Knicks need to summon toughness of last season's playoff squad
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) tries to get by Detroit Pistons forward Tobias Harris (12) in the 2nd quarter as the New York Knicks play the Detroit Pistons in Game 2 of the 1st round of the Eastern Conference playoffs on April 21, 2025 Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
DETROIT — It still hurts.
The Knicks trade that sent Donte DiVincenzo and Julius Randle to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns more than six months ago still stings DiVincenzo. This was a clear takeaway from comments DiVincenzo made to a reporter from The Athletic this past weekend when he was asked if he was watching his old team in the playoffs.
“I watch it from a different point of view now. I’m watching my boys hoop, but I’m also watching from the basketball perspective,” DiVincenzo said. “What did me and Julius bring that maybe they're missing?”
Hmm, that’s not a tough one to answer. Toughness. An assassin-like instinct. A bond so tight that every player is willing to bleed, bruise and play themselves into exhaustion for the good of the team.
These traits were the calling cards of the Knicks in last year’s playoffs. It’s how they both endeared themselves to fans and managed to win a physical first-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers. And it’s what they are going to have to quickly find if they have any hope of surviving this first-round series against the Detroit Pistons.
The Knicks are going to have to summon their inner DiVincenzo for Game 3, because in some ways playing at Little Caesars Arena is going to be even tougher than playing at the Wells Fargo Center.
Unlike last year, the arena here isn’t going to be filled with Knicks fans who drove down the turnpike to buy a playoff ticket that was a fraction of the price of a playoff ticket at Madison Square Garden. The Pistons went the extra mile to make it difficult for well-heeled New Yorkers to snap up tickets when they limited sales of tickets to credit card owners with certain Midwestern zip codes.
The Pistons have never won a playoff game in Little Caesars Arena. Heck, they haven’t won a playoff game since 2008 when Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace were on the team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals. This Detroit team, buoyed by the confidence that comes from taking Game 2 at the Garden to even the series, appears to have the swagger to finally deliver a W for a pumped-up Detroit crowd.
The Pistons play a bruising, physical style of play that is perfect match for their beleaguered city. The Knicks are going to have to find a way to counter that early rather than just spend the postgame complaining about officiating as they did after their Game 2 loss.
Towns has to be more demanding, more assertive and the Knicks have to help him. Towns is the clearest advantage the Knicks have in this series, and coach Tom Thibodeau has to find a way to exploit that. The Knicks traded for Towns because he is that rare, versatile 7-footer who can shoot, drive, pass and post. Yet somehow, he didn’t score in the second half.
He wasn’t alone in disappearing when the Knicks needed players to step up the most. Mikal Bridges, whom the Knicks forked over a king’s ransom of picks to get from the Nets, in many ways is the exact opposite of DiVincenzo, the shooter he replaced in the starting lineup.
Statistically, Bridges is a superior player to DiVincenzo. Bridges has size and athleticism and is a better defensive player. What he lacks is DiVincenzo’s timing and toughness.
In Game 2 against the Pistons, Bridges had three big quarters, but was 0-for-4 in the final four minutes and missed an open three-pointer that would have tied the game with 11 seconds left.
Contrast that with the performance DiVincenzo had in the final seconds of Game 2 against Philadelphia. DiVincenzo completed a stunning five-point Knicks rally when he hit a three-pointer with 11 seconds left to put the Knicks ahead for good.
More than anything, those five points in 14 seconds demonstrated the interconnectedness and toughness of that Knick team. It featured a three-pointer from Brunson, a steal by Josh Hart, a three-point miss from DiVincenzo, a huge rebound from Isaiah Hartenstein, and a big assist from OG Anunoby who got it back to DiVincenzo for the final three.
In other words, every Knick on the floor was involved and understood where their teammates were and what needed to be done. This is something we haven’t seen from this group of Knicks.
The Knicks have better players than they did in last year’s playoffs, but they don’t have a better team. Time is running out for them to change that.
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.
