We have come to expect so much of what the Knicks presented Sunday: 48 minutes of effort, 48 minutes of belief. The Heat might own an ugly record right now but they are still the defending Eastern Conference champions, and Sunday afternoon at the Garden they showed why, a gaggle of give-me-the-ball alphas with a game on the line.
There is Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, there is Kendrick Nunn and Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson. In the end there were too many Miami players capable of making plays down the stretch of this 109-103 Heat win, and too few Knicks who did. Again: That isn’t new behavior with these Knicks, as watchable as they’ve become.
“We didn’t finish our defense,” was the way Tom Thibodeau put it. “Give them credit. They’re not just Jimmy. They move the ball well and have great shooting around them.”
What was more telling were the things Thibodeau didn’t say, couldn’t say, wouldn’t say. The Heat, in many ways, possess precisely the DNA Thibodeau wants: willing to play defense every night, able to hang tough in difficult moments, capable of closing the door when it’s begging to be closed.
The Knicks have Julius Randle, who at this moment fulfills all of those requirements. And they have a roster full of vets who can on some nights, and a roster spackled of kids who might learn how to do that most nights.
So you can understand why Thibodeau might have been yearning for this seemingly inevitable reunion with Derrick Rose. This year marks 10 years exactly since Rose’s MVP season, when he was 22 and sure looked like he was going to throw basketball haymakers at LeBron James for years to come. But that was before the knee went kerblooie.
That was before he returned as a highly skilled point guard who was never going to be what he was, except for a few stolen nights here and there. The Knicks saw this four years ago, when he was still only 28, when he played 64 games for them and would occasionally play his greatest hits for them.
He is four years older now, but he remains in Thibodeau’s eternal circle of trust. The Knicks aren’t surrendering much for him, one of their crew of second-round picks plus the remains of Dennis Smith Jr.’s career. But that really isn’t the issue. This is the issue:
Once he’s here, once he’s cleared to play, he’s going to play. The Knicks already have a 10-man rotation. Who will be elbowed out? There are but three options:
It could be Elfrid Payton, who has played better lately but is still frustratingly limited in just about every aspect of point guard play.
It could be Austin Rivers, who has had some fun moments as a Knick but has also scuffled lately, and if it’s him, that means Payton becomes a backup and Immanuel Quickley will be a 2 guard off the bench — a position he could surely play.
Or it could be Quickley, and that is not a development any Knicks fan would endorse, even if many hadn’t heard of him in the hours, weeks and months before he was drafted. He has quickly become a conversation-starter around Knicks fans and the fact is, he’s not just a cute windup toy: He’s a good player and more importantly a fearless player. He has earned his spot in the Knicks’ rotation.
If Rose’s arrival alters that even a little bit?
Then this would be some more-of-the-same nonsense, during a season when the men who run the Knicks have seemed determined to steadfastly avoid more-of-the-same. The Knicks have already sent Kevin Knox into witness protection. Frank Ntilikina, whenever he returns, will get shuttled back to the abyss.
This season has to be about keeping eyes on the prize, even if it certainly seems likely that barring a gravity-defying collapse, the Knicks will be in play for one of the 10 slots in the temporarily expanded Eastern playoff tournament. That is actually a worthwhile goal. And for Thibodeau, who has mostly played the good company man from Day 1, it would allow a tangible carrot to keep the team working toward.
“[Rose] has been around the system,” said Knicks backup center Taj Gibson, who has played more games under Thibodeau’s watch than anyone. “We know what Thibs basically wants, and we can be valuable to young players still learning.”
That’s music to everyone’s ears. If Rose can come in and play at a still-above-average level and if he can be a mentor for Quickley, and the other Knicks’ kids, good for Leon Rose for pursuing the deal and good for Thibodeau for craving it. There are still two parallel tracks for this team: continued improvement, and a layaway plan for future prosperity.
Now is not the time to forget that, however frustrating outcomes like Sunday might be.