Alarming trend leads to burning Knicks questions before big West Coast swing
LOS ANGELES — It started to crumble for the Knicks about halfway through the fourth quarter Tuesday night. They’d been well within striking distance for much of the game against the Warriors, even tying the score early in the final period.
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Ian Begley
The Knicks took four more shots than the Warriors on Tuesday. They hit 45 percent of their field goals. Golden State made 49 percent of their shots. Not a huge discrepancy. So how did the Warriors end up with a 12-point win?
The three-point line.
Golden State made 13 threes. The Knicks made eight. Obviously, this wasn’t the only reason the Knicks fell short on Tuesday. But it’s a common occurrence for New York.
The Knicks rank 30th – dead last – in opponent three-point field goal percentage. Fortunately, they are not allowing a ton of threes (the Knicks have the sixth-lowest three-point attempts allowed per 100 possessions in the league). But they also aren’t shooting a ton of threes. They are 27th in three-point attempts per 100 possessions.
Players have said all year that there’s an emphasis on shooting threes. But it hasn’t translated to the floor often.
How can they create more three-point attempts?
“For us, I feel like it’s our pace,” Miles McBride said after Tuesday’s game. “I feel like our pace can be a lot quicker getting up the floor. And then when we get up the floor, then moving with action, getting the ball flowing. It’s hard to just not really get action and then go into a shot, so I feel like for us, we just have to get a lot more action, a lot more pace.”
What about the other side of the ball? How can the Knicks improve their three-point defense?
“Communication is big in guarding,” McBride says. “If we’re switching, talking early so they can’t get downhill and kick out threes.”
The communication wasn’t there on Tuesday night. It will have to be better over the final few weeks of the season if the Knicks want to have success in the playoffs.
By claiming Anton Watson off waivers Tuesday, the Knicks will be able to make him active for the rest of the regular season. Watson is on a two-way contract. Most two-way players signed at his point in the season are eligible for 12 regular season games. But the Knicks avoided that limit by claiming Watson off waivers. With Watson on board, the Knicks have now filled both open two-way spots created when Jacob Toppin and Matt Ryan were waived.
With Watson on the roster, the Knicks now have five players selected in the 2024 NBA Draft: Pacome Dadiet, Tyler Kolek, Kevin McCullar, Ariel Hukporti and Watson. The Knicks are intrigued by Watson’s potential shooting and positional versatility. He shot 42 percent from beyond the arc in his final season at Gonzaga. ESPN first reported the Watson transaction.
New York still has an open roster spot and can sign a veteran while remaining under the second apron. The available pool of free agents for the Knicks includes Mo Bamba, Moses Brown, T.J. Warren, Chuma Okeke, P.J. Tucker, Marcus Morris Sr. and Taj Gibson.
Just my opinion from being around the NBA for a few years: the Knicks should take a hard look at Tucker. The 39-year-old gives New York something it doesn’t have right now: a longtime veteran in the locker room. Tucker, a 13-year vet and NBA champ, would, in my opinion, be an influential/impactful voice. The Knicks obviously have a need at center, which is why they’ve touched base with Brown. They could sign a center — or any free agent — to a 10-day deal or a rest of season deal. If they signed a non-center like Tucker, the Knicks, in theory, could play Precious Achiuwa as a reserve center.
The NBA Foundation awarded $250,000 in cash prizes to entrepreneurs during All-Star weekend as part of its fourth annual Pitch Competition.
The competition featured start-up companies in the host city’s market (San Francisco) and aimed to help innovators from the Bay Area communities with tools, resources, financial support and funding opportunities.
Jodi Anderson of Rezme – a start-up app providing tools for job candidates with previous justice system involvement/criminal records — won first prize in the contest.
The judging panel included native New Yorker and radio personality Angela Yee and Chiney Ogwumike.
Yee was connected to the competition by Tameek Floyd, director of the New York-based Taj Gibson Foundation and CEO of sports and management company Three K3ys Inc.
“Yes, the NBA is a sport but they have arms that impact things that are bigger than basketball. They’re empowering underserved communities; they’re doing a lot of good work,” Floyd said. “It was great to see it first-hand.”
Established in 2020, the NBA Foundation has delivered $140 million in grants aimed at addressing systemic barriers to success for youth in underserved communities. The foundation is dedicated to providing economic and career advancement opportunities for youth in NBA markets.
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Knicks are 27th in three-point attempts per 100 possessions
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Should the Knicks consider a lineup change when Karl-Anthony Towns is out?
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Personal reasons kept the All-Star big man out against Golden State. It revealed potential chinks in the armor.
(Note: This was originally planned in response to Tom Thibodeau casting doubt on Towns traveling with the team on the West Coast trip. Towns has since been removed from the injury report)
On Tuesday, the Knicks squared off with the Golden State Warriors at the World’s Most Famous Arena in an affair that flipped violently in the second half.
After a hobbled Steph Curry was muted in the first half and the Warriors were ice cold from deep, the Knicks took a 10-point lead early in the third quarter, only to eventually lose that lead and the game. In the fourth quarter specifically, the Knicks fell behind, got back to within one, and completely imploded on both ends.
A major issue was the Knicks’ offense short-circuiting with the absence of Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns isn’t injured, but he missed the game due to unspecified personal reasons. It doesn’t seem to relate to his father (who was in MSG), but his girlfriend Jordyn Woods tweeted a since-deleted broken heart emoji before this:
Assuming anything would be grossly out of place and we wish Karl and Jordyn well as they try to get through this difficult time.
On the basketball court, Towns’ impact is spelled out every time he’s in street clothes. While his defense is abhorrent, his offense is irreplaceable. Since he went SuperNova (it’s a better nickname than social media is suggesting) last season, Jalen Brunson has been blitzed countless times. Last night, Golden State destroyed the Knicks’ offense by constantly pressuring Brunson and forcing someone else to beat them. With Josh Hart in a shooting slump and Mikal Bridges’ lack of aggressiveness, the only other option was OG Anunoby, who played well but can’t be relied on as a second option.
Take the fact that, for the first time this season, the Knicks dealt with 48 minutes of bad spacing. Mitchell Robinson started at center but gave way to Precious Achiuwa for much of the game due to a minutes restriction. As such, the team struggled. It doesn’t help when you can’t buy a three to save your life, even on open looks.
In the long term, this doesn’t mean much. Towns isn’t injured, and as long as nothing freakish happens, should be at full strength come April. If he isn’t, well you can’t expect anything from a team missing a 25 PPG All-Star.
Towns may be in the clear on this personal issue, but the risk of him missing a game or two due to a nagging knee or finger issue remains. More than likely, the Knicks will be without Towns at least one more time this season.
So, for the next time Towns is sidelined, the Knicks should consider one small change that could pay dividends.
Replace Josh Hart in the starting lineup with Deuce McBride.
I hold a fundamental belief that Josh Hart is one of the most important players on the 2024-25 Knicks. There’s an argument that to optimize the current Knicks roster that McBride should start over Hart when everyone is healthy. This is not what I’m advocating for.
Behold, the net ratings for Josh Hart when paired with four of the five men to play center for the Knicks this season:
Mitchell Robinson: -30.8 (27 mins)
Ariel Hukporti: -13.4 (82 mins)
Precious Achiuwa: -3.7 (501 mins)
Jericho Sims: -0.6 (227 mins)
Yeesh. What about KAT?
Karl-Anthony Towns: +8.5 (1,546 minutes)
That’s better.
There’s logical reasons for this. The top four are all “traditional bigs”. Robinson and Sims are physically incapable of making anything but a dunk or layup, while Hukporti is limited outside of floaters. Achiuwa is better than the others on offense, but is more clumsy and undersized for a center.
Josh Hart is a guy who thrives inside the arc. He’s breaking records for 2P% for guys his size. He plays his best when he’s making a beeline to the rim and grabbing rebounds he has no business grabbing. He can shoot, but he lacks the confidence and is in a slump. This kills the spacing and makes life harder for the others involved.
Now, where does Deuce come into play?
Deuce is a perimeter player who is always a catch-and-shoot threat. Although he’s been hit-or-miss with his 37.2% from behind the arc, he’ll have games where he can completely change the momentum with a few buckets and ferocious defense.
I’ll now show you two lineups. The first is the normal starters (minus KAT) and the next subs out Hart for Deuce. What do you see?
Brunson-Bridges-Hart-OG: +0.9 net rating
Brunson-McBride-Bridges-Anunoby: +13.6 net rating
Now, there is a counter-argument that if you’re elevating Deuce, you bench Mikal. After all, the Brunson-Deuce-Hart-OG lineup has a +16.9 net rating. However, Mikal’s value in spacing the floor is crucial when you factor that the center for these games cannot.
The sample is much too small with Mitch, but here are three lineups involving Precious Achiuwa to consider:
Brunson-Bridges-Hart-Anunoby-Achiuwa: -6.8 net rating (122 minutes)
Brunson-McBride-Hart-Anunoby-Achiuwa: -11.3 net rating (31 minutes)
Brunson-McBride-Bridges-Anunoby-Achiuwa: +9.1 net rating (68 minutes)
While Robinson is the starting center, Achiuwa will play more minutes due to Mitch’s injury history. McBride is not only a better shooter than Hart, but a better defender. The third lineup has a 102.1 defensive rating, which is elite. Although the offense could be better, that’s related to the limitations of Achiuwa and McBride’s streaky shooting.
Now, the trade-off to this change is that you lose the playmaking and rebounding that Hart provides. McBride is significantly worse at both than Hart is. When Mitchell Robinson is on the court, the trade-off is muted, but issues arise when its Precious Achiuwa.
When originally writing this, I stacked this lineup against both Los Angeles squads we’ll face this week. While the Lakers only have Jaxson Hayes as a true big in their lineup, the Clippers can eat you alive with Ivica Zubac’s emergence as a top-flight traditional big.
Thankfully, it appears KAT will play Thursday in Tinseltown and should be fine going forward, but the Knicks need to be prepared for an upcoming situation where their All-Star center might not be available, and it might take a difficult decision to get the best out of the team.
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