Knicks WIN the NBA Cup | LIVE REACTION POD

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The Athletic NBA Daily 17 min 3 speakers 5 chapters transcribed
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What were the key moments in the Knicks' celebration after winning the NBA Cup?

Dave DuFour 0:07
Hello and welcome to the NBA Daily. I'm Dave DeFore. This is Espera Henney, Zena Cato. We are live right after the Knicks captured the 2025 NBA Cup Championship. It just means more, guys.
Zena Keita 0:19
Absolutely.
Dave DuFour 0:19
And actually, look, I want to start with the finish of the game, the celebration by the Knicks. It did seem like it meant a lot to them. Mike Brown giving a shout out to the fact that full of Knicks fans in this crowd. Yes. Who acted like this game mattered a lot. The players celebrated like it mattered quite a bit. And they played like this game meant something. I thought Mike Brown's point after the game, anytime you can be the last team standing, no matter what, you can't act like it doesn't mean it.
Zena Keita 0:47
Yeah, exactly. Look, this is a team that hasn't won a thing since 1973. Their fans needed something. And this is why the cup is good. This is exactly why the cup is actually important because it gives teams that even though the Knicks have contending hopes and championship aspirations, you get something else that you can win. That's why that was awesome. I love the cat was really into it as well. He was animated. It's good when guys care about it.
Es Baraheni 1:11
It was a genuine rush out onto the court when they won. I mean, I would have loved them. They did the La Liga thing, but they didn't swing. They didn't swing the trophy. They should have done that. More practice required. Yeah, Dennis Schroeder can help them with that. But in general, I just loved the fact that they were genuinely excited.
Dave DuFour 1:30
Yeah, Jalen Brunson wins NBA Cup Tournament MVP, rightfully so. In this game, guys, I mean, we're going to talk about the difference makers in the games for the Knicks. But starting with Jalen Brunson, puts up 25 points. This is the smallest lead guard in the NBA. He's an all-NBA guy. He's an MVP candidate. And when you're out there against Victor Wiminyama, You just think this guy's going to be intimidated. But the way that he plays, getting into the lane, it didn't matter when Wimby was on him. He was still creating space to try to get shots up. And he wasn't super effective, but he did carry him down the stretch of this game. I mean, Jalen Brunson is the reason that they won the game.
Zena Keita 2:05
Yes. He slept walked to what, 29 points? 25 points. 25 points tonight. And I think a lot of that, look, if you look at the tournament as a whole, Brunson dropped, what, 40 against the Raptors. He ended up against the Magic. He also dropped 40. Like his offensive efficiency, the way he's able to get to a shot is second to almost none at his size. And then you add the fact that I think he's become a better playmaker. He's moving off the ball more. Yeah, he's willing to move off the ball more. He's pushing it in transition. You see he's leaning into the pace and space style that Mike Brown wants to play. And I think it's just made the Knicks more deadly.
Es Baraheni 2:42
Yeah, one of the things that he does so well and it worked against a team that you wouldn't expect it to with Luke Hornett and Victor Wiminyama. We'll get into how he defended the paint tonight. But particularly Jalen Brunson, how he maneuvers off of screens under the free throw line, within the arc. Those are really tight spaces to try and maneuver through and probe dribble through. And he finds a way to zig and zag because of just how patient he is and how in control of his dribble he is. But that was really how he was just able to find offense for himself was just getting to the little pockets.
Zena Keita 3:12
That's why he's such a good playoff player. That's exactly why he's such a good playoff player. Because when it's tight spaces, when they're not calling as many fouls, he can still get to his spots and it doesn't matter. He can score from those areas very easily.
Dave DuFour 3:25
OG Ananobi, probably the star of the game, really, for the Knicks. Puts up 28 points, 5 of 10 from 3. His defense... in this game. You know, we've talked a lot about how much they rely on OG and an OB back line help. And he was guarding Victor Wimayama, which we weren't sure was a good idea because who's going to come be the helper, but did a decent job when he did have to guard him.

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