So you want to impress the new boss. Show up looking all neat and spiffy. Speak clearly and succinctly. If you must, laugh at his jokes.
But most of all, go out and beat the best team in the Eastern Conference.
Phil Jackson had to be impressed.
And when the Knicks pulled off that final part Wednesday, stuffing the 50-victory Pacers, 92-86, before a frenzied, sold out Garden crowd for a seventh straight triumph that kept their dim playoff hopes alive, Jackson might have been sitting among the faithful asking himself, “What the heck do the Knicks need me for?”
“No pressure,” said 34-point, five-assist performer Carmelo Anthony about having the new team president watching about 10 rows up at halfcourt. “The energy is not just in the building. It’s throughout the whole city, all of New York City, the fans, all the supporters of the Knicks and you can feel it as we walk into the building. We want to keep that up. We want to build on that. As far as winning basketball games, we’re playing at a very high level right now.”
It certainly doesn’t hurt the latest win came in front of Jackson who did a meet and greet with the coaching staff and players one day after his coronation. Yes, the future is looking up — but the Knicks insist focus must stay with the present. There’s that whole playoff thing — the Knicks are four games behind Atlanta.
“Hard times call for desperate measures,” Anthony said. “Right now our backs are against the wall and we’re playing good basketball.
“Teams that we play we feel like they’re in our way,” Anthony said. “That’s our motto now: ‘They in our way.’”
So move it, Pacers. The Knicks are all about moving ahead.
“Yes, it does look very promising because you have a guy like uh … I keep wanting to say ‘Coach,’ but Phil coming in, he has obviously a winning reputation and knows what it takes to win,” said Tyson Chandler (seven points, 14 rebounds). “He makes you a believer.”
And maybe the Knicks did the same for Jackson in this one.
A healthy lead that stretched as high as 16 in the first half, almost — very important word almost — evaporated entirely, but the Knicks surged in the fourth quarter to make the first game of the Jackson Era a success. Indiana had closed to within 67-66 on a rare score from frigid shooting All-Star Paul George (4-of-17, 17 points). But the Knicks stayed composed and ran off eight straight points.
After that, they fought back every challenge as the likes of Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire (21 points) repeatedly made big plays.
“I thought we held our composure,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said.
And the lead. That’s sort of important. The Pacers rallied in the third quarter behind Roy Hibbert (20 points) who scored 14 in the quarter, eight of those in a two-minute stretch against Chandler replacement Cole Aldrich. But this was a night to impress the new boss. And they did.
Jackson and the rest of the throng had to be stunned as the Knicks led, 47-35, at halftime. Whatever Jackson said in his brief meetings with the team beforehand seemed to have a profound effect.
Jackson drew the biggest hand of the night when he was introduced to the crowd at 5:55 of the first quarter. The crowd ate it up. About the only thing that might have topped it would have been Willis Reed limping onto the court in uniform.
Jackson met the coaches at the practice facility earlier in the day and then introduced himself later to the team. Players described the meeting as brief and informal.
“He was just excited about joining,” Anthony said. “It was short and quick. He came in spoke, shook everybody’s hand saying how excited he was about this opportunity.”
“It was brief, just an introduction,” Stoudemire said. “He’s bringing a winning pedigree to the ball club”
During the game, Jackson described his meeting with players pregame on MSG Network.
“I told them they’re the last people I’ve met in the Madison Square Garden Corporation. I’ve met a thousand people, the coaching staff, everybody else, but the players,” Jackson said, noting he also told them they “are the most important people here, you’re the ones that have to go out and do it.”
And Wednesday they did.