Steve Popper: Relaxed Knicks confident their versatility can handle the Cavs or Pistons
Knicks' Josh Hart reacts during the second quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Madison Square Garden on May 6, 2026. Credit: Getty Images/Dustin Satloff
GREENBURGH — If you wanted to know how the Knicks are handling the pressures of the impending Eastern Conference finals, consider how Josh Hart entered his post-practice interview session. He walked in carrying a puppy, not his dog, but a friend’s dog, and when asked if he was dog-sitting, he said, “Just hanging. Just vibing.”
The Knicks could do this — just hang, just vibe — since they are, like any of their fan base, in a holding pattern, waiting and watching like all of us to see who their opponent will be and when the series will begin as they wait out the winner of the Detroit versus Cleveland series.
The practice session Wednesday came days after Sunday’s one-sided finish to a four-game sweep of the Philadelphia 76ers and the Knicks will have at least a week before playing again and possibly nine days, depending on when the other series ends.
Considering that the Knicks season came to an end in the conference finals last season and the head coach, Tom Thibodeau, lost his job just four days later, you might expect the Knicks to be a bit more on edge. Adding to that Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan declared in a radio interview earlier this season that he believed the team should reach the NBA Finals, maybe the vibes would be a little more tense.
But the Knicks have maintained a belief in themselves and what they could be, even before the seven-game winning streak that they are currently resting upon. And that belief allows them to ignore any of the outside noise and pressure. They are rested, playing well and healthy — OG Anunoby was at practice Wednesday working through some parts of the session, but not the live scrimmaging, as he works his way back from a right hamstring strain that sidelined him for the last two games.
“I don’t think we look at it as a pressure situation,” Hart said. “Obviously, we’re in New York and everything that we do is amplified. Whether it’s winning three games in a row [and] people crowned us champions. Lose three games in a row and people crowned us a team that’s tanking. You know what I mean?
“Our job right now is to stay even, to focus on that task at hand. If or when guys’ minds wander, we have a good enough team, a good enough camaraderie to hold everyone accountable and bring everyone back into the fold. So it’s not really pressure in terms of that.
"With that character of guys that we have in the locker room you’ll never see anyone that’s more judgmental or criticizes themselves more than ourselves individually. And when you’re your hardest critic there’s no other pressure. Because at the end of the day I’m going to look at myself in the mirror and wonder what I could do better and no one that’s not in my shoes can tell me what I could do better.”
There has been a maturity — the Knicks players and coaches speak often about character as a defining trait — that has helped the team navigate through the ups and downs of the season, and even thrive after the start to the postseason that saw them trailing the Atlanta Hawks two games to one.
It comes from experience, nearly the entire roster reaching this point last season, and also from a willingness to adapt, taking advantage of one of the best attributes of the roster. It is a versatility that allows them to rely on Jalen Brunson at times as the unstoppable offensive force, or shift as they did after that third game in Atlanta, to take the ball out of Brunson’s hands and play with Karl-Anthony Towns as the centerpiece. It is that willingness to adapt that allows the Knicks to sit back and watch the Pistons and Cavs battle it out and believe they have the ability to create a style to face either one.
“You can say that,” Brunson said. “But I think the most important thing is our mentality and making sure that we’re not comfortable.”
“You need versatility especially come playoff time,” Brown said. “Every step you go the teams are better. They are better on both sides of the ball so it becomes more challenging. But it can be challenging in different ways. To have guys you can move around to help you out is definitely huge.”
Versatility is huge, but stars are, too. And maybe the most telling words of the day came from Brunson when he was asked why, in a backs-to-the-wall situation in Atlanta, he was willing to let someone else lift them out of it.
“One, I’m not a star. Two, I want to win,” Brunson said. And when pressed why he wouldn’t consider himself a star, he added as he walked out, “I’m not self-centered. That’s why.”
He is certainly a star, a fact his resume attests to, and the second part, wanting to win, is what made him the captain of the team. He’s not alone though; the team is buying into being something more as a sum of the parts. And if you have that, you can enjoy the relaxed vibes for a day while you wait for what’s next.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
