The Knicks believe in themselves . . . do you yet?
Knicks forward Julius Randle celebrates with guard Immanuel Quickley after Randle scored during final seconds of the second half of an NBA game against the Heat on Friday in Miami. Credit: AP/Wilfredo Lee
BOSTON
Do you believe?
Not just believe that the Knicks are a playoff team, something that they have proved with every one of the timely eight consecutive wins that have lifted them to fifth place in the Eastern Conference and really longer, a 28-14 stretch in which they have played about as well as any team in the NBA.
But do you believe that this team can be something more, defying expectations at levels that few outside of their locker room might have imagined not long ago? Do you believe that this Knicks team can get to the playoffs, win a playoff series and maybe etch themselves in stone as the best Knicks team in more than two decades?
It’s not as improbable as it may have seemed even two weeks ago, but the bandwagon has been filling up day by day. And it’s worth wondering just how far this ride might go.
“We believe in each other,” RJ Barrett said. “We believe in ourselves. It doesn’t matter if people say we’re the best team in the league. We believe in us and who we are and the work that we put in to go on that court every night.”
Even in the euphoria of Friday in Miami, when Julius Randle capped a 43-point night with a game-winning three-point field goal with 1.1 seconds left as he faded away into the stands, the Knicks have dutifully maintained that they are not looking beyond the task at hand, whether it’s a practice or a Sunday night meeting with the Celtics at TD Garden.
“We’ll talk about the playoffs after game 82,” Jalen Brunson said.
But let’s talk about the playoffs now. The Knicks were there two years ago and it was a similar situation — a team that overachieved, outpacing expectations by outworking teams on a nightly basis, forged with preparation ingrained from Tom Thibodeau, who would earn NBA Coach of the Year honors.
But that team was built on a fragile base. Randle carried them on his shoulders much of the season, earning second-team All-NBA honors and the Most Improved Player award, but there were glaring holes on the roster.
Elfrid Payton was the starting point guard throughout the season, but by the final game of the playoffs — when the Knicks were eliminated by the Hawks four games to one — Thibodeau had resorted to inserting his old allies, Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson, into the starting lineup.
The Knicks navigated the COVID-ravaged season in front of near-empty arenas better than anyone else, never having to shut down practice and losing only two players (Frank Ntilikina and Rose) to protocols the entire season. But in the playoffs, when the opposition was just as focused and prepared, the Knicks were no match.
While this team may seem similar in some ways, it is a far different group. Randle, Barrett and Mitchell Robinson have that experience from two seasons ago to draw upon.
“For sure,” Barrett said. “Looking back and thinking back about that series, there are things we could have done better, experience now will help us as well, hopefully, when we get there.”
But it’s more than just experience. The Knicks’ additions in piecing together this nine-man rotation have shifted the makeup of the team.
Jalen Brunson is the leader on the floor that the team lacked two years ago, and he provides a capable scorer and ballhandler to relieve pressure from Randle. Quentin Grimes has emerged as a polished wing defender. Josh Hart provides an endless energy supply off the bench and Immanuel Quickley has matured to pair with Hart on a second unit that may have older Knicks fans recalling the first Knicks championship team.
The bench then — called the Minutemen — was led by the likes of Cazzie Russell, Mike Riordan and Dave Stallworth, names that don’t hang in the rafters at Madison Square Garden but were huge contributors.
Brunson and Randle have carried the team most nights, but it’s easy to point to games that couldn’t have been won without contributions up and down the roster of a team that embodies the mantras of Thibodeau. Sacrifice. The magic is in the work. Don’t look back, don’t look ahead.
Maybe that works better than the old Tug McGraw slogan from the 1973 Mets of “Ya gotta believe!”
“We don’t ever get comfortable,” Quickley said. “We’re gonna continue to find ways to get better. That’s what this league is, is day by day, month by month, even year by year, continue to find ways to get better, improve so that you can be one of the top players, top teams in the league.”
They believe.
Do you?
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.
