The New York Knicks are 8-5 to begin this season, which is a pretty good start. Their record places them within the top six in the Eastern Conference, a position they would like to hold at the end of the season. To get where they are now, under new head coach Mike Brown, New York has done a lot of things well. However, the Knicks have one massive flaw they need to fix.
New York is coming off a 115-113 loss against the Miami Heat on Monday night. In the game, New York allowed Miami to shoot 14-for-35 from three-point range. That 40% shooting percentage from beyond the arc is on par with how they have defended that shot all season.
Including Monday’s game, the Knicks allow teams to shoot 39.4% from deep, which is the second-highest mark in the NBA. Additionally, New York allows the second-most threes per game (15.4), and seventh-most threes attempted (39.1). Allowing teams to shoot a lot of threes is exactly what Coach Brown wants out of his defense.
“It’s all because we want to protect the paint. We’re no different. Shooting from the paint is a lot easier than shooting from 3,” Brown said, per The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III.
Brown is not in the wrong with his thinking there, and the Knicks protect the paint extremely well. But their perimeter defense is not sustainable over the course of a full season.
What Do the Knicks Do Well?
Brown does not want to give up the paint, and the Knicks do a great job executing that game plan. When a guard or forward blows past their defender, there is someone waiting for them in the paint on the help defense. In fact, New York allows the fifth-fewest points in the paint (45.7).
The Knicks are not a team that is super active with their hands on defense. They rank in the bottom half of the NBA in both steals and blocks per game. However, Mitchell Robinson is averaging 1.2 blocks per game in his six games played. Once Robinson is able to ramp up his minutes, the Knicks should get even better in the paint.
OG Anunoby is very active defensively, as he averages 1.9 steals per game. But Anunoby’s injury has left the Knicks scrambling to find someone to replace him in that regard. Not having Jalen Brunson on the court due to an injury also hurts the team in that aspect of the game.
Still, the Knicks are one of the best teams in the league at defending the paint, and it is not by accident. Brown’s defensive strategy will remain consistent all year, and that is emphasizing their help defense.
How Do the Knicks Fix Their Perimeter Defense?
As much as help defense benefits the team, it can also really hurt them. The open shots from three come when nobody shifts over to guard the man left open from the help defender.
“We have to do a better job of our shifts and recognizing who we’re shifting off. We have to do a better job with our closeouts. It’s something we’ll continue to work on throughout the course of the year because, in that specific area, we can get better,” Brown said, per Edwards III. “Now, teams are probably going to shoot a lot of 3s against us because we’re trying to protect the paint but, hopefully, we can get to a point where our closeouts are more impactful, and it starts with guarding the basketball.”
It will come down to communication on the court, and knowing who the shooters are. There are different people the Knicks can leave open, and others they should stick to. Once they figure that part of the game out, New York will start to see their three-point defense improve.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Despite a Solid Start, The Knicks Have One Massive Flaw appeared first on Heavy Sports.