Steve Popper: Knicks not getting ahead of themselves despite being two wins away from NBA Finals

When every game is over, from the first preseason ones in Abu Dhabi to Thursday night when he stepped up to the microphone with the sound of fans and Madison Square Garden employees still celebrating echoing through the hallway outside, Mike Brown has a familiar script.

Before a question is asked, the Knicks coach goes through the box score and the deeper statistics compiled by his assistants, detailing the highlights and flaws of the Knicks, and praising the play of his players, win or lose. But as he concluded his deep dive through the numbers of Thursday night's Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, he changed the subject to something that didn’t sound as celebratory as the sounds outside the room.

“One thing we told our team is that they’re very good at home,” Brown said of the Cleveland Cavaliers. “They were down 0-2 against Detroit and again, Cleveland is well coached, Kenny [Atkinson] is an excellent coach. They have a load of talent on that team. We know those guys are hungry and they don’t quit so we know this Game 3 is going to be tough in Cleveland because they’re coming.”

For Brown and the Knicks, it was understandable that the reminder would come, maybe more for the team than for the assembled media or the fan base. With a 109-93 win in Game 2, the Knicks took a 2-0 series lead and have now won nine straight playoff games, a franchise record that has already surpassed the longest winning streak the team had put together in the regular season.

More than just the number of wins, it’s how the Knicks have done it. They have built the largest margin of victory over a nine-game span in NBA postseason history with nearly every game a one-sided celebration — although the narrow escape in Game 1 against the Cavaliers might be the most important one, saving home court by overcoming a 22-point deficit with less than eight minutes remaining.

Still, even as they enjoyed the win for a night, the Knicks wanted to remind everyone, including themselves, that there is still work to do to try to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999. The Cavs are 6-1 at home in the postseason and just overcame this same scenario in the last round.

James Harden won’t get any younger or more rested heading back to Cleveland and the workload that he and Donovan Mitchell have carried won’t be erased — Harden and Mitchell are first and second in minutes played in this year’s playoffs. But role players often play better at home with their fans urging them on and players like Sam Merrill likely won’t have nights like he did Thursday when he was 0-for-7 from three (3-for-15 in the two games at Madison Square Garden).

“I mean, we don’t feel any closer than we did last game or any game,” Karl-Anthony Towns said of moving two wins from the NBA Finals. “It’s back in our minds, 0-0. We’ve gotta win the next game. It’s the most important game of the year, and that’s how we’ve gotta treat it. We’re hungry for the opportunity to go out there and play basketball at the highest level, but we also understand we can never be satisfied in this position in the playoffs. So the mindset’s gonna continue to be 0-0 every time we step on the court.”

The Knicks have done that, finding not just the effort and energy, but a way to fight through everything that has been thrown at them. Jalen Brunson remains the head of the snake, but the Knicks don’t need him to score 38 points like he did in Game 1 to win. When the Cavs tried to send doubles at him in Game 2, he handed out a playoff career-best 14 assists. He also scored 19 points, including10 in the fourth quarter to squash any thought of a Cleveland comeback, after he scored 15 in the fourth quarter of Game 1. They can run the offense through Towns or rely on OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart or even a bench hero like Landry Shamet in Game 1.

“I think the character of the guys in the locker room, we don’t really care who gets the shine, the shots, the minutes,” Hart said. “We’re focused on winning and think everyone is willing to sacrifice their own personal agendas or performance for the betterment of the team, and when you have a group of guys who do that, the sky’s the limit.”

“I think the most important thing is that we’re growing and learning together,” Brunson said. “No matter what the situation is, whatever the series is, we’re open to learning, we’re open to getting better, open to figuring out how to win games, trusting each other. So it’s a lot of different things, but I think the most important thing, no matter what, is that we’re sticking together.”

The box score that Brown put down in front of him after the game wouldn’t show that, what is inside the players who will take the floor at Rocket Arena on Saturday night. But that is where the focus is now as much as a game plan with the Knicks keeping their eye on the immediate task rather than thinking about what is just two wins away.

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.