Only hours removed from expressing even more uncertainty about his new role in a new offense under a new coach, J. R. Smith was in a good mood. It was late Thursday in the visitors’ locker room at Quicken Loans Arena, and Smith had played a major role in the Knicks’ unexpected victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
There was only one problem: Smith couldn’t tie his shoes.
His hip was so sore that he had trouble bending from the waist, so he threatened to have the first-year forward Cleanthony Early tie them for him. Smith needed — wait for it — an assist, which was all part of a theme against the Cavaliers.
The Knicks collected 30 assists on 37 field goals, a remarkable statistic given the team’s not-so-distant past. Last season, the Knicks ranked 28th in the league in assists. Not once did they crack the 30-assist barrier. Their aversion to ball movement became a leaguewide punch line.
Their approach has changed. Two games do not a season make, and the Knicks have already pinballed between extremes. After the Chicago Bulls clobbered them last Wednesday in their season opener, the Knicks showed some fortitude in their 95-90 win over the Cavaliers.
It is too soon to know much of anything, really, and another litmus test will come Sunday night when the Knicks play the Charlotte Hornets at Madison Square Garden.
But as much as Coach Derek Fisher has emphasized the process of building chemistry and trust, he seems to be making an impression, largely by refusing to stick with the status quo. That includes everything from his installation of the triangle offense (totally foreign to all the players) to his substitution patterns (totally unpredictable) to his management of Carmelo Anthony’s minutes (totally reasonable, for a change).
Fisher does not appear to be interested in playing favorites. He is trying only to win.
“We’re becoming a team that’s committed to being a team first,” Fisher said last week. “We’re not going to be focused on how to make things work just for certain guys.”
Coaching is a difficult profession under the best of conditions. Just ask the Cavaliers’ David Blatt, who made his N.B.A. debut against the Knicks. Given the hype of LeBron James’s return to Cleveland, Blatt was asked before the game if he had ever seen anything quite like the supercharged environment in the city. Blatt said that he had, citing his time coaching Maccabi Tel Aviv, a team with an enormous fan base. Loosely translated, his message was that the moment would not overwhelm him.
But he also acknowledged that he and his team would have growing pains. Unlike Fisher, who jumped straight into coaching after a long playing career in the N.B.A., Blatt is new to the league. New to opponents. New, even, to his players, and there were moments when it showed in the loss to the Knicks. Afterward, Blatt took the blame by saying, among other things, that he should have played Shawn Marion more than 10 minutes.
Fisher, on the other hand, made bold moves that paid off. He opted for energy over experience by starting Quincy Acy instead of Amar’e Stoudemire, and Acy responded with 8 points and 10 rebounds. Stoudemire made an early impact of his own when Fisher summoned him from the bench to replace Samuel Dalembert, who had trouble dealing with Anderson Varejao, a more mobile post presence. Dalembert remained on the bench for the final three quarters.
And then there was Travis Wear, an undrafted forward from U.C.L.A. who had been a long shot to make the Knicks’ roster. He played 13 minutes and spent stretches defending James — quite capably, it should be noted, although James did himself no favors by looking overly caffeinated. Fisher was asked about putting Wear in that situation.
“Just trusting the work that we put in and making sure that these guys understand that they’re not on this team by accident,” Fisher said. “If we didn’t believe that they could play on this level, they wouldn’t be here.”
Fisher is also exercising caution with Anthony — an encouraging sign after Anthony averaged a league-leading 38.7 minutes per game last season. Anthony played just 29 minutes against the Bulls, wisely sitting out the entire fourth quarter of a blowout, before supplying 34 minutes against the Cavaliers.
It is a long season, and Fisher is already monitoring Anthony’s workload by spreading some of those minutes around. In Cleveland, Fisher repeatedly turned to his bench, which outscored the Cavaliers’ reserves by 41-12. For one night, at least, the Knicks’ depth was too much for an upper-crust opponent to handle.
Even more surprising, then, was the limited role of Tim Hardaway Jr., who played less than 5 minutes. Fisher actually opened his postgame news conference by praising Hardaway’s enthusiasm on the bench. It was a savvy (if transparent) move by Fisher, who will need Hardaway in the future.
Still, sparing his players’ feelings does not appear to be a priority for Fisher, a welcome change for fans unaccustomed to the doyens at the Garden making the most astute basketball decisions. Remember, it was only last season that the Knicks gift-wrapped a guaranteed contract for Smith’s younger brother, Chris.
Fisher needed one week to demonstrate that the old way of doing things is not his way. Each game will provide another opportunity for him to prove it.