Brunson: 'Utmost confidence' Knicks' core can win

INDIANAPOLIS -- The responses were in hushed tones, the kind often reserved for humbling, season-ending losses like the one the Knicks suffered on Saturday in a 125-108 beatdown by the Indiana Pacers that dashed New York's hopes of making the NBA Finals.

But as downtrodden as the Knicks were with the result -- a 4-2 series loss in the Eastern Conference finals -- their stars expressed optimism for the future.

Asked how confident he was that this core, in its first year together, could take the next step toward a title, Knicks captain and All-NBA guard Jalen Brunson didn't hesitate.

"The utmost confidence -- overconfident, seriously," he said. "There's not an ounce of any type of doubt. I'm that confident with this group."

Brunson said Saturday there were "a lot of people saying we couldn't do a lot of things, a lot of negativity" around the Knicks' campaign, which began with high hopes following the team's blockbuster trades for Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns during the offseason.

New York got off to a hot start but slowed considerably during the second half of the regular season, with the starting lineup -- the NBA's most used -- getting narrowly outscored over the final 3½ months. The Knicks didn't inspire a ton of confidence against elite competition during that span, going 0-10 against the league's three 60-win teams.

But with four huge comeback wins in the playoffs -- three of which came after trailing by 20 points and one after trailing by 14 -- New York made believers out of many of its critics in taking down the Detroit Pistons in a hard-fought first-round series then beating the defending champion Boston Celtics in six games as a huge underdog.

The Knicks entered the Eastern Conference finals with the Pacers as favorites, but they were undone in the opener after blowing a 14-point lead with just under three minutes to play at Madison Square Garden. Haliburton sent that one to overtime with a buzzer-beating jumper that bounced high above the rim before falling through, and the Knicks lost Game 1 en route to beginning the matchup in a 2-0 series hole.

New York recovered, cutting its series deficit to 3-2, but ultimately made far too many mistakes in Game 6 to have a chance any real chance on the road, including 18 turnovers that Indiana turned into 34 points.

It was an uncharacteristic game for them, but Indiana repeatedly sped up the Knicks throughout the series.

"They obviously played well, and played fast," said wing Josh Hart, who acknowledged that he struggled to find his footing as a contributor after moving to the bench midway through series. "The turnovers were tough for us."

There will be endless offseason analyses of this Knicks' roster, which is undoubtedly top heavy. About 93% of the team's salary is committed to the top-six players in the rotation: Brunson, Towns, Bridges, Hart, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson. (No team had less bench scoring and fewer bench minutes than the Knicks during the regular season.)

But Towns and Brunson each said they felt as if they could build on their first year together as teammates.

"You watch Jalen from afar in the West, and then you see what he's done for the city. ... It's even more crazy in person," Towns said. "I don't say it lightly -- it's a blessing and an honor that I get to play with Jalen Brunson."

The players said the team's high-level work ethic, demanded by Tom Thibodeau, suggest that the Knicks can put themselves back in this late-season conversation in the years to come.

"No one sees the type of people we have, the workers we have," Brunson said. "That's what gives me the confidence, and I'm OK with that. I don't care what people think about us on the outside. I know what we've got."