As the dream of a return slips away Tuesday evening, Donte DiVincenzo hit his defender. THE Miami heat had just extended their lead to eight points, and the man puffing out his chest toward DiVincenzo, Caleb MartinI wanted it to continue like this.
DiVincenzo dribbled left toward the baseline, but Martin jumped in front of him. THE New York Knicks the guard made contact. Or maybe it was Martin who initiated the impact. Regardless, it worked for the defense.
DiVincenzo got the ball and got up for a layup, but the Heat center Bam Adebayo flew over to help and knocked the shot out of bounds.
This is how the Heat behave. They will strike first. Of course, the Knicks prefer a boxing match to a track meet.
On the ensuing inbound pass, with Martin again dealing with DiVincenzo, the sharpshooter drove into the lane. Jalen Brunson bounced him under the basket as an overzealous Martin pushed DiVincenzo off balance. He completes the and-1 to cut the deficit to five.
The Knicks (44-31) did not win the game, fall to Miami 109-99 for their third consecutive defeat. They have the same record as Magic of Orlando (44-31) but occupies fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
Tuesday’s match once again recalled the enthusiasm that transformed the NBA since February: The league is as physical as it has been in years, and the Knicks are the type of team that can excel in basketball’s latest transformation.
At some point, about two months ago, the referees changed the way they officiated matches. These contact fouls, the ones that have become prevalent around the league in recent seasons, are not as prevalent. The offense remains at an all-time high, but today the defenses can get the benefit of the doubt.
“It’s playoff basketball,” DiVincenzo said. “I think this is just a first taste of playoff basketball. Whether they sent a memo or not, that’s simply what the game is called.
The NBA insisted that it did not decide to change the officiating just to reduce scores, but league officials acknowledged that these risky fouls, as violent as a feather brushing a arm hair, were reported too often during the fall and for most of the winter. The referees made an effort to eliminate these incorrect calls.
As a result, the product is no longer the same.
“You can’t incentivize fouls,” DiVincenzo said. “I think over the last couple of years, guys have gotten so good at their practices and everything, drawing fouls and understanding how the game is played and almost, if you will, playing the system of knowing that some calls are called league-wide.
NBA scoring has been down over the past two months, as have free throw attempts. It’s not just because of the refereeing. AthleticismSeth Partnow detailed the trend in March. Teams are now playing at a slower pace than in January. Injuries of free throw addicts, like Joel Embiid And Trae Youngalso bogged down the figures.
But whether the rules have changed or not, the way referees apply those rules has undoubtedly changed.
A light tap on a drive to the hoop is no longer a guaranteed foul, as it was in November. This led to complaints from New York head coach Tom Thibodeau, particularly about Brunson not getting as many free throws as the Knicks would like. But Thibodeau also said early in the season that he thought it was becoming too difficult to defend — and he was far from alone in thinking that way.
A transition to bellicose basketball is what the Knicks want.
“For a defender like me, I like to be physical, so I enjoy that,” Josh Hart said. “(I’m) struggling with it a little bit, just because the change is a little drastic. I just came pre-All-Star – obviously that was on the far end of the spectrum, and now it’s kind of on the other end of the spectrum. So sometimes it’s hard to try to figure out where they’re calling fouls and that kind of thing. Ideally, I like it. But I just have to try to find out what exactly they call it.
Despite the current losing streak, the Knicks seem more comfortable being uncomfortable.
Perimeter defenders, such as Hart and DiVincenzo, zipline into passing lanes. If they meet anyone, so be it. OG Anunoby, if he manages to regain his health, imposes himself in all respects. The centers, Isaiah Hartenstein And Mitchell Robinson, bomb innocent bystanders on the glass. Hart may be five inches shorter than the one he guards, but he’ll be flying to giants for rebounds anyway. Miles “Deuce” McBride blows up screens like he’s putting grenades in his shoes. Brunson is a basketball player second and a crash test dummy first.
Partnow notes February 1 as the approximate date when NBA scoring began to decline. Especially over the past month, the Knicks have taken advantage of it.
Since March 1, they are 9-6. Even more relevant, they are second in the NBA in points allowed per possession. Anunoby, the team’s best defender, has played in just three of those 15 games. Robinson, who ran at an all-defensive level before undergoing ankle surgery in December, only ran 42 total minutes in that span.
The Knicks attack teams, but they don’t come out of the tunnels looking for victims to slap. They hit you legally, which bodes well for a playoff run (again, as long as they can be healthy). Coming into the Heat game, they were allowing the fifth-fewest free throws per field goal attempt in the NBA.
“You can’t just go out there and hit people,” Thibodeau said. “These are fouls.”
Instead, defending physically without fouling has become part of the Knicks’ identity.
Thibodeau teaches players to guard with their chest, not their arms. Few mistakes frustrate him more than an unnecessary reach. Among adults, he is obsessed with verticality. Hartenstein says that every time he goes for a dunk, with his hands in the air as his feet leave the ground, he can hear Thibodeau’s voice in his head.
“All I think about is Thibs saying ‘Verticality,'” Hartenstein said. “So he loves it, playing with verticality, playing with our chest and still being disruptive at the same time.”
Now we wonder how this affects the Knicks for the rest.
If they stay locked with the Magic, another brutal team, they will lose the tiebreaker. New York is only 1.5 ahead of the Indiana Pacers for sixth place, but a good finish could propel them to third place.
Their comfort in physical environments could help even more come mid-April. Elimination matches are fierce, which makes it even more important to brutalize an opponent without committing a foul.
“It’s a benefit for a lot of us,” Anunoby said. “Usually we have to play differently because of the rules. But we know we can play the way we’re supposed to play.
Of course, the Knicks were supposed to play Anunoby, as well as Julius Randle. Both are recovering from their injuries; Anunoby with the elbow and Randle with the shoulder.
Anunoby’s presence propels the defense to first place in the league. Randle adds a vicious cadence on the other end, intimidating opponents in the paint, scoring around the rim and overpowering weaker rebounders.
Randle, who dislocated his shoulder on Jan. 27, has yet to play in this modified NBA. But he could thrive there. He also could never return or return without looking like the All-NBA version of himself. But while we don’t know Randle’s status or where New York might end up in the East, what is clear is that this is a different sport than the one these guys played until January. And even if they now demand Brunson’s free throws a little more often, the Knicks are taking advantage of it.
“It’s a fun way to play basketball, to be able to defend, to be physical without obviously blatant fouls being called,” DiVincenzo said. “It’s so hard to stop guys at this level with their athleticism, with their speed, with their ability to foul. I think it’s just been good.
(Photo by Josh Hart and Jimmy Butler: Éric Espada / NBAE via Getty Images)
