has been their 3-point transformation<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\nBut it\u2019s how they defend 3-pointers on the other end of the floor that is their biggest weakness. <\/p>\n
It has not overly hurt them this year, but it is certainly something that can emerge as a problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to close out better, obviously,\u201d Brunson said after Knicks practice Friday. \u201cI think we\u2019re doing a decent job of being there for each other in the gaps. If we\u2019re there in the gaps even better, there\u2019s not gonna be lanes to drive, there\u2019s not gonna be rotations, there\u2019s not gonna be closeouts. Being able to contain the ball better is definitely gonna help our group on defense. We gotta stick to our technique and get better at it and obviously limit the disadvantages on defense.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Timberwolves Julius Randle puts up a shot over New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
Knicks opponents are averaging 15.9 made 3-pointers per game and shooting 40.6 percent from behind the arc. <\/p>\n
Entering Friday, both were second most in the league, behind the Clippers and Nets, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite blowing out the Timberwolves on Wednesday, the Knicks allowed them to shoot 47.5 percent (19-for-40) from deep, the highest mark against the Knicks this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTeams are making shots,\u201d Hart said Friday. \u201cIt\u2019s the NBA, man. It goes in flows. We\u2019ve played eight games, the next eight games we could have the best 3-point defense. It might not be because our defense is great, but just because some teams miss shots. As long as we\u2019re flying around defensively, contesting shots, doing all we can, then we\u2019re gonna live with the outcome, no matter what that outcome is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With significant investment in top-level defenders in OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Mitchell Robinson, fans often wonder why the unit as a whole has been closer to average than elite the past two years. <\/p>\n
The reason largely stems from 3-point defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And the weak 3-point defense is mostly due to the other two starters \u2014 Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Josh Hart brings the ball up the court during the third quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Madison Square Garden on November 5, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n
They are the Knicks\u2019 two best scorers, but are liabilities on the defensive end. Brunson, though his effort on that end can\u2019t be questioned, is slow and at times late getting out to shooters. Against the Timberwolves in particular, he often gave too much space to Donte DiVincenzo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And Towns is incredibly slow, often resulting in him being late in rotations. Opponents relentlessly put Towns in pick-and-pop actions to free up easy \u2014 and open \u2014 3-pointers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Against the Timberwolves, players guarded by Brunson and Towns shot 5-for-9 from 3-point range, according to NBA.com\u2019s tracking stats. <\/p>\n
For the season, opponents are shooting 40.0 and 38.8 percent from deep when guarded by Brunson and Towns, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re getting a little better with it,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThere\u2019s a couple of things technique-wise that we could do better. Even if you don\u2019t feel like you can get a great contest, still put a hand up and contest. That\u2019s the first thing. The second thing is we were doing a great job of protecting one another and scrambling and trying to close out. But sometimes we\u2019re closing out so hard we\u2019re overrunning guys and then the side-step dribble 3 is available. So we\u2019ve gotta close out, take away air space first and then second, even if you can\u2019t get there, give the effort to be there while being the second jumper and not flying by a guy so that you can box out in case that ball bounces long off the miss.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns blocks Bulls Tre Jones\u2019 shot in the second half at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York, November 2, 2025. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n
Yes, shoddy 3-point defense has perhaps fallen to the background amid a three-game winning streak and plenty of reason for optimism. But it bears monitoring.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And in a league that has shown how quickly leads can change with 3-point shooting, it would behoove the Knicks to clean it up.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jalen Brunson sees a need for improvement. Josh Hart is not as concerned.\u00a0 There have been plenty of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[36783,61628,6043,355,361,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-278504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-jalen-brunson","9":"tag-josh-hart","10":"tag-mike-brown","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-new-york-knicks","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}