Knicks 128, Bulls 117: Avenge the past, prepare for the playoffs

Adjustments made in Tuesday’s Knicks win may point to more of each come spring

A little health goes a long way.

On Tuesday the Knicks returned to Chicago and beat the Bulls 128-117, avenging their loss there the prior Friday. A win against a mediocre play-in team like Chicago is rarely season-defining, but littered throughout the game were moments you could extrapolate to the bigger picture. With the playoffs set to begin in just nine days, it’s time to lock down what is going to matter when the season is on the line.

A Short Leash?

If you were paying attention Tuesday, you noticed a distinct lack of former Pistons on the court in the second half. Alec Burks received his second consecutive healthy scratch, but the bigger story was Bojan Bogdanović not taking off his warmup jersey in the third or fourth quarter. Bogdanović, who had been finding his groove recently (54% from the field and 42% from three his last seven games), has yet to fully earn Tom Thibodeau’s trust.

Instead, Thibodeau ran with the starting lineup for much of the second half, with Deuce McBride and Mitchell Robinson spelling Donte DiVincenzo, OG Anunoby and Isaiah Hartenstein for spurts. Neither Jalen Brunson or Josh Hart sat after intermission. Is this a sign of things to come? I believe it definitely is. We know Thibodeau trusts those seven guys completely. We also know that Brunson will be playing 40 minutes a night — minimum.

It’s reasonable to argue that the Knicks wasted an opportunity to get to the conference finals last season. Even in the face of injuries to Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes, and Julius Randle they were betting favorites to emerge victorious in the second round. But lineup inflexibility hurt them; Thibodeau specifically refused to move off of pairing Hart with RJ Barrett, two non-shooters whose presence cramped the space Brunson had to operate in tremendously.

This feels like Thibodeau learning from his mistake and growing. If Knicks fans want to feel encouraged that these playoffs will look different, you need not look beyond the head coach, who’s showcased growth almost across the board as this season has evolved. We’ve seen him play three-guard lineups with Brunson, McBride and DiVincenzo, as well as go small at power forward with Hart and, yes, even Bogdanović for moments.

Bogdanović’s shooting is going to matter. He can’t be excised from the rotation entirely because he’s prone to defensive lapses. But Thibodeau showing he’s not afraid to fudge his pre-set rotation when the moment calls for it will matter too. And Tuesday night was a sign that this year, Thibodeau may be up to the challenge.

First Team All-NBA? MVP??

It may not have been apparent, but Alex Caruso is one of the best defenders in the entire NBA. He’s almost certainly the best guard defender at the point-of-attack, a wizard in almost every aspect of defending a ball-handler. But Tuesday he may as well have been just another body in Brunson’s wake.

There’s no way around it: what Brunson is doing right now is special. He’s so wonderfully dynamic that opposing defenses almost feel an obligation to send two bodies at him at all times. Brunson hunts mismatches endlessly and when he gets his defender of choice the poor soul is basically at his mercy. Sure, sometimes the ensuing shot doesn’t fall, but it’s rare for Brunson to put up a shot that leaves Knick fans longing for more.

Brunson ended Tuesday’s game with 45 points on just 24 shots. He also tossed in eight assists (to just one turnover) for good measure. He is a master of efficiency. And it’s fair to ask if he’s the most underrated player in the league at the moment. He still is nowhere to be seen on the NBA’s MVP ladder, but he probably should crack the top-five at this point. 

But Brunson’s mastery has implications beyond individual awards. Able to create a good possession essentially whenever he wants, the next step is figuring out what to put around him. The Knicks have plenty of shooting (they will have at least two of McBride, DiVincenzo, Anunoby and Bogdanović on the court at all times) which puts defenses in an even trickier bind. Do they leave Brunson in isolation to dance at his leisure? Or do they let the Knicks’ role players shoot an abundance of open 3-pointers? On the other side of the ball, every other player in the rotation with the exception of Bogdanović is at least a very good defender. They’re also an elite rebounding team, ranking fifth in defensive rebound percentage and first in both offensive and total rebound percentage.

I sympathize and stand with Knicks fans who believe Brunson deserves more national recognition than he gets, but I think it’s time we also emphasize the fact that it’s difficult to imagine an environment more conducive to maximizing his impact than the one he’s in today. Regardless of who Brunson is sharing the court with, no teammate of his is taking anything off the table. Everything they bring is purely additive. More than anything, that’s what stood out to me on Tuesday night. The Knicks are missing their second-best player, but they’ve approached replacing his impact in the aggregate. No Randle means more Brunson. And while there is no consistent second option, there has been a large uptick in defense and shooting. 

The Knicks are ready to compete in these playoffs. Strap in.