After two almost miraculous victories in the first two rounds, the Knicks had their qualification between their fingers. There were 25 seconds left to play in this 5th round against the Sixers, and they led by six points in their room. Beyond the exploits of Tyrese Maxey, Tom Thibodeau's players completely foiled in these last 25 seconds.
First there is Mitchell Robinson's unnecessary foul on Maxey's first 3-pointer. Which gives the Sixers a free point. Then there is Josh Hart's missed free throw, which allows the Sixers to come back within one possession of the Knicks, and Maxey, again, will not be asked to equalize. The Knicks could have made a mistake, but they didn't.
A big lack of communication
“It’s difficult to lose a match like that” recognizes Tom Thibodeau. “We were leading. We had to play harder with this lead. We made a mistake when we shouldn't, then Maxey scored an important shot. We must do better… We must communicate about the choices to be made. We could have done better on this last situation. This is where our communication needs to improve. »
In fact, this Game 5 is the negative of Game 2 which the Knicks won while losing by 5 points with 27 seconds remaining. There, maybe they already saw themselves in the conference semi-finals at the time of Nick Nurse's timeout, and they forgot the basics.
“We lose a few balls, and we have to do better” continues the New York coach. “You have to be discerning. The 4th quarter is different, and you have to be aware of the difference. So we can do better and we will. »
48 hours to correct these errors
Author of 40 points, Jalen Brunson blames himself for his stupidly lost ball. “It's frustrating given the way… I misjudged the situation… But we can't stay with our heads down. We must come back even stronger, and learn our lesson. »
Same frustration with Josh Hart who blames himself for his missed free throw, but also the lack of communication on this shot of Maxey's logo. “It’s a match that we should have won… We didn’t speak, and the mistake came from the players on the pitch. We must be able to identify a situation. There's nothing more we can do about it. You have to watch the video and see what you can improve. »
For Thibodeau, this will be the objective of the next 48 hours: to correct what went wrong. “The routine remains the same. Whether we win or lose, the video is used to make corrections. There are things we need to correct. “
