Knicks’ Issues In East Finals Starts With Starters; Change Coming?

That should be particularly the case for New York, which boasts three high-level two players in the starting five (Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Josh Hart). Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns aren’t too shabby, either.

But in this series? The Knicks’ starting five has been no match for the Pacers.

“That lineup is also getting outplayed,” wrote Kurt Helin of NBC Sports. “Badly. They are -29 through two games against the Pacers, a series where the Knicks as a team are -8. The starting five has a -42.9 net rating and an atrocious 155.1 defensive rating.”

That’s not all.

“The Knicks have looked better with their starting five broken up and Mitchell Robinson on the court,” Helin wrote. “Miles McBride is also having a strong series off the New York bench.”

It’s hard to envision Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau breaking up a starting five that’s gotten him this far. That said, it doesn’t sound like it can be entirely ruled out.

“We always look at everything,” Thibodeau told reporters after Friday’s Game 2 loss.

In other words, we’ll likely have to wait until just before Game 3 on Sunday to find out. So that is a mystery.

What isn’t a mystery is that the Knicks absolutely cannot afford to go down 3-0. No team, after all, has even come back from such a deficit.

As one former GM told Hoops Wire on Saturday, “I know when we were up 3-0, I’d say it’s over. And I was right every time.”