Knicks keep focus on Cavaliers as possible matchup with Heat looms
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau reacts in the third quarter during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference playoffs at Madison Square Garden on April 23, 2023. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
GREENBURGH — There’s no doubt that the Miami Heat were the elephant in the interview room that no one wanted to talk about Tuesday after Knicks practice.
With the Heat and the Knicks both holding 3-1 leads over their first-round opponents, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the two teams have a good chance of facing each other in the Eastern Conference semifinals, reviving a rivalry considered to be one of the most fierce in the NBA.
The Knicks, of course, wanted to keep the focus on the Cavaliers, whom they could eliminate with a win in Cleveland Wednesday. Still, it was clear that everyone who passed through the room was aware of what had transpired in Miami Monday night when Jimmy Butler scored 56 points to put the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks on the brink of elimination.
“Who?” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said with a smile when asked about Butler, whom he coached in Chicago and Minnesota. “It doesn’t surprise me. I’ve seen him do that. He’s an unbelievable talent. Great game, went back and forth.”
The Knicks and the Heat met in the playoffs four straight times from 1997-2000. Thibodeau was an assistant coach on Jeff Van Gundy’s Knicks staff during that time. Jalen Brunson’s father, Rick, was a player on the Knicks in two of those postseason series and currently serves as an assistant on Thibodeau’s staff.
“Maybe a little bit,” Jalen Brunson said with a laugh when asked if his father had told him tales from those battles. “But we’re focused on Game 5 right now. We’ll move on from there.”
Julius Randle, who is looking to rebound from a poor Game 4 performance in which he was on the bench<NO1>benched<NO> for the fourth quarter, said the worst thing the team can do is look past Cleveland.
“Teams have come back home from 3-1 before,” Randle said. “So, like I said, our focus is just tomorrow and finishing out the series. It’s going to be the hardest game of the series, just trying to finish it off. That’s where our focus is. Whoever it is, we’ll get there when we get there.”
Randle is right that teams have come back from being down 3-1, but not many. While NBA teams are 0-148 when they are down 0-3, 13 teams have come back from being down 1-3 with the most recent being the Denver Nuggets in the bubble in 2020.
Brunson has outplayed Donovan Mitchell, the player the Knicks originally wanted last summer. Brunson was asked if playing Mitchell gave him any extra motivation.
“Not really,” Brunson said. “I think for us to be in this position, no matter who we’re playing, it’s a great opportunity. If we needed any extra added motivation, something’s wrong. We’re happy to be in this, playing in the playoffs. We just have to do our job, stick together and move forward.”
Forward to possibly a throwback series against Miami.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
