Craig Carton GOES OFF on Brian Windhorst & Declares Knicks’ Path to the Title is WIDE OPEN!

**Craig Carton** (0:00)
Well, what, Howie? As is last year, you got to that slide.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:04)
The fans do know that.

**Craig Carton** (0:05)
The fans always know.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:06)
The fans always know.

**Craig Carton** (0:07)
Game one tonight, two, I guess, four hours away now. From Tip, 830 Tip, 8 o'clock pregame. I'll sort of be extending beyond that. And at halftime tonight, we go live on YouTube as well. So looking forward to that. They tell me on the hotline, we've got the premier basketball expert in this country, Mr. Basketball Jones joins us on the hotline. Excuse me, Basketball Jones, what's going on today?

**SPEAKER_3** (0:33)
Going on, guys, great to be here, thank you for having me again.

**Craig Carton** (0:36)
Give us a quick handicapping on Nick Spurs. Spurs are obviously small favorites. And for an important favorite in game one, do you think the Knicks have a chance to win the series?

**SPEAKER_3** (0:48)
I'll just tell you what's gonna happen. Saturday, June 13th, the Knicks will be your 2026 NBA champions. That would put that at five games.
The Knicks will win the series in five games.

**Craig Carton** (1:00)
So that means by default, I assume you have the Knicks winning tonight as opposed to losing game one and they're winning four straight. Is that right?

**SPEAKER_3** (1:07)
You are correct. That's a very good assumption.

**Craig Carton** (1:10)
Okay, so they win game one. They what? Lose game two and then it goes from there. I assume that's the direction you're going or you think they take both on the road?

**SPEAKER_3** (1:19)
You win game one. You give the Spurs credit as a team they are. They bounce back and don't lose both at home. So you're 1-1 coming back to the Garden. You're not losing a game at the Garden. I know both of you are in the city, friendly listeners that aren't out there. The energy in the city, they're not losing a game in that building.
You go back to San Antonio up 3-1 and as I said, June 13th, game five, you might as well crown the Knicks already.

**Craig Carton** (1:41)
I love it.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:42)
I love it. I like the confidence.

**Craig Carton** (1:43)
We need to think here today, Basketball Jones.
You cannot pick Jalen Brunson. Who's the next MVP in this series?

**SPEAKER_3** (1:52)
I think it has to be Kat.

**Craig Carton** (1:54)
That's what Big Mac said too.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:56)
There's people out there that are going to say OG because they saw him guard Wemby and they see all the clips on Twitter roaming around.
But the best way to stop Wemby is to either keep him as close to the rim as possible or as far away from the rim as possible. The one guy on our team that has the ability to do that is Kat. So if he's hitting threes, if he's spacing the floor, if he's drawing Wemby away from the rim, which then allows other guys to attack the rim, that's how we beat Wemby. That's how we beat the Spurs. And I think I know what I'm going to get from Brunson in this series. I know what I'm going to get from OG. I know what I'm going to get from all the guys pretty much. The one guy who historically since he's come to the Knicks is a question mark on what you're going to get on any given night is Carl Anthony Towns. And I think if we win the series at all, but especially if we win the series according to my prediction, it has to be because Kat shows up.

**Craig Carton** (2:41)
How much of your prediction is based on fandom? Now, historically, you've been a Steph Curry guy more than a Knick guy. So, how much of your prediction is based on growing up on the East Coast and having an affinity for the Knick basketball?

**SPEAKER_3** (2:57)
I would say not much of it, to be honest. I think something that's being overlooked is if this is any other team, the Knicks are viewed as an all-time great team coming into the championship. It's a factual statement that no team has ever gone into the NBA Finals on more of a heater, beating their opponents by more points, and the lack of respect they've been given on that all-time stage is a little disrespectful to me. And that's why I think there's actually some people that are using their Knicks fandom because of the New York, the way we've seen New York sports play out over my lifetime that are actually discrediting this team. And I think if anything, my fandom is the only thing stopping me from saying Knicks and four.