Why a Game 4 victory is hugely important for Knicks
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau yells at a referee during the second half of Game 3 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Detroit Pistons, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Detroit. Credit: AP/Duane Burleson
DETROIT
By Sunday evening, when the Knicks board their plane to fly back to Westchester, their first-round series against the Detroit Pistons will be almost over or all tied up.
The pivotal importance of Game 4 in a seven-game series generally is underrated. It shouldn’t be, considering that it is the only game in a series in which the outcome can result in three possibilities — a 4-0 sweep, a 2-2 tie or a 3-1 lead.
Given that the Knicks enter Sunday afternoon’s Game 4 here with a 2-1 advantage, only two outcomes are possible. And what happens will determine whether the Knicks are headed for a long, tough series or take a commanding lead.
If the Knicks win their second straight game here, they will have three straight chances to get that W they need to advance to the next round. Equally important, they would have an opportunity to end this brutal, physical first-round series early. They would have a shot to close it out Tuesday at Madison Square Garden and have a few days to exhale.
Bruises could heal. Aching muscles could get some much-needed relief and players could sleep in their own beds for a few days before heading to Boston (sorry, Orlando, it’s not happening) for the first game of the second round, which would begin no earlier than Saturday.
Of course, coach Tom Thibodeau says he isn’t looking past Sunday’s game.
“I think each game is important,” he said. “The challenge, though, is to reset and understand how we are going to win the game, what goes into that. Not get sidetracked by ‘this could mean this, this could mean that.’ But to understand the intensity that has to go into it, the togetherness that has to go into it and the intelligence that has to go into it. Usually, that’s the team that wins. And so that’s what we have to focus on.”
It would be nice, however, if the team that wins this series isn’t so banged up that it cannot make some kind of stand against the defending NBA champion Celtics.
Look at the way the Knicks and the Pistons went at each other in the Knicks’ 118-116 victory in Game 3 here Thursday. The Knicks have gotten a lot of props for matching the Pistons’ physicality, but do they really want to play four more games like that? Do they really want to risk injury when they don’t have to? Do you really want to see them play hard-nosed basketball only to collapse at the finish line?
While the Knicks have one of the more talented starting lineups in the league, they are not a deep team. They’ve also played heavy minutes during the regular season.
Remember how banged up the Knicks were in the second round last season after a tough six-game series against Philadelphia? Remember how Josh Hart had to play with an abdominal strain? Remember how Jalen Brunson broke his hand in Game 7 and how OG Anunoby also had an abdominal strain?
The Pistons aren’t suddenly going to go easy on them. Coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after practice Saturday that his team is ready for another battle in Game 4 and that this time, his younger players won’t get caught up in the emotion of playing their first playoff game at home.
“I think the other night we were fighting uphill a lot just because of the way we started,” Bickerstaff said. “When you play your first playoff game at home, that comes with different pressures. You are so into the crowd. Our crowd was unbelievable. Sometimes you can get caught up in that emotion of having the crowd there and trying to please your crowd and keep them engaged.”
Hart said the Knicks aren’t worried about setting themselves up to get some rest.
“Obviously, you want to go out there and win every game,” he said. “That’s not realistic, but we just want to win every game. We don’t focus on rest or trying to make it a short series or not. We want to go out there and win every game, and whatever happens happens.”
Even if it would be easiest if it happened quickly.
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.
