PHILADELPHIA — The scene could have been a replay of 48 Hours Earlier, but this time it went better for the New York Knicks.
With the Knicks leading by one point and hoping to close out an NBA first-round playoff series for the second time in three days, Donte DiVincenzo stepped to the free throw line. At that moment they knew that much more important than a basketball game was the telephone game.
Two nights earlier, with the Knicks engaged in another tough battle with the Philadelphia 76ers, Josh Hart had hit just one of two free throws, pushing the Knicks’ lead to three with 15 seconds left. Anyone interested in the drama knows what happened next: The Knicks didn’t intentionally foul, even though they should have. Tyrese Maxey tied the score with a 3-pointer from Hoboken. And the 76ers won in overtime to extend the series to Game 6.
The Knicks said after Tuesday’s final buzzer that they miscommunicated. Coach Tom Thibodeau wanted them to miss three, but the message wasn’t getting across.
It wouldn’t happen again.
As DiVincenzo waited for the ball, ready to shoot two free throws that could have put the Knicks on third, the Knicks players huddled together, reminding each of the situation. Everyone on the court knew the plan: If DiVincenzo sank both freebies, they would intentionally foul.
This time that’s exactly what they did.
DiVincenzo nailed them both. Miles “Deuce” McBride, the same guy who didn’t intentionally foul Tuesday, hit Maxey in the backcourt, long before he could put up a prayer for a shot. The Knicks and Sixers exchanged free throws. And he helped New York close out the series with a 118-115 and, more importantly, a 4-2 victory.
“Sometimes when something like that happens, it crystallizes the thinking for everyone,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “And we won’t be perfect. We will make mistakes along the way. And I think you see it here.
The Knicks will face the Indiana Pacers, who just earned a six-game win over the Milwaukee Bucks, in the second round of the playoffs. Game 1 is scheduled for Monday at 7:30 pm (ET).
New York will make mistakes in that series, too. Just like against Philadelphia, he will have to learn from them.
Part of the reason the Knicks have made it this far — that they have won a playoff series two consecutive seasons, the first time this franchise has accomplished such a feat in 24 years — is that their mistakes made them they make it better.
They failed at the end of Game 5, then made sure not to do the same in Game 6.
The big guns hit on Thursday. They fouled when they should have. On another possession, when the Sixers ran a play in the final minute with the Knicks up by three, Thibodeau knew Philadelphia would have to go for a 3-pointer.
Instead of leaving a conventional center on the floor like he did in Game 5 when Mitchell Robinson fouled Maxey on a four-point play, he replaced McBride for a small, all-switch lineup that pitted OG Anunoby at center. He stopped.
The Knicks noticed what went wrong and adjusted.
They placed multiple defenders on Maxey after he scored 46 points in Game 5. In Game 6, he scored just 17 points on 18 shots. In Game 6, DiVincenzo started with him.
They reviewed their Joel Embiid double teams. In the second half of Game 6, they were defending the reigning MVP, not doubling up except in an emergency. Until then, they shook the origin of the double, sometimes from two steps away, other times from the baseline.
The Knicks didn’t win Game 6 just because they’d been there before.
Hart hit a 3-pointer with 25.6 seconds left and finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. Anunoby came out in the second half, disrupting passing lanes and gutting Embiid with a dunk in the fourth quarter. I finished with 19 points and nine rebounds. DiVincenzo rediscovered his shot, posting 23 points and seven assists while sinking five 3-pointers.
And then there was Jalen Brunson, who splurged for 41 points and 12 assists. Now he has scored more than 39 points in four consecutive playoff games, which is the first time that has happened since 1993, when Michael Jordan did it.
27 year olds with 35+ points per game in the playoffs:
Michele Giordano
Elgin BaylorAnd Jalen Brunson. pic.twitter.com/Wcbc3hSRVh
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 3, 2024
“This was a really important test for us and we were able to come out on top,” Brunson said. “Going forward… it could be a different test, maybe something completely different. But that definitely helps and obviously you want to learn as you win, so obviously we’re still playing and we want to get better.
This is why the Knicks have expressed no interest in giving up the No. 2 seed at the end of the season. Others in the league, like the Cleveland Cavaliers, feared the 76ers, who fell to seventh place while Embiid was injured, enough to intentionally lose on the final day of the regular season. But New York wanted this position.
Now, this group is set up well thanks to its second place.
The Knicks pushed and pushed their way past the Sixers in Round 1. They have home-court advantage in Round 2 – and would have it even if the Pacers hadn’t upset the Bucks. The Knicks – yes, the New York Knicks – will be the favorites to reach the first Eastern Conference finals since 2000.
But that doesn’t mean Indiana will be a picnic.
The Pacers slide through games. They are speed demons in transition. The Tyrese Haliburton-Myles Turner pick-and-pop is among the most dangerous plays in the NBA. The Knicks will encounter a lot of problems in the second round that they’ve never seen before.
A season ago, they faced a lower seed in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and it didn’t go well for them, losing to the Miami Heat in six. But the Knicks tend to learn from their mistakes.
It’s a good trait to brag about come playoff time.
“Crazy things happen in the playoffs,” Thibodeau said. “And then it’s how you respond.”
(Top photo: Bill Streicher/USA Today)