Knicks too focused on getting back in series to worry about outside noise

The Knicks headed into Thursday night’s Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals at Madison Square Garden with high hopes, still expressing belief that the season was not coming to an end.

But if it was — no matter if it was in Game 5, 6 or 7  — what would it mean?

Already, even with the Knicks having gone deeper into the postseason than they had in 25 years, there has been the usual finger-pointing and blame being assessed across the organization. Only the players in the locker room and the most ardent fans might have entered this season anticipating a championship — and even most of those fans probably abandoned hope when the postseason path possibly meant running a gantlet of teams in Boston, Cleveland and Oklahoma City that they were a combined 0-10 against in the regular season.

Things change, though. They beat a feisty Detroit squad in the first round, shocked defending champion Boston in the semifinals and with Indiana upsetting Cleveland, found themselves the favorites in this series and expectations shifted.

The Knicks insisted that those opinions outside of the organization were not of their concern.

“I mean, why would we care what other people think about that?” Mikal Bridges said. “They aren’t out there playing. We know how tough [the Pacers] are. We know it’s not an easy team. I don’t know why their opinion matters.”

“I mean, my answer to that question and questions similar to it is during this year and last year during the playoff run is we want the fans to go out and have as much fun as they can during this time,” Josh Hart said. “This is a time for them to support us, to have fun, and for us to be locked in on the next opponent. So we didn’t overlook them at all because we know what they had and what they bring to the table. We knew it was going to be a tough task. But we always want our fans to go out there and have as much fun respectfully and as responsibly as they can.”

So now the sports debate shows and sports talk radio are clogged with segments on whether it is time for Tom Thibodeau to be fired — even though he has a contract extension that hasn’t even begun yet. Can Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns coexist on a team with championship aspirations? What to do with the contract extension Bridges is eligible for this summer?

These are all decisions for team president Leon Rose and his front office — although even the front office is being questioned with the deals for Towns and Bridges, the all-in moves that were supposed to put the team over the top not yet showing them to be of championship-caliber.

Unlike last season's series loss to Indiana in the semifinals, the Knicks have been at close to full strength throughout this series — the first player to appear on an injury report didn’t come until Game 5 when Towns was listed as questionable with a left knee contusion, but still was in the starting lineup. And there was little doubt that would be the case, even if Thibodeau milked the gamesmanship to the final minutes, calling Towns a game-time decision, seeking even the slightest advantage.

“It’s been a hard-fought series,” Thibodeau said before the game. “It’s a couple possessions, I think there’s a 10-point differential right now after four games You just take it game by game. You’ve gotta keep fighting every game, every possession. They’re one possession games. You’ve gotta make things go your way.”

Even the Pacers knew that there were no sure things as they looked to close the Knicks out, well aware that the closeout game is always the hardest one.

“Yeah, it’s always harder,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. "The reasons are obvious. One team’s trying to move on and the other team is trying to stay alive. It’s never not the hardest game.”

“It’s the playoffs and you try to build that habit over the course of the season with the understanding of how important each possession is,” Thibodeau said. “You don’t know, at the end of the day, which possession is going to make the difference. So you fight to win every one of them.

“And hopefully in the end, you’ve made more winning plays than they have. But that’s where the concentration level is so important, your discipline is so important. Your discipline helps you get past distractions so there’s a lot of emotions involved. You have to keep giving maximum effort combined with the concentration and discipline.”

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.