John Fanta
College Basketball Broadcaster and Reporter
This New York Knicks’ season was not supposed to go this way. When you trade away a total of six first-rounders for the combination of Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns after finishing second in the Eastern Conference in the year prior, your sights are set on a Larry O’Brien trophy. Well, at least they were set on that.
The fact of the matter is this: the 2023-24 New York Knicks were better than this year’s iteration of the team, a group that may have bigger names but feels like a square peg in a round hole offensively through two games against the Detroit Pistons, who evened the series and earned their first playoff win since 2008 with the 100-94 victory on Monday night.
The Knicks? They dug themselves a 15-point hole, got out-hustled and out-toughed on their homecourt and were out of sorts offensively the entire night in game two. After Detroit provided a real scare to New York on Saturday night, you would have thought the Knicks would have been on high alert in game two. You would have thought maybe that would affect the Pistons’ mojo and perhaps hurt their confidence. Think again: through two games, Detroit has been the better team despite not having the wealth of star power that the Knicks are supposed to possess.
I give Detroit credit for their defense and there’s no question Cade Cunningham has turned into a real star in the NBA. He went for 33 points on 11-of-21 from the floor on Monday. But the Pistons are limited offensively; make no mistake about it. It’s why, ultimately, that neither one of these teams is holding a candle to the Celtics in the second round of the playoffs.
But here are my questions: How does KAT not attempt a single shot in the final 17 minutes of the game? How has Bridges come this short of original expectations when you gave up five first-rounders to get him? How is the Knicks bench this underwhelming?
The Knicks were better off with the previous core including Donte DiVincenzo, Julius Randle and Isaiah Hartenstein. We’ll get to Oklahoma City later in the column, but it’s pretty clear how much the Knicks miss Hartenstein’s physicality and presence. It’s inexplicable that Towns was a net negative after his big first quarter on Monday. That’s on the star and the coaching staff not setting him up more to exploit a Pistons team that was without Isaiah Stewart. KAT needed to assert himself more – plain and simple.
Things just have not meshed for New York, and while Jalen Brunson could still will them to a series win, it should not have come to this for this Knicks team. Even against a quality Pistons defense, the lack of ball movement and old school concepts to the way they play was hard to watch throughout much of Monday night. The pressure is on Tom Thibodeau and his staff to figure something out with this series shifting to Detroit, which should be rocking on Thursday night. It’s the biggest postseason game the Pistons have hosted since 2008 in my humble opinion because the other series since that point didn’t leave them with much of a shot, if any.
Here are four other takeaways from the playoffs thus far:
The Clippers can go on a deep run because they have a top-3 player in the playoffs right now
And his name is Kawhi Leonard. That was an absolute masterpiece of a performance in Monday’s 105-102 win in Denver to take homecourt advantage in the opening series between the Clippers and Nuggets. Leonard made it look seamless too: 39 points, 15-of-19 from the floor, 5 assists, 2 steals.
Does anybody realize the fact that the Clippers are 19-4 in their last 23 games? In that span, Los Angeles has the No. 1 offense in the league. They own a top-4 defense in the league. Leonard has a sidekick in James Harden on the perimeter while Ivica Zubic can lock things down in the frontcourt on both ends of the floor. Don’t forget about Kris Dunn and what he does defensively as well, coming up with 3 of the team’s 13 steals and forcing 20 Nuggets turnovers.
But Leonard’s presence was at a level like he was in 2019 with the Raptors when they won it all. The fact is that when he is healthy and in this type of postseason mode, he’s as dangerous as anybody because of Leonard’s ability to impact the game on both ends of the floor at an outstanding level. I think the Clippers will win this series and while the uphill climb of meeting the Thunder would be hard, I’d argue Leonard would be the most impactful player in that series with the experience factor playing a part as well. The Clippers are a real dark horse and they don’t have any major holes. That said, the basketball fan in me is rooting for seven games between Denver and Los Angeles. That would be fantastic, because the first two games have been sensational.
The Warriors could coast past the Rockets. Why? Houston’s offense is very flawed
Golden State’s defense has hit a really high gear and gave the Rockets a ton of fits on Sunday but the inexperience of Houston showed in the game one loss to the Warriors. The seeds may say 2 next to Houston and 7 next to Golden State, but nothing felt like that in the series opener. Being 23rd in the league in made triples is what’s really going to hurt the Rockets in this series. Now, I would not expect Jalen Green to shoot 3-for-15 from the floor again and there’s no question that Houston challenged the Warriors defensively with the way they guarded, but at the end of the day, Steve Kerr has Steph Curry and Playoff Jimmy Butler to go to when he needs a bucket.
The Warriors have the best two players and better offense in this series. They’re winning this in six games max.
The West goes through the Oklahoma City Thunder and they showed it on Sunday
I know it’s a game one on your home court against a Grizzlies team that had to play last Friday night just to get a series with Oklahoma City that started less than 48 hours after that, but still, to win by 51 points on a night where my pick for MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander only shot 4-for-13 from the floor speaks to just how good Mark Daigneault’s team is.
There are two things I love about this OKC team: Jalen Williams’ continual evolution into a really potent weapon for the Thunder, as he’s become a guy who’s now averaging 21/5/5. The other factor that I think really gives this team the extra dimension is that acquiring Hartenstein allows Chet Holmgren to be fully comfortable and play his natural position. You’ve got the physical presence but also a quality passer in Hartenstein, who had 14 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists in Sunday’s win while Holmgren delivered 19-and-10.
They’re making songs and tee shirts about Ty Jerome in Cleveland right now
The 27-year-old has seen a lot in the last seven years of his life. He was on the first 1-seed to lose to a 16-seed in the NCAA Tournament when Virginia fell to UMBC. The following year, he was hoisting the national championship trophy when the Cavaliers completed ultimate redemption. His pro career has brought four different stops in six years (Suns, Thunder, Warriors, Cavs) with time spent in the G League with the Northern Arizona Suns and Oklahoma City Blue. It could have been easy for him to be a career journeyman, but Jerome has found a home and a crucial role in Cleveland. What he did on Sunday, joining LeBron James and Kyrie Irving as the only players in Cavs history to score at least 28 points in a playoff debut, was nothing short of absurd. Think about this: here’s the list of the highest scoring performances off the bench in an NBA playoffs debut since 1971:
- Malik Monk, 2023 Kings – 32 points
- Ben Gordon, 2005 Bulls – 30 points
- Billy Ray Bates, 1980 Trailblazers – 29 points
- Ty Jerome, 2025 Cavaliers – 28 points
It reached the point where the Miami Heat were blitzing him when he got past halfcourt, sending multiple defenders at him. Now, is Jerome going to do this often? Not to this degree, but his role as a double-digit scorer and perimeter shotmaking is a testament to what Kenny Atkinson has done in his first year at the helm in Cleveland. The Cavs were good but had to evolve offensively from what was a stagnant scheme in recent years. To have Jerome, Max Strus and even a guy like Sam Merrill helping Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley is quite a luxury for Cleveland. This team looks destined to meet the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals and the evolution of Garland was seen on Sunday as well. That’s the most comfortable he’s looked in the playoffs.
John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him at @John_Fanta.
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