ATLANTA —At the same time as New York Knicks forward Josh Hart was emphatically campaigning in the direction of an official for being too physical, his teammate Jose Alvarado, still full of energy as if he recently crushed a Celsius, paced back and forth by the bench unable to take a breather.
State Farm Arena, which allegedly housed the Atlanta Hawks, had become a New York residency, with the sounds of Knicks fans drowning out any perceived home-court advantage. Hart and Alvarado, albeit to varying degrees, represented the defensive heartbeat and a return to grimy New York basketball. And at its epicenter; a commitment to chaos, an embracing of energy and a proficiency for physicality, laid the foundation for a much-needed, palette-cleansing Game 4.
“I think for the most part, we understand what they’re capable of,” Jalen Brunson said following the Knicks’ 114-98 win. “They’re a very good team. Very well coached. They do a lot of little things and they’re very detail-oriented. So for us, we just had to up everything we do. I think the way we fought back in Game 3 helped us for this game — we just need to continue to push that forward.”
Because the postseason is equal parts wacky to science, the Knicks had to eventually snap out of it. The Hawks, who somehow held a series lead despite a negative net rating and a number of poor underlying factors, had done just enough to raise a few questions about New York’s internal process. Like the one about Karl Anthony-Town’s infrequent usage and inability to take advantage of wing defenders latching onto him. Or the one about Brunson’s struggles against length, or how the Knicks crumbled when both offensive hubs were off the floor. And not to mention Mikal Bridges’ woes, quiet regrets about the heaven-and-Earth price it cost to acquire him in the first place and the potential prospects of a lineup change.
The answer was in the tapestry.
All season long, New York, a top-10 defense during the regular season, had built an identity off the backs of physicality, mentality and versatility. A Swiss Army knife machine in the form of OG Anunoby. A rangy, all-encompassing undersized wing with heart in Hart. Basketball’s equivalent of a mosquito bite in Alvarado. Underrated irritants in Miles McBride and Jordan Clarkson. Rebounding prowess and solid rim protection in Mitchell Robinson and Towns. An enigmatic head coach in Mike Brown with championship DNA. The pieces have always been there.
But sometimes, the hardest battles are given to the toughest soldiers. So on the road, with their backs against the wall staring a 3-1 deficit in the face, the Knicks did what they typically do: stick to you like gum on your shoe. Hart and Alvarado spearheaded the assault, combining for seven steals and providing the catalyst for a team that forced 19 turnovers, limited the Hawks to just 83.0 points per 100 halfcourt plays, 24.4 percent shooting from 3, 24 points in the paint and just seven fastbreak points for the third-best transitional unit in basketball.
Any plans of tapering expectations of an Atlanta team punching above its weight class starts with siphoning off CJ McCollum’s supply. Brown, who had begun the series with Brunson defending McCollum before realizing the perils of that, opted to deploy Hart on him to phenomenal effect. The Knicks used a varied scheme — higher pickup points on McCollum, pressuring him in the halfcourt, timely doubles and converging on drives — all with Hart at the basis of Brown’s strategy. Where McCollum had enjoyed freedom and range of movement, Hart was the antithesis of that, using his wingspan and strength to push McCollum off of his familiar spots on the floor and making him uncomfortable. The veteran guard finished with 17 points on 8-for-15 shooting, including missing all four of his 3-point looks.
“Josh was really good on the ball,” Brown said. “He’s got quick feet, he’s strong and when he gets locked in, he’s locked in. His defensive activity, especially when it comes to ball pressure, was fabulous tonight. We needed every ounce of it … CJ’s a handful so we just gotta keep trying to find ways to show him different looks which means different guys at different times.”
New York’s pressure on McCollum reached catastrophic levels Saturday night, ultimately forcing the ball into Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s hands, tasking him with secondary (and sometimes primary) creation. Walker, who was recently named the NBA’s Most Improved Player, is typically careful with the ball but is miles off of a consistent playmaker — 30th and 20th percentiles in assist rate and assist-to-usage ratio, Alvarado, McBride and anyone else with a pulse crowded Walker’s airspace, causing him to rush and overthink actions and resulting in him turning the ball over a game-high six times.
(The Knicks, in Hart and Alvarado, have an abundance of riches in point-of-attack defenders, aggression and the perfect synergy of crazy needed in a postseason campaign. Their attention to detail and versatility allow for the Knicks to get uber-creative in their coverages, which is only enhanced by the Hawks’ quiet spacing issues with Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels on the floor. During the regular season, New York forced 49 turnovers in 159 minutes that both Hart and Alvarado shared the floor, with the Knicks’ net rating jumping by nearly 20 points per 100 possessions. New York was a +12 in their shared minutes in Game 4.)
“Every team needs a guy like Josh and me,” Alvarado told Yahoo Sports. “Just do all the little things that don’t show up on the stat sheet. Sometimes we come up with the big plays that do show. Just guys that want to win, you know? We’re those types of guys. We got a whole full team of that.”
As this series heads back to New York in a best-of-three, however, a few housekeeping items still need to be sorted. Bridges, who played just 19 minutes (including four in the second half), is still not himself and seems to be less favored to McBride, whom Brown entrusted with 13 second-half minutes instead. Brunson’s efficiency — or lack thereof — could be an issue that snowballs as the Hawks become more desperate, finishing the evening with 19 points on 18 shots with an effective field goal percentage that continues to crater compared to his regular-season output. Towns, who recorded a triple-double, enjoyed a hybrid scorer/playmaker role but there’s still not a clear-cut outline of his role within the offense.
To know the Knicks and New York basketball is to understand that something is always up. But all roads still lead back to defense, and Game 4 was a reminder of how to get over a matchup in 15 days.
“Continue the way we’re playing,” Brunson said. “It’s important that we focus on the little things, attention to detail. Just knowing everything we need to know going into these games will be really important for us.”