{"id":246235,"date":"2021-05-10T04:50:12","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T01:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/why-would-the-knicks-change-now\/"},"modified":"2021-05-10T04:50:12","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T01:50:12","slug":"why-would-the-knicks-change-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-would-the-knicks-change-now\/","title":{"rendered":"#Why would the Knicks change now?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Why would the Knicks change now?<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

We are well past the point where anything the Knicks do should surprise us, because they long ago stopped surprising themselves. Whatever doubts, whatever questions they may have had about themselves at the start, or during any of the low moments and losing streaks, those are over. Those are gone. Those are dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel,\u201d Julius Randle said, \u201clike we can beat anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday they beat the Clippers, 106-100. If it isn\u2019t the crown-jewel win of the season, it\u2019s sure in the conversation \u2014 on the road, on national TV, against a hot team featuring both its stars, following a two-game<\/a> tour through the Denver-Phoenix woodshed. And here\u2019s the best part of the way they reacted to it:<\/p>\n

Just another game. Just another win. Just another chapter in this 72-part serial that may alternately surprise and stun just about everyone else around them but seems like just another day at the office to the guys in the uniforms.<\/p>\n

They are now two wins (or a win and a Boston loss) away from officially finishing in the Eastern Conference Top 6 and avoiding the dreaded play-in round (which in some NBA circles months ago was derisively dubbed the \u201cKnicks Invitational\u201d when it seemed that was the only way they\u2019d squeeze in a postseason game).<\/p>\n

They remain in fourth position in the East with four games to go, with a fair chance, still, to earn home-court advantage in the first round of the main playoff draw.<\/p>\n

Neither of these things would have seemed possible, or plausible, back in December. And yet here they are, at the doorstep now, after knocking off one of the genuine favorites to make it out of the West, after beating Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and \u2014 cherry on top of a stack of cherries on top of the sundae \u2014 beating them every which way but loose during the essential portion of Sunday\u2019s fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Knicks took down the mighty Clippers today.<\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe think about it,\u201d Derrick Rose said of the Knicks\u2019 inching closer to some unfathomable regular-season accomplishments. \u201cBut we know we\u2019re not finished with what we want to accomplish. We want to keep this going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The irony of Sunday\u2019s win is that the bedrock upon which this magic-carpet ride has been built \u2014 Julius Randle pouring in 30 or 35 points whenever needed \u2014 was absent this time. Randle scored only 14, although six of them came thanks to three king-sized baskets down the stretch, when the Knicks finished the Clippers off once and for all.<\/p>\n

Still, even as he languished through a 7-for-19 (0-for-4 from 3) shooting quagmire, it was Randle\u2019s struggles which highlighted in bright, yellow ink just how far along this team has come. The Knicks seized control of the game in spite of Randle, not because of him, and that\u2019s not something they could even have imagined not long ago.<\/p>\n

Instead they turned to Rose (25 points, eight assists, 32 brilliant minutes) and workhorse RJ Barrett (18 points, seven rebounds, four assists, 45(!) minutes) and Reggie Bullock, who had five 3s and 24 points and a plus-15 rating across 46(!!) minutes. It wasn\u2019t just encouraging to see others step up because Randle\u2019s output was muted; it was emboldening because this is exactly what teams are going to do to the Knicks in the playoffs \u2014 run multiple defenders at Randle, make him uncomfortable, dare someone else to beat them.<\/p>\n

Sunday, just about all of Randle\u2019s teammates volunteered for the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game tells you who gets the shots,\u201d Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. \u201cYou\u2019re responsible to make the right read and find the right guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Randle: \u201cThe beauty of our team is that at any given moment anyone can step up.\u201d<\/p>\n