Draymond Green is WORRIED for Knicks vs. 76ers, Jalen Brunson must play smarter vs. Embiid & Maxey

Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. Let's get into it. 76ers versus the Knicks. 112-106 in overtime. And I actually rewatched this game last night and I was, you know, my wife had asked me, she was like, who won this game? And at that time it was 97-92 with maybe like a minute and some change left for it. And she was like, "Let me guess, let me guess." And she went through it and she's like, "Did Philly win?" And I'm like, "Yeah, they actually did." And so we're watching it. And when you see some of those shots down the stretch that the Knicks hit, you like, "Oh, it's over right there." Right? Like, and so, you know, we're watching it and she's like, "Well, I'm just trying to see where the game changed. Like how did they win?" Like, All of a sudden OG goes to the free throw line. He misses one free throw down the stretch. He missed the first one and she's like, oh, this is where it changes. He make the second one, right? And so they go up 6 points. Where it really took a turn is Tyrese Maxey's 4-point play. Maxey got the 4-point play. He got Mitchell Robinson to leave his feet. Very, very, very smart play by Tyrese Maxey because—

Yeah.

In that situation, like in most situations, you know Mitchell Robinson is gonna leave his feet. He's a shot blocker. Most shot blockers with the makeup of Mitchell Robinson, they are jumping. Like it's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. They've been taught their whole life, when somebody shoot the ball, you try to block it. And they jump for everything. And so usually to, you know, it's to the benefit. However, when you get out on the perimeter, it gets a little bit dicey because if you leave your feet a little bit on the perimeter, the offensive players getting the benefit of the doubt. I never understand why it's so much different when you leave your feet on the perimeter as opposed when you leave your feet in the paint. Still shooting the basketball, one person's jumping and shooting the ball, and yet it's always officiated totally different. So, and getting Mitchell Robinson out to the 3-point line, Tyrese Maxey, very hesi play. He shot fixing. What does Mitchell Robinson do? He starts to jump and move forward. Well, instinct kick in. Ah, can't jump right there, but it's a little too late. Tyrese Maxey gets the 4-point play. All of a sudden they're no longer down 6. 2-possession game and those 2 possessions needing 2 threes. They are now coming back down. They only need— 2. A 2 if they can get a stop. Well, Maxie down the stretch was huge. Knicks come down, miss another free throw, and they go up 3, and Maxie comes down, miss one, make one. Maxie comes down and logo them boys, pulls up from the logo. And quite frankly, it was no surprise to me that Maxie had the game that he had. 46 points, 9 assists, 17 for 30 from the field, 17 for 12 from the 3. And the reason it was no surprise to me, because if you actually go back to my Twitter, I tweeted and I said half of the Philly players are like competing and trying to win and half of them quit. And if you watch, like it was very evident of who were the players that quit and who were the guys that was going for it. Who were the players that believe? And Maxie was right at the front leading the charge of the players that was going for it. And he was dialed in on both sides of the ball. He was 100 miles per hour the entire game, getting pressure on the rim, shot the 3 very well. Like he played well and you saw some guys following, but you saw the body language on some of their guys and some like, it just wasn't there. So even to start the game, like you could tell the nerves were there to start the game. Some of the shots Philly took and, and the Knicks, but some of the shots that Philly were taking in those first 7 to 10 possessions, Just watching it like, what? Like, why? And like I said, when you get into it in a closeout game, the nerves are high for both teams. One team, our season could be over, and you're nervous about that. But yet you do get some guys going out like, we got nothing to lose, this is it. And that's the demeanor that Tyrese Maxey had going into I mean, and to start the game yesterday. And so I'm watching and I'm like, all right, Maxie feel like he got nothing to lose. Like he playing free. Like, and quite frankly, he carried Joel yesterday. Obviously Joel draws a lot of attention. He ended up with a triple double, although had 9 turnovers. You know, Maxie was the guy. Kelly Oubre played some big minutes. Also that finish Kelly Oubre had under the rim where Joel kind of lobbed it up and Kelly got caught under the rim and was still able to finish. That was a huge play. But anyway, Tyrese Maxey, and then also there was some possessions, and I don't know if it was just cross matches, I don't know if it was intentional, they were trying to throw different looks at Jalen Brunson, but there was some possessions where Maxey was guarding Brunson and like taking on that challenge. And I thought that was very interesting. So it was great to see Maxey had a game that he had in the Garden on that stage in a game where, yeah, Joel finished with 19, 16, 10 assists. But it wasn't a Joel type game. I think if you ask me, he struggled well. And where it's unfortunate when you, if you're Mitchell Robinson, where you get the foul to kind of turn the game towards the end, Mitchell Robinson was a large reason why they were in the position that they were in because he played really well against Joel yesterday. And you know, he had some good defensive plays, caught some good lobs, having that rim threat. Or that live threat at the rim is always important. I've spoke to you all about that and what it does for the spacing. And so I thought Mitchell Robinson played a really good game. Like I said, it's unfortunate that he had that play down the stretch on the defensive end, but he played a really good game. And so Maxie did a lot of the carrying last night. So, and going into game 6, you expect to see a very, very, very intentional, aggressive Joel Embiid. One of the things that I noticed in the game the other day was all of a sudden Joel was no longer in that drop at the rim when Jalen Brunson was coming off pick and rolls. And no, he was not at the level and kind of almost in the blitz every play because it's a reason he played a drop. Like it's hard as hell for a 7-foot, 300-pounder to get up to the level of screen, blitz the screen. He has to get back in there and rebound. So you're sprinting back every play. Like, that's a tall task. However, they have to do that. You can't just let Jalen Brunson get downhill and get to his spot. It's not gonna— it's not gonna work. And so I thought that was very interesting, or not very interesting. I think it's what needs— needed to be done. But I noticed that right away, that Joel had moved up to the level of that screen. And initially, Jalen Brunson got off to a bad start. Now, he ended up finishing the game from the second quarter on really strong. If I'm not mistaken, he may not have scored in the first quarter, and if he did, he had 2 points, 4 points, something like that. It wasn't a very impactful first quarter for him, but that second quarter, he got it going and he rode the rest of the game. You all knew my back and forth that, you all know my back and forth that I went through the other day about Jalen Brunson on kind of all of these things I'm trying to put together. And so we will get back into that a little bit. Number one, I love Jalen Brunson as a player. He is a guy who, you know, when you see him having the success that he's having, it's not a surprise to me that he's having success. And the reason it's not a surprise to me, because if you watch Jalen Brunson at any point in his life, pre-NBA, he always had success. All-American, won 2 national championships in college. That's never really spoke about, but To win 2 national championships in college is incredible and nearly impossible. That's why only maybe 7 or 8 teams has done that. They didn't go back to back, but they had a year in between. But to win 2 is crazy. And so he's always been a winner. To say that anyone thought he'd have the level of success that he's had, I think, most people would be lying. Now, when I look at that though, I am a little tilted on that because I am kind of a microcosm of the same exact thing, which is a guy who had success, a lot of success in college. I didn't have the opportunity to win a national championship, let alone two like Jalen Brunson. But you know, to see a guy dominate in college like that and then just be like, "Oh, it's the NBA now, get him outta here." Like he's not a first round pick. Blah, blah. Again, that's my story. So I got nothing but love for Jalen Brunson. But like I said, in going into it and knowing what it takes to get to the mountaintop, that's where my questions have been. And so you look at this game, Jalen Brunson, 15 for 32 from the field, 4 for 11 from 3, only 6 assists as opposed to the 10 or 11 assists he had in game 2. Yeah. 4. And you know, what I've spoke about is I don't love the ball dominant Jalen Brunson. And the reason I don't love that is A, I think it's too easy to guard. Not that Jalen Brunson is easy to guard, but just every time down the court, like, you know, our defense need to load up. Or if you decide and we're just letting him come downhill with 2 guys guarding, we're keeping everybody else home to, to keep the other guys out of it, to keep the other guys limited in what they're bringing to the game. Whatever that game plan is, ultimately, you know, it's on the coach to decide what they think is gonna beat them, what they think gives them the best chance to win. I don't necessarily love the ball dominant Jalen Brunson. I just don't think you can win at the level that they want to win at doing that. I just think they need to move the ball around. They need to get more guys involved. You know, when they were winning and like dominating, when they are winning and dominating, I should say, Dante DiVincenzo is playing great. Dante DiVincenzo is rolling. I've had the opportunity to play with Dante last year here with the Warriors. And Dante is very much so a rhythm and confidence guy. You get Dante confidence going, you give him confidence, you allow him to get a rhythm, he's gonna play hard defensively. He's gonna cut, shoots the ball really well, good slasher to the rim. He rolls. When you don't necessarily give Dante confidence, it's a little more of a struggle. When you don't show him that belief, I wouldn't necessarily say give him confidence, he's a confident guy. But when you don't necessarily show him that belief, he struggles a little bit more. And he had 9 points yesterday. If you look at their season over the last 2 months, he's pretty much been averaging 20. And so when I look at that, to me, and yes, he finished 3 for 10, 1 for 7 from 3. Quite frankly, those shots are a lot different when they're just coming in the flow. Mm-hmm. You know, when they're just coming in rhythm as opposed to like, ah, catch it. Like, oh, now it's time for me to, like, oh, now shoot it. And you're not in that rhythm. And like I said, Dante is very much so a rhythm guy, you know? And so I think Jalen has to get everybody else involved. Going on the road, yes, it's gonna take a heroic performance from Jalen to close out this series at Philly, but like I told y'all last episode, Philly does have the best player on the floor in Joel Embiid. Not necessarily playing the best, but at any given moment, he is the best for sure. And so as I said before, that always gives you an opportunity to come back, obviously down 3-1. Now it's interesting what happened in these series when a team go up, when a team has the lead, can possibly close out, and then don't. Because every game you go further into that series, the pressure flips. And so for a New York Knicks team that don't have a ton of playoff experience, OG is a champion, but very young in his career winning a championship. Josh Hart, not a ton of— Experience. Playoff experience, not a whole bunch of playoff experience. Hardenstein, not a bunch of playoff experience at all. Jalen Brunson has got some playoff experience, although not a ton as the guy that he is now. And then Dante has some playoff experience with the Bucks, but was kind of a little banged up during a couple of their runs. And so, not a ton of playoff experience. Mitchell Robinson, not much. And Miles McBride, not much. So the pressure flips. Now with those guys not having a ton of experience, sometimes you go into it like they're oblivious to the moment. I don't think that's this group. I think this group has enough experience to not be oblivious to the moment. And sometimes being oblivious to the moment actually helps you because it's almost like irrational confidence. Like you're so oblivious to the moment, you don't even realize like the stakes. You don't even realize the pressure. Pressure that should be on you, but because you're not processing the moment, you're not even feeling that pressure. I don't think that's this Knicks team because they do have enough experience to know that, hey man, we, we don't want to go 7, right? So this series is now going 6 and it's headed back to Philly. And I must say, that's a danger zone for the Knicks. That is a complete danger zone because you're going to be expected to go lose on the road. Like that's just what it is. And you should go lose on the road when the other opposing team has one All-Star and also the MVP of the NBA. You should go lose. So Philly, you're supposed to win this game. However, Philly's going in like, hey man, we're, we faced elimination. We're down 3-1. We just free swings, free swings. And that same timid Philly of some of the guys that I think, you saw last night won't be there in game 6. Game 6, they gonna come out with they chest poked out, feeling good about themselves. Like, yo, we gonna win this game. We taking it back for game 7 at the Garden. Right? And like game 7s are magical. Game 7s at the Garden, I can only imagine the feeling that that gives. And so the pressure in game 6 is all, and I mean all on Draymond Green. The New York Knicks. And sometimes guys don't deal with that pressure well. And so I think, you know, the Knicks has to deal with that. But like I said before, I think Philly's gonna win this series. I think they should take it. I think they can take it. And we'll see if, because here's the thing, if I'm the New York Knicks, gotta be a little careful of like, we gotta go in here and win this game. Like this is a must win. Because if you don't go win the must win, although you do got one more game, if you, really made this a must-win mentally, coming outta that and you lost, it's gonna be tough to bounce back for game 7 for the Knicks. And so if I'm Tom Thibodeau, if I'm Jalen Brunson, the leader of that team, I'm pushing it as close to the line of, yo, we gotta go win this game. Like we need to close this series out without quite stepping over of like, this is like, we gotta win this game. Like I'm not quite stepping over there, but I'm pushing it to as close to that line as I can. Because you understand that game 7 is a coin flip. Always. It's a coin flip. And they just don't know. Philly can come out and hit 23 threes. All of a sudden you lose because they shot the lights out. Like, you just don't know what's gonna happen in the game 7. And so you, as fun as they are, you don't wanna get there. You just don't wanna get there. And especially in a situation where you were up 3 to 1, you don't wanna get there. Because it just don't always go your way. I've seen it, been a part of it on both sides of game sevens. It don't always go your way. And so Philly needs to win this game tomorrow. I think that's gonna be a little less Jalen Brunson ball dominance. Although he needs to be great, he gonna have to find that balance.

Yeah.

And also with Philly, another interesting thing that they did before I move on from this is watch out for that zone that they ran. They almost ran like a matchup zone dropping Joel all the way into the back. So to, A, to give him a break so he didn't have to be at the level on all of those screens. And I thought that matchup zone gave Philly problems. If I am Nick Nurse, I'm expecting that Tibs is going to over, like overly prepare for that zone. Not so much for their half court defense. They're gonna overly prepare for that zone to beat that zone. And I don't run as much of it if I'm Nick Nurse. Go to it a couple times if it's working, cool. But you go to it first couple times and they dice it up because they're so prepared for it, like you nix it. Because you know they're overly prepared for that and they may not be as prepared for your half-court, uh, man defense. And so be fun to watch the coaches play this game. Uh, as you get deeper into this series, the chess match really begins and you got adjustments being made. And so think that's an adjustment that New York has to make. They gotta be ready for that zone Philly was playing, keeping Joel in the back of the defense, letting all the guards and wing handle the pick and rolls. Mm-hmm. I thought it was pretty successful. Haven't seen any numbers from it, the analytics, but from the naked eye, it looked pretty, pretty successful. So we'll see what happens with that. But that is something to watch for in that series. And by the way, I got Philly in game 6.

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