Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic <\/p>\n
DETROIT \u2014 A reasonable tally of the best six players in this series would include five Knicks. They entered with the talent advantage over the Pistons, with two All-Star starters and an offense that ranked in the NBA\u2019s top-5.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But every night turned into a struggle heading into Thursday\u2019s Game 6. The victories were as difficult as the defeats. <\/p>\n
They had outscored the Pistons by a combined one point while leading the series, 3-2.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their offense was stuck in the mud, with too many Houdini acts from Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Possessions rarely felt smooth.<\/p>\n
The good news, according to Josh Hart, is the Knicks were operating at well-below optimal, which means they theoretically should have a much higher gear. <\/p>\n
Given how the Pistons series unfolded before Thursday, they would need much better to compete in the next round against the Celtics.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot at all (have we played our best basketball). Not even close,\u201d Hart said. \u201cI think we\u2019ve had spurts where we\u2019ve played very well and then we\u2019ve had spurts where we\u2019ve played terrible \u2014 i.e., that third quarter (in Game 5).\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we have to make sure we find ways to keep good flow and good rhythm all the way throughout the game. That\u2019s playing faster, that\u2019s making them make decisions, and when you make teams make decisions you put them in a position to make mistakes. When you put them in that position then you can counter and make them pay for those mistakes. That\u2019s something that we\u2019ve got to do, we\u2019ve got to play with more pace and make sure we get everybody involved with (Jalen Brunson), (Towns), but also Mikal and OG (Anunoby), go out there and hoop. I think that\u2019s the biggest thing \u2014 play with pace throughout the whole game and put them in positions to make mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hart always harps on quickening the pace and it certainly suits his strengths in transition. <\/p>\n
But the Knicks should have advantages in other areas given their personnel, with Brunson, Towns and Bridges all capable of creating for themselves in the halfcourt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead, the Knicks entered Thursday shooting just 44% in the series \u2014 well below their 48% in the regular season. Most alarming, they were averaging just 20.7 assists compared to their\u00a027.5 assists in the regular season.<\/p>\n
Ball movement ceased.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think offensively I think we \u2014 I \u2014 struggled offensively,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m bringing up the ball, I have the ball most of the time, so it starts with me. So in order to be better offensively as a team, I need to be better making decisions and making sure I\u2019m putting my teammates in the best position to be successful. So it starts with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is it a product of playing poorly or just a natural consequence of defensive intensity ratcheting up in the playoffs?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Follow The Post\u2019s coverage of the Knicks in the 2025 NBA Playoffs<\/p>\n
Sports+ subscribers: Sign up for Inside the Knicks to get daily newsletter coverage and join Expert Take for insider texts about the series.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a mixture of both,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cPlayoff basketball, we\u2019ve been playing the same (team) for now, this is the sixth time. I\u2019m pretty sure they know us, and we know them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in a position now where we need to just go out and just earn it. It\u2019s not going to be given to us, they\u2019re not gonna hand anything over. We gotta go out there and play the best we can regardless of what\u2019s happening. It\u2019s never gonna be easy.; We\u2019ve just gotta go out there and go get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, the other higher seeds in the Eastern Conference all had it easier. The Knicks were the only one not to get through the first round after five games. <\/p>\n
The Celtics will have rested before facing the winner of the Knicks-Pistons series.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a consequence of New York not showing its best.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think any of us thought this series was going to be a cakewalk,\u201d Hart said. \u201cThis is a heck of a team (the Pistons) over there with a really good coach and coaching staff. We respect them. So we\u2019ve just got to make sure we focus on that. The other teams can get rest, it\u2019s cool for them, you know. We\u2019ve got to make sure we take care of what we can take care of and control.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic DETROIT \u2014 A reasonable tally of the best six players in this series would include five Knicks. They entered with the talent advantage over the Pistons, with two All-Star starters and an offense that ranked in the NBA\u2019s top-5.\u00a0 But every night turned into<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":297931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-297930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297930"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":297932,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297930\/revisions\/297932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}