Knicks disappointed after loss to Pacers but know front office built team for long haul

INDIANAPOLIS — On Saturday night there was heartbreak and tears, players hugging and limping down the hallway on the way out of Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Players talked about putting aside the painful loss and end to the season in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. But not now, not for days and maybe not for weeks. However, the Knicks could look at the big picture, that this might have been the first step on the path to the place they really want to go.

The Knicks’ front office rarely speaks publicly, so you search for clues of the plan. And after the makeovers of last summer, swinging major trades for Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns just months after dealing for OG Anunoby and then signing him to a massive contract in the summer, there were signals from the executives. The deals they made were to align the core of the team on a timeline of age and contracts. It would provide a window for the team to end the championship drought that dates to 1973.

The one person to go public with that plan was Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan, who in March went on “The Roommates Show,” a podcast hosted by Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart.

“We have a team that’s going to be together for a while,” Dolan said. “Leon [Rose] has done a good job of lining up the contracts. So this isn’t our only season. So we’re going to play a bunch of seasons together. You take a look at teams like Boston that have played together. They get to draw off something that they built off that period of time. And for this team, that’s really the challenge today, going into the playoffs. It’s to build that inside of the team, something that we can draw on.

“In order to do that, the first thing you have to have is belief that you can win, that you can win the championship. You really, really believe that .  .  . Just give it time and I think it will happen.”

Patience hasn’t always been a trademark of the organization, but since Rose took over as team president and installed Tom Thibodeau as head coach in his first move, the Knicks have been, well, stable. Four trips to the playoffs in five seasons, a steady path forward and a place in the conference finals this season for the first time in a quarter-century.

Now, after a season of adjustments and adaptation, do they still believe that this is just the beginning? Do they believe the pieces are in place?

“The most confidence,” Brunson said. “Overconfident. Seriously. There’s not an ounce of any type of doubt that I’m not confident with this group.

“It’s definitely tough to look ahead, but even when you win, it’s always about what’s next. So regardless, we’re going to go into this summer, we’re going to work, we’re going to get better. And we’re going to figure out a way to change this outcome.

“It’s going to start with obviously just us and our mentality, making sure we take it one day at a time. We can’t just jump back into the conference finals. But I’ve got a lot of faith in this group.

“No one sees the things that me and [Towns] see every day. No one sees the type of people that we have, the workers that we have. That’s what gives me the confidence, and I’m OK with that. I don’t care what people think about us on the outside. I know what we’ve got.”

There still are decisions to be made, even if management believes in the core and the coach. The five starters are under contract, along with Mitchell Robinson and Deuce McBride. But Bridges and Towns are eligible for contract extensions this summer, and decisions need to be made on the remaining bench pieces with little salary space to avoid the restrictive second apron of the collective bargaining agreement.

Could that mean dealing one of the core pieces away to create space or seek an upgrade? The biggest names rumored to be on the market, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant, would be a stretch with the Knicks’ assets.

“You’re always going to hear me say run it back,” Josh Hart said. “I think you heard me say the same thing last year with the guys we had. I’d like to do it. I feel like this team is good enough to make the next step. But it’s a business. And when you don’t get to where you feel like you could’ve or should’ve, changes are made.

“This is my eighth year. This is my fourth organization. I’ve had six coaches or seven coaches. It’s tough. We’re going to have to see. Don’t think you can ever be too comfortable. I’ll open [X] one day and I’m somewhere else. That’s what’s disappointing the most, knowing there’s a good chance this team might not be back in totality.”

Fingers often are pointed and blame assessed at the Garden, but the Knicks can look at what teams around them have done, building even after disappointing finishes, and believe this is the first step.

“In the end, there’s only going to be one team that achieves the goal,” Thibodeau said. “So I think the challenge for us is to look at it for what it is. We finished in the top three. But we’re falling short of the ultimate goal. For us, it’s to use that as motivation and determination to work all summer to prepare ourselves to make the final step to keep improving so we can achieve our goal.”

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.