KnicksGadfly wrote:Well, we all knew that this is what Thibs does, and this is a Thibs team, so we can only just roll with it and hopefully enjoy it.
https://theathletic.com/5415205/2024/04/14/knicks-bulls-nba-playoffs/...As the rest of the league swerved away from two giants, New York didn’t care to avoid anyone.
“The object is to win,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Put everything you have into winning. That’s the bottom line.”
Teams surrounding the Knicks did not agree.
The Milwaukee Bucks, who sat in second place until Sunday, were already without injured two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and rested their other All-Star, Damian Lillard, on Friday. The Cleveland Cavaliers, which could have jumped to second place with Bucks and Knicks losses on Sunday, rested various key guys during their finale when they lost at home to the 21-win Charlotte Hornets.
The possibility of climbing to No. 2 only to meet the 76ers or Heat was not worth the trouble, so the Cavs willingly dropped to fourth.
Meanwhile, rather than showing replays and statistics, the big screen at Madison Square Garden may as well have broadcasted Herm Edwards yelping, you play to win the game on repeat.
“We’re trying to create good habits that will turn out on the court,” said Jalen Brunson, who went for 40 points, eight rebounds and seven assists during the win over the Bulls. “So obviously going forward, we’re gonna have a tough opponent, but we’re just focusing on, how can we be the best team that we can be?”
The answer to that question did not include tossing the Chicago game into the trash.
Had the Knicks done so, they would have guaranteed a third- or fourth-place finish and a first-round matchup with the Orlando Magic or Indiana Pacers, who don’t boast the résumés to match the two teams atop the Play-In. But making decisions based on fear? That’s not how the Knicks roll.
Come the final buzzer, they celebrated being the No. 2-seeded team. Brunson called the group “Resilient.” Donte DiVincenzo, who rested for a total of 29 seconds in the overtime game against the Bulls, reminded the world that Thibodeau teams don’t go through the motions.
“You know who we play for. Everything counts,” he said. “It doesn’t matter the type of game it is. We want to win every single game.”
Thibodeau does not understand how to coach any other way. And the players don’t exude the same energy just because of the man leading them. These aren’t just habits. It’s who the Knicks are, and they can’t (and shouldn’t) turn off an identity, especially when it’s the reason they’re in the mix at all.
New York’s ascension was no guarantee. Julius Randle hasn’t played since Jan. 27 — when he dislocated his shoulder — and won’t return after undergoing surgery on it last week. OG Anunoby has played only 23 games since coming over in a trade three and a half months ago. Mitchell Robinson has missed most of the season because of ankle surgery. Isaiah Hartenstein has fought through Achilles tendinopathy for months.
The Knicks throttled to second because of their depth and overt competitiveness, because they don’t care if they’re the ones getting punched in the mouth or if they’re the ones doing the punching, as long as someone is getting smacked.
“That’s what I love about this team,” Thibodeau said. “And it started right from the beginning. Mitch got hurt, then Julius, then OG. … (Winning) is not (about) the best individuals. It’s the best team. There was no quit in this team. Some nights, we fell short. We learned from it and got better. The spirit of this team is very strong.”
Artificially manipulating seeding does not always work, either.
Had the Cavaliers beaten the Hornets on Sunday, they would have ended up in the No. 3 slot, which would have handed them Indiana in the first round and helped them avoid the feared, league-best Boston Celtics until the conference finals. But they just chose to sit their guys because of an improbable scenario that would have sprung them to second.
The Bucks’ recent falloff is not just about resting Lillard on Friday versus Oklahoma City; they have dropped 8 of their final 11 to close the season. But because they’re down to third place, they now have to face Indiana, the team that downed them in the In-Season Tournament and has had their number.
History tends to repeat itself.
Just a couple of years ago, when the league was anxious about the supposedly most dangerous No. 7 ever, Kevin Durant’s and Kyrie Irving’s Brooklyn Nets, the Bucks rested their best players on the final day of the regular season, intentionally dropping from second place to third. Boston hopped them. Surely, it would do it again.
The Celtics swept the Nets. Two weeks later, they beat the Bucks in Round 2 — in part because the decisive Game 7 of their second-round series was in Boston, a home game. After all, Milwaukee had handed them the higher playoff seed.
If the goal is to win a title, good teams need to be defeated at some point. Teams might as well guarantee the two advantages they know will be consistent the whole way: Clinch home-court advantage through as many rounds as possible and continue to approach every game like it’s the most important one, even if it means a date with a Play-In team that horrified the rest of the competition.
This is very powerful...before December - I hadn't watched any Knick games for years...
I think that gives me an objective view...
I know many complain about Thibs but I think Thibs and the players he has believe in his philosophy. I don't think This has ever had a Knick group like this...With that said...
I wanna say about 4/5 games in - I noticed that this team had a fearless energy about them...As the games went on -I could see
that their focus was never on the "team" but the focus was on -"lets get this win". This is why- every time it was mentioned
"hope we get this match -up or that one"...I knew this team could careless. Just look at the leader- a 5'11 point guard who's
watched his team lose player after player- yet, his fearless frame remains- as he leads his team to win after win -while putting up MVP numbers and touching the Knick record books...
This article reinforces what I already new about this teams mental frame. Very excited about the Knicks again...
