Steve Popper: Can Knicks summon that Game 4 desperation that helped them blow out the Hawks?
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson dribbles the ball during the second half of Game 4 in a first-round NBA playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday in Atlanta. Credit: AP/Brynn Anderson
When the Knicks take the floor Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, before they worry about defensive schemes or offensive strategies, the simple task for the Knicks is this: how do they recreate the desperation they showed in a one-sided win in Atlanta Saturday?
Nothing has seemed to come easy for the Knicks who are back home and tied in this series, but Jalen Brunson was certain that finding that fire would not be difficult.
"This is what we work all year for, what you work all summer for, for an opportunity to play in the playoffs,” Brunson said. “There’s not a lot of motivation left that’s needed, really. It’s just, this is the opportunity for teams to go and put their names in history if they want it. So, that’s the only motivation.”
It was necessary to play that way Saturday, on the road and already down, two games to one. They were behind in a series that they not only were favored, but one which was just supposed to be a steppingstone on the way to the real goal, the one set by Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan of reaching the NBA Finals.
It’s not like there is no pressure now. The Knicks have home-court advantage again and a chance to push in front with a win at home, but a loss Tuesday night would put the season on the brink once again.
And maybe some of that pressure is spread out because for years it has rested heavily on Brunson’s shoulders with the team relying on him to put on his unstoppable scoring performances.
But the Hawks have done as good a job as any of defending Brunson. Through four games his shooting percentage of 41.6% is the worst he’s had in any of the 12 playoff series he’s played in. And after Brunson got off to the kind of start in Game 1 that we’ve all become accustomed to, 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting, Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and whoever else Atlanta can conjure up have limited him to just 37.2% shooting with nearly as many turnovers as assists (six turnovers with three assists Saturday).
Some of it could be the ankle troubles that show him clearly in pain at times, although he won’t admit it ever. Or it may just be that the Hawks are intent on making someone else beat them. It seemed to raise the tension enough that Brunson and his father, Knicks assistant coach, Rick Brunson, exchanged heated words during a timeout Saturday. Jalen said afterward, “There's no debate there. That was two competitors.”
To Brunson’s credit, he adjusted Saturday. Rather than take the challenge personally and fire away at Daniels, he set screens, played off the ball and let Karl-Anthony Towns serve as the hub of the offense.
“Find the open man,” Brunson said. “There’s two on the ball. Someone has to be open.”
Asked if that’s difficult for him to accept in these moments he didn’t hesitate, noting, “No, not when you have the result we did last game.”
Towns posted a triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. And more than a few of those assists came when Brunson handed the ball to Towns, raced to the corner where he set a screen on a larger defender to free up OG Anunoby along the baseline. And it’s not like Brunson hasn’t scored, averaging 25.5 points per game in the series, but he did post his lowest total Saturday with 19 points.
“Obviously, trying to get KAT the ball in different spots on the floor helped out a lot and took some of the pressure off him,” Mike Brown said. “But in the same breath keeping him involved by using him as a decoy sometimes or a screen setter sometimes. Or sometimes you have him receive a screen and then get in back involved in the action somehow some way.”
With plenty of pressure on Brown as there were questions about the starting lineup, one thing he didn’t have to worry about was Brunson protesting a change in strategy.
“Jalen is about as coachable as they come,” Brown said. “If I had to coach his father, it might be different. Sorry Rick. Jalen is right up there. He’s up there with the Steph Currys of the world. They have a unique relationship and I enjoy every aspect of it.”
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.
