BIRMINGHAM, Mich. — The Pistons are often known as one of many NBA’s hardest groups. That doesn’t imply the Knicks are Charmin comfortable. In reality, they consider the alternative.
Opposite to what’s mentioned on social media or nationwide tv, the Knicks wish to play bodily. They don’t thoughts mixing it up. And simply because they don’t have a textbook enforcer doesn’t imply they’re backing down from any battle.
“That’s one thing about us,” Josh Hart mentioned after follow at Seaholm Excessive Faculty on Saturday, pausing with a chuckle. “I think we all like physicality, and we thrive in those kind of games and situations.”
Toughness turned a serious query after an action-packed offseason reshaped the Knicks’ roster — and their id. Gone have been Isaiah Hartenstein (to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder), Julius Randle, and Donte DiVincenzo (each traded to Minnesota for Karl-Anthony Cities). All three have been recognized for his or her edge, their willingness to get in opponents’ faces.
Of their place: a brand new forged, a brand new chemistry — and, inevitably, comparisons to final yr’s gritty squad.
Even the entrance workplace appeared to acknowledge the shift. With the crew’s remaining open roster spot, the Knicks signed veteran P.J. Tucker — a transfer much less about on-court manufacturing and extra about reinforcing toughness and playoff expertise behind the scenes. Tucker hasn’t logged significant playoff minutes, however his voice and presence on the bench mirror the grit the Knicks refuse to let slip away.
But naturally, the temptation to match this yr’s crew to final yr’s group has adopted all of them season.
Hart, for one, isn’t all in favour of nostalgia.
“Comparison is the thief of joy. Like we’re gonna compare ourselves to last year for what?” he mentioned. “We don’t obtained Donte, we don’t [have] Zay, we don’t obtained Ju, we don’t obtained Jericho. Like we don’t have any of these guys, and now we’ve obtained a very completely different group and a very completely different persona and id.
“So should you proceed to only look again and evaluate your self to years prior and groups prior, you lose the attitude of what you might have.
“And this crew, we don’t care in regards to the toughness as a result of we really feel like we have now the toughness, however we even have the offensive firepower to go on the market and put up 140. So it doesn’t actually have an effect on us.
“I just think it’s idiotic to compare us to the past, because we’re the New York Knicks of 2024-25, and it’s either you get behind us or you don’t — and if you’re not, stay on that side when we have success.”
The Pistons — and their rowdy followers — examined the Knicks’ toughness in Recreation 3. The Knicks know Detroit will ratchet it up even additional in Recreation 4, determined to keep away from a 3-1 gap earlier than the sequence shifts again to Madison Sq. Backyard.
However the concept the Knicks can’t match Detroit’s physicality — and even exceed it?
“They’re gonna play hard, but it’s the playoffs,” Mikal Bridges mentioned Saturday. “I don’t know why [people think] we’re not bringing it equally as hard or more. So I don’t get that.”
The NBA thrives on rivalries, altercations, and off-court pressure. It’s nice for rankings. And when a crew’s again is towards the wall — just like the Pistons, who can’t afford to lose one other house recreation — issues are likely to get chippy quick.
“The NBA is a very petty world. The game’s petty. The league be petty at times,” Hart mentioned. “They see what’s happening in the summertime. Some two guys obtained beef, after which subsequent factor you already know, that’s opening evening. As an entire within the league, you already know, together with myself, we’re very petty.
“A man may have the ball, you smack the ball away, simply to be annoying.
“However you already know that. And our persona, we by no means actually let that frustrate us or let that take us out of our recreation. I believe the one time we actually get outdoors of ourselves is after we’re yelling at refs and specializing in the issues that we will’t management.
“So as long as we focus on our game and control what we can control, everything else is background noise.”
Regardless of the Knicks are doing, it’s working. Pistons middle Paul Reed described the sensation after follow on Saturday — not frustration, precisely, however a relentless battle for actual property on the ground at Little Caesars Enviornment.
“Just like holding, pushing, making us work for every spot, every inch,” Reed informed reporters. “We’re trying to catch the ball on the elbow, they’re pushing us out. I’m attacking the [glass], they’re holding me. I can’t really get loose.”
