On Monday night, the New York Knicks played a complicated game. They were undeterred when they took on the Detroit Pistons in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. Even with a great game from All-Star Jalen Brunson, the Knicks lost that one too, 100-94. The game re-emphasized some of the problematic issues with officiating and free throw imbalance.
At the half, the Knicks were down by six points. Their struggles at the charity strip compounded the issue. On their end, the Pistons made the most of their chances, earning 34 free throws on the night compared to just 19 for the Knicks. After seeing such a glaring difference, the Knicks had to change their approach. They were physical with Pistons guard Cade Cunningham.
Cunningham, who showed tremendous offensive creativity and explosion, regularly engineered drives to the basket where he would initiate contact while still drawing fouls on minimal contact. He went 10 of 12 from the foul line in an effective offensive showing. This displayed his skill at pulling off moves that the Knicks thought they had a claim to. Brunson was a blistering 9-for-11 from the charity stripe. He stressed the Knicks need to focus more on tuning out external noise during games.
“Regardless if fouls are being called or not called, we’ve got to adjust and I feel like we did that a little too late into the game,” – Jalen Brunson
The Knicks wanted to get physical with Cunningham as they came into this game. Any time they strayed from that plan, they had trouble maintaining it without getting in foul trouble. An intriguing matchup in the game was Ausar Thompson as Brunson’s primary defender. His fifth foul out underscored just how intense of an affair the showdown was.
In Game 1, we were able to stick to our game plan and it worked. On Monday, they found it hard to be aggressive defensively without committing fouls. The Pistons’ desire to attack the basket showed as they shot 14 free throws combined in the first half. This was infuriating to the Knicks and rendered them incapable of adjusting to the juiced-up officiating.
In the presser after the game, head coach Tom Thibodeau lamented the lack of consistency in officiating from beginning to end.
“And look, I don’t really give a crap how they call the game, as long as it’s consistent on both sides.” – Tom Thibodeau
If the Knicks are to make progress throughout this series, they need to address their chippy style overall. They should work on building their psychological fortitude when it comes to bad calls. No matter what the reason may be for the loss, it must serve as a cautionary tale of the need for adaptation in pressure cooker playoff atmospheres.
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