The Knicks walked off the field at Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoon with their shoulders drooping. The energy that gripped the arena at the start of the game against Miami boiled down to a mishmash of people hopping, Heat fans and a few Knicks fans bragging as they shouted insults, mostly at game officials and Heat fans.
It’s hard to get perspective in a moment like this.
“I was awful,” said Knicks center guard Jalen Bronson, who scored 25 points but missed all seven of his 3-point attempts.
On Sunday, the Knicks lost to the Heat, 108-101, in Game 1 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference semifinals. They lost even though Heat star Jimmy Butler didn’t have the kind of explosiveness he used to knock out the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs.
But despite the dour mood that swept the park after the game, it would be unwise to bury the Knicks for their performance. In some ways, everything the Knicks do in the playoffs is a bonus. Perhaps most importantly, there is still plenty of time for them to survive the series.
“I don’t think anyone thought this game was going to be, or that the series was going to be won or lost in game one,” Knicks guard Josh Hart said. He later added, “I don’t think there’s a chance we’ll slip away. It’s going to be a tough physical series and every game is going to be different.”
The Heat and Knicks were not expected to last long in the playoffs.
The Knicks finished the regular season as the 5th seed in the East, facing a Cleveland Cavaliers team that traded for the star the Knicks didn’t – Donovan Mitchell.
The Heat faced longer odds, as the eighth seed was expected to battle against the Bucks for the championship led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, finalist for Player of the Year.
Instead, the Heat and Knicks easily dispatched their first-round opponents, needing only five games each to do so. Miami took advantage of Antetokounmpo’s injury and Butler’s dynamism. Butler scored 56 points in Miami’s Game 4 victory against the Bucks and 42 in the win two days later.
That means containing Butler will be crucial for the Knicks, a team driven by their defense and depth.
The Knicks had both a home advantage and a tactical advantage in that Coach Tom Thibodeau knew Butler well. Butler coached with the Chicago Bulls for Butler’s first four seasons in the NBA, and again when Butler played for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
On Sunday, Butler scored 25 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. More importantly, the attention he got on the court made things easier for his teammates, many of whom thrived under playoff pressure before.
The shooting of Nix was also particularly detrimental to them. Bronson wasn’t the only one to struggle with 3. Overall, the Knicks hit just 20.6 percent on their three-pointers, including just 3 of 16 in the first inning.
With 5 minutes and 5 seconds remaining, Butler struggled to get off the court after turning his ankle while grappling with Hart. Refuse to leave the game. With Butler hampered, the Heat relied on guard Kyle Lowry and extended their lead to 11 points from 3.
“This is definitely inspiring because he’s not going to get out of the game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And to be able to finish the game just add a bunch of confidence to the rest of the guys we have to finish this.”
Historically, when the Heat and Knicks played each other in the playoffs, the fights were more akin to boxing matches than basketball matches. Their physicality was legendary in the ’90s as the Knicks’ Patrick Ewing and Miami’s Alonzo Mourning, both at a game on Sunday, were battling it out in the paint.
Sunday’s game was louder than those contests a quarter century ago, but it was similarly physical.
“I wouldn’t assume every game would look like this,” Spoelstra said. “We played those guys four times during the regular season. Two of the games were in the mud like this, the Heat and Knicks throwback you would expect. And then we had a shootout.”
But he also said he expected the series to be a “battle for the bishops”.
What the Knicks have already done this season is reason to be optimistic about their future.
They weren’t supposed to have a major playoff run this year even with Bronson, a finalist for the league’s Most Valuable Player award. The Knicks are widely seen as one star away from championship contention. If they win this series and make it to the Conference Finals, they will have exceeded most expectations.
They eschewed the kind of silly drama that characterized the decade-long desert they roamed in until they created a stable environment with Thibodeau at the helm.
The Knicks beat the Cavaliers soundly, justifying their unwillingness to storm their roster in order to trade for Mitchell.
Their depth pushed them against Cleveland. That is why they often succeed even when playing with short hands.
On Sunday, they were playing without Julius Randle, who has a sprained ankle. Thibodeau refused to use that as an excuse as to why he lost the match.
“We have more than enough,” he said after the match.
The Heat also missed a key player – guard Tyler Herro, who broke his hand during the first round and is expected to miss several weeks.
Butler did not address reporters after the match and Spoelstra said he did not know the condition of Butler’s injury. But if it’s serious, it might change the look of the series. However, the Knicks saw what the Heat did in the first round against the Bucks and knows how difficult it can be.
“They’ll never give up,” said Knicks forward RJ Barrett. “That’s something I personally enjoy about this series. It’s going to be a hard-fought fighter. It’s going to be tough. You have to go out there and just kind of take it.”