The Knicks Land a Haymaker, With Doc Rivers. Plus, a Mini-Mailbag, the End of 'Euphoria,' and a Movies Resurgence With Joanna Robinson and Chris Ryan.

**Bill Simmons** (0:06)
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All right, The Bill Simmons Podcast. We are live on Netflix. Special guest, my friend Doc Rivers is here after just an incredible, dramatic, wasn't it the best played game? The stats weren't awesome, but a lot of twists and turns. The Knicks pull it out. And I think we thought the same thing with about three, four minutes left. One team looked like they kind of knew what they were doing, and the other team looked like the playoff experience, youth stuff was starting to creep in. I didn't like the shots I got. I just didn't like anything, and the Knicks just went into Knicks mode.

**Doc Rivers** (2:26)
Yeah, I don't know though, Bill, if it was youth, as far as at the end of the game. I would say this, at the end of the game, if you told anyone, at least me, before the game, it's gonna come down to a single possession game, you're gonna favor the Knicks, because the Knicks know exactly what they're doing. They're giving the ball to Brunson, and they're gonna play off Brunson.
San Antonio, in any game, down the stretch, and that's sure yet, because that's where they are young. They haven't, the two man game with Fox and Wimby is usually the play. They actually ran it. Fox got a wide open shot that would have tied the game, if you remember.
And he missed that shot, and then he followed up with a foul on, I think, Bridges, where Bridges had nothing. So those back to back plays, there were three plays that changed the game to me. The offensive rebound that Brunson got, and then got to three. The missed shot by Fox, where he would have tied the game up, then Fox followed that up, where he billed Bridges out with a foul. That's a seven point swing in a game, and San Antonio couldn't recover. Then the turnover by Wemby was the final nail.

**Bill Simmons** (3:40)
And then Brunson with the moon ball. Yeah, so San Antonio takes the lead 95-94 in the two Wemby free throws, and then that whole sequence happens.
Fox made that shot in game seven against OKC. In this game, I think him and Wemby combined were seven for 27 Not great.

**Doc Rivers** (3:59)
Well, Fox is one of the most clutch players in the NBA over the last three years down the stretch of the game. He really hasn't been, other than game seven Oklahoma.
That's their go-to play. And we know what the Knicks are going to do, and we pretty much know what San Antonio is going to do. They're going to go to the two-man game. You remember they lost that game to Oklahoma where Fox wasn't there. They didn't have anything down the stretch to go to. Well, they went to it. Fox got his shot, like, in the paint, perfect look for him, misses it. And then, you know, the Knicks are going to play Brunson ball from there on. So I just think it came down to a little thing, a couple of things I was surprised by.
And I was wrong, but I was really surprised by Wimby guarding Towns to start the game. I was shocked by that. I was positive that Wimby would be on Hart.
Champagney or anyone else would be on Towns. And the reason is that allows Wimby to stay in the paint more. If you look at the beginning of the third quarter, the Spurs did that. And I actually turned to my son, Spencer, and I said, huh, maybe the Spurs are playing Cat and Mouse. Maybe that's what they wanted to do all along.