Steve Popper: Knicks enter last game of regular season with everything clicking
Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns reacts against the Toronto Raptors in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Friday. Credit: AP/Yuki Iwamura
It was a frustrating night when the Knicks lost in Oklahoma City about two weeks ago, a loss that had players and coaches pointing to the mistakes and flaws. But after voicing his own issues, Karl-Anthony Towns, winding down his 11th season in the NBA, offered a message of optimism.
Asked if he was concerned that he hadn’t seen the best of the Knicks on the court at that point, Towns said, “We’ve all seen a lot of basketball. It could come randomly in game 80, 81.”
After the Knicks put together impressive performances in Games 80 and 81 to beat the Celtics and Raptors — the two teams that are perhaps their most likely postseason opponents — and secure the third seed in the Eastern Conference, Towns seemed prescient.
“Right, I know!” he exclaimed after the Knicks beat Toronto for a 13th straight time Friday night.
“I don’t know. I’ve just seen a lot of basketball. You never know what’s going to happen. For us to be in this position, feeling the way we’re feeling, executing the way we are, that’s a huge benefit for us. It definitely helps us feel good and the fans and everyone feel good when we step into that next part of the season.”
Suddenly, the Knicks do feel better. They do look as if everything is clicking and the players finally have found themselves on the same page, just in time.
They enter the final game of the season on Sunday set in place in the standings with five straight wins (including one at Atlanta, another possible playoff opponent). They already have posted 53 wins.
“Yeah, any time you win, it helps with the belief,” coach Mike Brown said. “Especially if you win doing the things you talked about trying to do going into the game, and we’ve been harping on our starts, we’ve been harping on our physicality, and we were pretty good in those areas [Friday].
“So to get a win while doing those things adds that confidence, adds that belief to the overall group. And groups go through your ups and your downs, but the group has been connected for a while now, and that’s a lot of fun to see.”
The starts have been good, the physicality has been better and perhaps most important, the Knicks seem to have figured out how to get the most out of Towns after a season marked by his questioning of how to fit in his role in the offense.
The two-man game with Jalen Brunson has accelerated of late. Towns’ shooting has been vastly improved since the All-Star break, and so has his playmaking in combination with Brunson lately.
“I think he is pretty comfortable,” Brown said. “It’s not all on his shoulders. I’ve got to take some of that, too. I had to figure out how to help him become comfortable without taking away from everybody else.
“That’s what a season’s for. It’s for you to experiment, dabble in this, dabble in that, or pull back here, give a little bit more there. Whatever it takes to try to make sure it fits well for everybody without making it too one-sided.
“We feel like we’re in a pretty good place with it. I think it’s been a couple of months now that we felt pretty good about it. It’s not always going to be perfect, but it definitely is in a good place, a better place than when we started.”
Postseason possibilities
While the Knicks will finish in third place — setting up a rematch with Boston in the Eastern Conference semifinals if both teams get through the first round — their first-round opponent won’t be known until Sunday night. Toronto, which will enter the day in sixth place, is the most likely opponent.
With five games featuring teams still trying to shuffle spots in the conference seeding, there are only four combinations of wins and losses that can move Atlanta out of the fifth spot — all of which include Atlanta losing at Miami, which would drop the Hawks into sixth. But Orlando and Philadelphia also could move up into sixth place.
Here’s one opinion on what the Knicks should hope for:
1. Toronto: The Knicks have beaten them in five meetings this season and 13 straight overall, and the Raptors are missing the things that cause the Knicks trouble: physical big men on the front line and speedy guards with size. Jakob Poeltl was destroyed by Karl-Anthony Towns on Friday, and when they tried to match a wing on him, Towns made them pay for that, too.
2. Atlanta: A dangerous starting five, but the Hawks lack depth and the size to contend with Towns and Mitchell Robinson.
3. Orlando: The Magic’s physical style, which often teeters on the 1990s style of NBA wrestling, has given the Knicks trouble, but even with Franz Wagner back from a lengthy absence, Orlando has faced inconsistency and questions about the future.
4. Philadelphia: If (and a huge if) Joel Embiid can make it back from appendicitis and return to the court for any part of the series, the 76ers will become more dangerous. But the guard combo of Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe has given the Knicks fits.
Playoff prep
On Wednesday at Brooklyn Bowl, there will be a celebration and rally for Knicks fans to benefit the Food Bank of NYC. Fans are invited to gather for “Duggin’ in the Crates” headlined by Doug Berns (Duglust on social media), who has become popular for his song remixes to serve as recaps of Knicks games. Tickets are available at BrooklynBowl.com.
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.
