Detroit – The love of the Knicks from fans and media last season has lived strong and almost dying violently. They achieved excessively. They overtaked. They were, in many ways, embodied the Knicks’ identity in the 1990s.
As dedicated Knicks fans and public opposing rapper Chuck D tweeted on Saturday, “Donte Divinsenzo has a cult-like basketball in New York.”
But Divincenzo and those nicks are gone – teams with higher expectations, their identity to get finesse over grit, and two victories up to the semi-finals of another conference.
Saturday’s message from Josh Hart, one of the team’s most important holdovers last season, was to embrace these new Knicks rather than live in the past.
“Looking back, if you continue to compare yourself to the team from before a few years ago, you lose your perspective on what you have,” Hart said. “And this team – toughness doesn’t bother you because you feel there is toughness, but you feel there is offensive firepower that goes out there and scores 140 points, so it’s not ridiculous that we don’t affect the past.
In other words, it’s when you don’t board or retreat raw.
“Comparison is a thief of joy,” Hart said. “We’re going to compare ourselves to last year. For what? [Isaiah Hartenstein]we don’t have [Julius Randle]. …We don’t have those people. And now we have a totally different group and a totally different personality. ”
This Knicks Iteration holds the 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4 on Sunday afternoon at Little Caesar Arena. The victory almost certainly brings clinching progress – the team with a 3-1 advantage has won over 95% of these series – a potential second-round showdown against the powerful Celtics is upon us.
On Saturday, the Knicks practiced at a high school gym outside of Detroit, and Tom Thibodeau preached the elimination of distractions.
“Noise, that’s your job [in the media] Create. So we have to leave from it. For us, it’s about focusing on what we have to focus on. Thibodeau said. “I think there’s the playoffs, there’s that emotional part. And there’s a lot going on in the media, social media, there’s a lot going on there. So I’ll eliminate that. Whether it’s praise or criticism, that doesn’t matter. The key is what we’re thinking. Be prepared to play. You need to understand what’s going to win in this league.”
Much of the “noise” related to this series was about the level of physicality. In Game 2, the Knicks were soft and lost.
In Game 3 victory on Thursday, they were offensive and powerful, or, as Pistons center Paul Reid said on Saturday, “they were hugging us, pushing us up and working everywhere.”
The physicality debate often traces back to the Knicks last season. The Knicks lost in the playoffs last season due to injuries and talent.
But the purpose of rebuilding the roster, particularly trading Mikal Bridge and Karl Antony Town, was to raise the ceiling. It worked towards efficient scoring with the starting lineup that pushed the Knicks to fifth in offensive ratings during the regular season.
Does it work in the playoffs?
The Knicks can take another step to prove it on Sunday in Detroit, looking to the future rather than last season.
“Playoff times are different,” Hart said. “Obviously you want to get out there and win every game. That’s not realistic, but we just want to win every game. We don’t try to make it a short series.
