Yankees Loss and Closing Thoughts

It's the Mike Frances a Podcast on the Bet Rivers Network. Put the series away tonight with a terrific final three quarters. Uh you got the news about OG. Now, I tell you the other night, when I came down at the end of the game, I thought he had maybe turned his ankle. I did not think it was a hamstring injury. I really didn't I was surprised to hear later that it was. I didn't think it was because he seemed like he was hopping around and it was okay. I just thought he took a bad step. Uh we find that obviously uh hamstring problems, which are always dangerous with him. Knicks did the right thing. Now we don't know the extent of the hamstring injury. Okay. To think we do we don't. We don't know the extent of the injury. The Knicks are gonna hide it if they can. You're not gonna see him in game four . Uh if the Knicks win that, they're gonna get some rest. The other series, I'm sure, is gonna get elongated . Um , I don't know if you'd see him in game five. Um hopefully this is not too serious an injury. And the Knicks really picked up the slack. The Sixers came out tonight. Yeah, but beat in the lineup and it beats let's be honest, he's hurting as well as helping. He's not he's you know that that's anything but an M B line. He's he's like I said, he's hurting as well as helping. Uh but they came out red hot . And George, who has had big first quarters, comes out, hits three threes, gets 15 points in the first quarter, and winds up with 15 points, and must have missed at least his last 10, if not his last 12 shots. I didn't chronicle each one, but I'd I'd say he missed at least his last 12 shots in the game. Uh ricomb started fast. He had a quick six to complement the fifteen for uh for georg and then he did nothing. I really think he tried to be a playmaker with Maxie and with George and with you know knowing his role as a young player, but he needed to be more aggressive offensively. He really did. Maxie didn't get enough shots. Other guys got too many shots. And let's be honest, for the second straight game, the Knicks just completely , completely wore the Sixers out. By the fourth quarter, the Sixers are exhausted. Maxie's exhausted, George's exhausted, Edgecombe's exhausted, they their shots are front-rimon. They're not making any shots from the perimeter. And the Knicks go on to an easy win. Um Brunson did what you expect Brunson to do. The Knicks won this game tonight uh because of the bench. Let's be honest. They got an incredible. I know the the six ers got eight points off the bench late. At one point it was 25 nothing for the bench. In the first half it was uh it was thirteen I believe 13 no it was 16 nothing at the half for the bench. Shaman had a great game, 15 points, a plus 20 . He's plus 20. Robinson's plus 16. Clarkson's plus 11. They get 21, 25, 28, 29 points off the bench tonight . Uh brilliant performance from the bench guys led by Shamut. A tremendous performance from that regard. I thought Hart picked it up. You know, you knew he was banged up. Didn't he was gonna play when OG wasn't. Twelve points, he hasn't been scoring that much, eleven rebounds, not any surprise there. Bridges again, as I told you from the start of this series, that Bridges was back among the living. You can see it in his game, you can see it in his temperament, you can see it in his movement, twenty-three points. And if Bridges is gonna take fourteen shots, he's gonna score a lot of poin ts. He is always extremely economical with his shots. And he makes plays defensively. He doesn't fill up the assist of the rebound column, but he makes big plays on the open floor defensively. He shuts people down defensively and he makes shots. And if he's gonna get twenty points, they are going to be in great shape. Towns, except for his foolish fouls and his silliness with Embiid, again got seven assists got twelve boards only had eight points only took a couple of shots uh wanted to be a playmaker more than a shooter tonight but the Knicks go out there, they take an early hit from Philly, they get behind double digits, and then they go to work. And in the last three quarters, they just pound away. Absolutely pound away. They outscore them by 12, they outscore them by one, they outscore them by five, they go on to a matter-of-fact 108 94 win, and they continue to wear the Sixers down, and now the Sixers know . The question is, do they have enough pride to win a game four? Who knows? Did the shots drop and they win a game four? Doesn't matter. This series is over in five maximum. It's probably I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's over in four. Uh be the best thing the Knicks could do, especially with the OG situ ation. And the fact that Robinson's a little banged up, the fact that Hart's a little banged up. Uh nothing wrong with getting some rest here. And the Knicks go on to another win. They continue to dominate and close these games out strong . Um again, I I visibly saw George get tired. I visibly saw Maxie get tired. I visibly saw even a young guy like Edgecombe get tired. They got worn down. Edgecombe did a pretty good job on Brunson when he was on him. Brunson scored on the switches, he scored when he wasn't on him. I thought he did a pretty good job on him. He's a good he's good player. He's gonna be a really good player. Uh he's taking a backseat because he thinks he's supposed to. He could have taken more shots tonight. He didn't. Uh but the Knicks go on to a very, very impressive um I thought the Knicks would win tonight . I I just didn't trust Embiid. I didn't even like the way I watched Embiid warm up, to be honest with you. Um I knew George would hit some shots early. He's hit some shots every game, but he has not carried that out of the first quarter, which uh Van Gundy pointed out very aptly and very correctly. Um and he kept go hopping on it. Hey, you got fifteen, let's see if he can carry it through the game. Well he couldn't he didn't score again . I mean they get thirty three they get thirty one points in the first quarter. They don't get near thirty points again in the game. They get thirty one points in the first quarter. They get the bulk of the points from Medicone, they get the bulk of the points, they get all the points from George . And then they're basically looking for scraps the rest of the way. And they go on and struggle and struggle mightily down the stretch and the Knicks take over with Brunson doing what he did. You know, Brunson started off very cold tonight. Uh he was one of his first six. Uh but he wound up eleven of twenty two. He stays in the game. He always gets better late. He wound up with thirty three points and nine assists. That's all you can ask for. Uh Knicks did a very good job, I thought, on the backboards. They out rebounded him by sixteen. They out rebounded him on the offensive glass. Um turn the ball over a little too much, but okay. And uh they both made nine three, but when you realize how many threes they made in the first quarter , they couldn't buy a three in the second half, the Sixers. And they wound up shooting 28%. Knicks actually outshot them. They shot 33% to the Sixers, 2 8 % from three . So a defin itive victory for the Knicks without, okay , uh, without OG, who has been Every bit their best player. I mean, as good as Brunson is, that's how good OG has been in the playoffs. When you go offense and defense and what he's shooting from the floor and the things he's doing, uh he has been one of the best playoff players in the playoffs so far. That's how good he's been. Send your questions to the Mike Francesa newsletter, and don't forget to take a minute to subscribe to the night to the newsletter. You get exclusive content, uh, chances to win prizes. Uh signing up is free. Uh all you gotta do, give me your email and away you go. So uh check it out. Take a second to sign up for the news letter uh today. Now the east is shaping up the way you expect the east to shape up . Um the Knicks will take this series and end it in four games or five games . It's the best thing they can do, especially with the OG situation . Um Um unless I'm very surprised. I would not be at all surprised if the Pistons series is two two . I think the Pistons are going to come out on top of that series. Why? Because I just think they care more and I think they try harder. And as long as Tobias Harris is going to be this kind of running mate for Campbell , and they're every game with 20 points. And he has been Tobias Harris, who's been much maligned throughout his career, has had a terrific playoff run . I think the Pistons will win that series. Even though Cleveland has talent , they're befuddling . They're unbelievably befuddling in these games. Now , I'll be shocked if Cleveland doesn't win tomorrow. As a matter of fact, if they don't win tomorrow, there's going to be wh olesale there's gonna be whole changes there anyway, but there's gonna be wholesale changes if they lose that game tomorrow at three o'clock in Cleveland . Um This game tonight will tell us how long the West is going to play before we get to the inevitable Spurs OKC And And while the Spurs have matched up very well with OKC in the in the season, I still think OKC is going to the finals . And I think that they are are a heavy, heavy, heavy favorite to win it all. But if you're the Knicks, you just gotta get there . You never know until you get there. And you gotta get there and make take and take your best shot. You never know who's gonna pull them a hamstring as we learned last night. They've got injuries. They've got guys out of the lineup . Nick's now, you know, you never know. Late in the game, boom. And I honestly, like I said, I did not think that was a big deal. I just thought he tweaked his ankle. I when I afterwards they weren't saying hamstring and then by the morning they're saying hamstring, I'm like, ham string. And talking about MRIs. I'm like, well, if they're going for MRIs, you're talking about some time . And I don't know that they're going to tell us the truth. They probably aren't going to tell us the truth. We're not going to know the severity of this thing. There's no reason for us to to do that. When he's back, he's back . And they're not going to bring him back until you know he can play. Because they don't want him to go in there and rip it again and rip it severely and then be gone for the rest of the playoffs, because they aren't going anywhere without him . We know that going in. You know, it's funny, you cultivate this bench so that it's there when you need it . And the thing about Shaman is you can sit him, you can ignore him , you can forget he's on the team, and then you can say to him, I need you now. And that son of a gun's gonna go in there and he's gonna make plays. Because that's who he's is, that's who he's been his whole career . And he goes in that game tonight and he lit a fuse in that second quarter. He got nine points in that second quarter and he lit an absolute fuse in that second quarter. You know, that run that got them the lead in the second quarter was with Brunson off the court . And it was with Shamit and Alvarado and Robinson and those guys took the lead. Then they brought Brunson back in and they extended that thing to double digits at the half. But that bench, which outscored him sixteen love in the first quarter, had it up to twenty-five love, and I think finished twenty-nine to eight was Grimes hit a couple of threes . That was an incredible performance . And you need role players at certain times. See, Philly doesn't have those guys who can pick up Maxie, pick up George, pick up Embiid . They're afraid to take those guys out of the game. In the first half, Nurse didn't take those guards off the court. They got they got bone-ti red . They're wearing out. They're asked to carry the load. You know, you got a kid like Edgecombe's asked to make some shots on the offensive end and to guard Brunson on the defensive end. That's a tall order for a young player. Maxie are asking him to do everything. And Maxie doesn't even he didn't even really take any shots. He was more intent on driving the ball to the basket and trying to get involved with Embiid, who just wasn't finishing well . You know, Maxie winds up with 17 points. He takes 12 shots. 8 of 12. You want Maxy to go in there and take twenty-five shots with this team . He scored 30 points against the Celtics in one game . They need more than that. Uber's given them a lot. He's you know, he's a defensive guy, but he's given them some scoring and he's hit some threes. George starts out like a house of fire and then he goes ice cold . He had fifteen points in the first quarter. He finished with fifteen points and he finished six of eighteen. And I think he was five or six in the first quarter. I think . Might even have been six to seven five five or six or six or seven in the first quarter. He had three threes in the first quarter . And he finished with three threes. So now you just sit and wait, and people get into silly stuff like how many Nick fans are gonna be there someday. Who cares ? Who cares ? What do I care how people decide to spend their mother's day? If somebody wants to drive to Philly, I'm sure you'll get a ticket. I'm sure the Philly fan is now disillusioned enough that he's not going to pay attention . If you want to fill a building and and do that, go have a ball. What who cares about that? I mean that for me I I'm not gonna worry about how many Nick fans are in the building . I know one thing, if they come back and play game five, there's gonna be plenty of Nick fans in the building in New York . That's fine . And you never know about Game Fours, okay? You just never know . You just never know the mentality of game fours in the NBA. They're always a little suspect . But who cares? The series is over . They broke Atlanta's will, they've broken Philly's will . They did that tonight . They couldn't do it in their building. They did it tonight. They w ore them down, they wore them out, and we knew the Knicks had a had some firepower, at least some depth on the bench, and this sixes did not. And him playing his guards so many minutes in the first half is killing them . They're exhausted at the end of the game . It's a physical game. It's an emotional game. It's an extremely challenging game. They play both teams are playing very hard, and they just we ar down. That's all there is to it . You know, it's just it's just the way it is . You know, just those couple of minutes . You know, if you can if you can play 36 minutes versus playing 43 minutes , makes a world of difference . World of difference . When you gotta make these guys do play both ends of the floor every play and play 40 plus minutes, they get tired. There's not a lot of players that can do that. There's some Hart can do that. He's got that kind of engine. He can do that . There are real players who can go out there and give you that both ends of foot. But remember, he's not a prolific scorer to begin with, and anything you get from offensively is gravy. He's gonna have his heart attack three or four times where he's gonna beat you down the floor and get a layup. He's gonna clang most of his outside shots, we know that. And he's gonna get a ton of rebounds and play his heart out. And that's what he did again tonight . Eleven rebounds for Hart, 12 rebounds for Towns. Shamit with an incredible game, 15 points, five or six from the floor, two or three from three , and a plus twenty. Plus twenty . Just played with intensity, with fire, with purpose. Went out there tonight , got twenty-six minutes on the floor tonight. Those were big positive minutes for him . Really big positive minutes for him tonight . And it's good to see Bridges back and doing the things you expect Bridges to do . Makes a very, very big difference . Both local baseball teams out of out of town . You know that uh Milwaukee is always a tricky place for the Yankees always has been . Um and this evening, I know they were trailing. Let's see if they have broke through and score Mets were on the way with uh both teams on the road. Uh let's see what the final was there. Uh Yankees get shut out this evening . And three hit . And lose six-nothing. So again uh Jacob's fans eleven too, so the Yankees were up against it tonight. You know that uh you know that with the injury uh that uh Jones was in the lineup tonight he He had two walks. Yeah, one walk and struck out twice . So a typical Jones night, the only thing left is a home run. Usually walk, strikeouts, a couple strikeout s, walk, home run. That's that's Jones. But he's uh up now, obviously, with the injury. And uh that was sad to see that yesterday in the first inning, first battery of the game, as a matter of fact. Um you know uh it happens crazy things happen crazy injuries happen in baseball all the time they really do uh but tonight the Yankees just were overmatched. One of the rare times that you see them overmatched. You look at the top of the lineup and see Grisham struck out, no hits. Rice, no hits, struck out twice. Judge got a hit, struck out twice. Bellinger, no hits got struck out. Chisholm, no hits get struck out twice. Jones struck out twice. Wells struck out twice. So uh three hits . Three hits on the evening. Uh all singles, one by Judge, two by Carriero, as the Yankees uh get overrun this evening uh in game one in Milwaukee. Hey, gotta lose sometimes . The Mets three before they come home to take the Tigers and then the Yankees next weekend. We can all start looking forward to that. Uh as we head towards Mother's Day. U h we will be with you on uh Sunday after game four. We'll see if we're heading back to the garden for game five or just looking ahead to the Eastern Conference Finals. One way or the other, you're going to be looking ahead to the Eastern Conference Finals very, very soon. Have a good evening. Thanks for listening to the Mike Frances a podcast on the Bet Rivers Network.