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Nearing the completion of one-third of the season and coming off a disheartening defeat to franchise enemy Trae Young, the Knicks are still searching for the gritty and relentless identity that carried them through piles of adversity last season.
Josh Hart cited two reasons — or people — why.
“Obviously Donte [DiVincenzo] being traded, he was a huge part of our identity. [Isaiah Hartenstein, who left in free agency] was a huge part of that identity,” Hart said. “Just the way they played. They played aggressively. They played great defense. Their energy.
“The biggest thing was when they made plays, it was contagious. You knew. That takes a while to do. It takes a while to know each other and those kind of things. So we have to go out there and make that the norm. That’s something last year, we knew like, ‘At times we might not be able to score but at the end of the game we are going to keep it close and we’ll still win.’”
Hart didn’t mention another important departure — Julius Randle — but the question was about the end of last season, when the Knicks were besieged by injured players — Randle among them — and they gutted out 50 wins followed by a thrilling playoff series against the Sixers.
Those Knicks were underdogs.
They had zero lottery picks in their playoff rotation.
They were built on securing extra possessions through offensive rebounds and defending the paint.
These Knicks (15-10) were constructed differently with higher expectations but struggling to achieve consistency.
“Is there a timetable? No. It happens when it happens,” Hart said. “So, if it doesn’t happen — I don’t think there is a timetable with it. We’re 25 games into a season where we have new pieces and some of those pieces haven’t played all 25 games. We’re trying to figure it out. I think when we do, we’ll be a good team. At this point, it can’t be when we do or if we do. We have to go out there and force the issue and make it happen.”
Some of this is predictable.
By swapping Karl-Anthony Towns at center for Hartenstein and going with smaller lineups, the Knicks predictably sacrificed rebounding and paint defense.
They entered Friday ranked 19th in offensive rebounding percentage.
Last season, they were No. 1.
This season, they entered Friday ranked No. 3 in offense and No. 16 in defense.
Last season, they were No. 7 in offense and No. 9 in defense.
“It’s true what they say and I’ve seen it — they say offense wins games and defense wins championships. And it’s true,” said Towns, who was acquired in the offseason from the Timberwolves for DiVincenzo and Randle. “Just an example: last year in Minnesota we got to the Western Conference finals and it was the defense that got us there.
“So it’s important that we go back and focus on the other side of the court and be the best version that we can be. Obviously it’s great we have a head start for us right now, statistically where we need to be offensively to be that team but the defense has to catch up and match that standard. And once we do that, you hope at the end of 82 games that you step into the playoffs and you have both sides figured out.”
The silver lining of the ugly loss to the Hawks in Wednesday’s NBA Cup quarterfinals is it provided the Knicks three days off at home between games, allowing them rare practice time at the facility in Tarrytown.
If they had beaten the Hawks, the Knicks would have traveled to Las Vegas and been on the road for up to 11 straight days, depending on whether they advanced to the tournament final.
So they had an opportunity Friday to work on some of the problems that led to the inconsistencies and disappearance of last season’s physical identity.
“Whatever the strengths of your team are, you figure that out and what gives you the best chance to win,” Thibodeau said. “We’re 25 games into it. And we got to keep our focus on that daily improvement. And there are some things we’ve done extremely well. And it gives us a chance to dig into that. And refocus and re-energize and keep moving forward. We want to keep improving.
“I think that’s the biggest thing when you start thinking good, usually that’s when the slippage occurs. So stay hungry to improve. The biggest part of mental toughness is having the belief you could always do something better.”
