NBA Cup can help Knicks gain focus for important games later in season
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau looks on in the second half of an NBA game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Few fans expected much from Indiana in last year’s NBA playoffs. Few predicted that the sixth-seeded Pacers would make it to the Eastern Conference finals after upsetting Milwaukee in the first round and then beating the Knicks in a pivotal Game 7 at Madison Square Garden in the second.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, however, has said his team became mentally prepared for the playoffs four months before they opened because of the success they enjoyed in getting to the finals of last year’s NBA Cup, the league’s in-season tournament.
“Our guys got a taste of what the elevated stage is all about,” Carlisle said. “It’s so important to have this experience, to feel the intensity, to feel the glare and the glow and find out what it means to be totally together in an effort to conquer it.”
The Knicks, who have been struggling to find their identity so far this season, could certainly use an early-season challenge to bring the team together and remind them that they were built to contend for a championship, not just light up the scoreboard with thrilling dunks and dead-on three-pointers.
Tuesday night’s game against the Orlando Magic, stood there ready to provide it.
Both teams entered the contest with a 3-0 record in NBA Cup Group Play. For the Knicks, it was a win or go home situation. A victory would wrap up the No. 1 spot in the East Group A, guaranteeing them a home game in the knockout round next week. A loss would eliminate them from the tournament since their small point differential in their other group wins would keep them from being selected as a wild card.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau has been careful not be critical of the in-season tournament that was launched last year in order to increase fan interest in the games before Christmas. Still, it was clear in his pregame news conference that he doesn’t put any more emphasis on his team winning an in-season tournament game than he does on them winning any other regular-season game.
“I think each team is different and you try to use it whatever way you can,” Thibodeau said when asked if it could motivate his team like it motivated Carlisle’s. “I think the big thing about our league is that they all count the same, so don’t get lost and distracted with the hoopla that this is a big game, you should win that game. It doesn’t work that way. You have to get ready every night. And you have to be prepared for your next opponent.
“For the fans it’s great. For the media, it’s great. It’s been good for the league. But don’t get lost in what goes into winning.”
Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley, whose team entered Tuesday night having won six straight and 12 of its last 13, said before the game that he thinks having an early challenge like this is good for his team.
“I think it definitely does prepare you,” Mosley said. “I think you have to balance the emotion behind it because it takes a lot in the moment. It’s like a championship in the middle of the season and then you have to go on and play more games. I think being aware of that and being intentional in how we approach each and every single game (is important).
“Tonight’s game is a very big game. We understand that, but we have to continue to play how we play. This is an important piece of how we can grow into what we’re trying to become.”
Two coaches, two different views of how to approach the in-season tournament. Both teams at this point are looking to build something special this season.
The Magic have defied almost everyone’s expectations by playing the sort of basketball that the Knicks team played last year when it won over the hearts of New Yorkers. Orlando’s defense and “next man up” mentality has helped them keep piling up the Ws even after losing their leading scorer, Paolo Banchero, to an abdominal injury.
As for the Knicks, they made big changes this summer, adding starters Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns, in order to challenge the Boston Celtics in the East. The Knicks have shown some recent signs of coming together, having won seven of their last nine heading into Tuesday night.
So, although the NBA in-season tournament might be hokey, contrived and mean absolutely nothing as far as where a team is in the standings at the end of the year, it still has some potential value as far as continuing to help this team define itself.
It also wouldn’t be so bad for the fans, either.
The Knicks haven’t hung a banner at Madison Square Garden since winning the Atlantic Division in 2012-13. An in-season tournament banner certainly isn’t the one they are ultimately aiming for, but there’s still plenty of room for it in the Garden rafters.
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.