{"id":83528,"date":"2025-12-15T01:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T01:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/83528\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T01:19:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T01:19:09","slug":"these-new-york-knicks-look-nothing-like-the-old-ones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/83528\/","title":{"rendered":"These New York Knicks look nothing like the old ones"},"content":{"rendered":"

This particular shoe used to be on the other foot. For years, it was the Knicks<\/a> who ran out of answers before they ran out of clock.<\/p>\n

The Knicks of old ran out of legs, ran out of gas and eventually ran out of hope. They operated a predictable offense that devalued the NBA\u2019s most potent shot. They talked about embracing physicality \u2014 until it arrived at their doorstep and knocked them off balance.<\/p>\n

Those Knicks wanted to contend. They came close. Their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in a quarter-century proved as much. But even then, they never quite looked the part.<\/p>\n

Funny what a sneaky-good offseason can do.<\/p>\n

What many viewed as a failed \u2014 or at least unnecessarily complicated \u2014 summer is quietly pushing this franchise toward new heights. A coaching change. Organizational buy-in. A minute series of calculated roster decisions. Together, they\u2019ve lifted a ceiling that once felt fixed at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

Mike Brown\u2019s offseason makeover has been a resounding success, largely because his Knicks look nothing like the Knicks of old. The team now representing the Eastern Conference in the 2025 NBA Cup Final is new and improved \u2014 built in the image of the very formula that once undid them.<\/p>\n

Take Saturday\u2019s semifinal against Orlando<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Magic leaned on an 11-man rotation in hopes of running the Knicks into the ground, a tactic that has worked against New York in the past. In theory, it should have worked again \u2014 especially with the Knicks missing two perimeter pieces in Miles McBride (ankle) and Landry Shamet (shoulder).<\/p>\n

Instead, the Knicks flipped the script.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re built \u2014 literally and figuratively \u2014 to weather this storm. Jordan Clarkson shoots first but defends next. Tyler Kolek is playing with growing confidence and freedom. And under Brown\u2019s run-and-run-more mandate, the Knicks are in better shape than they\u2019ve been in years. Brown\u2019s eight-and-a-half-man rotation beat an Orlando team also missing two key players on Saturday.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s real depth.<\/p>\n

It means 10 or 11 playable bodies when fully healthy \u2014 the same kind of depth the Indiana Pacers once used to knock the Knicks out of consecutive playoff series. The difference now? New York\u2019s starting five is more potent than Indiana\u2019s ever was.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know that 90 percent of the points came from our starters,\u201d Karl-Anthony Towns said after the win. \u201cBut it was that 10 percent from the bench that really changed the game. When we needed that boost, and [the Magic] were playing well on their run, that was people like Tyler, Mitch, JC, who came in the game and just changed the energy of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Depth wasn\u2019t the only thorn in the Knicks\u2019 side in recent years. Physicality was another.<\/p>\n

Missteps in Detroit, Atlanta, Houston and Orlando painted a consistent picture of a team that struggled to meet moments requiring teeth and toughness. Now, under Brown, the Knicks are hitting first and asking questions later \u2014 another mandate built on aggressive on-ball defense and trust that teammates will cover behind it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our physicality is extremely better,\u201d Josh Hart said after Saturday\u2019s win. \u201cWhen you\u2019re able to be physical on the perimeter, you\u2019re able to throw teams off what they do and now your defense is more impactful. You can be in passing lanes and do those kinds of things, protect shots at the rim. So I think our physicality is something that\u2019s driving that, and that\u2019s something we have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Knicks also had to solve their own internal contradictions.<\/p>\n

Their two best players carried reputations as net-negative defenders, and compensating for them had often put the team in a bind. Jalen Brunson\u2019s ball dominance could stall the offense in previous seasons. This year, it hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Brunson is getting off the ball quicker. His 5.18 seconds per touch and 4.86 dribbles per touch are both down year over year, and his scoring is up \u2014 28.8 points per game \u2014 despite holding the ball less.<\/p>\n

Brown is also extracting improved defense from Towns, who is closer to averaging one block per game this season than at any point in his previous three.<\/p>\n

\u201cA guy that was just constant with verticalities, trying not to foul, just being big at the rim was KAT. KAT was our Defensive Player of the Game. It was well deserved,\u201d Brown said after the semifinal victory over the Magic. \u201cHe\u2019s been playing a lot better on that end of the floor, and he\u2019s got to keep performing at a high level for us defensively in order for us to continue to get wins, especially in environments like today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown may spend his miles campaigning for Brunson\u2019s MVP case, but his own r\u00e9sum\u00e9 is beginning to warrant early Coach of the Year consideration.<\/p>\n

The Knicks talked the talk before. Under Brown, they\u2019re walking the walk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith his new offense and defense, we\u2019re all adjusting, and he\u2019s doing his best to make it easy for us to transition and for us to impact the game,\u201d Towns said. \u201cI think recently we\u2019ve been playing really good basketball, even though we still could be better, the fact that we\u2019re doing this right now, and we\u2019re still learning, but we\u2019re winning games while learning is a testament to the coaching staff and is a testament to these guys in this locker room that are willing to sacrifice and do whatever it takes to win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This particular shoe used to be on the other foot. For years, it was the Knicks who ran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[5824,46106,46107,2295,139,141,140],"class_list":{"0":"post-83528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-knicks","9":"tag-kristian-winfield","10":"tag-mike-bronwn","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-orlando","13":"tag-orlando-headlines","14":"tag-orlando-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}