Jalen Brunson and RJ Barrett had a moment.
On four consecutive half-court possessions of Sunday’s fourth quarter, the New York Knicks ran the same play. Brunson would dribble it up to initiate the offense. Barrett would set a screen for Josh Hart on the right side of the court and then would jog up to the wing to set one for Brunson. Next, the two would go into a pick-and-roll.
The Knicks created good looks on all four possessions. Barrett handled them like he’d done millions of times before. On one play, Barrett popped to the 3-point arc for an open jumper. On the next, Cleveland Cavaliers wing Caris LeVert closed out on Barrett too hard, so he bullied his way to the basket, as he had successfully done all day. The next play led to a dunk for Hart, and the one after that led to a Hart spot-up 3-pointer.
But the thing is, Barrett isn’t some longtime pick-and-roll partner for Brunson. This was new.
They weren’t the first Brunson-Barrett pick-and-rolls in franchise history, but the Knicks we grew to know during the regular season wouldn’t run that play four consecutive times. And if they did, those plays certainly weren’t surrounded with pick-and-rolls involving other guards and wings setting screens for Brunson. Barrett is far from the only non-center setting picks for Brunson these days. Hart and Immanuel Quickley commonly set Brunson free during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s match, too.
A team that used its big men to set screens more often than not during the regular season has deviated from its comfort zone and become … even more comfortable.
The Knicks have changed. They’ve done it consciously. And it’s why they now lead the Cleveland Cavaliers 3-1 in their first-round playoff series following a 102-93 victory in Game 4 at Madison Square Garden.
The discussion entering this series was about firepower. The Cavs had the better record, the superior net rating, the league’s No. 1-ranked defense, two all-world rim protectors and two explosive guards who could wreck any opposing backcourt. The Knicks were the embodiment of grit. No one played harder than they did during the regular season. But that identity doesn’t necessarily lend itself to another gear, the type teams often require to upset higher seeds in the postseason.
Just don’t tell the Knicks that, because New York has revved to a place it didn’t reach during the regular season.
The Knicks have found ways to score against a swarming defense, even with sole All-Star Julius Randle clanking like a middle-school band. The guard-guard pick-and-rolls opened up the offense during the fourth quarter of Game 4, just as they did during the second half of Game 3.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau is going with the flow. He closed Sunday’s victory with Obi Toppin instead of Randle, who scored only seven points and struggled on defense. Barrett has toggled into a new mode. He didn’t just make shots Sunday; he took the ones Thibodeau wants from him.
Those little fadeaways Barrett tried earlier in the series aren’t Thibodeau’s jam — nor are the 6-foot turnarounds he sometimes attempts when the coach believes he can go all the way to the hoop. Barrett is strong. He caught fire during the second half of last season because he lived in the paint. That’s the version Thibodeau encourages. He knows Barrett won’t draw as many fouls if he doesn’t punch first, too.
The first play of Sunday’s game was to get Barrett throttling at the rim. He tried to dunk on Jarrett Allen and drew a foul a few possessions later. By the end of the day, 11 of his shots were layups or dunks. He made eight of them. By no coincidence, he finished with 26 points on 9-of-18 shooting. Barrett also got to the free-throw line 13 times, converting just eight though.
“(He was) super aggressive, downhill, getting to the line,” Thibodeau said.
This is a new gear — as is what is happening defensively, where the Knicks don’t stop moving. This team finished 19th in the NBA in points per possession during the regular season, but you’d never know that from the four games against the Cavs.
Cleveland has scored under 100 points in three of those games. No playoff team in 2023 is scoring less efficiently than the Cavaliers.
Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein locked down the paint once again in Game 4. Hart disrupted Donovan Mitchell with Quentin Grimes out with a shoulder contusion. Quickley didn’t score all afternoon but helped take away the paint, too, because of how promptly he helped from the weak side whenever the Cavs sent a man into the lane. Cleveland has not been able to figure out his off-ball defense. The Knicks have roamed off the Cavaliers’ corner 3-point shooters, eliminating the paint for most of the series.
You can see the gears change, too, even in the subtlest of ways. For example, Grimes adjusted his footwork while guarding Donovan Mitchell pick-and-rolls in Game 3, which allowed the second-year guard to stay in front of the four-time All-Star more easily when Mitchell would “reject” screens, which he loves to do.
The Knicks are more familiar with their opponent now. It’s showing.
Barrett is playing his most-aggressive brand of basketball. They’re picking up the Cavs on fast breaks like they haven’t with any team all season. Transition defense was a massive weakness during the regular season. Well, things have changed.
The Knicks used to play hard. Now they play really hard. But the three victories in four games are because of more than that.
They’re locking in on tiny details — whether it’s Barrett’s shot selection or which way Grimes should angle his body against Mitchell — and fixing them for the next time. And some guys have just reached new levels, such as Robinson, who may be playing the best basketball of his career.
Robinson shot down the idea of “Playoff Mitch” coming into existence.
“Playoff Mitch is not a thing,” he said. “I’m still Mitch.”
But through four games, the Knicks have proven there is a playoff version of this team that rises above what it showed during the regular season.
“We’re playing extremely hard,” Barrett said. “We’re making hustle plays. … The whole team, all the hustle plays we’re making, we’re really together collectively.”
(Photo of Isaiah Hartenstein, Donovan Mitchell and Josh Hart: Elsa / Getty Images)
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