Game 4 reaction: Flush it and move on

Tired and beat-up Knicks get cooked

Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Injuries beginning to tell and no, it’s not Thibs’ fault

Let’s face it, there isn’t much to analyze in this one. We got cooked. Flush it and return to the Garden, with everything still to play for.

There’s no point complaining about rotations, because what can Thibs do? We don’t have a front court. It’s smoke and mirrors right now, we don’t have the length to match Siakam and Myles Turner due to injury.

Hartenstein hasn’t looked great defensively throughout the playoffs, but he’s been invaluable offensively. He’s the Knicks only center right now, and even he gottten banged up. His backup, Jericho Sims, looks like a deer in the headlights. Sims has zero lateral movement and gets filleted on defense.

What can the Knicks do? Precious has been valuable as a backup big but he’s struggling beside Hartenstein, as there is no court-spacing when they start together.

There are no wings on the roster, no Power Forwards, nor is there a backup ball-handler. A lot of this is due to injury. Missing All-Star caliber players like OG and Randle, you are missing out on at least 40 points per game between them, not to mention the lack of size. Randle is one of the best 4’s in the game, and in OG’s case, an All-NBA defender.

When you lose Mitch, you lose one of the best offensive rebounders and rim protectors in the NBA. When you lose Bogdanovic, you lose 18-20 ppg and 40% from 3. I’d like to know how many teams can withstand losing all that in the playoffs and still be within 2 wins of a Conference Finals. We’re playing with house money all things considered.

For those complaining about Thibs overusing his starters, we can’t have it both ways. Our only chance of winning was to ride the Villanova crew all 48 minutes and use OG as much as possible, because there was no alternative if we wanted to win. It’s as simple as that.

Game 4: Takeaways

Brunson is clearly hobbled. Doris Burke is waxing lyrical about this ‘amazing defense’ played on Brunson by the Pacers, miss me with that. He has no lift on his shots because his foot is injured. It’s affecting his elite footwork and the arc on his jumper. The analysis from TNT and ESPN has been putrid this series. Knicks for clicks is out in force.

If the Knicks are to win two of the next three games, Brunson has to be play better, but more importantly, be healthier.

The Pacers started with all guns blazing. Outscoring the Knicks 22-5 in transition. Have to give credit to Rick Carlisle, he coached this game spot-on. Knowing the Knicks are tired and hobbled, he put the foot on the Knicks’ necks and didn’t let up. They were overwhelming New York with their pace of play and shooting. They knew they were always due one of these games, as one of the best and quickest offenses in the league. At least it happened on the road and it allowed Thibs to sit our starters for much of the second half.

Hopefully it’s a valuable rest before returning to the Garden.

At the end of the day, the Knicks can’t survive if Brunson is at 50% without a front court.

Changes for Game 5?

I’d consider shaking up the starting lineup. Perhaps put Precious off the bench as Hartenstein’s backup. Go small from the start and insert Deuce. He hasn’t had a good series, but he’s due. Plus the Knicks need a bit of spacing, perimeter defense, and shooting in the starting lineup. Deuce can provide that to an extent.

The other necessity is to start hot from the jump and allow the Garden crowd to carry our guys through the game.

Otherwise, our Nova crew all need to ball and Brunson needs to play at an MVP level. It can happen, the Knicks can win, and be the favorites for the series.

We can’t look too deeply into yesterday, the series is holding serve with the home-court teams so far. Still it’s all left to play for. If there’s one thing we can trust about this Knicks squad, they always come back. This time buoyed by the Garden crowd.

Check out another recent post from

Donald Stewart

: