Moments after the New York Knicks started the Phil Jackson–Derek Fisher era with an embarrassing loss to the Chicago Bulls, their rookie head coach promised that his new team would work hard and eventually hit its stride, even if he didn’t know how soon the Knicks might show significant improvement.
"“The first five minutes of the game [against Chicago], our guys looked good and were enjoying playing the game together,” Fisher said. “But hopefully, five minutes will turn into 10 minutes, into 12 minutes, into two quarters, into four quarters. That’ll take a few days, weeks, months, who knows? But we’re going to keep working at it, I can guarantee you that.”"
Well, how about the next night, on the road, against the preseason Eastern Conference favorites, while silencing the NBA’s best player?
That’s exactly what took place during Fisher’s first win as a head coach, as the Knicks stunned the Cleveland Cavaliers, 95-90, on Thursday night.
Simply getting a win, especially as heavy underdogs, was impressive. But how New York accomplished that, and the signs they showed, are what should have Knicks fans excited, at least for now.
RESILIENCY
Things couldn’t have gone much worse a night earlier. New York was out of sync offensively and porous defensively against the Bulls. But the Knicks showed tremendous fortitude to put such a sound defeat behind them, get on a plane and promptly spoil both LeBron James’ homecoming and Kevin Love’s Cavaliers debut in a game few others gave them a chance to win.
As Carmelo Anthony noted to MSG TV’s Tina Cervasio after the victory, “Our mental strength, that’s what it came down to. We could have easily let that loss last night sit on us. We put that behind us.”
That way of thinking helped New York overcome a 31-20 early second-quarter deficit when perhaps last year’s Knicks might have rolled over and made things easy for the home team.
SELFLESS, TEAM-ORIENTED OFFENSE
As one would expect in this type of Knicks win over the Cavaliers, Anthony and J.R. Smith each hit some clutch shots down the stretch to hold off Cleveland. And yes, Anthony led all scorers with 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting, while Smith got to 11 points, making five of his 10 shots.
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But some other numbers, indicators of some possible positive things to come for New York, jumped off the box score. Smith and Anthony, each known for looking for their shots in the past, led the Knicks in assists. Smith had seven, Anthony six.
Last season, Anthony had five or more assists 17 times, and at least six assists just seven times in 77 games.
In 74 contests last year, Smith recorded at least five assists on 14 occasions, and only reached seven assists as many times (two) as he got caught for untying opponents’ shoelaces.
By far, Anthony and Smith weren’t the only ones to set up their teammates.
Second-year point guard Shane Larkin, pressed into action as a starter for only the second time in his career in as many nights, had five assists.
And even with starting point guard Jose Calderon yet to play a regular season game for the Knicks, as he sits out the next 2-3 weeks with a strained calf, New York scored a ridiculously team-first 81.1 percent of its baskets off of assists. In all, they shot 53.6 percent while getting 37 field goals on 30 assists — which in only Game 2 of the new season is already more setups for hoops than the Knicks recorded in any game last season.
"Yet when asked by Cervasio what stood out the most about the game, Fisher surprisingly said, “Tim Hardaway, Jr.,” who only played 4:45 and didn’t take a shot.“The level of support and commitment to his teammates, how involved he was in the game, although he wasn’t in… says a lot about him and a lot about who we’re trying to become,” Fisher said of the second-year guard who played 18 minutes the night before, after being one of the NBA’s better rookies last year."
That type of attitude, which Fisher is already instilling throughout the roster, will only make the Knicks better as the season progresses.
COMMITMENT TO DEFENSE
On a night that was supposed to be mostly about James, it was New York that bottled him up and frustrated him. James finished the opening half just 1-for-9 from the floor and closed the game only 5-for-15, struggling for every one of his 17 points, as he committed four turnovers in each half.
Cleveland ended the game shooting 45.7 percent, but barely hovered over the 40 percent mark most of the way, as the Knicks’ rotated and communicated much better, and guarded with far more focus, than against the Bulls.
“It was five guys that guarded everybody… a total team effort,” Anthony told Cervasio.
An area which badly hurt New York throughout last season — that of opposing point guards getting into the paint – wasn’t much of an issue against the Cavaliers, even with the skilled Kyrie Irving’s history of being one of those aforementioned point guards to give the Knicks fits. Instead, Larkin had a game-high five steals and did a good job of keeping Irving on the perimeter.
FISHER AND HIS STAFF FIGURING IT OUT
With so many one-way players on the Knicks roster, even an experienced coach could have trouble searching for the right combinations (just ask Mike Woodson last year). But going from just his first game to his second, Fisher already made a key adjustment by swapping Quincy Acy for Amar’e Stoudemire in terms of which forward would start or come off the bench.
The move paid off, as Acy provided good defense at the outset, while chipping in eight points, a team-high 10 rebounds and a game-high six offensive boards. Stoudemire was still able to blend in and play well off the bench, when called upon.
Fisher played everyone except rookie second-round pick Cleanthony Early, as 10 different Knicks played a least 13 minutes and in one way or another, made noticeable contributions at either end of the floor.
THE BENCH AWAKENS
After not helping much against Chicago, the Knicks’ bench was huge in Cleveland, outscoring the Cavaliers’ subs, 41-12.
At center, Jason Smith scored a dozen points, on 5-of-6 shooting, and Cole Aldrich pulled down six rebounds, in 14 minutes, to add to the production that J.R. Smith and Stoudemire provided.
TRUST AND CONFIDENCE
With the game on the verge of slipping away late, New York showed its greatest belief in what Fisher and his staff have been preaching. As a result, the Knicks had their highest-scoring quarter in the final period, with 28 points, to keep the Cavaliers at a safe distance.
Maybe Woodson’s fourth-quarter tactics of repeatedly dumping the ball into an iso-Melo black hole during a close game are over.
Certainly, that’s not what took place in the last period in Cleveland. The Knicks stuck with the triangle offense at times, and at others, simply continued to find the open man for high percentage shots, even in other types of sets.
“We stayed the course throughout the whole game,” Anthony said. “We willed our way to this one.”
"Said Fisher, “They showed a high level of trust and confidence in each other… they showed a lot of patience and composure and those are the things we’ll need as we move through this season.”"
Spoiling LeBron’s return home didn’t hurt either.
Now it’s all about consistency. A win like the New York had in Cleveland should give Fisher and his staff even greater buy-in from their players to stick with the plan and execute what’s being taught rather than the team reverting into old, bad habits. The type of effort and focus against the Cavaliers have to remain as constants for the Knicks to keep seeing positive results, and to keep building toward what Fisher and his staff are ultimately trying to achieve.