Steve Popper: Knicks' offensive flexibility puts them in favorable spot against either Cavaliers or Pistons
Karl-Anthony Towns and the Knicks can point to a number of things that have been working for them in the playoffs. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The wait was still on this weekend as the Knicks continued their week of preparation for the Eastern Conference finals. Coaches worked on film and tendencies of both the Cavaliers and Pistons — but with no answer who was next, mostly they just worked on themselves.
The thing is, that’s just fine.
What the Knicks have worked on throughout the season and finally broke out in the playoffs — the different style of offense being run through Karl-Anthony Towns, with the ball less in the hands of Jalen Brunson — has given them a flexibility that allows them to attack an opponent in different ways.
That will begin Tuesday night with Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
If Detroit advances, the Knicks could continue that strategy, which worked wonders against Atlanta when Dyson Daniels was blanketing Brunson. Detroit has a similar defender — maybe even better, with elite athleticism and an even more hard-nosed style — in Ausar Thompson.
As much as the enduring memory of the Knicks knocking the Pistons out of the playoffs last season was Thompson sliding across the court as Brunson crossed him over and delivered the series-deciding three-pointer at Little Caesars Arena, Thompson is a stellar defensive force who can make any star work to exhaustion. So easing the load on Brunson makes sense. It also allows Towns to pull Jalen Duren away from the rim.
If Cleveland were to pull off a Game 7 win in Detroit on Sunday night, the Knicks’ more traditional style of play would work just fine.
In Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, the Cavs have a pair of long-armed defenders in the paint (as an aside, how is Allen listed at 6-9 when he plays like a 7-footer? He has even joked that with his hair, he’s 7-2).
Let Donovan Mitchell or James Harden try to keep up with Brunson as he swerves his way around screens and into the lane. Figure that Max Strus, who sat out all three meetings with the Knicks this season, or Dennis Schroder would log more time with the assignment, even though they come off the bench.
The thing is that the Knicks can use this time to refine what they do and be sure they can utilize the array of weapons they have — not just Brunson and Towns, but also OG Anunoby, who is expected to be healthy and ready for the start of the series, and Mikal Bridges, who has regained his form after a slow start in the postseason.
“I think in terms of offensively, we can play fast. We can play slow,” Josh Hart said. “We can play through JB. We can play through [Mikal]. We can play through KAT. OG has been amazing. So we’re able to do that.
“Defensively, we’ve been able to put guys on really anybody. We had obviously KAT, Mitch [Robinson], Ariel [Hukporti], OG to guard [Philadelphia’s Joel] Embiid. When you have those kind of guys able to do that and then you’re able to throw multiple guys at a [Tyrese] Maxey, a [Paul George], it just allows your team to kind of play the game how that particular game is needed to be played. Then the other team makes adjustments and you’re able to adjust to that.”
Speaking of scouting
The Knicks have been left to watch the Cavaliers-Pistons series on television as they await their next opponent, and that has provided some time to do some serious scouting work.
“I watch,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “My fiancee, she loves watching basketball a lot. It’s always something. Even when I’m not thinking about it, maybe I’m thinking of talking to my family, my niece, my nephew, she has the game on. She’s constantly updating me on what’s happening.
“She knows ball now after all these years together. She’s talking about flex screens, UCLA cuts and stuff like that. I definitely am tuned in. I watch the games, especially on the days that we’re not playing and [his former team, the Minnesota Timberwolves] are playing. I’m always tapped in, I’m watching, I’m texting [Anthony Edwards], I’m texting Rudy [Gobert], I’m texting those guys and just watching them play.”
These are different times
So after the Knicks struggled to adapt to the new styles of play that Mike Brown tried to implement during training camp and early in the regular season, why did they suddenly become able to execute those styles in the postseason, particularly on the run in the midst of a playoff series?
Brown pointed to the schedule and added that in the playoffs, things happen differently.
“It’s a little complicated from the standpoint that we came in with what we wanted to do offensively,” he said. “Then we had to scale it to a certain degree because it didn’t fit everybody. Then you fast-forward to the playoffs and you bring some of it back and you bring some new.
“We are not just adding stuff we did in the preseason. We added some new stuff that is similar to what we are doing, but it fits better with the personnel. Usually if you have a veteran team, especially at this time of year, they lock in a little bit better.
“I was talking to Ron Rothstein — he does TV stuff with the Miami Heat. We worked together in Indiana, longtime coach. He actually coached at Eastchester [High School] and is from that area.
“He told me when he was coaching in Detroit, Adrian Dantley got hurt. He got hurt diving for a loose ball. This is during the playoffs. Apparently, he never dives for loose balls.
“He got hit in the head and so he got taken to the hospital. Ron called to check on him. Couldn’t get through, so he called his wife. She said he’s doing well, but she asked Ron, ‘Why is Adrian diving on the floor for loose balls? He’s never done that in his life!’
“The moral of the story is it’s the playoffs. So guys do things come playoff time, especially if they are veterans, that they may not do in the regular season or they may take for granted during the regular season. Maybe a little bit of that is mixed in.
“I don’t know. Maybe our group is locked in. They’ve been open all year to a lot of different things I’ve thrown at them. They are grasping or holding on to this tight, which has given us a chance to have some success.”
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.
