Winning the margins in the NBA can be the difference in a team making a deep playoff run or being eliminated early in the postseason.
Recovering 50-50 balls — also called loose balls — leads to extra possessions and increased scoring opportunities. Avoiding a negative turnover differential also reduces opponents’ scoring chances. Then there’s offensive rebounds and deflections.
The Knicks have the requisite talent to compete for a championship. But by roster construction, there are other teams more equipped. It is why they must win the margins to beat the upper-class outfits in a series. In the East, that means the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics, and if the Knicks reach the Finals, either the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs or Denver Nuggets out of the Western Conference will be the likely competition.
Knicks head coach Mike Brown acknowledged the importance of leveraging the margins after his team’s 108-105 victory over the Hawks in Atlanta on Tuesday.
“When you’re on the road versus a good team, you gotta try and win the possession game,” said Brown. “And that involves the free throws, offensive rebounds and turnovers, and two of those areas we lost and still found a way to win … But if we do those two things the game might have been a little different.”
It was 11 months ago, May 12 of last year, that Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum ruptured his right Achilles tendon at Madison Square Garden versus the Knicks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, all but assuring a Knicks series win in the best-of-seven matchup. Indeed the Knicks defeated the Celtics 4-2. Many in basketball circles speculated Tatum would be out the entirety of this season and predicted the Celtics would finish in the lower half of the East standings.
Instead, led by the elevating force of the remarkable play of MVP candidate Jaylen Brown, fourth in the NBA in scoring at 28.8 points per game, the Celtics have been the No. 2 seed in the East for most of this campaign. And Tatum’s unexpected return to the lineup on March 6 has lifted the Celtics’ odds to win the league title, as set by major sports betting operations, as second only to the defending champion Thunder.
Tatum is already giving opponents the business. The 6’8”, four-time All-NBA first-team selection is averaging 21.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 15 games for the 54-25 Celtics, who will be at the Garden tonight to face the Knicks in a potential playoff preview. The Knicks, at 51-28, are the No. 3 seed, and were one game ahead of the No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers (50-29) before the Cavs met up with the Atlanta Hawks last night (Wednesday). The Detroit Pistons were locked in at No. 1 with a 57-22 record heading into last night’s game versus the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Knicks have two remaining regular season games: Tomorrow against the Toronto Raptors, a possible opening round playoff opponent, and Sunday with the Charlotte Hornets.
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