Shaun Powell on Streaking Knicks and Nets, plus Bucks / Cavs battle

for joining us. Hey, my pleasure, my pleasure, and to talk about the Knicks and that's of course what what better I was gonna say? You are you are very familiar covering these teams, as you did for a very long time with Newsday. But let's first get into the Knicks, because they just had a big win last night consistent with they're scoring a straight win and they're gonna have the Raptors coming into the garden here tonight. But just

dominated against a stepless Curry Go State Warriors team. What have you seen out of how they've been playing in this win streak? With Tom Thibodeau, has these guys doing no surprise on the defensive end, but just some really big performances by a lot of their key players. Well, I mean, I think he just said it, Sarah. I mean they're key players are stepping up. Julius Randall for one. I mean, you know last year was sort of like

a last year for him. But you know when Jalen Bronson comes to this team and all of a sudden he has the ball, Julius Randall's not starting to place, He's finishing place. And you know that's really his strength. Uh, that's really the role he had a couple of years ago when he was an All Star. So credit both players for that. Number One for Julius Randall for getting back to his roots so to speak and finishing there the ram with that strong left handed lay up and

all that stuff. And then you know, what can you say about Janele Bronson and the dynamic he's brought to this team, the leadership, steadiness, you know, the fact that in his first year here he's got the respect of the players, he's got the respect of the coaching staff. Uh, and he's really charming the city. And I think that's

a good showing. Obviously. R j Barrett as well. Uh So now you've got that three man nucleus really playing well during this time, um really controlling the ball, setting the tempo for this team, and setting in I think a spirit of winning this if we can say that. Uh, the fact that they're on this hot streak and they're feeling good about themselves, and it's been a long time

since the Knicks have felt good about themselves. Yeah, and it's great to see you mentioned just how Julius Randall has come back and been playing, considering just how last season when Jalen Brunson has been traum I mean talk about a pickup of I think there was a lot of excitement about him, but maybe tempered in what exactly

he would bring. But it's been everything that the Knicks could hope for and more Quinn Crimes as a player coming off a nineteen point nine, but it's just been really steady and solid, Emmanuel quickly off the bench, Uh, Sean is is sustainable. I know there's a lot of feel good and feel good with how they're playing through this winning streak, but in the context of the season, as the Nick sit uh currently in six in the East or percentage points behind Philadelphia for fifth. Is this

sustainable for them to hold on to a playoff spot? Well, you know, obviously, Sarah, that's a big question. I mean if even if you look at this streak, I mean, they beat the Warriors team you know, there's no step Curry the Hawks. I mean, when they beat the Hornets, they didn't have uh La mellow ball and Hawks and have the Jean T. Murray. So we can nitpick, I mean all day, but you can nitpick with a lot

of teams. Uh if you go down who they beat, what players are missing from the other team, maybe they caught some teams on the second of the back back, all that kind of stuff. But the bottom line of the facts of the facts, you know, the Knicks are on the winning street. Sustainability. Okay, we'll see. Um. I want to see what they're gonna do before the trade deadline, you know, I mean we've heard certain players be bandied about there whether or not they can get a fourth

player to go along with the three man nucleus. How much more are we going to see? How much more of a ceiling or are we're going to see from the players they have? I mean, can R. J. Barrett even take it up another notch. They've got three players who can really score, you know, and that's really the key. They have players who are young and good, but they

also have a higher ceiling. And so after this winning streat, maybe when they lose a game or two, how will they respond and will those young players who have a higher ceiling? Can they take it up another notch? I think that's fully with the Knicks. Is this the best that they can do? Or can they taken up another notch either through their young players and the growth of Randall or do they have to make a trade to trade DeLine to try to put themselves up in the

mix with you know, the top teams in the East. Yeah, it's gonna be fun to watch. Um. I'm born and raised in Chicago, and I covered the Balls when TIBs was with Chicago. And so despite the fact that I called Brooklyn Nets games, there's nothing that I love more than to see great basket ball on both sides of the river with UH with New York coops. And so with that being said, let's move over to Brooklyn. Um. As we mentioned, both teams are surging. The Nets currently

on a six game win streak. They're sitting in forth a game and half behind third place Cleveland. Uh, that Golden State team that got whamped by the Knicks last night. We'll have to come to Barkley's tonight. What have you seen their thirteen and three last sixteen games. Obviously a lot going on with this team, And don't I don't need to document at all because I think everyone has

noticed all the changes on off the court. But in particular, Jack Von has been tremendous since taking over Kevin Durant playing at an all star level. Kyrie Irving has been exceptional since coming back to Irving and Durant direct books still finish. But Sean, for you, in seeing this team, was jumped out to you with how they've come together. Well, you know, it's interesting. Uh we're talking about the nets and we're talking about basketball. We're not talking about other things,

and and and that's it really. I mean, once it's about basketball, and once their stars are on the court, Kyrie Irving and k D are playing basketball, I mean nothing else matters. I mean we see the result of finally see the results of these two stars to gather playing harmoniously, playing at such a high level. And we waited a long time for this, you know, because of the injuries, because of COVID. Now we're seeing it. It comes to rants hell fires. What we're not seeing is

the consistency of the third star. You know, I know everything's great with the Nets right now, but how much better can they be when Ben Simmons finally gets comfortable. I mean, I still think he's trying to find himself within this team. I think he's still trying to find that next level that we saw for years in Philadelphia

when he was an All Star. Uh So that's probably the good news with the Nets is that they also have a little bit of a higher ceiling because we want to see, uh Ben Simmons just really joined those other two stars and give this team that's three star rotation that you know they planned for so long. And then you know they had some other X factors, you know, Joe Harris also, you know, coming off injuries and things

like that, just trying to get his legs and his rhythm. Uh. You know, he's shooting very well from three point land, but we need to see more of the volume three point shots, you know, where he's making five and six a game. Uh, maybe we'll see that I don't know. And then the other acts factors chief t J. Warren, Uh,

we've seen little snippets here and there. You know, Uh, maybe whether or not he can really rise in that rotation, and and some nights, some nights score like around twenty two points, you know, give Kyrie and Katie a little bit of a breather. We saw the bubble. T J. Warren. We don't know if we'll see that again. I mean, that was just an amazing stretched by a player who scored fifty points in the game, has such a great playoff run. We don't know if if he's going to

be that player. But but there's a question whether he can so when you look at the nets and what they've done so far, when you see Kadi and Kyrie, Okay, we expected this right, but now who can join them and whether or not they can really muscle their way up. You know, with Milwaukee and Boston, that's really the only question with this team. You mentioned muscle. Uh. Nick Claxton has been a revelation in his improvement here in his fourth year is a big Ben Simmons has been playing

some five Uh. There's options for this team in terms of a lot of length and going small but still being big across the lineup. Do you think they need to make any type of moves to fortify that front court as a trade deadline, you know, these next few months approaches. Well, you know, normally I would say, you know, a guy like Claxton is good enough. I mean, um, you know, he's playing well, young player, very active, energetic and when you have Katie and Kyrie scoring, you really

don't need to do that. But when you look at the Nets, you have the size of my against who got side against Milwaukee? You know they've got two very good bigs. Okay, who's going to combat that? If you're the Nets, you know, you know you're measuring yourself against a team like that. What about Cleveland they've got Biggs too. Again, if you're your Nets, your mession shop, if you're looking at the trade deadline and who can we add to this team, you're saying, Okay, you know we've got to

go against those really big teams. Look at the Celtics. They've got Robert Williams back. Okay, if you're the Nets, how are you going to combat that? So I think the Nets are fine right now, but as they rise in the East. Okay, and it becomes a parent who their main competitors are. Then they have to look and see, Okay, how can we come back the size of Milwaukee? Got Janest running down here, Book Lopez, how can we come back the size of Boston? You know with Robert Williams

and the Cleveland Cavaliers, you know with Jared Allen. How can we do that? And what can we do to help this team match up more favorably in that situation? Sean, you're a pro. You're too good at this. You teed up what we're coming up with after the break. The number one team of the East, the Milwaukee Bucks, face the number three team, Cleveland Cavaliers. We're gonna get to that right after this. Welcome back to NBA Pulse, Saracoustock joined by Sean Paul, and we got a good one tonight,

seven pm Eastern on NBA League Pass. The Bucks the Caps, the number one team facing the number three team in the East and top two teams in the league in defense, but some offensive firepower on both sides. Sean, First things first, just jumping out to you, what what do you see? I think both sides, for the most part, have the full complements of the roster. Uh. What stands out to

you about this matchup? Well, I mean you have can I call the Bucks the old guard I know they you know, they an old team, but they've they've continuity for as long as but has been there in the continuity of that corps. Yes, you can't, Okay, And then you got the new upstart obviously with Cleveland. You know the you know what, Donovan Mitchell was brought to this team. Uh, and suddenly you know they're threatening, you know in the East. Um, Donna Mitchell just I think has just been the biggest

edition of any team in the NBA. I mean, how could you not say that. I mean, he's the number one option in this team, fits in so well, his teammates respect him right away. Uh. You know, in big moments, he's right there. You know he's going to get the ball and he's delivered more often than not, so all you know, all of a sudden, he's giving them that dynamic and that's why Cleveland is where they are. But the Bucks, I mean, first of all, they're two and

against the Calves this year. Um, so you know they've got that going for them. Uh. And then again again, this is a team that's been to the NBA Finals, been deep in the playoffs with j honest. Oh by the way, honest playing pretty well. Right, yeah, it's not like you and it's like, yeah, that's just what he does. You know, we can't take this guy for greted right, so uh, you know, look that that will just be great for them. Um, you know, look, I mean Chris

Middleton obviously is the question mark with this team. When you're talking about the Bucks. Um, he hasn't shot the ball well in its limited time back. Um, we will see what he can do with more reps and more consistency and how he fits in everything. But the Bucks have actually played pretty well without them, I mean, um, you know what, And actually they've actually played well without

your honest or four one without you honest. Obviously, they'd rather have be honest in the line that out of the line of obviously against a team like the Cavaliers. I just think this is a good matchup for the Cavaliers to match themselves up against the Bucks one more time and see if they can figure that team out after losing the first two games, and for the Bucks trying to say, hey, you know what, all year people

are talking about the Boston Celtics. Boston Celtics. Well look look look who's number one and East it's us, right, So they're trying to, you know, hold onto their territory, rise up a little bit. They've got Chris Milton back. We need to Chris Milton's healthy and Morgan rhythm. But if you have Milwaukee Bucks, you really like where you are and how you've played this season, even with Chris Milton. Yeah, and you said it in first and another, it was nice to see and we'll see what ad he is.

But Joe Ingles, finally coming back from that a c L injury, played for the first time at New Orleans. This is the second game of a five game road trip for Milwaukee. Cleveland though, and you mentioned that they dropped the first two to the Bucks. There are a team that's got a new piece in Donovan Mitchell, who has been an exceptional fit. The young ish front court of Mobile and Jared Allen. The Mitchell Darius Garland combination

has been tremendous. Fine Sanchel Stanchell. Check my niece, Jeff. That's a number of times gotta removed shot. A lot of young players still working to figure it out as they sit third in the East. May have surprised some people they have had jumped this high and have been this good this early. Do you think that they view this as a measuring stick game for them? Does this at this point of the year, and know we're still in mid December? Um, is this something that they view

differently potentially than other games? Well, I mean for a December game? Absolutely? Um. You know calvs. You know we talked about what doco Mitchell Robrock to the team, But to be fair to the team itself, they played really well defensively. I think they have the number one defensive trading right now. Uh, and now they can put that to the test. And how do we guard your honest, how do we make them just the slightest bit uncomfortable,

bring him down to earth a little bit. Not obviously not going to stop a player like that, but how can we guard him to the to the point where we're comfortable enough, you know what, we can contain him enough and give ourselves a chance to win a game. And so when you're playing games like this against you know, teams like the Bucks, what you're doing is you're just trying to say, okay, you're trying to unlock secrets. You know, you're trying to say, okay, what can we do against

them this game? Maybe we don't win the game, but maybe there's a victory in the loss. Maybe we've helped the honest maybe we try to figure it out. Maybe we'll force them to spots where he might be a little bit uncomfortable. You're trying to figure things out for much further down the road, when maybe you got to meet this team in the playoffs. Now you can go back the scouting reports and what you did, what worked well, and what didn't work well when you met them three

or four times in the regular season. Work on that and then maybe you can use those, you know, those tactics in the playoffs series and maybe you know, come out ahead. But again, I mean for a December game, you know, a matchup between you know, the Bucks who have been to them what an NBA championship and quite honestly, if they had Chris Milton last year against the Boston Celtics, maybe they would have had another championship. You're cleaning, you're

the upstart. You're just learning as you go learning learning thing. What can we do against his team to to maybe come out ahead and the playoffs if we meet them. Sean, we appreciate your time, time, we appreciate your insight, and we look forward to continue reading your stuff on NBA dot com. Okay, thanks for having me. All right, well it is Sean leaves us and talking about Janice. Speaking of Michael C. Wright returns with a new m v P Ladder on Friday. This is NBA Pulse with Syracuse Stock,

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