Tarrytown, NY – Mitchell Robinson is not a superhero. He’s just like you and me, only taller and more prone to humor. He can’t stop time. not fly. And as hard as he tries, he can’t snag every offensive rebound in existence, even if it sometimes seems like his team’s best chance to score is with a missed shot.
For a short time after Sunday’s loss, the New York Knicks forgot about it.
Jumpers rolled out. Robinson could not surround the boards. Instead of running back on defense, the four Knicks stood where they were, following a basketball through the air as if it were a mission it would end up in the palms of their relentless 7-foot-tall teammate.
But she didn’t.
That’s when Kevin Love’s touchdown passes came.
Love grabbed rebounds and sneaked a full court, topping dishes for easy buckets over and over — enough times he said he told Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was in attendance in the Miami Heat’s 108-101 victory, that the veteran is a power forward. It now has “New York’s best QBR.”
This is what love does. It is written in it. His middle name is Wesley, named after Wes Unseld, one of the greatest passers of all time. Love is on the short list, too. Come game two of the New York-Miami second-round playoff series, the Knicks will know firsthand what they should have learned from a seventh-grade reading of Romeo and Juliet: Consequences are dire when you let love run wild.
“Between Mitch and Julius (Randall), there’s a lot of offensive rebounding. And even Josh (Hart) now. And I know I’m part of that often. We must do something. Either you go or you must return; One of two.”
On those plays when Love split up the Knicks transition defense to start the third quarter, the Knicks didn’t go or come back.
Watch every Knicks player stare at the snap instead of running back on defense on this three-pointer from Hart, leading to a layup to Heat guard Max Stross:
It’s not supposed to look like this.
If Knicks is executing correctly, all players above the free throw line, on the wings or in the corners (except the pitcher) are supposed to run back to prevent a fast break and get matched properly on defense.
“You want to come back and protect (the basket),” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “If Mitch gets it, you float the other way. … It’s just discipline.”
But the Knicks struggled with that during the third quarter.
This play, which takes place just a minute later, feels like a facsimile of Love’s previous Hail Mary, only with Jimmy Butler playing Strus.
It’s not just about getting back on defense either. The Knicks have to figure out who hits them on the floor. Often, the defender is responsible for shutting down the shooter.
On the first play, Strus contests a jump from Hart, who holds his position as Strus runs the flying pattern. The same problem occurred on the second play. Butler jumped at Jalen Bronson and then continued in the same direction. Nix did not follow.
“That’s smart[of them],” Barrett said. “We have to get offensive rebounds because they have fewer players, and we have to make sure the players come back. (We) can’t let them hit us on the ground like that.”
These two weren’t the only ones to do Dodgers impersonations in Game 1, either. Butler hit for a third touchdown just a minute and a half later.
Nix aware of this issue. Emmanuel Quickly called it “certainly correctable”. Now, they just need to make sure they don’t get so impressed with Robinson’s glasswork that they let Miami receivers run over the top of the defense.
“Defense is all about effort, connection, and talking,” Kwikley said. “If we want to do it, we will do it.”
Passing the Love port is just one item to focus on heading into Game 2, which is 7:30 PM (ET) Tuesday. Here are some other ideas:
Quickly Odds
A surprise came when the Knicks released their official injury report for Game 2: Bronson is dealing with ankle soreness, the team said. He, like Randle, who missed Game 1 with a sprained ankle, is on the list of questions for Tuesday. But whether Bronson plays or not, the Knicks could use the help of another point guard who has struggled to find his way through the six-game playoffs in New York.
Quickley, at least in terms of offense, didn’t look like the guy who finished second in the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year voting.
Part of the reason is a change in role. Quickley doesn’t handle basketball nearly as well as he did in the first 82. He runs pick-and-roll games nearly four times less often in the playoffs than he did during the regular season, according to Synergy Sports. Especially when he’s alongside Bronson or Barrett, he’s more of an off-the-ball contributor.
Knicks used it as a checkup. They put it in the corners, away from the rock, with Bronson or Barrett making things happen at the top. His average touchdown while playing alongside Bronson or Barrett during the regular season was 20 percent longer than his average touchdown during those situations in his six games. Atypical numbers followed.
But this malaise is more than just a change in role. He’s also on Quickley, by himself.
The best version of Quickley is the master of speed. But at times against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round and the Heat game on Sunday, he seemed uncharacteristically indecisive.
Look at this play from Sunday, when he has a pass to the hoop but picks up his dribble and passes the ball out:
It’s possible that Quickley saw Bam Adebayo, one of the greatest defenders in the world, look up to him and say no. Adebayo can scare drivers away with just a look. But Quickley tends to play his game, no matter who is up against him. If he has a pass, he tries to go to the basket, if Adebayo goes up, he has a ball to his center, Robinson. If he senses a defender on his hip, he goes into a float, sometimes hopping off his outside foot, just to change the timing.
See Quickley here. Gabe Vincent has won:
This is an opportunity to make a mistake or a bucket.
Something about Quickley now feels a little off. The basic numbers agree. He averaged just 9.0 points on 34 percent shooting over the Knicks’ six postseason games.
“I went through something like that in the regular season and everyone was wondering. I never ask myself,” he said. “I work so hard to do that. Keep seeing what I can do to keep helping the team and keep shooting with confidence.”
Nix needs his help.
The Heat is loading up on Brunson, who can take advantage of the relief his dangerous playmaker provides on the other side of the field. If Bronson isn’t able to go on Tuesday, Quikley is supposed to become the starting point guard, which means his role changes back to something more familiar. Perhaps this keeps his aggression going.
Either way, the Knicks never finished fifth in the Eastern Conference without Quickley’s regular season performance, and the Cavaliers went unbeaten in five games without his impressive defense throughout a first-round series. But they can use the game and score from it against Miami, too. Until now, he struggled to find it.
More Grimes?
The Knicks shot just 7 of 34 from 3-point land in Game 1—and they did it with one of their best long-range shooters, Grimes, playing for just 10 minutes. There is a possibility that we will see this number increase in Game 2 when conditions are different.
Thibodeau compared Hart’s minutes to Butler’s in Game 1, ensuring he could control Miami’s All-Star winger as perfect a defender as possible. But the status of Butler on Tuesday night is uncertain after he sprained his ankle in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game. Thibodeau said Butler’s game wasn’t the only reason Hart started in Game 1 either.
“I didn’t know where Quentin would be with the contact and the physicality of it all,” the coach said, noting that Grimes was returning from a right shoulder contusion. “I like the way he responded. It sounded good. So, we’ll see.”
Grimes was essential during Miami’s games during the regular season because he never stopped shooting. And it wasn’t just that he hit 3s against the Heat; It was that he took them – a whole bunch of them.
He shot 6-of-10 from depth against Miami on March 22 and then went 5-of-10 against them a week later. Given the Heat’s Game 1 strategy — which involved slouching pitchers who didn’t fear them, like Hart or Obi Toppin — the Knicks could use someone who is unabashed and able to get hot.
Spacing wouldn’t hurt, either, to inject a shooter that Miami has to watch out for.
(Photo by RJ Barrett and Kevin Love: John Minchillo/Associated Press)