Knicks learn from their mistakes in earning a win over the 76ers

PHILADELPHIA — The scene could have been a replay from 48 hours earlier, but this time things went better for the New York Knicks.

With the Knicks up by a point and hoping to seal 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 the telephone game was much more important than a game of basketball.

Two nights earlier, as the Knicks were locked in another tight battle with the Philadelphia 76ers, Josh Hart hit just one of two free throws, extending the Knicks’ lead to three with 15 seconds left. Anyone who likes drama knows what happened next: The Knicks didn’t make an intentional mistake, 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 had miscommunicated. Head coach Tom Thibodeau wanted them to blow three, but the message wasn’t delivered.

That wouldn’t happen again.

As DiVincenzo waited for the basketball, ready to hit two free throws that could put the Knicks ahead by three, the Knicks players scrambled to each other and reminded each other of the situation. Everyone on the floor 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 person who failed to commit an intentional foul on Tuesday, lashed out at Maxey in the backcourt long before he could throw up a prayer or a shot. The Knicks and Sixers traded free throws. And it helped New York close out a 118-115 win and, more importantly, the series 4-2.

“Sometimes when something like this happens, it crystallizes the thinking for everyone,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “And we won’t be perfect. We will make mistakes along the way. And I think you see that here.”

The Knicks will face the Indiana Pacers, who are coming off 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 also make mistakes in that series. Just like against Philly, they will have to learn from them.

Part of the reason the Knicks have gotten this far — that they’ve won a playoff series two consecutive seasons, the first time this franchise has accomplished that feat in 24 years — is that their blunders make them better.

They botched the ending of Game 5, so they made sure they didn’t do the same in Game 6.

They hit big shots on Thursday. They made mistakes when they had to. On another possession, when the Sixers made a play in the final minute with the Knicks up by three, Thibodeau knew Philadelphia had to go for a triple.

Instead of leaving a conventional center on the floor, as he did in Game 5, when Mitchell Robinson fouled Maxey on a four-point play, he brought in McBride for a small, all-alternation lineup that features OG Anunoby at center was standing. There came a stop.

The Knicks noticed what wasn’t working and adjusted.

They put several defensemen on Maxey after he went for 46 points in Game 5. In Game 6, he scored just 17 points on 18 shots. In Game 6, DiVincenzo started on him.

They have overhauled their doubles teams of Joel Embiid. In the second half of Game 6, they defended the reigning MVP upright and didn’t double down except in emergencies. Until then, they were shaking each other up where the double teams came from, sometimes after two passes, sometimes from the baseline.

The Knicks didn’t just win Game 6 because they had been there before.

Hart hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 25.6 seconds left and finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. Anunoby went off in the second half, disrupting passing lanes and eviscerating Embiid on a fourth-quarter dunk. He finished with 19 points and nine boards. DiVincenzo rediscovered his shot and scored 23 points and seven assists while making five 3-pointers.

And then there was Jalen Brunson, who earned 41 points and 12 assists. He has now scored more than 39 points in four consecutive playoff games, which is the first time since Michael Jordan did so in 1993.

27 year olds with 35+ PPG in the playoffs:

Michael Jordan
Elgin Baylor

And Jalen Brunson. pic.twitter.com/Wcbc3hSRVh

— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 3, 2024

“This was a really big test for us and we came out on top,” Brunson said. “In the future it could be a different test, maybe something completely different. But this definitely helps, and of course you want to learn while you win, so obviously we’re still playing and we want to get better.

This is why the Knicks showed no interest in moving out of No. 2 at the end of the season. Others around the league, such as 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 well built up because of the second place.

The Knicks powered their way past the Sixers in Round 1. They had home field advantage in Round 2 – and they would have even if the Pacers hadn’t upset the Bucks. The Knicks – yes, the New York Knicks – will be the favorites to get to their first Eastern Conference finals since 2000.

But that doesn’t mean Indiana will be a picnic.

The Pacers are sliding through games. They are speed demons in transition. The Tyrese Haliburton-Myles Turner pick-and-pop is among the NBA’s most dangerous plays. The Knicks will face a lot of problems in Round 2 that they haven’t 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 minutes. But the Knicks tend to learn from their mistakes.

It’s a good trait to have for bragging rights come playoff time.

“Crazy things happen in the playoffs,” Thibodeau said. “And then it’s just how you respond.”

(Top photo: Bill Streicher / USA Today)