Knicks' focus is on finishing regular season strong, not playoffs
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson drives against Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard in the first half of an NBA game at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 11. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Tom Thibodeau is trying to keep his Knicks players focused on the present and not on a far more interesting future beginning next week.
But the NBA schedule is doing the coach no favors.
Two of the Knicks’ final three regular-season games are against the Pacers, whose involvement in the playoffs will be limited to watching them.
It begins in Indianapolis on Wednesday night, with a rematch at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, and a game at New Orleans sandwiched between on Friday.
Not exactly the most dramatic stretch run for a team that much later after practice Tuesday found they had clinched the No. 5 seed and trying to think of anything but that. They locked up the fifth seed Tuesday night after the Cavaliers won and the Nets lost.
“Approach every game like it's your last — same mentality as the first 79 games,” Jalen Brunson said, echoing Thibodeau’s message. “Nothing changes. First and foremost, really, nothing changes.”
Both Brunson and Thibodeau acknowledged this will be a challenge, though. Each cited “human nature” and how they must fight against it this week.
Even if the Pacers are 34-45.
“I think that is a trap,” RJ Barrett said, “because if they're not in [the playoffs] that means they're playing guys that didn't get as many minutes, and those guys will get an opportunity.”
“It's not a cakewalk. Those guys are hungry. Those guys are trying to prove themselves.”
Julius Randle, who has a sprained ankle, did not make the trip, and his status beyond that is unclear.
Barrett sat out Sunday against Washington with an illness. He plans to play on Wednesday, but he clearly was not fully healthy when he spoke to reporters Tuesday.
“Still a little under the weather, but I think I’m good,” he said.
Thibodeau will have to assess whether to push it over the final three games with players who are not 100% healthy, a topic he deemed “hypothetical” at this stage.
But Brunson, for his part, is not interested in rest days. Asked whether he would like to sit or play to get ready for the games that count most, he said, “It’s a great question. It's a fantastic question.
“I love to play. I think being in rhythm is great. That’s just me. If I'm able to go out there and play, I want to play.”
Thibodeau said the culture the team set in its first meeting of the season should carry it through this and other situations.
“It's easy, very easy, to get distracted in this league,” he said. “There's a lot going on. Probably more challenges today than ever.
“Just stay locked in and have the group lock in . . . So if you see someone getting off track, you’ve got to make sure that they get locked back in.”
Players were amused by the notion of Thibodeau varying anything in his approach at this point in the season.
Asked whether Thibodeau has changed down the stretch, Barrett laughed out loud, then said, “No, no. He's ready to go. He’s so locked in and focused and disciplined. He’s never going to change.”
When Brunson was asked to remember the happiest he has seen Thibodeau, he was silent for a full 10 seconds, then said, “I have no idea. Yeah, I don’t know.”
Reminded that he has known the coach since Brunson was a child, he said, “That’s the scary part. I don’t know, going back to then. I don’t know. He has some moments. The happiest, though? I don’t know.”
Notes & quotes: Is Brunson surprised by what has gone on with his former team, the Mavericks, who have slumped badly since acquiring Kyrie Irving from the Nets? “I am surprised,” he said. “But honestly, I have no comment about that. But it is definitely surprising.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
