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The Knicks have already survived a slippery slope. They lost five in a row not long ago, their record flipping, 5-3 to 5-8, and looked a bit exhausted and a lot outmatched almost every time they spoke. And we’ve seen where it’s taken them in recent years.
Then the Knicks went to Boston and knocked out the Celtics.
I came home and resisted the magic on MLK day.
Flown west to start a four-match western swing and in the lid lifter the Warriors stomped. And suddenly 5-8 was back to 8-8, the Knicks looked like they had watched the first eight games of the season, looked hungry and angry and eager to surprise just about everyone around. of the NBA, starting with the jaded skeptics who call New York Home.
It was only six days ago.
Now the Knicks are coming home after being beaten by the Jazz, 108-94 (in a game they were leading by 15 at the end of the second quarter), having lost three straight to the Kings ( a match that seemed playable most of the time), Blazers (a game in which they didn’t show the first half and always found themselves alive on the stretch) and Jazz (that early lead built mostly by an explosion of ‘Another World 10 for 10, 25 points in the first half by Austin Rivers).
They’re coming home three games under .500 again, with the eyes of a fan base who have been out there sincerely hoping they’re not about to see more of the same. In reality, it is the inevitable rhythm of a season when we expected so little, so little anticipated. The grind catches up with everyone, especially teams that play with a lack of talent every night.
So now, for the second time in the space of a week and a half, we’re going to learn a little something about the Knicks, who will bring the Cavaliers and Clippers home, who will travel to Chicago for a two swing. road games with the Bulls, then return to the Garden for a tricky back-to-back with the Blazers and Heat between now and Super Bowl Sunday.
We’re learning something new about the Knicks, it seems, with every game, every homestand, every road trip, every winning streak, every losing skid. This is the learning curve for young people. And it will now be full screen. This is the mission of Tom Thibodeau. This is the team’s challenge.
“The games keep coming and the challenges keep coming,” Thibodeau said late Tuesday night, not sounding too happy with the way the Knicks have fallen off the grid the past three games in the West.
“You have to be ready. Whatever your schedule, you have to find a way to win. You want to try and continue to develop good habits. In the NBA, everyone has a tough time and that’s how you handle it. We have bounced back before. We have to bounce back again.
The Jazz won for the ninth consecutive time, having taken a big lead over the Knicks at the Garden on January 6. In many ways, they represent a sort of plan for the Knicks, a team that has gradually grown into a Western Conference powerhouse using a basketball plan as old as pick-and-roll: smart drafting, smart processing, smart signatures, smart coaching.
“They’re well put together,” Thibodeau said, admiration in his voice clear.
Because the Knicks are a big market team with the might of Madison Square Garden behind them, there will always be looming hope that an impact acquisition can finally catapult them to where they want to go. This despite years of evidence to the contrary.
So it’s probably not a bad idea for Leon Rose and the rest of the brass on the team to adopt a plan B. And the Jazz plan is so successful that the Knicks have helped themselves to two architects from Utah. to Walt Perrin, now Rose’s assistant, and Johnnie Bryant, now one of Thibodeau’s lieutenants.
Utah coach Quin Snyder is the same genre as Thibodeau, he mostly won big in his first stint as head coach at the University of Missouri and has steadily built a quiet powerhouse at Salt Lake City, ranging from 206 to 98 from the start. of the 2016-17 season.
“These guys take the business of winning very seriously,” Snyder said last week.
You might see Thibodeau come up with something very similar when the time is right and the team is right. For now, they are trying to stay out of the water. For now, the steps are much more modest. The Jazz are at a point where they have a season to savor. The Knicks have a season to save.
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