For much of the season, the reality of the Knicks\u2019 situation was different than the fantasy.<\/p>\n
Yes, we all thought that this team would eventually enter the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference. The talent is too good, and the competition in the East is frail. New York, though, showed vulnerabilities. Time was needed to adjust to the change in philosophies and principles under a new head coach. Time was needed to make mistakes to see what needed to be rectified.<\/p>\n
The Knicks came into this season with sky-high expectations, the type of pressure that forces outsiders to hang on every pass, dribble, shot and defensive assignment. New York hadn\u2019t been perfect through the first month, surely making some feel uneasy. However, the Knicks have won four straight \u2014 three decisively and one a back-and-forth contest. They\u2019ve defended with an intensity not always through the first weeks of the season. The offense continues to be potent, whether by way of the initial shot or the follow-up one.<\/p>\n
After laying a 116-94 beatdown on the red-hot Raptors on Sunday, the Knicks are second in the East. They feel like a team that is figuring out what it takes to be who they want to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re holding each other more accountable,\u201d Jalen Brunson said. \u201cWe\u2019re paying attention to detail a little more \u2014 we can still do better at that. I think the little things matter more than people think. If we keep believing that and keep doing that, then we\u2019ll keep winning games. Playing in this league, there\u2019s so much talent around the league, the little things can make or break wins and losses. We have to continue to do all that little stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Communication. Keeping the ball in front of you. Making on-time, on-target passes. 50-50 balls. All of these things can go unseen to the untrained eye, but they\u2019re the qualities that make champions. New York, over the last week, is doing a better job of communicating defensively. That was regularly the first thing that came up when players were asked what\u2019s changed over this four-game win streak.<\/p>\n
Players believe they\u2019ve been on a string more defensively as a result of talking more. They all know what is being asked of them by the coaches. Are there still slip-ups? Sure. However, they don\u2019t feel as compounded. It\u2019s not one right after the other after the other.<\/p>\n
In this clip, you can see New York execute its \u201cshift\u201d defense by filling the gaps when a Raptor puts the ball on the floor. The highlight of this clip, though, aside from Tyler Kolek being able to both help on Immanuel Quickley\u2019s drive and still recover out to Brandon Ingram in the corner, is when Mikal Bridges picks up Ingram on the baseline drive and points to Kolek to recover out to the relocating Quickley on the wing. New York has everything covered here as Toronto sees the shot clock winding down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re communicating a lot better,\u201d McBride said. \u201cTonight, we had a few bumps getting back in transition, but that\u2019s what they do really well, so give credit to them. But I feel like defensively we\u2019re just locked in a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n
They are, even without their best defender in OG Anunoby and one of their better on-ball defender in Landry Shamet, both of whom are out with injuries. McBride, as well as Josh Hart, have greatly picked up the intensity when it comes to on-ball defense. Those two have played with a physicality when guarding one-on-one that feels like it\u2019s permeated throughout the group. Bridges\u2019 gap-help defense has turned defense into easy offense and added an extra layer of oomph\u00a0to the defense.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the season, a lot of New York\u2019s defensive mistakes were a result of poor on-ball defense. A ballhandler would get a defender too easy and it would create an advantage for the opposing offense. As of late, Knicks defenders are applying more disciplined pressure at the point of attack. There\u2019s been more urgency to recover after getting screened.<\/p>\n
To simplify it even more: pride has kicked in. New York realized how detrimental its on-ball defense had been. It did something to change it. Mistakes can be good, but only if you learn from them.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Assistant coach) Darren Erman talked to me about being more physical on the ball,\u201d Josh Hart said after the Knicks defeated Milwaukee last week. \u201cThat\u2019s something I\u2019ve been trying to do the last two, three games. I got to continue to do that and help set the tone, at least while I\u2019m starting, in those positions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Offensively, the Knicks are still generating good looks. They\u2019re also very accurate with the good looks. What makes them dangerous, though, is that when they miss, they\u2019re often getting the offensive rebound and second-chance points. New York has done a good job of executing its crashing principles. Against the Raptors, the Knicks had 25 offensive rebounds for 22 second-chance points. Seven of those were from Mitchell Robinson, which is a feat in itself, but also tells you how eager everyone else is to get in on the action.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the little things, just like Brunson said.<\/p>\n
The Knicks are doing those more consistently. They\u2019ve been rewarded with results. There are still things to iron out on both sides of the ball for New York, but excelling around the margins can keep the win column growing while the rest catches up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still think we have room for improvement,\u201d Karl-Anthony Towns said. \u201cBut we did a great job tonight of competing with a team that\u2019s really hot and playing well and finding a way to play Knicks basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For much of the season, the reality of the Knicks\u2019 situation was different than the fantasy. Yes, we…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,361,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-323978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-new-york-knicks","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323978","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=323978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}