The Knicks are one of the best teams in the NBA as they open the playoffs on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Madison Square Garden versus the Detroit Pistons in their best-of-seven series.
The eye test, their regular season record, and individual performances confirm this assertion. The Knicks ended the regular season 51-31, one game better than their 50-32 mark last season. Center Karl-Anthony Towns, point guard Jalen Brunson, and multi-skilled forward OG Anunoby are among the top players in the NBA.
Anunoby in particular, justified the Knicks signing him to a five-year, $212.5 deal last July. He is their most versatile player who has composed a possible First Team All-Defensive campaign and proven to be a 20-plus point per game scorer when necessary. One does not need to delve deep into the trendy discipline of analytics to determine Anunoby’s irreplaceable value to head coach Tom Thibodeau’s squad.
Related: Knicks face potential playoff opponents to close the regular season
A year ago, when the playoffs began, there was palpable and reasonable optimism among the Knicks’ ardent fan base that they would at minimum push through to the Eastern Conference Finals as the No. 2 seed behind the No. 1 seed and eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics. But injuries derailed them, with center Mitchell Robinson shelved in the first round with a stress injury to his left ankle and Anunoby sustaining a season-ending left hamstring strain in Game 2 of the conference semifinals versus the Indiana Pacers. As icing on the cake, Brunson fractured his left hand in the 130-109 Game 7 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
Twelve months later, however, despite a slightly improved regular season record, there isn’t the same confidence among the Knicks cognoscenti that they are a championship contender. The Cleveland Cavaliers, unexpectedly by most followers of the NBA, commanded the 82-game regular season with a 64-18 record, second in the entire league to the Western Conference’s Oklahoma City Thunder which finished 68-14. The No. 1 seed Cavaliers and No. 2 seed Celtics (61-21), were a combined 8-0 versus the No. 3 seed Knicks this season, an ominous and revealing outcome, as well as a harsh reality check.
Nevertheless, defeating the physical, young, athletic No. 6 seed Pistons is the Knicks’ immediate order of business. And the x-factor for the Knicks in the series may be forward Mikal Bridges, for whom the Knicks traded five first round picks to the Brooklyn Nets last July to acquire. Bridges has had a solid season. The 28-year-old, 6’7” forward is the only Knick that played in all 82 games, extending his regular season consecutive games played streak to a league-leading 556.
Bridges averaged 17.6 points on 50% shooting. However, his 35.4 percentage on 3-point attempts was his lowest since he shot 33.5% in his rookie year of 2018-2019 with the Phoenix Suns. For his career, Bridges is a 37.1% three-point shooter. In 39 postseason games, 35 with the Suns and four with the Nets, Bridges has shot 47.2% overall and an efficient 37.9% on 3’s.
Although Bridges has been steady this season, he has not had a stretch this season where he has matched his reputation as one of the NBA’s most impactful two-way players. The Knicks parted with significant draft capital to obtain Bridges with the vision of him and Anunoby counteracting Boston’s prolific wing tandem of Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown. Now he and Anunoby will be tasked with neutralizing, or at least minimizing, the damage the Pistons emerging superstar Cade Cunningham can inflict.
The 6’6” Cunningham, the Pistons point guard, is demonstrably too big for Brunson as his primary cover. So the assignment of limiting his effectiveness is a collective charge but it is Bridges who can tip the balance of the series by making Cunningham labor on both ends of the floor. The 23-year-old, No. 1 overall draft pick in 2021 averaged 26.1 points, 9.1 assists — fourth in the league — and 6.1 rebounds on his way to being selected to his first All-Star team. In four games against the Pistons this season, the Knicks are 1-3 and have been punished by Cunningham.
He has posted averages of 30.8 points, 8.3 assists and five rebounds. Cunningham operates at a high rate (40%) out of pick and rolls with big sturdy big men Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart providing metal door heavy screens to free him to operate in the midrange, get into the paint, or isolate in favorable engagements on switches facing bigger, less fleet-footed defenders on the perimeter. Bridges and Anunoby fighting through screens to stay attached to Cunningham, who can create shots for his teammates as adeptly as he can for himself, is critical.
Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff will look to exploit advantages for Cunningham, who is supported by veterans Tim Hardaway Jr., Dennis Schroder and Malik Beasley, and rising youngsters Duren and Ausar Thompson. But playoff series are a string of games with each taking on a life of its own. The Knicks have enough offensive weaponry and experience to make game-to-game adjustments to get by the Pistons.
It’ll be challenging, but the pick here is the Knicks in 6.