Coincidentally, the 15-second walk from the Knicks locker room to the Madison Square Garden hardwood floors features a series of twists and turns.
There’s an immediate left, a winding left, a curve right, then a sharp left.
Only then is there a clear line of sight to the goal.
Only then do you hit the tunnel guiding you to the promised land.
The Knicks’ first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers, which took a hard left turn with an unceremonious 112-106 overtime defeat at The Garden on Tuesday, is a lot like the quick trot from The Garden’s home locker room to its home court.
New York jumped out to a 3-1 series lead, including a frenetic, fast-paced buzzer-beating win in Game 2, only to lose Game 5 at home in an equally debilitating fashion — with Tyrese Maxey hitting clutch shots both at the end of the fourth quarter and overtime to hand the Knicks their second loss of the series.
The Knicks now hold onto just a 3-2 first-round lead with the series shifting back to Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center for an elimination Game 6 on Thursday.
And if the Sixers protect home court and force a Game 7, they will do so against a team more undermanned now than when it entered the series.
With injuries mounting in the first round, and with momentum swinging far in the 76ers’ direction, the Knicks need not look any further than the route they took to secure the East’s No. 2 seed.
They need to look no further than the walk from the locker room to the court.
NEW SLOGAN
Once you see it, it’s hard to forget.
It’s plastered all over the walls leading from the home locker room to the main corridor.
The words “no quit,” “all grit,” and “close-knit” are featured prominently in bold writing three times on the short walk from the lockers to the court.
It’s the first thing players see when they walk out of their locker room, in big white letters pasted onto an orange background.
It’s the next thing players see when they turn left towards the exit, the team’s mantra copied over a graphic of the Larry O’Brien NBA Finals trophy.
And it’s the last thing a player sees before he heads to war: the words “no quit,” “all grit” and “close-knit” stamped atop the final door leading to the court, bolded in orange blaring off of a black background.
Donte DiVincenzo jokes that Jalen Brunson came up with the catchphrase, but Brunson — like everyone else — isn’t sure who’s responsible.
In truth, the Knicks are responsible.
The fitting, but slightly awkward catchphrase embodies everything it took for the Knicks to weather the regular-season storm, inclement conditions which have returned in an attempt to thwart a deep New York playoff run.
The Knicks suffered their first blow of the year when Mitchell Robinson went down with what was thought to be a season-ending stress fracture in his left ankle on Dec. 8.
Robinson missed three-and-a-half months after undergoing surgery and is still adjusting to life post-op now in the playoffs.
While Robinson was out, the Knicks traded RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to the Toronto Raptors for a package headlined by OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa, an unanimous victory of a trade only undone by a pair of injuries shortly after.
Both Anunoby and three-time All-Star Julius Randle left the rotation on Jan. 27.
Anunoby underwent elbow surgery, missed a month-and-a-half of action, returned, then aggravated his elbow injury, causing him to miss more time.
And Randle opted against surgery to repair a dislocated shoulder in an attempt to rehab in time for the playoffs, only to suffer an injury setback in practice and ultimately have his season ended going under the knife.
At one point, the Knicks were short three starters. Many teams have crumbled missing just one player.
The Knicks are not many teams. It’s the reason they secured the East’s No. 2 seed in spite of the rash of injuries sustained at The Garden.
Injuries have reared their ugly heads once more in the playoffs as the 76ers gain momentum and build confidence headed into Game 6.
MORE INJURIES
Not this again.
It’s Game 4 of the first-round Knicks-Sixers series, and Bojan Bogdanovic — who the Knicks acquired from the Detroit Pistons specifically to play pressure minutes in the playoffs — is diving for a loose ball.
76ers forward Nicolas Batum is chasing the same ball. Batum dives but misses. Instead, he lands right onto Bogdanovic’s left ankle crushing it between his shoulder and the hardwood floor.
It was the last thing the Knicks wanted to see after Robinson had already been re-injured courtesy of Joel Embiid’s antics in Game 3.
Embiid picked up a flagrant foul penalty one for pulling Robinson down by the foot on an attempt to dunk the ball.
It was one of a number of plays aimed at upping the physicality and getting Knicks centers in foul trouble so Embiid could have his way in a must-win playoff game for the Sixers.
Unfortunately, it worked: Robinson did not play the rest of the second half of Game 3 and left the arena in a walking boot as Embiid hung a 50-ball in a win over the Knicks. Robinson then attempted to warm up for Game 4 but couldn’t go and, again, left the arena in a walking boot.
The pair of first-round injuries leaves the Knicks with one key role player (Bogdanovic) who’s been ruled out for the season, and another critical piece to the puzzle in Robinson, who is playing limited on a bad ankle. Not to mention Randle, who averaged 24 points, nine rebounds and four assists per game, isn’t coming through that door to save the Knicks any time soon.
The Knicks, of course, don’t make excuses.
Instead, they make mantras.
Instead of looking for reasons to fall apart, they find ways to come together.
They do so by playing until the final buzzer regardless of the score, by scrapping for loose balls and making hustle plays, and by leaning on each other, because nothing outside the home locker room at 4 Pennsylvania Plaza matters to those inside.
Not even the mantra, which some players never noticed — quite possibly because you don’t need to be reminded of what it took to get to this point if it’s already embedded inside you.
Though it doesn’t hurt to have the reminder. There are plenty on the walk from the locker room to the court.
The “No quit,” “all grit” and “close-knit” Knicks has a ring to it, but these Knicks want more than a ring in a catchphrase or mantra.
