Pacers vs. Knicks, Game 2: New York’s big problem? Its starters contin
NEW YORK — If you find yourself in a hole, you should probably stop digging.
The New York Knicks are in the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000. They won 51 games this season — the most any Knicks team has won since 2011-12. They’ve won 50-plus in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1993-94 and 1994-95 campaigns. On Friday, point guard Jalen Brunson and center Karl-Anthony Towns were both named to the All-NBA team — just the fifth time in franchise history two Knicks earned selection in the same year.
Advertisement
This has been, by virtually any measuring stick, the franchise’s best season in a quarter-century. The Knicks have gotten this far. Might as well stick with what got you here, right?
Well, about that:
The Knicks’ starting five — Brunson, Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart — played more minutes than any other lineup in the NBA during the regular season, and it has played more minutes than any other lineup in the NBA during the playoffs. It is, very clearly, the group head coach Tom Thibodeau trusts most … and for nearly six months now, it has been a net negative.
The Pacers made life tough for Karl-Anthony Towns in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals on Friday night. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
(Elsa via Getty Images)
New York’s starters got outscored by nine points in 379 minutes from Jan. 1 through the end of the regular season. They got outscored by 24 points over 121 minutes in the Knicks’ six-game second-round win over the Celtics. They opened the Eastern finals getting outscored by 16 points in 26 minutes in what wound up being a three-point Game 1 loss.
Advertisement
“We’re just putting ourselves in a deficit, and I told you how we can’t keep doing that,” Towns said Friday. “It’s not every time we’re gonna be able to fight back and find ourselves with a win, so, you know, just gotta execute and be more disciplined.”
And after Friday’s 114-109 loss to Indiana — a defeat…
