If the New York Knicks thought they would waltz their way past a Boston Celtics squad without Jayson Tatum and into the Eastern Conference Finals, well, they needed a reality check. And they got one in Game 5, falling 127-102 and suffering their most lopsided loss of the postseason.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau must now ensure this beatdown doesn't go to waste. He should treat it as a wake-up call to make the one adjustment that's repeatedly being called for: moving Josh Hart out of the starting lineup.
This is a long-overdue adjustment for the Knicks
This isn’t an overreaction to one game. It’s more like a broken-record mandate after painfully repetitive proof of concept.
The Knicks’ starting five of Hart, Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges has been outscored in this series by 36 points—the worst mark for any lineup among every team to make the second round of the playoffs. These struggles aren’t new, either. New York’s opening lineup was unspectacular during the regular season, outscoring opponents by just 4.1 points per 100 possessions, a differential that barely ranked above average.
Those issues have spilled over to the playoffs at large. The starting five was a paltry plus-three against the Pistons in Round 1. That isn’t good enough for a lineup that will always rank among the most used in the league. It narrows the Knicks’ margin for error throughout the rest of the game, and it becomes a flat-out disaster when you’re falling into huge holes.
New York has managed to evade catastrophe despite these failings. That’s not reason enough for Thibodeau to keep square-peg-round-hole this starting five.
Put Mitchell Robinson inside the starting five, Thibs
Demanding change without offering an alternative is futile. Fortunately for the Knicks, this isn't a case of them not having contingencies.
Bringing Hart off the bench for Deuce McBride remains a viable option. You give up some size, but you optimize your five-out spacing. That lineup hasn’t fared all that well for this series, but the sample size is small.
Playing Robinson alongside the other starters comes with an even smaller sample size. It has happened for fewer than five minutes the entire series. It also looms as the more appealing option. The Knicks can control the offensive glass, which gives them a better opportunity of scoring, and then getting their defense set. Robinson does way more for the defense in general, as well. He insulates Towns, and can slow down Boston’s offensive process, particularly now that Tatum’s more methodical mismatch-hunting isn’t in the fold.
Rolling out Robinson from the jump serves to put the Celtics in a big-time dilemma, too. Resorting to Maul-A-Mitch from the opening tip may get him off the floor, but it puts them in foul trouble way earlier. That is something on which Brunson and, to a lesser extent, Towns can capitalize.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, starting Robinson steers heavily into his frontcourt partnership with Towns. The Knicks had a plus-16.1 net rating with those two on the court entering Game 5. Having that impact from the outset is huge. New York has been outscored by 37 points in the first quarter for this series. Only the Denver Nuggets, who are on the brink of elimination, are posting a worse differential.
Fixing solvable problems is critical for the Knicks
To be fair, the starting lineup isn’t the sole reason why the Knicks dropped Game 5.
The defensive rotations were incredibly terrible, too often forgetting that Derrick White exists. New York looked caught off-guard by Boston’s offensive pace. That’s inexcusable. Tatum is gone. The Celtics are no longer able to be more deliberate, and thus slower, in their overarching approach.
The Knicks’ own offensive executive, meanwhile, was bad. They displayed a complete and total lack of urgency, a recurring flaw that falls on Brunson and Towns more than anyone. Thibs should have made substitutions earlier in a disastrous third quarter.
Putting this specific loss on just Hart, the starting lineup, or even only Thibs himself misses the point. New York has the power to address one of its more glaring warts in this matchup. That’s the point. And there’s no reason to shy away from the change now, just because it’s so late in the process. If anything, the Knicks should be more emboldened to do it. Hart just hit five three-pointers, and the Celtics still didn’t care. They clogged up and took away the lane anyway. And if they’re going to do that, New York needs to optimize its advantages and minimize weaknesses in other areas.
Starting Robinson over Hart strikes that balance. Thibs shouldn’t hesitate to indulge it. The stakes are too high for stubborn principles. For all the Knicks have done so far, for as close as they are to the Eastern Conference Finals, they haven’t won anything yet. The time is long-past due for Thibs to coach like it.
Dan Favale is a Senior NBA Contributor for FanSided and National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.
