live on YouTube and also people listening to the audio podcast after the fact, listening on Spotify, leave a comment letting us know what you think about what Tom just hit on there.
Is this gonna be the difference in the series here?
Is it possible that this ends up being a quicker series, considering the way the Spurs can match up against Jalen Brunson that Tom just described?
I think there is a chance of that, Tom
