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And we are joined by former NBA champ Avery Johnson and CBS Sports NBA analyst John Gonzalez. And guys, it is like night and day. Game one compared to game two between the Sixers and Knicks. But ultimately, we got the same result with New York now going up two nothing in the series. But the Knicks were never going to, let's be realistic, shoot 68% again like they did in game one. But they did still put themselves in position to go up two games in this series. Coach, what felt different for both squads in this tighter game two? Well, I thought this was a game that Philadelphia could win this game. I like their pace of the game. They were playing extremely well. They made eight threes in the first half. Sure, you
know, the Knicks dominated in the paint, but I thought the pace of this game was favoring um Philadelphia. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around this as a former NBA coach and college coach and NBA coach of the year, I don't understand why the Philadelphia don't double team Jaylen Brunson at critical times of the game. I don't know why they allow him to go one-on-one against any defender on their team, especially when he's in the mid-range, let alone the three-point line. This was a game that could have easily been stolen by Philadelphia.
You know, obviously the points off turnovers was huge uh for the Knicks, but this was a game when Philadelphia goes back and scratch and really review this tape, they'll be scratching their heads. Also at the end of this game, if you look at under four minutes, under three minutes, VJS Comb and when you look at the threes that they missed consecutively at the end of this game, I'm I'm just wondering what was the game plan? What was the strategy? That could have been some drives which could have led to free throws, points in the paint. He and Tyreek's Maxi, I think they missed a combined five straight threes or four out of five threes at the end of the
game critically. Those are the things I look like. Look, forget about analytics. I'm just talking about the eye test. I was very disappointed with the finish from Philadelphia. Yeah, Avery, you're right. The finish was really the thing here, right? Because the Sixers started out shooting the lights out and they looked phenomenal and it was a much quicker game. I think towards the end in the fourth quarter, a couple of things happened. Uh for one, four of the five starters for the Sixers played a ton of minutes. Maxi played 47 minutes. Avery, correct me if I'm wrong here, there are 48 minutes in the game. Towards the end, he looked really tired. PG played 43
minutes. Edgecomb and UB went for 39 minutes. And towards the end, like yeah, they were shooting jump shots. And they started out shooting really hot and then by the end, they cooled off considerably. So that didn't help them. as Avery called out the turnovers and the points off of the turnovers. They had 18 turnovers led to 23 points for the Knicks. That didn't help. And here's the other thing. The Knicks best fourth quarter defense in the NBA this season. And the best fourth quarter point differential. Well, what happened in the fourth quarter? They were better than the Sixers. They were plus seven in the fourth quarter in a game that they won by six points. That game was back and
forth the entire time, but in the fourth quarter when the Knicks thrive, the Sixers did not. And I'm with Avery as well on Jaylen Brunson. I actually think that the Sixers did a much better job tonight than they did in game one on Jaylen Brunson. He scored 26 points, yes, but he needed 21 shots to do it, but the fourth quarter again was the killer, right? I mean, they tried a couple of different things. I thought VJ Edgecom was really good on him early. Uh they got some Dominic Barlo minutes, uh that's a name I haven't heard in a while. He did pretty well, but then in the fourth quarter when it's close and you need somebody to get a bucket, Jaylen Brunson did. The Knicks were just better down the stretch. By the way, I love when coach
just drops his resume on us and it's kind of like the man knows what he's talking about. Philly, maybe you should be paying attention. But you both emphasizing how disappointed you are with the way Philly finished this game. But now that makes me think because they were without Joel Embiid, who was out with that right ankle and hip injury. And for the first three quarters, it seems like the Sixers, they were able to manage. They were able to stay afloat without of without him. Then when both teams got into a little foul trouble and New York kept attacking the paint, those 56 points inside, it felt like those final minutes were starting to show where Embiid's present was missed most.
But coach, did that fourth quarter show? When you're talking about you're disappointed in how they finished, did that show why they need him back on that floor? Sure, they need MV, but I think it's more of decision making by the players on the court. You know, when you talk about the synchronization of an offense, right, and how players metriculate doing throughout the offense and the flow of the game, there's so many variables in the game, so many up cycles, down cycles. You got to know what cycle that you're in. And a lot of times, sure, the coach got to make decisions, but that's where your point guards, especially the
guys with the ball, you have to know what cycle that you're in on the floor and all the different variances that you have to deal with. You're dealing with two guards that are not deep playoff run guards. You're dealing with a third year, third, fourth year player and a rookie. So those guys are learn, but that's where Paul George needs to come in and settle everything down and say, "Hey, these next three out of five possessions, we need to get the ball in the paint. We need to score in the paint, and if we spray it around to a couple of different guys, and that leads to a three, but we have to be very intentional at trying to get uh the ball with a paint entry to maybe score
at the basket." They didn't accomplish that goal. Yeah, you're right. I mean PG was good to start the game kind of like everybody else and then towards the end of the game he started to fade and I was thinking the same thing because it wasn't just you know the Knicks absolutely dominated the points in the paint in this game but it wasn't just because Embiid was out. I mean Embiid is out and then Drummond gets into foul trouble and Bona gets into foul trouble and they got to go to Barlo but on the other side the same thing happened with the Knicks. Uh Carl Anthony Towns was in foul trouble immediately. They didn't have Mitchell Robinson and Hutporty got into foul trouble immediately. And the
difference was that the Knicks saw that and kept going into the paint as Avery was advocating for and the Sixers were jacking up threes from deep and early on that worked and late it didn't because again I think that you know they played so many minutes they looked tired out there. That's a situation where I'm 100% uh with Avery when you need a bucket and you've got some good uh foul shooters out there. get to the hoop. You because the outside shot was not falling late and the Knicks just started to like very slowly as they do in the fourth quarter. They're putting the clamps on you. They're scoring buckets when they can and they end up pulling
away in the fourth. So, I think that was a tactical mistake by the Sixers for sure. Yeah. And because of that strong fourth quarter, New York now up two nothing after winning two very completely different kinds of games. We saw a blowout and we also saw a bit of a grind here in game two. But does this series already feel like it's on the next terms, coach? And I asked this because you said that you felt like Philly could win this game or was it inspiring enough to maybe give you a little confidence as they take this series home? I think it's very inspiring, especially if Embiid can come back and, you know, they don't force feed him the ball. Keep the tempo going. A lot of times with
Embiid, he's a ball stopper. He wants to isolate. He wants to pick and pop. He holds the ball. He massages the basketball for five or seven seconds on a possession. Tonight, you saw the ball move. It wasn't sticking. Is what we call 0.5. You got 0.5 seconds to pass, dribble, or shoot. You saw that a lot with Philly. When they incorporate be back into the offense with as good as he is, if they can play that same style of basketball and they don't force feed him the ball, I think they'll have a chance to extend this series. Yeah, momentum definitely with the Knicks now, right? I mean, they've won five in a row in the playoffs, which is tied for the second longest franchise streak in the postseason for them.
They're playing their best basketball right now. And again, they're finding different ways to win. I mean, that was the first close game that they've had in like couple weeks now. Uh, and they figured out how to do it, right? And there's so many lead changes and they didn't have Carl Anthony Towns for a big chunk of the game. And again, they made uh Jaylen Brunson work harder than he had to do in game one. And still, they figured out a way to eek it out. OG has just been so good. I think he might be the best player in the playoffs so far. He's just been so consistent. But yeah, if the Sixers can get Embiid back, Keano, you and I talked about this pregame where I picked the Knicks in
this game, but I also have the Knicks in seven. I think it's going to be a series if they can get Embiid back. There were some encouraging things. Uh, for sure they have to their shot diet, especially when things get tight. It's the playoffs as Avery had mentioned. Hey, get to the rack, try to get fouled, get to the line. Uh, and for sure in game three in Philly, they have to clean up those turnovers because they're just giving way too many easy points to the Knicks. Quite a few things I think they can try to clean up, but also hopefully, I know they're crossing fingers getting beatback most certainly helps, but also, hey, you're back home. You got that homecourt advantage and trying to take
advantage of that and not go down three games in this series. Fellas, I appreciate you guys stopping by. Thank you so much for the insight. Well, speaking of game three, how about we talk a little bit about it? That one's set for Friday from Philly. Both game four as well. That's two days later. Also from Philadelphia. Look, Sixers now back starting to be against the wall. I'm not saying this is must-win territory, but it's the closest thing to it. Can't afford to go down three games.
