Knicks Defenseless Against Celts
Leon Rose has contacted John Fogarty. Rose wants to know, “Who Can Stop the Rain” of threes. Game one of the season Santi Aldama and John Koncar exposed the Knicks collapsing D. The Celts, without the inside strength of Williams and Horford, came to the Garden with a game plan that relied upon success from deep. Hitting an outstanding 53% on 27 of 51, the Celts made up for their 34 to 44 rebound deficit. The Knicks offense was a respectable 11 of 27 for 41% from deep and 35 – 63 from two (56%). When you don’t have solid defenders on the floor, your scorers often give away more than they make. Jalen Brunson seemingly scored at will in the lane without a shot blocking deterrence.
On the other end, Marcus Smart, Malcolm Brogdon and others thoroughly abused Jalen. Randle and Barrett must give their man a cushion in an attempt to keep him from blowing by. Just the cushion Brown and Tatum needed to fill it up from beyond the arc. Close the gap and it’s a lay up.
Cam Reddish was the only player who fought through screens. Looking at the box score, fans may believe this was a very winnable game. Scoring is the fans’ ‘fools gold’. Without D, it is very difficult to outscore a competent opponent.
In nine games, we have learned this about the Knicks. First, they are woeful on D. Calls for IQ and Obi ignore the fact that they are not the defenders the Knicks need so badly. The Jekyll and Hyde Cam Reddish was his usual Dr. Jekyll on defense, but his Mr. Hyde was nowhere to be seen when Cam touched the ball. This is a hopeful sign as he is the Knicks only wing who is a solid defender. Why he wasn’t on Brown/Tatum is a mystery. Will RJ draw Anthony Edwards against the T-Wolves? Laughable.
Another thing we have learned is that teams will pull out all the stops in crunch time to bottle up Jalen Brunson. Leaving RJ and Jules to their own devices means they will play, ISO hero ball. Cleveland and Atlanta did this with Isaac Okoro and Dejounte Murray. The Boston game was like an all-star game. No one played much D.
For the Knicks to have a successful season, they must play much better defense. They have players who can score. They don’t have a team that can get stops.
ESPN Box Score: https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401468290