Do Knicks have what it takes to rebound from Game 4? They think so
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson and guard Josh Hart talk with head coach Tom Thibodeau, right, during the second half of Game 4 against the Pacers in an NBA second-round playoff series Sunday in Indianapolis. Credit: AP/Michael Conroy
INDIANAPOLIS
What now?
How does a team move past an ugly, ugly game? How does it forget one of the most lopsided playoff losses in the history of the franchise? How do the tired and undermanned Knicks convince themselves that they have what it takes to come back and grab what they believe is theirs?
That, in essence, was the subject of an ad hoc discussion among the players in the Knicks' locker room on Sunday shortly after they were annihilated by the Pacers, 121-89, in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Shortly after coach Tom Thibodeau left the locker room to go speak with reporters, several of the Knicks' team leaders got up and talked about what the team is going to do to bounce back from its worst game of the postseason and take back control of the series.
“We’ve already talked about how we’re going to fix this, so we’ll bounce back a lot better,” Deuce McBride said. “I mean, this locker room has dealt with a lot this year. I know [the team leaders] are going to set the tone, and they already have.”
When the Knicks arrived in Indianapolis four days ago, they had a 2-0 lead. Now the Pacers have tied the series and appear to have the momentum heading into Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
Just when you thought nothing could be more painful than losing Game 3 on a 31-foot three-pointer in the final seconds, the Knicks proved you wrong by playing a game that wasn’t competitive after the first five minutes. The Knicks trailed by as many as 43 in the game, which was lopsided enough for Thibodeau to wave the white flag and pull all of his starters in the third quarter.
“Whether you lose by one or you lose by 30, it’s a loss,” Thibodeau said. “So you have to respond the right way. We’re disappointed. And the thing is you can’t have a hangover. We have to fix it and we have to come with a will and determination to respond to what happened.
“This team has responded all year, and that’s what we’re expecting to do. We have to put the work in and be ready to go.”
The Knicks were able to nab the second seed in the Eastern Conference by being one of the hardest-playing, most resilient teams in the league. They survived the loss of starters Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson and top bench scorer Bojan Bogdanovic. They are struggling, however, to adjust to the loss of OG Anunoby, who injured a hamstring in Game 2.
Anunoby has set the tone of the Knicks' defense since arriving in a trade with Toronto on Dec. 30. So much so that since the trade, the Knicks are 26-5 with him in the lineup and 13-16 without him.
It doesn't appear as if Anunoby is going to be back anytime soon, based on the injury report that Thibodeau gave before the game. He said Anunoby’s rehab has been limited to “just pool work,” which means the Knicks would be lucky to see him in the next round — if there is a next round.
One has to wonder if all the personnel losses finally are starting to add up for the Knicks, if the starters are just too exhausted after playing heavy minutes to keep this thing going against an Indiana team that constantly presses and makes Jalen Brunson fight for every inch on the court.
Brunson, who has been playing with a sore foot, looked exhausted and scored a playoff-low 18 points Sunday, shooting 0-for-5 from three-point range. It marked the first time he has scored below 20 points in a game since March 23, when he had 17 against the Nets.
No one else was knocking down shots, either. Donte DiVincenzo, who had a huge Game 3 for the Knicks, scored only seven points, shooting 3-for-13 overall and 1-for-6 from three-point range. The Knicks shot 33.7% overall and 18.9% from beyond the arc after going 3-for-26 on three-pointers through three quarters.
The Knicks have suffered bad losses before, but it’s rare that they just don’t show up for a game. Maybe losing the way they did in Game 3 — on Andrew Nembhard’s tiebreaking three-pointer with 17.8 seconds left as the shot clock expired — just took too much emotionally out of them.
Lose little. Lose big. The Knicks know it really doesn't matter. The losing has to stop now.
“A loss is a loss. You can take whatever from it, but ultimately, mentally you just have to flush it and get ready because it’s a seven-game series,” DiVincenzo said. “Our job is to now go home and take all the heat that's coming in the next 48 hours and get ready to go and change the whole narrative of the series.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.