Pursuit of NBA Cup intrigues Knicks
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
GREENBURGH — Fifty-two years. That’s how long it’s been since the Knicks have been able to hang a championship banner from the rafters of Madison Square Garden.
Yet, over the course of the next eight days, the Knicks have a chance to bolster their championship collection as they are one of eight teams still alive in the in-season championship tournament.
Granted, winning the NBA Cup isn’t exactly the same as beating the Lakers in seven games with a team led by Willis Reed and Walt Frazier. But that doesn’t mean that the current Knicks don’t want to advance out of Tuesday’s knockout game in Toronto and head to the tournament’s final four in Las Vegas.
“Any time you can hang a banner, you got to go get it,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said after practice on Tuesday.
This is the third year that the NBA has held the in-season tournament, and the third year the Knicks have made it to the knockout round. They have never advanced beyond this stage to the semifinals with both of their knockout-round losses being fairly embarrassing.
In the tournament’s inaugural season, they were blown out, 146-122, by the Bucks in Milwaukee. Last year? Atlanta's Trae Young cemented his status as a Madison Square Garden villain when he celebrated a 108-100 victory by kneeling on the center court logo and rolling the dice as if he were practicing for Vegas.
Jalen Brunson said he doesn’t think much about those past losses but believes it’s time for his team to get to the next round of the tournament.
“The past is the past. But there has to be a level of urgency,” the Knicks point guard said. “This isn’t a series. It’s a one-game series. This is win or go home so you’ve got to be ready to go. There’s no easy win to this. So there has to be a level or urgency.”
The Knicks (16-7) consider themselves contenders. On the surface, the in-season tournament doesn’t mean much despite the fact that the league seems to hype it 24/7. Still, being one of the final four teams standing could send an early message that the Knicks are making progress under coach Mike Brown.
“I think every year we’ve fallen short at this stage,” Josh Hart said. “We’ve got to get over this hump, so it will be a nice test against a good Toronto team.”
The Knicks will have to face that test without a key bench player. Deuce McBride, Brunson’s backup, will be out with a sprained ankle, which he injured in the Knicks' win over Orlando on Sunday.
The Knicks did get good news, however, when Karl-Anthony Towns went though some limited practice with the team and he is questionable for the Toronto game. Towns missed Sunday’s game with left calf tightness.
Brown said the experience of competing for the Cup is good for a team, especially one that is still getting to know each other playing in a new system.
“Life is short. That’s my outlook. You want excitement in your life,” Brown said. “You try to put yourself in positions in your life where you have pressure at times. And, that’s something if you are a competitor and you want some excitement in your life, you embrace it. One of our standards is having a competitive spirit. So all of our guys, especially as you go along and advance, you should embrace any pressure that comes with it, because at the end of the day, that’s what you do.
“It also helps prepare you for times down the road when you are put in the same situation. During the regular season, this is probably as close as you can get to simulating a playoff run. And so we try to talk about it and add pressure to it, so our guys will embrace it and handle it the right way and go get it.
“At the end of the day, it’s called winning. That’s what we all signed up to do.”
Bane fined
The NBA has fined Orlando guard Desmond Bane $35,000 for forcefully throwing the ball at the Knicks’ OG Anunoby “in an unsportsmanlike manner” during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 106-100 win at the Garden.
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.
