Brunson & Towns Power Knicks to keep the Magical Postseason Alive for one more night

 The New York Knicks have extended the Eastern Conference Finals to a Game 6 against the Indiana Pacers. Game 5 for the Knicks is the game you would’ve dreamed up beforehand if you are a Knicks fan.

Jalen Brunson from the jump made the statement that it would be a Knicks night. New York’s Captain made six of his first nine shots for 14 first quarter points. With the home court record this postseason for New York (4-5) Madison Square Garden has been anything but a home court advantage, but number 11 in orange and blue made sure of it for one night pouring in a total of 32 points and answering any run Indiana went on.  

Karl-Anthony Towns finally had the game Knicks fans have been wanting him to have all season long. The seven-footer did not settle for anything. He asserted his presence all night against every defender Rick Carlisle decided to put on him and played downhill. Towns shot more free throws, five, than he did three-pointers, four, and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds. As good as Brunson was on the court, KAT was the best player on The Garden floor for the Knicks. Every time the ball was in KAT’s hands good things happened. And Towns will have to continue to be the best player on the court for New York if they want to comeback from the three games to one deficit and make their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999. Indiana doesn’t have an answer for the New York center. Brunson does need to stay consistent and keep Indiana honest, but Towns must takeover like he did in the second and third quarters last night, and like he did in the fourth quarter of Game 3.

An aspect of the Knicks offense that we haven’t seen much at all in these playoffs is the dominant pick-and-roll between Brunson and Towns that powered much of the offensive output for a large part of the regular season. That could be because the defenses New York has seen in the postseason are making it a priority to not let the Knicks get into that action, or it could just be the Knicks are just not attempting to force the issue with Brunson and Towns in that way. One way to extend the series to a Game 7 on Monday night is to potentially work the best pick-and-roll in basketball back into an offense that has had to work overtime to get the job done for most of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Defensively, the Knicks finally looked like they answered the riddle that has been the Indiana offense in this series. For most of the four games played before last night the Knicks defense has looked like it’s been running in quicksand. Miscommunication, fatigue, and a lack of hustle has led the Pacers being able to turn the Eastern Conference Finals into an Olympic Track Meet. Last night, that all changed. The Knicks got back defensively to prevent Tyrese Haliburton from getting into the open floor and making every Pacer offensive possession a fastbreak like in Game 4. The Knicks defense also finally talked enough to switch properly and force Indiana’s half court offense into difficult shots late in the shot clock. A poor defensive team finally appeared to become a Tom Thibodeau style defensive team last night against an extremely tough team to defend.

As for the rest of the New York Knicks outside of their All-NBA performers, there isn’t much more you can ask for in this matchup. Through five games OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges have shown this isn’t the series that they will shine on either end of the floor. The defensive dynamic duo has tried their best to stay in front an offense that’s goal has been to score in six seconds or less at all times. Offensively, it is a tall task to ask them to give 20-25 plus points a night. Josh Hart is not a good half-court offensive player but has been masterful on the glass securing almost every key rebound for the Knicks in this series. Mitchell Robinson has a dominant defensive presence in the middle for New York and has gobbled up rebounds like he’s a hungry hippo. Deuce McBride has provided energy defensively and has always been a streaky shooter. Elsewhere on the bench, what do you really expect? Is Precious Achiuwa not getting more minutes New York is down in this series? Is not playing Delon Wright the reason? Or Landry Shamet? NO. The Knicks need what every championship level team needs at this time of year, the stars to play like stars.

The Knicks bench is what a lot of NBA benches are—just fine. Achiuwa, Wright, and Shamet can all be impactful in their own ways at points, and they have been in this series, but if they play too much a good team like the Indiana Pacers will find the cracks in their games and exploit it every time down the floor. The energy that the bench has given New York is the reason why this series has changed, but it cannot continue to be relied upon for any more minutes for the remainder of this series.

Credit Tom Thibodeau for finally trusting his bench to be a change of pace in this series but let’s not go crazy here. Thibodeau had no choice but to go to Delon Wright in Game 3 because both Brunson and McBride were in foul trouble. That’s a move that just worked out. That doesn’t mean however that we can completely discredit what Tom Thibodeau has done to give his team a chance to win. Thibodeau has done almost everything the right way in these playoffs to get the Knicks to this point. He has been outcoached by Rick Carlisle in this series, and the series score reflects that, but to discount the tightwire act that Thibodeau is executing to get this series back to Indiana after two miserable efforts on the court by the players Thibs coaches is unacceptable.

Moving Josh Hart to the bench was the right decision for this series. Allowing Landry Shamet, Delon Wright, and Deuce McBride to push the issue defensively throughout points in this series is the right call. “Allowing the game to tell you what to do” is the oldest Tom Thibodeau cliché but it has worked for his team to battle to get to the Eastern Conference Finals and to push a series that has been a nightmare to a sixth game, and they have another chance to do what only 13 other teams have done in NBA history. Reverse a 3-1 series deficit and advance.