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Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the New York Knicks
The New York Knicks are a good team, as their record reflects. They’re currently standing at 48-28 with six games to play, all but assured of a 50-win season for the third straight year, and are the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. And yet, it’s hard to see the regular season as anything but a disappointment, as the flaws that showed themselves last year under since-fired coach Tom Thibodeau have resurfaced despite an arguably better roster under new coach Mike Brown.
The East was weakened by injuries and disappointments this season, ripe for the taking. And the Knicks did not take it. With a $175 million starting five, there does not seem to be much excuse for the Knicks to be where they are.
Though there is no excuse, there are reasons, and one reason stands out for scouts and coaches who have game-planned for this team: They’re decidedly easy to defend, and teams with quality, switchable defenders (which includes most of the good teams in the NBA) don’t have much trouble interfering with the Knicks offensive plans.
Knicks ‘Playbook’ Not Hard to Figure Out
One Eastern Conference scout tells Heavy Sports that this Knicks issue is nothing new. While Karl-Anthony Towns has probably taken more abuse than he deserves in New York this season, the struggle does start with him.
“I think teams figured out last year, and every seems to have the book on it this year, you can play an undersize guy on Towns and switch off,” the scout said. “You want him to come into the post and set up in there–that clogs up the offense, it clogs it up for Jalen (Brunson) and it forces Towns into doing things he does not want to do, getting off the 3-point line.
“The Knicks want him to do the read-and-react offensive stuff, that has been Brown’s big thing. And that has him going into the paint more. But the defense wants him doing that, too. They don’t want to give the Knicks the space. You can sag off of (Josh) Hart and you just clog up their whole offense, you see it over and over. That’s the playbook”
Defense Also an Issue
Not all teams can play the Knicks that way, and that’s been key to what will be a 50-win season. But there are concerns about how New York will handle the playoffs, when the action slows down and the lane figures to get more and more clogged.
The other big issue has been the defense, which has been sporadic. The Knicks have two excellent perimeter defenders in OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, along with a rim-protector in Towns. But they don’t play great defense at the point of attack, and one coach suspects that Browns worries about his team’s defensive mentality.
“They’re Xs and Os are fine and they’ve got length, they’ve got guys who can do a bunch of different things on the defensive end–individually,” one Eastern Conference assistant coach said. “But can they do that as a unit? You know, it is a cliche, but playing defense, you’ve got to do it for the guy next to you, and they’re not doing that.
“I think those guys, they’re worried about how their defense looks individually and they’re not playing as a unit.”
Going back to the Knicks’ impressive blowout win over the Nuggets last month, the team’s defensive rating has been just 115.9–15th in the NBA, and well off the pace (111.8) the team was on before then.
Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney
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