The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Are the Knicks Actually Better? Plus, Haliburton’s Likability, OKC’s Dominant Game 2, and the Warriors' Chances Without Steph With Jorge Sedano
Thu, 08 May 2025
Russillo starts the show with his thoughts on the Knicks stealing Games 1 and 2 (1:38). Then, he’s joined by Jorge Sedano to discuss what MSG will be like for Game 3, why Tyrese Haliburton may rub some players the wrong way, and what OKC did Wednesday night to regain control (15:47). Plus, Life Advice and Pope Watch with Kyle (57:33)! Does my hole in one count? Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, livestreams, and more at https://www.youtube.com/@RyenRussilloPodcast. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Jorge Sedano Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, Mike Wargon, and Jonathan Frias Get anything delivered on Uber Eats. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Are the Knicks on the verge of a major playoff upset?
So what I get, Ryan, and first of all, thanks for having me on. By the way, great to see you a couple weeks ago at the Lakers game against the T-Wolves. But what I would say is I think teams now are just like, for the most part, keep me out of the play-in.
And once we get to the playoffs and we get that week's worth of rest and we can actually game plan for our first opponent in a real way and get some rest, That's all we want. We'll take our chances from there. And I'm not saying that the NBA has become the NHL or Major League Baseball in regards to home court advantage not mattering as much.
But it's certainly starting to skew closer into that direction than it had in previous iterations. So I think that's the first thing. I think clearly the way the officials are calling the game is different. There were multiple calls in that fourth quarter of that Celtics-Knicks game. One on Al Horford where he's in the paint, kind of a turnaround jumper, gets mauled, no call.
By the way, on the flip side for the Knicks, Brunson gets hit by Derek White on a three. He's in his landing zone. That would have totally been called in the regular season. So I think the officiating, the way it's called too, I think that certainly, aids the way that these series go. But specifically to this one, to this series, I don't think the Knicks are better than the Celtics.
I think the Celtics, and this is going to sound like a cop-out, The Celtics have just had some bad luck, okay? And this whole, you know, the old adage, it's super cliche, live by the three, die by the three. Yeah, the Celtics' expected shooting percentage from three through two games is 38%. They're shooting 25, okay? If they shoot 38%, they win both games pretty much going away.
But that's life, right? Like, it's not always going to go according to the math equation. And I think this is where...
coaching really makes a difference right where the guys who have been here for a long time and have gone deep a number of times will eventually just say you know what I get that this is the way we play but every once in a while I got to go by my gut and say they're not falling we got to change the diet a little bit and I think that's where Missoula has been a little too stubborn
in regards to the Celtics, but give the Knicks a ton of credit. They are playing better defensively, Ryan, than they've played all season. I think Mitchell Robinson is a huge key to that. Not only what he's done in the interior, but what he's done on the perimeter too. There were a couple of possessions on Tatum, particularly that I was just like, whoa.
I didn't know he would have that in his bag at this stage, considering everything he's dealt with injury-wise, but clearly he's ready. And I'll tell you this, this was a long time ago, earlier in the season, I want to say late November around Thanksgiving, I had the Knicks and Suns. And I remember sitting there talking to Tibbs and, you know, their defense was a mess.
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Chapter 2: What are the Celtics' struggles in the playoffs?
Mistake number two, Shea having that easy look at the cup and not dribbling the ball out a little bit and taking off a couple of seconds. That's what a veteran team there does, gets fouled, right? And And then number three, the immediate foul afterwards with Jokic on the sideline, putting Gordon on the line and getting Jokic back in the game. Like I thought all those things were mistakes.
And they haven't played a lot of close games this year. They have the least amount of clutch games, 24. They were, I believe, 16 and eight in those games. But again, we've just talked about the regular season versus the postseason. It's just going to be different. All of it is going to be different. The intensity is different. The preparation is different.
And the discipline is going to be different. So I feel like every time I watch them, regular season or postseason, I feel like they come away from that. You know how teams always say, oh, we'll look at the film and we'll figure out what we did wrong. I feel like when I watch them, they do take that lesson and apply it immediately, right? They don't lose a lot of games.
They haven't lost a lot of back-to-back games. They haven't lost three in a row, I think, at all this season, if I recall correctly. Maybe it happened once. But... That's what I've taken away from them, the level of maturity that they have as a group and the fact that they allow their coach to coach them.
And by the way, understanding that sometimes their coach needs to kind of go through the growing pains, too. And I think everyone understanding that, because I think he's one of the best coaches in the sport already. And people are going to say, oh, yeah, yeah. Sure, dumbass. He won coach of the year last year. Thanks, Captain Obvious.
But we've seen a lot of guys win coach of the year and get fired the next year. So I don't know if that means necessarily anything. But the other part of it is this, Ryan, and to me, from a player perspective, this is the most important part. And this is the storyline I consistently harp on about this team to everybody. And Dagnall was the first one to tell me this. And then I saw it, right?
They understand the pecking order, okay? They understand this is Shea's team, okay? And then it's J-Dub and, you know, Chet to some extent. And then everyone else fills in the gaps, right? Young teams don't do that. You've covered this league a long time. That is not the mantra of most young teams.
Most young teams and young players want to get theirs because they want to get their stats because they want to get paid. And I think this team has realized, hey, we'll all get taken care of if we just play the roles we're supposed to play and we have the success we think we can have. And they're a living, breathing embodiment of that type of philosophy.
They've only lost two games in a row twice all season, so you were right. They've never lost three in a row. Okay. Going into Minnesota-Golden State, I was like, man, that was a lot of fun for Golden State the first round. We got to see Steph have another moment, and anybody that appreciates Steph, and I'm certainly, I would imagine, at the top of the list, near the top of the list.
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