Everything was back to normal.
With a thorough beatdown in Beantown, the New York Knicks had washed away their streak-ending blowout loss in Detroit, setting themselves right back on track… only for all of that progress to be reversed in one night.
The woeful Indiana Pacers stormed into Madison Square Garden and handed a 137-134 overtime loss to the Knicks, leaving fans questioning what to make of the team with just one game left until the All-Star break.
For those who look at the box score, there are a surprising number of positives from such a bad loss. Jalen Brunson dropped 40, while Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns added 22 apiece. Overall, the Knicks shot 50% from the field, out-rebounded the Pacers by three, and only committed 12 turnovers despite five extra minutes.
What caused the loss, then? Well, it was the same weakness that has been the root of most Knicks losses this year: The defense.
Indiana shot 52% from the field, connecting on 40% of their threes (18 for 45) and a shocking 62% of their twos (32 for 52). This came from a team that entered Tuesday with a 3-22 road record.
This is the caliber of defensive performance that undoubtedly made Mike Brown pull his metaphorical hair out in the locker room.
It goes to show that the Knicks’ championship hopes are hanging by a frail thread: the defense of OG Anunoby and Miles McBride.
The Knicks can’t compete for a title without their top defenders
It is well-documented that the Knicks are built around two less-than-stellar defenders in Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
New York’s defense is not very good with those two players on the court together. Per Databallr, the Knicks have a defensive rating (adjusted for garbage time) of 116.3 with Brunson and Towns on the court. That’s 0.4 points above the league average, meaning the Knicks’ defense is slightly below-average when Brunson and Towns play together.
The Knicks badly need their best defenders to pick up the slack for Brunson and Towns on that end of the court. When that is not happening, this defense is average at best, meaning it will be prone to rough outings like the one they had on Tuesday.
Anunoby and McBride are the two most critical cogs. Their presence changes everything for the Knicks’ defense, and it showed on Tuesday. Both players’ absences were felt.
In 674 minutes with both Anunoby and McBride on the bench this season, the Knicks have a 117.5 defensive rating, 1.6 points worse than the NBA average. The offense suffers, too, posting a 115.2 rating, resulting in a -2.3 net rating overall when neither of those guys is out there.
The Knicks have a 114.2 defensive rating with Anunoby on the court, and a 114.7 defensive rating with McBride on the court. That might not seem like a massive difference compared to the Knicks’ 117.5 rating with those players on the bench, but for a team with an elite offense, those three points on defense could be the difference between New York being a good team and a true title contender.
After all, we just saw them lose a game by three points. Add one well-contested three from either Anunoby or McBride that was not provided by their replacements, and the final result would have flipped.
This basketball team just isn’t the same without its pair of lengthy stoppers—one in the backcourt, one in the frontcourt.
Anunoby should return soon from a toe ailment. The Knicks will have to make do without McBride for at least another five to seven weeks.
There is no question that the Knicks can run up the scoreboard with anybody. But to become a team that is consistent enough to rip off four consecutive best-of-seven victories, you cannot be as prone to defensive implosions as the Knicks are.
The Knicks’ offense is great enough to the point where they do not necessarily need an elite defense to march down the Canyon of Heroes. But it certainly must be better than average, and that won’t happen if Anunoby and McBride are on the sidelines.
McBride’s availability and health for the playoffs will remain a question mark until we get there. Anunoby is always one false step away from a few games on the bench.
Sometimes, championships are determined by injury luck more than anything else; last year’s tournament showed as much. If the Knicks have these two guys healthy for their entire playoff run, they might be able to squeeze out just enough defensive stops for their electric offense to push them over the top.
If not, Mike Brown will have to work miracles to field a defense that is competent enough to even have a remote chance of winning a title. Tuesday night’s defensive disaster against a 3-22 road team made that clear.
