Jalen Brunson pinpoints Knicks' real problem amid poor stretch
11/11/2024 09:30 AM
The new-look New York Knicks have not hit the ground running following their blockbuster acquisitions of Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges this past offseason. They have lost three of their past four games, with their most recent defeat coming at the hands of the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night, with the Pacers taking a 132-121 win in what was a high-octane affair.
Given the lofty expectations surrounding the Knicks entering this season, a 4-5 start to the new campaign is not very ideal. It might be early days, but Jalen Brunson is imploring his team to patch up their weaknesses this early in the season. For Brunson, one aspect of the game stands out as the most pressing area of improvement for this Knicks squad.
“I would say regardless of what's happening on the offensive end, we can control what we can control — and that's the defensive side. Offense is not really the problem,” Brunson said, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.
Indeed, the Knicks, poor three-point night notwithstanding, did manage to put up 121 points on the board despite the defeat. They did so on 55.4 percent shooting from the field, with Brunson leading the charge with his best performance of the season thus far — 33 points, six rebounds, and 10 assists on 11-17 shooting from the field.
The Knicks scored 64 points in the paint and got everything they wanted against a Pacers defense that hasn’t been the best over the past few seasons. Regardless, a game of basketball is won by the team that scores more points, and on Sunday, New York’s defense was being stretched by Indiana.
The Pacers made 21 threes on the night compared to the Knicks’ paltry seven, and it’s difficult for the Knicks to cover the three-point line when Indiana manages to touch paint and spread the floor as a result.
Through nine games, the Knicks rank 21st in the league in defensive rating, allowing 115.5 points per 100 possessions. This simply cannot hold for the rest of the season. Last year, the Knicks’ defense ranked ninth, and they will have to achieve a similar level if they were to make the most out of the team’s capacity to explode offensively.
Knicks may need reinforcements to shore up defense
The Knicks overhauled the identity of their team when they dealt away Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo for Karl-Anthony Towns. While Towns is an incredible shooting center who allows the Knicks to play five-out — with all five members of their starting lineup being varying degrees of threatening on the ball, their defense takes a hit with Towns anchoring it.
The Minnesota Timberwolves knew this, hence their trade for Rudy Gobert in 2022. But the Knicks, of course, are looking to buy some time for Mitchell Robinson to return.
Robinson is an athletic shot-blocking center, and he can also clean up on the glass with the best of them. However, the Knicks will have to cobble together an above-average defense while Robinson is out, and it’s not quite clear at the moment what they could do to bolster their defense outside of hoping for improvements from Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby.
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