The Jalen Brunson criticism is driving Greeny NUTS 😵‍💫 He DRAGGED the Knicks to the ECF! 🗣️ | Get Up

The Jalen Brunson criticism is driving Greeny NUTS 😵‍💫 He DRAGGED the Knicks to the ECF! 🗣️ | Get Up

and you know the expression this is why we can’t have nice things if I hear one more word of criticism about Jaylen Brunson or the idea that somehow Jaylen Brunson is the reason that the Knicks are not doing this and not doing that I’m going to smash my head against a wall jaylen Brunson has singlehandedly dragged a very average team to the Eastern Conference Finals and if they hadn’t gotten as banged up as they did last year this would be the second straight year they made the NBA’s final four i could go down the list of the other players on this team and their flaws but if you watch them you already know what they are between Carl Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson and OG and Obi and Male Bridges and Josh Hart they’re good players every one of them good players but every one of them significantly flawed they need one guy to be a star a superstar they need one guy to be genuinely brilliant and night in and night out Jaylen Brunson has been that and so now when they’ve run into a team that is much deeper and let’s face it much better and Brunson is somehow not able to carry them over the top of that we have decided it’s his fault that drives me nuts and I’m not going to listen to any more of it who wants to want to cosign you in on that thank you okay I’m with you talk to me i I I I’m glad you said that Greenie because it is it is certainly been something that has percolating and I think there’s two things that you have to keep in mind it is hard for a Tiger to turn over new stripes while I acknowledge and I think Jaylen Brunson would acknowledge he’s not been able to play his best basketball one if you’re honest and you’re a basketball person you have to give the Pacers their credit particularly Aaron Nith Andrew Nimhard those are the two that have defended him the most he got you 51 games he got you through the Detroit Pistons series he got you through the Boston Celtics series yes this Indiana Pacers series is challenging but the idea that the Knicks can emerge and play a new style of basketball i’m not talking about adjustments Jay and you you get it i get adjustments but there is a character and there is a formula that has been successful to this point it’s easy as we always say to sit up quarterback after the fact and say “Oh get Jay off the ball he got to pass the ball.” w the personnel you got to be honest about the personnel and I don’t think that he is the type of player or the type of person that if somebody was cooking he would be holding on to the basketball and that just is not he has been the most consistent element of this season this year by a wide margin we we are the same show and the same collection of people who sit here and say “Well look what Anthony Edwards is up against it’s not his fault how’s he supposed to get a shot up?” Every single team runs three guys runs three different guys all night long at Jaylen Brunson to wear him down they put him in pick and roll all the time because he’s undersized he’s battling his behind off out there as best he can and he would give the ball up but who is he giving it up to if you were him Jay you’re the point guard you got the ball in your hands you’re him and you’re looking at your array of options and I can either try and create a shot for myself let’s just be honest or I can give it up to one of the people that are at his disposal he won’t say this but I can which would you do he’s doing the right thing which is trying to create a shot for himself it’s their best chance to score it It is i mean you’re you’re not saying anything wrong i I do think there could be moments where you could play him off the ball and try to get him a little bit loose so one of the things that’s challenging about it and you are right Granny one of the things that’s hard about it is same thing to Anthony Edwards right or a Luca Donic is when everybody gears up because they know that’s the play right or they’re like “Hey we’re going to gap because we all see you with the ball you’re going ISO it does then put in question some of the strategy coaching wise can you get him off the ball a little bit create a little bit more freedom that opens him up that gives him some room to breathe and really kind of like creates a decoy yeah who would that secondary so that’s the thing that So then Michael this is the question then then that’s all management this is roster construction the team is not Yes the team roster construction the team went all in on Carl Anthony Towns and Male Bridges right they’ve held on to these first round pick forever right forever and the people who know the Knicks know what I’m talking about they’ve held on to these trade assets forever and there were moments in time we thought well it’s going to be Giannis or it’s going to be Embiid at one time or it’s going to be uh Kevin Durant and it turns out to be Male Bridges and they make the trade for Carl Anthony Towns and those guys are both good but they’re not good enough that’s not This is not the nucleus of a championship team let’s just be the contrarian for a second go and I don’t I don’t even disagree with the word you said but I’m going to be the contrarian go the Knicks are one insane ending away from being 2-2 in this series that’s true right which means still home court advantage with all these flaws Greeny and and you’re right about that um but I wonder in the case of Brunson who’s that other person and and we’ve got this new question can Brunson be can Jaylen Brunson be the the best player on a team that actually reaches the NBA finals well he pretty close to that now i don’t know the answer to that if and if if if the answer is no then who would that person be but they are one insane ending in game one mhm from being 22 and then I don’t know how many qu I don’t know how what what conversation we’re having then or if they seem greeny as flawed as we now think they are what I’m saying I’m saying Josh Allen will play the greatest game of his life his team will lose in overtime and the the the conversation afterward will be Josh Allen can’t win the big one and that always makes me insane josh Allen was the best player on the field he’s not the reason his team didn’t win jaylen Brunson this all I’m saying is Jaylen Brunson is not the reason this team isn’t on its way to the NBA finals and to your point Jay if he’s going to who’s he giving it up to what they need is another legitimate scoring option and Carl Anthony Towns far too frequently isn’t that he just isn’t what he looks like he should be all of the time well to all the people that say you know oh well he’s a liability on defense i’m like well when you’re exerting all that all that energy to try to score each and every possession and then you’re going through the series of Detroit and then Boston and now you’re here at this one in another dog fight of course that’s the strategy of the team they’re going to attack you they take your legs away on the offensive end you know this team there’s nobody else that can create remind everyone Monica does the radio for this team so you see them night in night out i’m not asking you to criticize anybody or anything like that but the You have heard it yep you have heard the talk in this city about Jaylen Brunson suddenly questioning him in a variety of different ways and personally I think it is insane yeah i I I bristle at it every time it comes up because and and listen we all have consumed a lot of basketball the Pacers play fast that’s the base level the thing about the Knicks is they don’t actually want to play a slow plotting style of basketball but the them trying to play at the Pacers pace has backfired right and so there’s this middle ground i’m not saying that Jaylen Brunson can’t get off the ball or he can’t make the right pass like he’s an excellent basketball player but the idea that he is to be blamed on this one i just I have a really hard time summing that right like it is a collective team effort i mean you could say and I and look all of these guys are accountable and so I don’t think that this is like earthshattering to say but you could say “All right look OG and Mel y’all were brought to get past Boston you did that what are we saying now that you’re struggling to stop Indiana’s guys?” Like I think there’s a lot of conversation that there’s so little conversation about that relatively speaking what are the Knicks going to do where do they load up defensively jay Monica so looking at the number of points the Pacers put up relatively easily some nights except for one game in the series what is Tibs going to do tonight do you jump Hallebertton does that work hallebertton seems to have any number of ways he can play and adjust and it’s only been a quarter in which the Knicks thwarted that in game three what do they do tonight the problem to me Wilbon as I’ve observed it is there’s just been a complete not complete there has been a consistent lack of effective communication defensively your best defensive unit was guys that came off the bench that clearly are playing to prove their basketball career whether they stay in a Knicks uniform or not and so they’re communicating on screens they’re making sure they’re switching appropriately they’re getting into gaps in a way that you had not seen consistently from this team it’s the defense but guess what the defense has been a through line all season long agreed just to tie it back to your point Mike because I think you were you were correct i I I don’t think I think Jaylen Brunson’s body is way different and I’m somebody who’s 6’2 62 and a half right it’s rare where you see players that size play his style of basketball that sustain his greatness throughout the course of a regular season and into the playoffs year after year after year that’s why I don’t think he could be 1A i think he could be 1A as a closer but not 1A as somebody that keeps the Knicks knocking on the door to get back you need to find somebody that is durable that can play through the course of the season the only player I know I do it is AI or Steph but both those guys played a very different style of basketball this the reason to call him Big Body Brunson he takes hits all the time what’s the durability of that long term he’s like a linebacker that’s what I’m saying by the way by the way they’re worn out they’re so tired and it’s the accumulation and it goes back to the Pistons series which was a tough series i know neither one of those two series went seven but they went six and the Boston series and now this you look at them just look at them when they’re sitting there in postgame they look worn out you know why cuz they are there’s there’s no more a friend who’s a scout at a very high level in the NBA who says listen called me the other day and said there’s no more elegant basketball that’s a word okay this is just survival and the Knicks are the ones gasping for air in this series sometimes the simplest answer is the best they’ve run into a better team and will you be sneaking back to the hotel so you can go back and forth between the games that’s the question i’d like to see this i’m sort of emotionally invested i want to see Conor McDavid i want to see the best player in the world in the finals so I’m I’m interested in this and they’re playing without Heyman they got some vulnerability perhaps edmonton it’s a good segue cuz the best player in the NBA is in the finals welcome back to Get Up we coming to you live about the Heineken River Deck at Pier 17 and that man SGA the MVP by TKO last night okc in an absolute laugher against Minnesota i will not bother during the highlight trying to build drama because there was none j will right from the jump it was all thunder yeah this game was over in the first 10 minutes of it and it just started with OKC’s pressure on defense they create so much havoc and SGA like we said before are very surgical in finding shooters in a perimeter sj scored or assisted on 24 points in the first quarter the Timberwolves as a team had nine now we’re at four minutes to go in the second quarter and Monica SGA was just doing whatever he wanted honestly honestly and I know you love all the letters Greeny true MVP fashion from SGA like again a pressure in the paint continuing to get downhill assisting like he’s great and you want efficiency Mr wilbond 34 points for SGA on 25 shots i mean he he’s he’s found a sweet spot right now when literally nobody in the game is better nobody’s as good as he’s been in these playoffs lately once they got past Denver Greeny it’s like it clicked and they understood okay here’s what we now can do sga is the Western Conference Finals MVP and OKC is headed back to the championship round for the first time in 13 years and their defense is the primary reason why but SGA certainly deserving of all of the credit he scored 30 or more in all three series clinching wins in this postseason if he does it again in the finals that would set a new record but look at the company he has already joined i mean you’re talking about basketball royalty lebron Steph Kobe Bird and Mike and after the game the MVP showing gratitude to those around him i want to thank my teammates without them I’m nothing clear as day i don’t have 124 points by myself i love these guys to death now with all that being said this is a step in the right direction but we have a lot more work to do and we know that and that’s what we’re focused on so let’s buckle up and get ready so look I mean I far being for me this is not about me but if I were to have written his speech I would have written literally every word said he all the time everything right job’s not done give credit to your teammates all the time winning or losing as opposed to we looked at the video from Ant-Man right not hitting all the right notes correct we’re going to get to that but let’s start with the wind man who was there last night to see it wendy what are the right things to say about Shay Gildas Alexander and this OKC team that looks like it might be at the beginning of something special i got to tell you in the first half of this game last night Nas Reed and Julius Randall were in hell they they couldn’t even stay on their feet the the the what the Thunder did to the Wolves they brought them to their knees on the offensive end of the court it was incredibly impressive incredibly humbling for the Wolves who are a very good team and they really took their foot off the gas if they wanted to this score could have been anything that they wanted it to be and that’s not a criticism of Minnesota that’s just where this team is they are playing their best basketball right now i’m just going to put it like this since I’m out here in the Midwest and they know a little bit about steakouses here they got the table set the wagoo is there the side dishes are ready everything that you need to make something really special happened is ready to go they just got to cook the steak right and they understand that they understand that nothing is take is is given this is an organization that I was here 13 years ago where they thought they were at the beginning of a long run and then their plans went arry so they appreciate what they’ve got and they appreciate that there’s still a lot more to do it’s very impressive to be around this team in those days they had three young stars right and they had Kevin Durant Russell Westbrook and James Harden the feel of this is totally different right we all remember those teams and covering them because they all felt like they were a players like they were going to be the guy and that you can’t have three of those on one team in this case at least at this stage of their development it feels like each of them the three great players with SGA and and Jay Will and Chad Hongren they all understand sort of where they fit into the scheme of this they understand who the alpha is not just understand it they’re fine with it you can see that you can see the way they interact with Shay you can see the way they look at him you can hear the answers for to questions i mean Chad and Jay Wills I’m sorry Jay Dub jay Will’s here and Jay Dub seem very I hate to use the word content but right now and things can go ary Greeny yeah we see people you know evolve and change it doesn’t look like those three guys are going to have that happen to them anytime soon let’s put it that way they have We’re obviously going to talk about SGA MVP we’ll talk about JDub and his performance obviously Chad but the pieces they have defensively are so interchangeable there’s nowhere to go it’s like a pillow over your face being suffocated that’s what a That’s what all these guys experienced last night that’s why Anthony Edwards was minus 29 there was nowhere for him to go on the court and when Lou Dord is picking you up full court when he’s turning you three or four times when they can switch and then Hartinstein who can be long and tall on the perimeter that’s one of the reasons why historically the numbers prove that they’re one of the best defensive teams we have in NBA history yeah and I would add to that Jim and you look at the way Alex Caruso showed his versatility through not just this series but even you go back to the Denver series and he’s the vet right he grabs he adds some of the experience from his championship run with the Lakers i just think to me and Mark Dagnol said this to me uh or to us rather i had a game they were in Minnesota or excuse me Milwaukee earlier this season and he just he appreciated so much about the way those guys bought in before the lights and the attention came like they have a system they are content they are present whichever word you want to use there’s complete buyin up and down the roster sheay obviously is a tremendous leader but he also talked about guys like Lud Dort who was also a part of the formative years of what we’re seeing now and also guys Granny think about like the dominance we’ve seen from Jokic over the last several years they had him in a spin cycle he he looked dis he looked like he was in chaos discombobulated right think about Julius Randall and the emergence we’ve seen from him this year and how he’s kind of changed that reputation about himself they they exposed him i mean that’s what they just think about how if they win if they close this out think about the confidence they’re going to have beyond this oh yeah once you win that championship look at what the great teams do once they win [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

The Get Up crew weighs in on the New York Knicks’ struggles in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers, then discuss the Oklahoma City Thunder going to the 2025 NBA Finals.

0:00 Jalen Brunson criticism
5:02 The Knicks’ shortcomings
9:28 WCF Game 5 recap
12:28 Thunder rout Timberwolves

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