It’s quite comical when you think about it.
The Knicks sustained injury after injury, orchestrated trade after trade. They clawed to the finish line and finished second in the East.
And as the basketball gods would have it, they still drew the short end of the stick.
Not only were the Knicks one of two teams (the No. 1 Boston Celtics the other) set to draw the East’s toughest first-round playoff matchups — but they were also one of just four playoff teams altogether who did not know their next opponent at all.
The NBA’s Play-In Tournament makes it so. And while the No. 8 Los Angeles Lakers defeated the No. 7 New Orleans Pelicans to earn a first-round matchup against the No. 2 Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, the East’s No. 2 vs. No. 7 matchup wasn’t decided until late Wednesday night.
As the No. 7 Philadelphia 76ers and No. 8 Miami Heat fought for the right to call the Knicks a first-round opponent, Tom Thibodeau’s crew did its due diligence on both teams.
The Knicks measured twice to cut once, and as a result, they remained prepared for Saturday’s playoff opener at Madison Square Garden regardless of their opponent.
They waited until after the East Play-In opener to hand out official opponent playbooks.
“But we started putting the framework in and [focusing on] what similarities they have,” Thibodeau said after Knicks practice at the Tarrytown training facility Wednesday afternoon, seven hours ahead of the Seven-Eight Game tipoff. “What are the things we have to take away, or what we should be aware of?”
The Sixers and Heat have their similarities: Both are led by elite basketball minds — Nick Nurse for Philadelphia, Erik Spoelstra in Miami.
Both have elite play at the five: Joel Embiid is the league’s reigning MVP, and must be treated as such, even with an injured meniscus. And Bam Adebayo is a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate who can both score at the rim and create for others.
Both Embiid and Adebayo have a reliable mid-range game difficult to scheme for in the pick-and-roll. Both will represent Team USA in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
And both have an All-Star level guard orchestrating the offense: Tyrese Maxey is a rising star in Philadelphia and kept the Sixers afloat while Embiid missed time due to injury. Jimmy Butler’s name rings playoff nightmares. Butler and Adebayo eliminated the Knicks in the second round of the playoffs last season.
“If you look at their teams — I’m not saying they’re the same — but they both have dynamic bigs. They have good guard and wing play. And they’re really good defensive teams, both of them,” Donte DiVincenzo said after Wednesday’s practice. “And like you said earlier, they’re [both] really well-coached. So those are the things that you look for.”
Not to mention both the Sixers and Heat belong as top-six teams in the East.
But the Heat do this every year —sleepwalk the regular season and up the ante when the games start to count — and while the Sixers went 31-8 with Embiid healthy, they went just 16-27 with him sidelined due to injury.
The Knicks were as prepared as they could be for both opponents ahead of tipoff between the two teams on Wednesday.
“The thing is: The work’s already done,” said Thibodeau. “So you’re just waiting to see, ‘OK it’s this team, or it’s that team.’ And you go from there.”
But what does it look like?
How do you practice or prepare for an opponent you don’t know?
A good amount of Knicks practice leading up to Wednesday refined what the team already does well and wants to improve upon.
“You know the [potential opponents] pretty well, but this week and up until you know is: You’re kinda focused on your habits,” said DiVincenzo. “You’re building your habits. You’re kinda getting as sharp as you possibly can, maintaining your conditioning. And once you know, then you kinda game plan from there.”
Starting Knicks forward Josh Hart said practice towards the end of the season is “always pretty limited.”
“Most of the time you just focus on yourselves. That’s something that we’re doing. We’re just focusing on ourselves,” Hart said after practice in Tarrytown on Wednesday. “We figure out tonight who we’re playing and tomorrow kind of fully game plan for that. We looked at film from both teams and stuff like that, matchups and all that. I think we’ll be prepared either way, but it’s a waiting game.”
If there’s one thing Thibodeau is going to do, it’s keep his team sharp.
What good is all of the work put in by his staff if he doesn’t use it to gain an advantage?
“The advanced people. The assistant coaches. Player development guys. They’ve been working on [the opponent playbooks] for a long time,” he said. “So got it down pretty good. We know [what] format we like to use. Everyone puts a lot of time in. We have advanced guys who split it up.”
Thibodeau said he may even bring back a previous tradition: pop-quizzing his players on facets of the game plan.
“He hasn’t quizzed me. I’d probably fail,” Hart joked. “Nah, I might go home and study a little bit today. He’s giving us the keys to the test tomorrow, so we’ll see.”
It could happen anywhere, any time. On the court. In a text thread. In-person, in passing at the Tarrytown facility corridors.
And if a player were to fail the pop quiz?
“Fine. Suspend. Not start,” Thibodeau joked. “Usually this time of year the focus is great. Knowing your opponent better than they know you is such an important part of winning. So when they get here, you understand why.”
This is merely the amuse-bouche, a single serving of playoff preparation before Wednesday’s Play-In opener allowed the Knicks to fully indulge in the main course.
And make no mistake: The Knicks are the hungry party at the table.
The only question is of the menu. Is it Philly cheesesteak or Cuban food in the first round?
The Knicks spent Monday through Wednesday developing an appetite for both. They measured twice to cut once.
“It’s not a surprise that they’re [both] one win away from being out of the Play-In and stuff like that. So you have to acknowledge that,” said DiVincenzo. “But we’re not stressed of: ‘We want this matchup; We want that matchup.’
“No. We don’t duck any smoke. We just wanna play whoever we play.”
