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This wasn’t a flush-it moment.
It wasn’t the time to simply move on.
Tom Thibodeau wasn’t going to bury the tape.
His players weren’t going to eliminate Wednesday night’s hard-to-fathom loss in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals from their collective memories.
For as much as the Knicks need to refocus on Friday night’s enormous Game 2, they also have to remember what led to them blowing a 14-point lead in the final 2:39 of regulation to avoid it happening again.
Roughly 12 hours after one of the worst playoff collapses in franchise history, they were back together, reliving the gory details of this stunning defeat.
“It was just [those] last five minutes, learning from it, just owning up to it and knowing what we have to do better,” Mikal Bridges said Thursday. “Obviously, we want that game back. But it’s a seven-game series, so come out, be better, but hopefully finish the next game.”
Bridges felt the team’s vibes were “good” and the energy “pretty high” a day later.
He thought the Knicks “relaxed” in the fourth quarter when they extended the lead to 17.
Numerous times, he said it was a communication problem that led to so many open Pacers shots, teammates not on the same page.
Once the Pacers began making their run, the Knicks never had an answer, similar to what they did to the Celtics in the first two games of the previous round, when they rallied from 20-point deficits.
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So much went wrong. Indiana scored 23 points in the final 3:14 of regulation.
Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby missed clutch free throws in the last 14.3 seconds.
Tyrese Haliburton’s jumper somehow bounced off the back rim and dropped in at the buzzer.
The Knicks managed just six points over the remaining 3:11 of overtime after taking a four-point lead.
Josh Hart felt the Knicks were playing not to lose in crunch time, odd for a team that has come from behind in the fourth quarter in seven of its eight playoff wins.
The Knicks lost their edge and could never regain it.
“It comes from just relaxing a little bit,” Bridges said. “Just relax for a second, then you’re a step late or maybe [you] forget, I got to switch here or rotate there. It’s just maintaining that throughout the whole game.”
Said Hart: “We got to make sure we don’t make that mistake again.”
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During this entire postseason, Jalen Brunson has frequently used the term “even-keel” to describe the temperament the Knicks need.
He’s said it after wins and losses. It’s critical now.
They can’t afford to let this loss stay with them.
Friday is close to a must-win game — just six teams have lost the first two games at home in NBA playoff history and advanced.
“I’m pretty sure everyone’s gonna be thinking about it. But I think our mindset has to be short-term memory,” Brunson said. “Just from the disappointment part — obviously, we gotta learn from what we did, but the short-term memory comes from the disappointment and discouragement of how we lost [Wednesday] night.”
As resilient as the Knicks have been throughout the playoffs, and they haven’t lost consecutive games yet, this is new terrain for them: First time they trail in a series.
First time they coughed up a huge lead and were unable to recover. Their toughness will be tested.
“I think that’s the playoffs, that’s the challenge,” Thibodeau said. “You always have to reset. There’s gonna be a lot of emotional highs and lows and you’ve gotta be able to take a punch and you’ve gotta be able to bounce back. So that’s all we’re thinking about is how we move forward, be ready for the next challenge, and then what did you learn from it?”
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