INDIANAPOLIS — Sometimes you just have to get away, especially when you’re the New York Knicks.
As much as I love New York, the hustle, the bustle, the ever-present hype often contributes to outsized expectations and added pressure. This is especially true for the Knicks, whose fans are so desperate and hungry for a championship that they treat the smallest victory like a won title. No surprise then that, during these playoffs, the Knicks are 6-1 on the road and a mere 5-4 at Madison Square Garden.
True to form, after two disastrous losses to the Indiana Pacers at the Garden, the Knicks marched into Indianapolis on Sunday and defeated the Pacers 106-100. For the third time in three playoff games, the Knicks overcame a 20-point deficit to pull out a win. No other team in NBA playoff history has pulled off three 20-point, come-from-behind victories during the postseason. All three of those comeback victories came on the road: two against the Boston Celtics and the one Sunday against Indiana.
There’s something to be said for getting on the road, getting away from New York. The road is mind cleansing and distraction free.
“Home gives distractions, and sometimes a lot of love — too much,” Knicks forward Mikal Bridges said after Game 3. “Sometimes you have to go out there and feel like it’s you against everybody. And that’s what the road brings to you.”
Knicks forward Karl-Anthony Towns loves Madison Square Garden, loves the roar of the Garden crowd. But Towns probably needed to get away.
In Game 1 against the Pacers at the Garden, Towns was at his frontrunning best as the Knicks shot out to an early lead. As he scored, executed dunks and hit 3-point shots, Towns flexed to the crowd and pointed to his biceps suggesting there was ice water in his veins. The Garden crowd ate it up.
But alas, the Pacers caught the Knicks at the wire and won in overtime.
AP Photo/Jeff Roberson
Two days later, the Knicks lost again and Towns was benched at the end of Game 2 — embarrassed and possibly motivated in front of the home crowd.
Sometimes getting away helps refocus.
“Everybody’s got different triggers” Knicks guard Landry Shamet said after Game 3. “We drop two at home, sometimes it’s good to get a change of scenery, come to your hotel room, be alone, get your thoughts, think about things, prepare. Sometimes that can be a benefit just to give yourself a different look and change things a little bit.”
There was no preening or flexing for Towns in Indianapolis on Sunday. After scoring just four first-half points, Towns had an historic fourth-quarter performance when he scored 20 points. There was no flexing in front of a hostile crowd. Only focus.
While Garden pressure can negatively affect the home team, playing at the Garden often has an energizing effect on the opposition. After practice on Monday, Pacers center Myles Turner said that he relishes his trips to the Garden.
“I think it brings out the best competitor in a lot of people,” he said. “It’s called the Mecca, right? It’s the ultimate competitive environment.”
Turner also said he’s one of those players who likes going on the road.
“Personally, I enjoy being on the road, because I like those hostile environments, you know, just being the enemy, being the villain. I enjoy that,” Turner said. “You hit a big shot and the crowd goes silent. I like those moments.”
There are other advantages of playing on the road. For Sunday’s Game 3, Knicks guard Josh Hart was replaced in the starting lineup by Mitchell Robinson. Had the change taken place in New York, perhaps Hart may have been more self-conscious about being replaced.
On the road, where everything is about the cause — us versus them — no one notices or cares.
“It doesn’t matter how many points you score,” Hart said after Game 3. “It doesn’t matter how many minutes you played. It doesn’t matter whether you started or not. It depends on if you win. That’s the most important thing.”
The Knicks now trail the Pacers 2-1 with Game 4 on Tuesday. The question is not so much whether the Knicks can win on the road, but can they win once they return to the Garden.
“We’ve been a great road team all year,” Robinson said. “But really, home, away, you just have to compete.”
Robinson said that for all of the pressure that comes with playing in New York, he loves playing at Madison Square Garden and suggested that I pump the brakes about getting away from the World’s Most Famous Arena.
“Theres no place like that,” he said. “You come to the Garden and then you go someplace else and you’re like ‘Damn!’ It’s a big difference.”
The Knicks will either return to New York for Game 5 heroically with the series tied 2-2, or they will come back on the brink of elimination trailing 3-1. There’s pressure either way. They’ll have the benefit of the Garden’s unique electricity but also potentially the desperate here-we-go-again disappointment of yet another season without a shot at the title.
Playing at home may be the greatest challenge of all, because home for the Knicks is a pressure cooker.
Sometimes you just have to get away.