Rob Mahoney

Like you're giving up something somewhere.

And you could see, I would say with Castle and Fox specifically, they knew the weak side read before it even really sprang open.

And so that gave me a lot of confidence that like, okay, this team knows what they're doing.

The moment I shook up a little bit is that end of second quarter Knicks resurgence where I was like, oh no.

Is it just going to be like this where New York scores at the end of every late clock opportunity where they have responses for every conceivable run?

That's just who they've been in these playoffs.

Fortunately for the Spurs, they got, I mean, absolutely saved by a late Stephon Castle 3 and De'Aaron Fox going one-on-one against OG Ananobi, which is like playing tug-of-war with a Doberman.

I want no part of that matchup or anything related to it.

Monster play.

Never found confidence in the three, though.

And for a moment, I thought the defining play of him coming back was that possession where he passed up an open three to drive into OG and fall over.

And it was like, that was where you could feel some of the tension.

You could feel some of the potential Spurs implosion.

But not only did he come up with that huge shot, he had a possession-saving block on Cat during that one.

Nick's possession that wouldn't end, and they kept maybe fouling, maybe blocking Cat.

Who's to say?

And then also, I thought he had some really good drive-and-kick stuff for shots that just didn't fall.

Some of the cleanest looks the Spurs ended up getting down the stretch were triggered by De'Aaron Fox, of all people.

I would say some of the most successful stuff for them to just dial up has been pretty simple, like staggered screens, Wemby and a second screener, and Castle or Fox can come off of that action.

And you'll see multiple Knicks, when that happens, end up gravitating toward Wemby, and then Devin Vassell will be wide open in the corner on the wing.