llcoolbp: All the examples you give are teams that had success year even if they were not the 1 seed. The Knicks have been a middling team for over a decade. So yes, the fact is, it takes longer then half a season to forge a great defensive identity and work ethic. The Knicks are far from there yet, and can’t rest on their laurels.

San Antonio, the other great regular season team in the least 2 years, has had the exact same results as Chicago, a 2-2 record including a loss to an eighth seed (with no injury excuses like the Bulls). The funny thing? Poppovich gives less of a shit than anyone! He takes his starters out of games, considers health and rest a top priority, and never had a dominant regular season team when he was actually winning championships. Once you establish that you are a good team, health and playoff matchups are the only things that matter.

You can get pissed all you want that the Knicks aren’t blowing teams out by 40 every night. The Knicks, thankfully, aren’t insecure 18 year olds that need to prove themselves to every fan on a message board. Like the real good teams in this league, their eyes are entirely on the playoffs, not on racking up ridiculous point differentials that won’t mean anything against the many teams capable of playing far better in the post season, even if only because they can suddenly play their starters major minutes. If the Knicks want to beat Miami they SHOULD be like Miami, and focus more on being healthy and prepared than anything else.

But yeah, in general, the most important thing is what shape your team is in heading into the playoffs. Having the #1 seed means nothing if, like, Lebron James gets hurt in Game 1 of the playoffs, ya know?

jon abbey: what makes this a fact? this kind of thinking was much more true a few decades back, I just don’t think it’s true in today’s game and ruru and I gave you a bunch of examples to the contrary above.

and the Bulls are worn out by the playoffs by playing that hard all year, Thibodeau plays his guys way too many minutes.

All the examples you give are teams that had success year even if they were not the 1 seed. The Knicks have been a middling team for over a decade. So yes, the fact is, it takes longer then half a season to forge a great defensive identity and work ethic. The Knicks are far from there yet, and can’t rest on their laurels.

llcoolbp:
The fact is they can’t turn the defense on like a switch unless they consistently bring it defensively for a long stretch

what makes this a fact? this kind of thinking was much more true a few decades back, I just don’t think it’s true in today’s game and ruru and I gave you a bunch of examples to the contrary above.

and the Bulls are worn out by the playoffs by playing that hard all year, Thibodeau plays his guys way too many minutes.

In the playoffs last year, and even the regular season the last two years, it’s been the Knicks offense against Miami that’s hurt them the most, not the half-court defense.

jon abbey: I agree with most of that, but honestly I’m not sure that in today’s NBA, how you play in the regular season matters one bit anymore. what matters is your seed, your health and your ability. for instance, the Sixers couldn’t have played worse down the stretch last year, then they knocked out Chicago and took Boston to a game 7. on the flip side, the Bulls go all out every game, have had the #1 seed the last two years, and are 2-2 in playoff series.

Also, San Antonio the last two years. Dallas won its championship after a regular season that was probably the 6th or 7th best in the Dirk era.

Detroit won its championship after a 54 win regular season as a three seed.

The Lakers were a No. 1 seed once on their 3-peat.

As a matter of fact, the No.1 seed has only won the championship four times in the last 14 years.