I Just Watched the Garden Come Back From the Dead

The Knicks were dead. The Garden was quiet. The Cavs had a 22-point fourth-quarter lead and looked like they were walking out of Madison Square Garden with Game 1.

Then Jalen Brunson happened.

In this episode, I react to one of the greatest Knicks games I’ve ever watched: New York’s insane 115-104 overtime comeback over Cleveland in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. We get into Brunson putting the team on his back, the Garden coming back to life, Landry Shamet’s huge fourth-quarter minutes, Cleveland’s collapse, and why this Knicks team feels absolutely unkillable.

I also touch on what the Knicks need to clean up for Game 2, why their shooting rhythm is the biggest thing to watch, and take a quick trip around the NBA with Wemby’s monster Game 1 against OKC and Jason Kidd being out in Dallas.

Some wins count once in the standings and forever in the fanbase. This was one of those.

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Transcript

Cold Open And Pure Emotion

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I guess there's only one way to find out let's do it to uh break the video on the radio.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

I I I think I just watched the greatest Knicks game I have ever seen in my life. And I I don't really care if that sounds dramatic. I don't care if somebody older than me wants to start naming games from the 90s. I respect it, I get it, there's history before me, but for my Knicks life, that might have been the one, man. The Knicks were dead, buried, closed coffin, dirt getting thrown on top, the garden was quiet, the jumpers were gone. The third quarter was disgusting, and you could hear a pin drop on free throws. And then somehow, out of nowhere, like the Undertaker sitting up in the middle of the ring, the garden came back from the dead. And it started with a little pulse. Mitchell Robinson hits a free throw. The crowd gives him something. He misses the second one. But you hear a little bit of the defense chance start rumbling. Defense. A little louder. Defense. Not chaos yet. Not the roof coming off. Defense. Just a pulse. And then here he comes. Brunson. Checks back in. And you can see it too. Jose Jose Alvarado was a little pissed when he got subbed out, but big body Brunson. The captain. Captain Brunson. The godfather to my friend's children, Brunson. Even if he doesn't know it yet. He's on the paperwork. Suddenly, suddenly, the whole game gets simple. Scream until James Harden is on Jalen Brunson, clear the side, and let the best player in the building go win the game. Floaters. Ridiculous layup. Shots off the glass that had no business going in. I'm not kidding. This man was banking shots off the top of the backboard. Then he hits that step back three to cut it to five. That's when hope turned into belief. I didn't move from the spot I was standing in in my living room watching the game. I had a pizza in the oven. When the Knicks are coming back from the dead, you do not mess with the ritual. Down 22 in the fourth quarter, game one of the Easter Conference Finals against a Cavs team that thought it had the building quiet. Against a Cavs team that thought it was walking out of Madison Square Garden with a road steal. Instead, the Knicks ripped the game right out of their hands. Cleveland collapsed. The garden got too bright for them tonight. But the Knicks, the Knicks, the Knicks are unkillable. They're like New York City roaches. You better stomp them all the way out. You better make sure there's no pulse left. You better finish the job completely because if you leave this team even a little bit of life, even a little glimmer of hope, they are crawling right back into the game. Jalen Brunson didn't just bring the Knicks back. He brought the garden back from the dead. This is Rice on the radio. Let's do it to it.

The Numbers Still Feel Impossible

SPEAKER_01 3:53

I want to start with some feelings of this game before I even get into the numbers because the box score does not fully explain what that was. Yes, the Knicks won 115-104 in overtime. Yes, Brunson had 38. Yes, they were down 22 in the fourth quarter. Yes, they outscored Cleveland 44 to 11 after being down 93 to 71. All of that is insane. Watching it live felt even crazier. Because it wasn't just a comeback. It was the whole emotional state of the game flipping in real time. For most of the night, the Knicks looked like a team that had been sitting around for over a week. And guess what? They had been. They didn't look unprepared. They just looked out of rhythm. That's a completely different story. They had built up this crazy flow over the last seven games. I mean, Atlanta, Philly. This offense was humming, man. The ball was moving. Guys stepped into shots with confidence. They were hitting like 65%, 60% from three. But then you sit around waiting for Cleveland and Detroit to finish their little business. Sometimes the edge just gets a little dull, man. There's a little bit of rust. The legs might be rested, but the jumpers get weird, you know? So through three quarters, the Knicks were four for 23 from three. That's not Knicks basketball. That's not where this offense has been. That's not the team we just watch beat people over the head for the last two rounds. That was Rust. Ugly Rust. Garden terrifying rust. Almost cost you game one rust. Cleveland gets a little bit of credit here, too. They were ready. You know, Donovan Mitchell came out like the guy who understood the stage, which he always does. He's home in New York. Evan Mobley, Jared Allen were a problem. Harden for a little while at least was making enough plays. The Cavs were accidentally up big. They played good basketball for three quarters.

Rust Kills Rhythm For Three Quarters

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Still, even when it's ugly, I kept going back to just one thought. Just give me one run. Just give me a run. Not a 20-point run. Not yet. Just give me like six straight. Give me eight straight. Give me one Brunson bucket, one stop, one loose ball, a garden eruption. Make Cleveland hear it, you know? MSG is not normal when it wakes up. That place is not just a crowd. It can become a full-on participant in the game. And when the Knicks are rolling, man, the building starts pressing on the other team. You can feel it through the TV. You can hear it in Mike Breen's voice. Guys start rushing, coaches start looking tight. The role players that were making some noise all of a sudden start thinking about the moment instead of the shot. And for most of the night, the garden didn't have anything to grab onto. The Knicks would get a stop, then miss, get a decent look, brick it, maybe build a tiny bit of momentum, then foul. It was like the game just kept offering them a door and they kept walking into the wall next to it, you know? They they weren't able to execute when they needed to.

The First Pulse In The Garden

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Then I'm telling you, man, that little rumble started. Mitch hits that free throw. Defense. Defense. Defense. Then they get a stop. Then Brunson checks in. And that was it, man. The game changed right there. Once you saw the plan was to get James Harden's switch on to Brunson, the Knicks stop searching. No more overcomplicating it. No more, let's see if this action works. Let's clog up the middle. No more trying to find rhythm through the whole group. Screen until Harden is on Brunson. Sometimes basketball is complicated, and sometimes it's matchups and counters and rotations and spacing and five different layers of adjustments. Sometimes your guy is just better than their guy. And you make the whole building watch it over and over. Brunson saw food. The Knicks saw food. Every person watching saw food. Cleveland somehow watched it happen possession after possession after possession. Like they were just waiting for the fire to politely put itself out. That's not how the guarding words, man. Brunson's first few buckets in that stretch were the ones that made me stand still. Not sit, not pace, not scream, stand exactly where I was standing and how I was standing. I had a spot in the living room, that was the spot. Once the comeback started, couldn't move. Every sports fan knows exactly what I'm talking about, too. It sounds stupid, but you find the lucky spot, you become furniture. You don't switch hands, you don't change the remote, you don't take another sip of beer, you don't sit down. Hydration can wait. The Knicks are currently performing a basketball exorcism. Brunson starts getting into the lane, and these shots are getting absurd. Floaters with no space, layups off the glass from angles that looked illegal. Little bumps, little pivots, little stop and go moves where Harden is technically, but not really there. He's in the picture. He's not really affecting the painting, you know. And then Brunson hits that step back three, that heat check three right in his face. That was the moment. That's when it went from, okay, they're making a run to, oh my God, they're gonna steal this game. You could feel Cleveland tighten up. You could feel him throw up in their lap. The guarding got louder, but it wasn't just volume, it was pressure. There's a difference. Loud is fun. Pressure. Pressure makes your hands feel different. It makes you sweat out your palms. Cleveland had the ball, the lead, the clock, and somehow, somehow, they look like the team trying to just survive. That's Brunson's gift, man. He doesn't just score. He puts the fear of God in you. He changes the emotional temperature of the game. When the moment gets big, his heart slows down, not speeds up. That is why he is the clutch points god. He is the everything. You know, everybody else is breathing heavy. Brunson looks like he just found the exact part of the game that he's been waiting for. Last night was not just a great Brunson game. It was the captain stuff. It was put the team on my back and let's go. It was a star looking around at a dead offense, a nervous building, a 22-point fourth quarter hole, and deciding that the game was not allowed to end like that. They were down 93-71 with 752 left. That's a funeral score. That's a clear the benches score. That's a get the starters out so they don't get hurt score. And from that point forward, they outscored Cleveland 44 to 11. That's a straight up hostile takeover in your own building. Teams leading by 22 in the fourth quarter over the last 30 postseasons were 594 and 1 before this game. Brunson and the New York Knicks have now made it 594 and 2. Some wins are just wins. You take them, you move on, and you get ready for the next one. This is not one of those wins. Some wins count in the standings and forever in the fan base. That's what this win was. Brunson owns the night. No debate. This is big body Brunson's episode. This is his shine. Still,

Brunson Hunts Harden And Flips It

SPEAKER_01 11:54

comebacks this ridiculous. You usually need at least one role player to walk into the fire and not blink. Enter Sham God. Landry Shaman. Before the Brunson Avalanche fully hit, Shamit checks in, hits a big three. Suddenly there's a little more oxygen in the room. You know, not enough to say that the Knicks are back yet, but enough to make you go, okay, that was good. Let's see if we can build on that. Let's see how we can do it. That shot helped kick the door open a little bit, you know? And then defensively, he gave him real minutes on Donovan Mitchell, man. That part cannot get lost. Mitchell had it going tonight. Mitchell was the guy for Cleveland. 29 points, efficient, aggressive, completely aware of the stage, like he always is in the garden. He loves it here. He looked like the player of Cleveland needed him to be. Kind of slicing and dicing on everybody. Shamma comes in. He didn't exactly solve Donovan Mitchell. Nobody really does, but he competed him. He competed against him. He gets into him, he makes him work. He didn't look scared in a game where the building is losing its mind and the season feels like it's tilting every 15 seconds. Just not looking scared as a contribution, to be honest with you. And he finished plus 25. Plus 25 in a game where the Knicks were dead for almost three and a half quarters. Bridges, Bridges deserves a little bit of a mention here, too. The playoff God keeps coming up. Five picks. Who cares about them five picks, huh? Every year in the playoffs, this guy's making defensive plays, doing what he has to do. Finishes with 18 points, a couple big moments, a little steal at the end there when they thought they were trying to make a little push. OG looked a little rusty, which is expected, but he came on late, still finished plus 15. Having him back there matters even if the shot isn't there because his presence changes the defense ceiling of this team through and through to a different level. Cat had a few plays on the stretch too. He deserves credit for those. He also had an ugly foul during the comeback where for half a second it felt like the whole thing might wobble a little bit. But I'm not going to do the full cat playmaking notebook thing tonight. This one belongs to Brunson. Everybody else can get flowers around the statue, but Brunson gets the statue.

Shamet Bridges OG And Timely Help

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Now, let's talk about Cleveland a little bit. The Cavs collapsed, man. Let's not clean that up too much here. You know, they had the game. They had the lead. They had the building nervous. They had the Knicks shooting like somebody put a lid on the rim. They had a road game one in their hands, and the guarding got loud. The lights got bright again. Brunson started hunting Harden, and that was it. Passes got tighter, shots got heavier, couldn't get the offensive rebounds they were getting all game. I'm not even putting this all on Harden. I mean, Harden got cooked. He did. No reason to dance around it, but still at a certain point, that's what the matchup is. The bigger problem is Cleveland watching it happen and not finding a better answer fast enough. I mean, what are we doing? Knicks go on an 18-1 run, Brunson putting Harden in a blender every possession, and you're waiting until the building is levitating to call a timeout. You can lose to Jalen Brunson. There's no shame in that. A lot of people lose to Jalen Brunson. But you cannot sit there and watch him hunt the same matchup over and over and over and wait until the run is basically a wildfire. Then decide, oh, maybe we should double him now. You know, that that seems like a good idea. Nah, that answer came too late, man. Way too late. Atkinson had to be better there. You need something more creative than letting the Knicks pick the matchup they want, get exactly what they want, then hoping Brunson misses the shot when he's clearly not missing anything. You know, trap him high or blitz the screen, something. Cleveland waited too long, pure and simple. And then the last shot of the regulation makes it even worse. You know, after all that, the final look is James Harden, not Donovan Mitchell. I mean, this team has been his for the last three or four years. The guy you just traded for, this trade deadline, that's who takes the final shot in regulation. Not the guy who had 29, not who's been your best closer, not the player who's actually looked ready for the moment all game. Harden, who had 15 points, six turnovers, and shot five for 16, and one from eight for three. Mitchell was 12 for 23 with 29 points. I understand late game possessions can get messy. I understand the Knicks are defending too and clamping down. It's not always as simple as just give it to your best player. But still, from a Cleveland perspective, you cannot have the game end with Harden taking that shot. The Knicks spent the entire fourth quarter telling you exactly who they wanted involved defensively, and somehow that guy ends up involved in the ending of your offensive possession, too. That's how you lose a game. You had no business losing. Cavs fans are probably sick on that one. I know I would be at least. You're telling me a guy that we traded at the deadline takes the shot over Jalen Brunson in that kind of spot? No shot. We lost tonight. Nah, man. You stare at the ceiling for a while on that one. You replay the lead, you replay the timeout. Brunson getting to his spots over and over. Cleveland should be sick, man. They collapsed. Still, a collapse only becomes a collapse if the other team is strong enough to take it from you. And the Knicks were strong enough.

Cleveland’s Collapse And Coaching Mistakes

SPEAKER_01 17:38

This is where the whole thing gets a little bigger than one game. Last year, the Knicks were that team that watched Game 1 slip away. And this year, well, this year they were the team that ripped game one out of somebody else's hands. I'm sure somewhere in the back of their minds, they had to be sitting there thinking, damn, two years in a row, man. Game one of the Eastern Conference Finals at home against a team that we're supposed to be better than. We're really going to let this happen. Maybe that was the rallying cry. Maybe, maybe it really wasn't that deep. Maybe it was just Jalen Brunson looking around and saying, I got it. Everybody climb on. I got this. Either way, the difference is obvious. This team has scar tissue now. They learn from the Pacers' pain. They learn from the Atlanta wobble. They learn from what happens when you relax in the playoffs and when you let teams hang around. When you assume a lead is safe and a bad stretch means the night is over. They don't go away anymore. They might be ugly for a stretch. They might shoot like trash for a couple quarters. Hell, they might even make you question your life choice as a fan. But they don't leave. You have to remove them from the game. You have to absolutely stomp this team out. The next team is like the New York City Roaches, man. I know it's disgusting. I don't care. I say it with love. You can step on them once and assume the job is done. You better make sure. You better finish it. You better check under the fridge, behind the stove, inside the wall, everywhere. Because if you leave even a little bit of life in them, they're coming back. And that's what Cleveland learned tonight. A 22 point fourth quarter lead was not enough. A quiet garden on pins and needles was not enough. Three quarters of good basketball was not enough. The Knicks found a pulse. Brunson found Harden. Shaman hit a shot. The Garden woke up and suddenly Cleveland was the team trying to breathe. Unkillable is the identity of this team. Not unbeatable. Let's not get stupid here. They can be beaten. They're not going to go sweep sweep here. Cleveland is good. Game two is going to be hard. Series not over because the Knicks stole one incredible game. But unkillable means something different. It means you don't get to relax. You don't get to assume. You don't get to look at the scoreboard in the fourth quarter and say, yeah, we're good. We got this. They're going to pull out. Against this Knicks team, you better play until the clock says zero. And then maybe stand there for a few more seconds just in case Brunson is still dribbling somewhere.

Game Two Worries And The Next Step

SPEAKER_01 20:24

For game two. Game two, my biggest concern is the shooting rhythm. You know, it's not the fight, it's not the belief. This team has shown that they have that. The Knicks have now put fear into Cleveland. That's real. You know, that fear travels. The next time the Knicks go on a 7-0 run, Cleveland's going to start thinking about game one here. You know, the next time Brunson hits back-to-back shots, Cleveland's going to start remembering the comeback that was. And the next time that the Gardens starts getting that low little rumble, every Cavs player is going to start looking around, going, oh shit, here we go again, man. You cannot keep asking Brunson to dig yet of the grave, though. The Knicks shot 31% from three. That is way below their standard. A lot of the makes came late when the comeback was kind of already happening. So the game two question is kind of simple. What happens if they find the touch early? What happens if those same open looks start falling in the first quarter instead of the fourth? What happens if the Knicks don't spend three quarters trying to scrape Rust off the rim? If they build a real lead early. After what Cleveland just went through, I'm not sure the Cavs want to live in that building for another fourth quarter. I really don't. I mean, at some point, if the Knicks get up, if Brunson gets going, if the three start falling, Cleveland may look at the clock, look at the fight home, and say, let's just get out of this thing, get back to Ohio, man. That's what game one can do to a team. It doesn't just put you up 1 0, it changes the emotional math of the series. The Knicks know they can survive the worst offensive rhythm and still beat Cleveland. And Cleveland now knows that it can play three great quarters and still lose by 11. That is a brutal exchange of information. Now the Knicks have to do something with it. Protect the building, find the jumper early, don't let Cleveland get comfortable. Don't give them the belief back that you just ripped away from them. Game one was a miracle, I guess. You know? Game two now needs to be the statement.

Wemby SGA And A Wild West

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Now, before I get out of here, quick trip around the league because the other side of the bracket is pretty ridiculous, too. Spurs Thunder game one was absolutely insane if you watched it. San Antonio wins 122, 115 in a double overtime. Wemby goes 41 and 24. 41 points and 24 rebounds on the road in the Western Conference final without De'Aaron Fox. On the same night, SGA gets the MVP trophy. Ooh, that's basketball theater. There are games where the storyline is almost just too perfect. It's like a chef's kiss, you know? SGA gets the trophy. The building is ready for the celebration. OKC is supposed to start its march back to the finals. Then Wemby walks in like the basketball alien that he is and ruins the party. SGA still had 24 and 12, but he shot seven for 23. He even said after the game he has to be better. And he's right. I mean, the series is going to be fascinating because OKC is loaded. They're still the defending champs. They're still capable of solving problems very quickly. But Wemby is a problem that no one's ever really seen before. So how do you solve it? You kind of just try to survive them, right? 7'5 at 22 years old hitting three-pointers from the logo. From a Knicks perspective, if you want to peek ahead a little bit, I guess, you know, the best version of that West series is simple. Just let them beat each other up. Let that thing go seven games, let Wemby and OKC play in a street fight. And the Knicks take care of business. You know, the Knicks have enough work in front of them, so I'm not going full finals brain just yet, but the West already looks like a war, and the Knicks kind of just might have taken the soul from Cleveland in game one.

Dallas Chaos And Final Memories

SPEAKER_01 24:19

One more little league note, Jason Kidd out in Dallas. Not entirely shocking, I guess, when you look at where that franchise is. I mean, the Mavericks are still cleaning up from one of the strangest franchise pivots we've ever seen in a long time. NBA finals run, Luca trade disaster, front office chaos. Now Kidd is gone too. The whole thing still feels like someone hit the wrong button in franchise mode, and you know, it was probably Mark Cuban. But we'll get into that on another day if we even need to. Tonight is not Dallas night, tonight is a Knicks night. Some games you analyze, some games you remember where you were, when you were, who you were with. This was one of those. I'll remember the silence in the garden. I'll remember the Mitch free throw. I'll remember that little defense chant trying to crawl out of the garden, and I'll remember Brunson hunting Harden. More than anything, I'll remember the garden coming back from the dead. Win like this only counts once in the standings, but it lives forever in a fan base. Game two is next. The Knicks stole one from the grave. Now go protect the build again again.

Closing Thanks And Listener Requests

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Thank you guys for tuning in. Make sure you're following the show on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, wherever you find me at Rice on the Radio. Keep sending in your thoughts. Keep yelling at me. Keep riding this thing out with me. Thanks for listening. Keep sending it out to your friends. As always, spread good energy in this world. Tell someone you love them. I just watched the greatest Knicks game of my life. I just don't know how I'm supposed to be normal, but I don't even know how I'm supposed to end this show. Go Knicks, baby. Go Knicks.