Piston-Proof?
The Knicks have discovered a new offense by using Karl-Anthony Towns as a passing hub. Would this success continue in a potential matchup with the Pistons?
Good morning! I hope everyone is enjoying their post-semis break more than Daryl Morey.
Piston-Proof?
And now we wait.
Of all the things I thought we might be doing in mid-May, sitting around for between seven and nine days as the Pistons and Cavs kick the crap out of each other was not among the potential options.
Alas, thanks to the Knicks reaching a level of dominance previously unseen in the annals of NBA history, here we are.
As I understand it, the league is all but certain to schedule a game this Sunday. This hasn’t been reported and could change, but if I were a betting man, I’d wager that unless Pistons Cavs goes the full seven, the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals will be on Sunday. Otherwise, Tuesday it is.
For that reason, I want to get a bit of a jump of previewing the next round. Today’s focus will be on the Pistons, and specifically whether New York’s newfound religion featuring Karl-Anthony Towns as Nikola Jokic lite will be tenable against the team that sported the league’s second best regular season defense and currently has the third best defense in the playoffs.
Before we get there though, let’s take one last moment to appreciate the journey so far with a look back at my top three plays of the postseason through two rounds, starting with my No. 3:
Without an obvious third choice, I went with a play from Game 4 in Atlanta that stood out to me in the moment as peak Knicks ball movement. Little did we know that it was merely a sign of things to come.
That symbolism is ultimately why I picked this over one of the big baskets from the end of Game 2 against Philly or any of the cornucopia of highlights from Game 6 in Atlanta. Keep in mind that scoring against the Hawks to this point in the series had been such a slog, and it was only in Game 4 that they unlocked a gear that has defined their play ever since. This play, for me, was akin to the lightbulb finally going off, but you could easily slot any of a dozen plays into this spot and I wouldn’t have an argument.
Which brings us to play No. 2:
The best part of this sequence (other than the 17 different things that make it awesome) is Deuce’s instant recognition that Embiid is going to pass to Maxey and that he can get to the ball a split second before it arrives at its intended destination.
Philly’s will had long been broken, but this was the final nail in their coffin, and the last line in the latest embarrassing chapter of their recent history.
And finally, our winner, which will not be much of a surprise:
Would you look at that…Deuce McBride is once again our unsung hero!
By moving VJ out of the way like a tackle dummy, he eliminates the potential help on the lob, although I’m not sure anyone in the league today outside of Wemby would have been able to prevent this masterpiece from unfolding. Awesome stuff from all parties involved.
And with that, we begin to look forward.
Of all the concerns I’ve heard about a potential matchup with the Pistons, chief among them is whether KAT can still be the hub of the offense against a tough, physical defense. Ultimately, I think the Pistons are going to have to make some impossible choices between going offense first or defense first in this series, but at the outset, no, I don’t think they’re capable of shutting down Towns as a passer provided the Knicks keep doing what they’ve been doing.
Funny enough, the most encouraging sign that the good times should keep rolling might have come during that Game 4 trouncing:
