NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Knicks went further than they’d gone in 25 years, just not as far as they hoped.
They signaled they were serious about making a run at the NBA title when they traded for Mikal Bridges in the summer and then Karl-Anthony Towns in a preseason blockbuster, adding a top perimeter defender and an All-Star center to a lineup headlined by Jalen Brunson.
Their all-in moves just couldn’t get them all the way there.
The Knicks were eliminated by the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, leaving them without a championship since 1973. But after advancing to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000 following consecutive second-round exits, they could at least feel that they are getting closer.
“So it’s improvement from last year, but it’s ultimately not what our ultimate goal is,” coach Tom Thibodeau said.
After Boston rolled to the 2024 title and brought back all its key players, the Celtics were viewed as strong favorites in the East. Yet after building gradually since Leon Rose’s arrival as team president in 2020, the Knicks weren’t conceding anything to the champions.
They re-signed OG Anunoby to the largest contract in team history, then traded five first-round picks in the deal to acquire Bridges from Brooklyn. Just as they were set to begin training camp, the Knicks dealt two starters in All-Star Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, who had just set their single-season 3-point record, to get Towns from Minnesota.
The moves made the Knicks good enough to get past the Celtics in the second round. But it turned out to not be the right roster against the deep and speedy Pacers, who knocked them out for the second straight season.
“You make the moves to win, so it hurts to not be able to bring an opportunity to the city for a championship,” Towns said. “We’ve got a bunch of great guys in that locker room and the plan now is just to put ourselves in this position again and succeed next time.”
First, Rose and the front office will have to evaluate just how close the Knicks really are.
Their 51-31 record left them a distant third in the East behind Cleveland and Boston, and they went a combined 0-8 against those teams in the regular season before they finished off the Celtics in the second round after Jayson Tatum ruptured his Achilles tendon in Game 4.
With two All-NBA selections in Brunson and Towns, the starting lineup is one of the NBA’s strongest. The bench could use a boost, as the Knicks lack the solid depth of the Cavaliers and Celtics — and certainly of the Pacers.
Still, after being mostly miles away for two decades, the Knicks have turned themselves into a contender. They have won 50 games in back-to-back seasons and made the playoffs in four of five under Thibodeau. Even after Saturday’s defeat, there was belief that the Knicks will get another shot soon.
“The most confidence. Overconfident,” Brunson said when asked if he was confident the Knicks had a group that could win.
“Seriously. There’s not an ounce of any type of doubt that I’m not confident with this group.”
The extension their captain agreed to last summer that was far below maximum value could help add to it. And perhaps the Knicks are finally at the point that there isn’t much to do.
The Knicks surely will regret letting this chance get away, unable to recover from their Game 1 collapse at home when they blew a 14-point lead in the final 2:45 of the fourth quarter. So naturally, there was disappointment.
That’s all there had been in New York in the 2000s. Now there’s also hope.
“And so I think the challenge for us is to look at it for what it is,” Thibodeau said. “And it’s, we finished in the top three, but we’re falling short of the ultimate goal, and so for us it’s to use that for motivation and determination to work all summer to prepare ourselves to make the final step and keep improving so we can achieve our goal.”
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