Yes, ladies and gentlemen, your New York Knicks took the right medication to get healthy. Taking belt-to-behind against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night resulted in a mind-boggling 120-66 win against the little brothers, representing the largest margin of victory (54 points) in franchise history.
Not only was the victory badly needed — after the team had lost nine of its last 11 games, as well as 11 of the last 16 — but this one travels well beyond the impact on the standings.
For Mike Brown’s Knickerbockers, the intent of change was apparent. More importantly, the Knicks’ intent was to get back to who they are as a roster.
The Knicks’ head coach wasn’t shy to admit he needed to put his players “at their strengths.”
The Knicks flipped the mentality in a way that fans of yesteryear can recognize and applaud. Instead of upping the pace and chucking threes all over the lot, they didn’t settle for lower-percentage shots and got after it on the defensive end of the floor.
A decrease in 3-point volume
Despite pouring in 120 points, New York shot just 32 threes all night (making 16). That volume ties the sixth-lowest 3-point-shooting output of the season.
On the surface, this Knicks team can operate by shooting threes at a high volume. Shoot, we saw it earlier this season when the team caught fire en route to the NBA Cup victory.
The devastating problem arises when they’re not shooting the lights out, an inevitable reality every NBA team has to handle.
When shooting from beyond the arc at an average or below-average rate, longer rebounds occur (particularly without Mitchell Robinson on the floor), which create more transitional defense opportunities for the opposition. This causes debilitating issues for this specific Knicks roster, which is slower, not that long, and simply cannot keep up with the elite NBA teams athletically.
Beyond the athletic (and overall speed) deficiencies, New York is crummy on the defensive end of the floor. Although Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns shouldn’t shoulder all the blame, these two players, given their positions — (point guard (1) and center (5) — make it nearly impossible to defend effectively.
Lateral quickness simply cannot be coached up.
Effort and intensity, however, can. And that’s exactly what we saw against Brooklyn, not only because of a focused, rabid approach, but also because of an offensive strategy that made it easier for them on the defensive end.
Mindset shift: Attacking the rack, grinding pace
The first possession showed the Nets their intent.
Off the opening tip, the Knicks play Brunson off-ball, while giving Mikal Bridges the point-forward honors. Brown’s familiar five-out offense materializes with Towns at the top of the key.
Brooklyn is overplaying New York in a not-so-subtle way. Rookie Egor Demin sticks to Brunson’s hip, high and aggressively, playing the outside shot while daring the Knicks to the hole (back-cut):
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