The New York Knicks are backed into a corner.
With the team readying for Game 5 of its second-round playoff series against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, The Athletic caught up with an Eastern Conference assistant coach for another team who was granted anonymity so he could speak freely. Miami leads 3-1 and is a win away from a third trip to the Eastern Conference finals in four years.
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Here is our conversation with the assistant coach, who touched on possible rotation changes for Game 5, Julius Randle’s up-and-down postseason, guarding Jimmy Butler, how the Knicks can attack the Heat’s more vulnerable defenders and more:
(Note: This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.)
OK, let’s get technical. The Knicks have double-teamed Butler a lot, but he rarely ever fights double-teams. He’s often giving the basketball up, which puts the Knicks in rotation, and Miami is swinging the ball around the perimeter for 3s. Is that just something the Knicks have to live with? Do those rotations need to be more crisp? Should they stop doubling Butler altogether?
I would double Butler, for sure. I don’t think the problem has been the double. I think the problem, as you said, has been the rotations behind it.
Those are tough rotations. He’s got size and he can pass over the top, but they gotta be on a string ready to move. As soon as the double happens, that next person needs to be already moving. If not, they’re late, and that’s when they’ve gotten in trouble. They’ve been behind on their rotations. I still think double-teaming him is the right thing to do to get the ball out of his hands, but if you’re not crisp in your rotations, it’s gonna look bad.
What’s one adjustment you would make in Game 5?
Just playing Randle at the five. I know it’s not something they did (in the regular season). I thought they found something at the end of Game 3, (when head coach Tom Thibodeau played Randle and Obi Toppin together at the end of a 19-point game). You could say it was a blowout, but I thought they had a good run with Toppin at the four and Randle at the five. I would explore that rather quickly. I know it’s not how they play, necessarily, but I would explore it.
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I just don’t know if they’re doing that.
They did it. They did it at the end of Game 3.
Yeah, but they only do it when they’re down big at the end of games.
Totally. Yes, they do it when they’re down. You’re right. But it’s the playoffs. You’re not doing it at all if you’re not at least maybe thinking about it. Rewatching Game 3 this morning, I thought they found something there. They did. I think that there’s purpose behind trying it, and I would try it again. I don’t think that Mitch (Robinson) or Isaiah (Hartenstein) have been particularly good.
The rebounding battle is exactly even so far in this series. And it’s not just the big men getting boards. At the end of Game 4, the Heat were grabbing long offensive rebounds. Miami’s guards were beating the Knicks to everything. The Knicks can’t afford that. How are the Heat doing this and how can the Knicks fix the problem?
It’s a full team effort. You see those rebounds at the free-throw line area. I think the guards have to get involved.
It’s interesting watching it because they did such a good job in the Cleveland (Cavaliers) series against a good rebounding team and it’s almost like the same thing they did to Cleveland is happening to them, and it’s not how they played all season. I thought what Julius said at the end of the game — maybe they wanted it more. It sure seems like it. I think rebounding, loose balls and hustle plays are great indicators.
What I would preach is, all it takes is one person to galvanize the group. So, I don’t know who that’s gonna be, but all it takes is one. You saw what Lonnie Walker IV did (in Game 4 of the Los Angeles Lakers second-round series).
Could Evan Fournier do that for them? Could Derrick Rose do it at home at the Garden? I know they haven’t played well all season, but all it takes is one game to shift the momentum of a series. I don’t think they’re in a place where they can just do the same thing and expect a different result. I know that’s how they play. I have the utmost respect for Thibs and how he coaches the team. I just think they have to try something different. That’s easy for me to say. I just wouldn’t roll in there with the same group of people, especially if (Immanuel) Quickley, (who is listed as doubtful with an ankle sprain) is out.
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What other changes would you make?
I think one thing that they haven’t done a good job of, which I thought they did a great job of in the Cleveland series, is putting poor defenders in pick-and-rolls. I think that they have let go of that in this series. I know they’re trying to go at (Kevin) Love with (Mitchell) Robinson guarding him, and that’s a good way to go. If you’re just gonna lean into (Jalen) Brunson in pick-and-roll, which I think is a good idea, it needs to be against Love.
I thought one thing they didn’t do a great job of was when Duncan Robinson gets put in the game, he needs to be put in pick-and-rolls. That’s obvious. It looked like they were trying to do it and they haven’t found success doing it. Gabe Vincent is doing a great job of getting through pick-and-rolls. But if (Max) Strus is on (Quentin) Grimes, it’s on Grimes to do a better job at setting and holding the screen to force the switch.
You watch (Game 4). Robinson, he’s in the game. Brunson isn’t going against him in pick-and-roll. Why are you setting pick-and-roll against Cody Zeller with Hartenstein? In the Cleveland series, they were putting bad defenders in pick-and-roll whenever they were on the court.
In that scenario, Randle can run a pick-and-roll too. They’ve had success when he’s handling and you’re screening bad defenders onto him. I know the Heat are showing, but it still creates an advantage for him to drive and attack. He does not have an advantage in the post against Bam (Adebayo). They’ve been trying to go to it. I don’t see that as an advantage. But what I do see as an advantage is him handling it and then them setting screens with different players, trying to get (Duncan) Robinson and Strus to show on him and create an advantage for him to get downhill, make plays for himself and his teammates.
If Duncan checks in the game, he needs to be in every pick-and-roll against Brunson. It’s the playoffs now. It’s matchups, matchups, matchups. That’s how it has to be.
The weird thing is they just did a great job in the Cleveland series, as I said. They just ran Quickley into the pick-and-roll and he either flipped it or he just stayed straight up and Brunson attacked the bad defender downhill right in the middle of the floor. They can do it. They have the recipe to do it. I anticipate them doing it in Game 5. It might be too little, too late.
These guys are draped all over Brunson. You have to get good defenders off of him, even if it’s just for a split second to create angles. Caleb Martin is draped — credit to Vincent. He’s playing incredible. I know they’re not gonna fully switch on Brunson, but you just have to give him a little bit of an angle. They are all over him and he’s doing a good job, all things considered.
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So many of the Knicks’ offensive possessions have gone the same way: someone drives into the paint, defenders collapse on the driver and then the driver kicks the ball back out to one of his teammates who just drives into the same crowd. They have spacing problems. What’s the solution for this? Take more 3s? Keep driving and hope you get fouls? Different personnel? Different lineups?
They had a possession in Game 4, they drove into the crowd inside and the nearest man cut just to open up space and they got an open 3 out of it. I think cutting can alleviate some of those spacing issues and create open shots, especially against a team that’s packing the paint. But I think you gotta be confident and shoot the ball. They have good shooters that have to be ready to shoot, shoot the ball with confidence and then live with the result. But multiple drives into a crowd are not gonna get them what they need. I think process-wise, you just have to get to the paint, spread out the shooters, shoot the ball. It’s simple in that sense.
What do you make of Randle’s postseason? Does it change how you feel about him as a player?
It doesn’t for me. I would understand the frustration of Knicks fans. I still think he’s a good player, explosive scorer. He’s struggling. I think some of the effort things are what’s bothering some of the fans. But for me, I would try to play him more at the five and I would try to let him handle, just try to get him going. I think to try to post him the first play of the last game — I understand what they’re doing. They’re trying to overload, go over the top, get him some more space. But they’re putting Bam on him, and I wouldn’t go at Bam in that way. I just wouldn’t. I think he needs to play better. He needs to play a little harder. But I think there are a couple of situations that I would like to see him in to see if he can take advantage of it.
I was gonna ask you if you would play Toppin in Game 5 after he was benched last game, but it sounds like you would because you would go small with him and Randle, right?
Yeah, I would. I would play him in Game 5. I think he’s played well at home. I think role players play well at home. In the Cleveland series he, Hartenstein and Quickley were huge.
I would play either Rose or Fournier (in Game 5). I just think they need a different energy. And how beautiful and poetic would it be if Rose helped them get back on track in the playoffs at home in the Garden? If Brunson is gonna play that many minutes, I don’t necessarily see why Miles McBride would get those other minutes. And again, I’m a big fan of Thibs and the coaching staff. It’s always easier to be in my shoes and just say this as opposed to living it. So, I’ll add that caveat. But I just think Fournier could give them the spacing they need and I think that Derrick Rose — I would play either one. I think either one could be helpful.
(Photo of Julius Randle and Jimmy Butler: Eric Espada / Getty Images)
