Knicks have no choice but to move on from historic Game 1 collapse

GREENBURGH — Part of being a professional is handling defeat and disappointment. So, while fans may have thrown something at their television, fought with their spouses, had trouble sleeping or called out sick from work in the wake of the Knicks' Game 1 collapse, those in the locker room had little choice but to move on.

But even for them, moving on seems quite a task when what they’re moving on from is a historic — as in, it's never happened in NBA history. 

So, after becoming the first team to have a nine-point lead or better in the final minute and lose a playoff game — after 1,414 teams had won — the Knicks convened at the Madison Square Garden Training Center with little time to prepare for Friday night’s Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers.

Coach Tom Thibodeau gathered the team and rolled the film, with no need to strap his players to the chairs with toothpicks wedging their eyes open, forcing them to watch the painful recollections.

If Thibodeau scrolled through the first 45 minutes of the game, it might seem like a Disney film. But it quickly deteriorated into a horror movie.

“All of the above,” Thibodeau said. “You go through the game, you go through the end of game, you go through it all, and then what did you learn from it and what can we commit to?”

The Knicks have fought through adversity before and, in this postseason, they have lived on the other side of this equation, staging comebacks repeatedly against Detroit and Boston in the first two rounds. 

After the big wins, including knocking the defending champion Celtics out in six games and sending the city into a frenzy — perhaps a premature celebration with streets named for every player while plenty of work is still to be done — the Knicks have maintained a level head. So, they insisted that the mood wasn’t going to change just because they found themselves on the other side of a comeback.

"I think win or lose, just [have] a short-term memory,” Jalen Brunson said. “And you get ready for Game 2, regardless. It could have been a blow out, we still gotta get ready for Game 2.

“I’m pretty sure everyone’s gonna be thinking about it. But I think our mindset has to be short-term memory. Just from the disappointment part – obviously we gotta learn from what we did, but the short-term memory comes from the disappointment and discouragement of how we lost last night. Just gotta be ready to go.”

“I think we’re all good,” Mikal Bridges said. “Just come in here, watching film, [talk about] whatever we have to talk about and watch the film. Pretty much that. Like I said, energy was good. We understood what we did wrong. I think we’re all good. You definitely can’t let one game — it’s not the end of the world. Obviously we all want that game back. But we’ve got another chance at it [Friday].”

The Knicks tried to focus on the first 45 minutes, when, after a sluggish defensive start allowed Indiana to connect on its first nine shots, they controlled the action most of the way. Brunson scored 43 points on an efficient 15-of-25 shooting while Karl-Anthony Towns contributed 35 points and 12 rebounds.

It may be hard to picture that after the collapse that hit historic levels and the enduring memory of Tyrese Haliburton delivering a game-tying buzzer-beater to send the game to overtime, Haliburton signaling that the Knicks had choked the game away. Then, the mistakes continued in overtime.

And even before Haliburton’s heroics, TNT’s telecast caught the Knicks arguing among themselves on the bench during a timeout with 34 seconds left and the team clinging to a five-point lead. Brunson dismissed that as, “just guys talking.”

The talking seemed raw, including Brunson standing and either playing peacemaker or angry team captain — he certainly wasn’t clearing it up. But Towns and Brunson sat beside each other at the postgame podium and spoke about having each other’s backs. And Thursday, about 14 hours removed from the ending, the team insisted all was well.

“Yeah, energy is fine. Energy is pretty high,” Bridges said. “I think vibes are good. I think it’s just, you know, just own up to not finishing strong. But other than that, the beginning, they started making every shot. We figured it out, got better, good fourth-quarter start. So it was just them last five minutes, learning from it, just owning up to it and knowing what we have to do better. Obviously, we want that game back. But it’s a seven-game series. So, come out, be better, but hopefully finish next game.”

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.