The New York Knicks looked different from themselves on Sunday when they transformed into another being, an assortment of lethargy that doesn’t rush for offensive rebounds. It is late to turnovers and separates itself from streaking players in transition.
The Indiana Pacers annihilated them 121-89 in the fourth game of their second-round playoff series, which is now tied 2-2. For the first time during a playoff run that is taking years off its fans’ life expectancy and adding miles to its players’ odometers, a game was never close.
Indiana’s lead, which at one point ballooned to 43, was so clearly insurmountable that New York head coach Tom Thibodeau, a man who still clings to the trauma of every blown or regained lead he has witnessed, eliminated their starters during the third quarter.
“We can talk about fresher legs and we can give each other all the pity we want. Yes, we are short-staffed, but that doesn’t matter right now,” Brunson said. “We have what we have and we have to move forward with it. So there’s no “We’re short-staffed.” There are no excuses. There is no excuse whatsoever. If we lose, we lose.”
![Despite being short-handed and fatigued, Knicks must stay true to themselves for best results. Despite being short-handed and fatigued, Knicks must stay true to themselves for best results.](https://i0.wp.com/keynoteusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Despite-being-short-handed-and-fatigued-Knicks-must-stay-true-to.jpg?resize=1170%2C780&ssl=1)
On Sunday they lost. And they did it unusually.
Even when the Knicks don’t play well, they tend to put up a fight. Until Game 4, they had not lost by more than 11 points since March 5.
But the Knicks, who are missing four rotation players in OG Anunoby, Bojan Bogdanović, Mitchell Robinson, and Julius Randle, are held together with an ACE bandage these days. And on Sunday it was demonstrated in the four quarters.
The Pacers got ahead of them on loose balls and outscored them on the boards early. With every Knicks jumper that hit the rim, Indiana would jump up the court and create open layups or 3-pointers. If the Pacers missed, they grabbed their rebounds. They took a 34-11 lead just 10 minutes into the game.
One team in this matchup was the NBA’s best on the glass during the regular season. The other finished near the bottom of the league. Those roles were reversed on Sunday when the Pacers outscored the Knicks while defeating New York on the fast break.
Indiana scored 1.87 points per transition play in this one, according to Cleaning the Glass. That’s a better efficiency than Stephen Curry, the most accurate free throw shooter of all time, going to the line for two shots. New York scored just 0.58 in transition.
“We have to take this L,” Brunson said. “There is no excuse”.
A typically cheerful group seemed exhausted.
As the injuries have piled up, so has the burden on the Knicks’ best players. Because of the blowout, Josh Hart rested more minutes on Sunday than during his first nine playoff games combined. Before Game 4, Donte DiVincenzo had played 43+ minutes for four straight games.
![Despite being short-handed and fatigued, Knicks must stay true to themselves for best results. Knicks are short-handed and fatigued, but their best adjustment is to look like themselves](https://i0.wp.com/keynoteusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Despite-being-short-handed-and-fatigued-Knicks-must-stay-true-to.jpg?resize=728%2C485&ssl=1)
But DiVincenzo scored just seven points and hit just one 3-pointer during the blowout. Hart, who had two points and three rebounds, put the Game 4 loss “on my shoulders” because he is “someone who brings energy, brings enthusiasm, the kind of things that I didn’t do today.”
Unrest is growing and not just among players outside the lineup.
Isaiah Hartenstein’s left shoulder hit the court on a fall in the second quarter. He immediately grabbed it, wincing in pain, and said after the game that he believed the injury was “probably like a pinched nerve.” He added that the X-rays came back negative. But Hartenstein continued to play and says he will be ready for Game 5.
Brunson is dealing with a foot injury he suffered in Game 2. He insists he is “fine,” no longer injured, even as he struggles to create separation from Pacers defenders, led by physical wing Aaron Nesmith. Brunson scored 18 points in Game 4 on 6-of-17 shooting, including 0-of-5 on 3-pointers.
The most worrying thing is that he missed all eight of his jump shots. Six of those misses fell short; The pair that catapulted long were both two points in the first quarter when his legs were fresher.
“It’s not an excuse at this point,” Hartenstein said. “I think everyone is going through something, I think you have to find a way. “That’s what they probably did a lot better than us in these last two games.”
The Knicks will limp back to New York for Game 5, but it’s not like the Pacers will wake up energized on Monday morning. Star guard Tyrese Haliburton struggled to walk down three steps after finishing his Game 3 press conference, leaning heavily on the railings to his right and left as he limped five feet to ground level.
He is battling lower back spasms, a sprained right ankle, and a sacral contusion, the Pacers said. But he finished game four with 20 points, six rebounds, and five assists in just 27 minutes.
Haliburton found a way to look like himself. The Knicks didn’t, and it wasn’t just because of a lack of energy. This team wasn’t fundamentally itself either.
No play of the afternoon better embodied the Knicks’ confusion than an eight-second infraction they committed in the first quarter when they were already down 14 and beginning to let go. Rarely used backup center Jericho Sims, who received the inbounds pass, attempted to maneuver himself up the field, almost traveled, picked up the dribble from it, and turned it over moments later. He’ll take criticism for the play, but that moment was as much about who didn’t have the ball as it was about who did.
The Knicks had two point guards on the court at the time, Brunson and Miles “Deuce” McBride. Both were in the defensive zone with Sims but were not open. Once Hart handed it to Sims, they should have known to hurry. Sims is not a ball handler. He’s not hitting a press.
He stood still, waiting for a guard to surround him. Nobody came close. When he began to dribble, McBride was out of the play, near the middle of the court. Brunson trotted toward the court, not looking at his big man.
In the most exhausting moments, it is not just the body that can go; focus can also fluctuate.
“I’m sorry. Yes. But I think everyone does it,” Hart said. “So at the end of the day, it’s the playoffs. “You have to love yourself and your body.”
The Knicks will spend the time before Game 5 looking for solutions.
Maybe they’ll try to open up Brunson more without the ball, running him through screens and encouraging Hart or DiVincenzo to start the offense. Or maybe they play with the starters. McBride started the second half of Game 4 in place of Precious Achiuwa, which spread the offense further. The Brunson-McBride-DiVincenzo-Hart-Hartenstein lineup is small, but it also dominated during the regular season, outscoring opponents by 33 points per 100 possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass.
But the best adjustment the Knicks could make, the one that would surpass any scheme or adjustment, is to become more like themselves.
“We just have to get back to playing our basketball,” Hartenstein said. “I think that’s about being the more physical team, doing the little things, getting on the ball, making those second efforts. “I don’t think we’ve been doing that the last two games.”
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