Breaking down what went wrong for Knicks in Game 4 vs. Pacers, looking ahead to Game 5
Entering this postseason, 554 teams had 2-0 leads in a seven-game series. Those teams won 93 percent of those series. The Knicks obviously hope to avoid being on the wrong end of that stat. To do so, they’ll need to clean up mistakes from their losses in Games 3 and 4 in Indiana. Brendan Brown -- who has three decades of NBA experience as a coach, broadcaster and scout -- breaks down what went wrong in Game 4 and what needs to be corrected in Game 5:
What happened at the start of the game?
BROWN: “Two minutes into the game, the Knicks ran a handful of new halfcourt sets -- similar to the split-game actions of Games 2 and 3 -- with a little more motion added in. They didn’t score on any of these plays -- Donte DiVincenzo missed a short jumper in the lane, which was the best shot of this sequence. So the Knicks go about four minutes without scoring.
“What happens after that is with every missed shot, the Pacers start running back hard at the Knicks -- and when T.J. McConnell enters the game, the score blows up. A Pacers big runs to the rim and someone has to cover him. The Knicks also pick up the ball but the other defenders struggle to match up. The Pacers are wide open for threes after quick passing. It’s two-on-one or three-on-two on the perimeter -- the quick passes beat any rotations the Knicks are trying to make. The Pacers are getting open threes, good drives on closeouts, offensive rebounds. This is a deadly combination. And their bench runs harder than the starters. It was a bad sign when the Knicks’ first four field goals were scored by Isaiah Hartenstein and Precious Achiuwa and they were down by 11. It only got worse from there. Outside of Alec Burks, the Knicks shot 13-for-39 in the first half. Not good…
“When Quin Snyder coached in Utah with (Donovan) Mitchell and company, they proved night after night that playing in a four-out shell without dribbling creates wide open shots. Bojan Bogdanovic was on that team. (Rudy) Gobert was the big man inside/screener. If teams helped to Mitchell, it was sharp passes around the perimeter without any dribbles. If you were trying to rotate to that on the backside, you couldn’t catch up to the quick passes in your rotations -- a passed ball will move quicker than you can….
“That was what Game 4 looked like for the Knicks. Defending in the flow and in transition, they were constantly behind. Tyrese Haliburton and McConnell were driving and all five guys were in their spots quickly. The spread shell provided great spacing."
Who is this Obi Toppin? (14 points on 6-of-11 shooting in 18 minutes)
BROWN: “Toppin was in the starting lineup at the beginning of the season, but was removed about a quarter of the way in. When (Pascal) Siakam was acquired, it was clear that Toppin was coming off the bench. But he sort of flourished there playing with (TJ) McConnell, (Ben) Mathurin, etc. He wasn’t rebounding enough in the starting lineup, which was a problem with the Knicks. But he became a consistent contributor to one of the league’s most potent benches. He was second in the NBA in two-point percentage (70.1 percent)….
“So what has changed? He doesn’t leak out as much, rarely at all. He seems to be more at ease on his catches on the perimeter. He can still utilize his speed in transition (see clinching Game 6 versus Milwaukee when he had 21 points and eight rebounds). Through four games of the Knicks series, he is averaging 12 ppg in 19.2 mpg, shooting 59.4 percent overall and 54.5 percent on threes. He has nine assists against one turnover. Is this a more complete basketball player?
“In the first quarter frenzy, he made a play I don’t think he makes with the Knicks. He ball-fakes on a weakside arc catch, beats a closeout defender and shoots a nine-foot floater, which swishes and puts the Pacers up 26-11. And then of course, he slams down an alley-oop -- which he did with the Knicks. Now it’s (34-11), and Thibs was forced to call his second timeout of the quarter….
“Is this the guy that the Knicks expected more out of as a lottery pick? Maybe he just needed to get connected to McConnell. Whatever the case, he is playing more consistent basketball, contributing in solid ways -- not just the electric highlight plays…."
So what happens for Game 5…
BROWN: “OG Anunoby is doubtful to play for Game 5. As much as he’s missed on defense, the Knicks are strapped for offense without him now. They scored 106 and 89 in the two games in Indiana. If you play Achiuwa at the 4, that isn’t a great offensive lineup. If you play Josh Hart at 4 and go small, Rick Carlisle attacked that immediately in Game 4 and they scored well with Siakam in those situations.
“It seems that the Knicks need an unexpected scorer to come out of the fold. (Alec) Burks has done well in his two games in the series (11 ppg on 50 percent shooting). Can Hart (13.8 ppg on 57 percent shooting but only nine shots per game) step up? Can Hartenstein (9.3 ppg on 65 percent shooting, but only about six shots per game) get more involved? Is it a (Miles) McBride night (7.5 ppg on 32 percent shooting)?
“Or does (Jalen) Brunson just have to score 35-40 while trying to deal with (Aaron) Nesmith and a sore foot?
“I think the main thing to take out of Game 4 is that Indiana probably thinks it can get a lot of open shots vs the Knicks defense. That may help Indiana’s confidence heading into Game 5. Let’s see. But all season long, the Knicks have responded well to adversity. They are really strapped now with the offense. But I'm not counting this group out. You just can’t."
