Last June, the Knicks and Pacers were fighting for the title “Best in the East.” Last night at the Garden both teams were just trying to survive.
The Pacers have been gutted by management cuts, losing the likes of veteran leadership in Mark Jackson and Dale Davis, while the Knicks have yet to show the kind of consistency needed to win the conference.
And coach Jeff Van Gundy again questioned his team’s toughness before the game. The Knicks have lost seven straight road games, including the most embarrassing of losses to the Bulls two games ago.
They do have an easy schedule the rest of the way, so they should start to make some progress.
On Sunday the Knicks were made fun of by former Knick Chris Childs, who had pointed out that under Van Gundy, the Knicks are a no-fun bunch who have not been allowed to create on the court.
Van Gundy is disappointed with his players saying they have no identity. He wants them to be a defense-, rebounding-first team. Instead, they are a team that only plays well when Marcus Camby plays his best. Camby missed the last two games with back spasms, helping to create the losses in Chicago and Toronto. Camby was expected to play last night.
The Knicks are not playing defense the way Van Gundy wants them to play, and he said so again last night, pointing out the Knicks have given up too many layups. He remarked on just such a layup Sunday by Vince Carter in the Knicks 98-88 loss in Toronto on Sunday.
“There has to be a penalty to going to the basket,” Van Gundy noted. “We haven’t had the resistance that we need to have. I don’t think you have to be an enforcer, you don’t have to be a thug, you just have to be willing to do what it takes to win in this league. You shouldn’t have to be saying after games, ‘No layups’ or saying during the game, ‘No layups.’ That should just be the way you play basketball.”
Van Gundy said the Knicks are not getting good defense from anyone. He also said the Knicks are a “faceless team.”
Of his team, Van Gundy said, “There is concern. They know they are not playing well.”
Coaches, of course, are paid such sums as $14 million to get a team to reach its potential. Sooner or later, if a team does not play up to its capabilities, the coach will be held responsible.
To Van Gundy’s credit, he is one of the all-time greats at deflecting criticism to other areas when things are going bad, but at the same time, he receives most of the credit when things are going good. He is an absolute magician at manipulation. He has to use those unique skills to get the Knicks going in the right direction.
Pacer coach Isiah Thomas said the Knicks and Pacers have had similar problems.
“[Van Gundy] is having the same problem with his team in terms of intensity and energy that we are experiencing,” Thomas said. “His team is a much more veteran team, so they know how to play through it. They know how to turn it on where our guys are still trying to figure out how to hit that button every night.”
Van Gundy knows the team is capable of great things.
“We were playing really well earlier,” he said. “I thought we had a team pride through the first 40, 45 games that it was going to be hard on people every night. I just think we’ve taken a step back in that. I know this group has it, it’s up to myself and the players to bring it back out.”
The Knicks went into last night’s game 9 ½ games back of the Sixers in the Atlantic Division. They were standing as the fourth seed in the East. Winning the homecourt advantage for the first round is huge, considering the Knicks were 20-10 at home and 14-15 on the road. The Pacers were holding onto the final playoff spot.
Despite all the Knicks defensive woes that Van Gundy pointed to, if their offense is moving they are unstoppable. The Knicks are 11-0 when shooting at least 50 percent and 11-0 when scoring 100 points or more. They are 25-3 when scoring 90 points or more.
Said Jalen Rose of the Pacer woes, “The thing about being a team that’s in the first year of a transition, there are going to be peaks and valleys. There is such parity, it’s nothing a winning streak can’t cure. I know we can do damage [in the playoffs]. As long as we’re going to continue to progress, we’re going to be a tough out.”