Even before the second round, it was clear the Knicks could not match the Pacers’ physicality. Rather, they would need to turn the series into a contest of wits and skill. To do so, logic suggested, would mean emphasizing their strengths. Instead, Woodson sacrificed the Knicks’ ball handling and shooting advantages to meet the Pacers head on. The Knicks’ so-called big lineups were outrebounded, 17-7, in the first quarter of Game 4.

It is impossible for anyone outside a team to know exactly how a coach’s game plan affects the decisions his players make. But the one decision that is the coach’s alone is who plays and when. Woodson will catch plenty of heat for playing Pablo Prigioni, star of the Knicks’ lone second-round win, for less than four minutes while Stoudemire, who moved with all the grace of the stop-motion animation skeletons from “Jason and the Argonauts,” played 11 minutes and Jason Kidd, who has not scored in eight games, played 16.

With his sharp shooting and defensive savvy, Kidd embodied the Knicks’ best qualities early in the season. But his confidence has evaporated during his scoring drought and he missed one open 3-pointer so badly that it bounced off the backboard before hitting the rim. Kidd knew the attempt was doomed, too, and raced in for an offensive rebound so quickly after the ball left his hand that he nearly beat his own shot to the basket.

Woodson’s decision to confront the Pacers’ size with size has a ripple effect on the identity of the team and pushed the Knicks out of their comfort zone.