Knicks One-Way Play is Failing Them

The New York Knicks‘ lack of duets have gotten them in trouble on the early NBA leaderboard.

That was all-too-purely apparent on the floor of the Delta Center on Saturday evening: with the Knicks’ normally reliable offense running dry in Salt Lake City, the defense failed to step up against the bottom-dwelling Utah Jazz. The lack of complementary play led to a 121-106 defeat that ended a four-game winning streak, the Knicks’ longest so far this season.

“We were flat,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said, per Steve Popper of Newsday. ““We started slowly. We had a couple chances to get back. Every time we got it down to like five, we gave up an easy shot. There’s going to be nights that you don’t shoot it great. You need your defense and your rebounding to carry it.”

In that aspect, the Knicks’ defense and interior units dropped the ball: New York immediately fell behind after Jalen Brunson opened scoring with a brief lead, giving up nine in a row before a stagnant offense could stop the bleeding. Defensive lapses defined the day, as the Knicks (9-7) were unable to capitalize on a tie score at the end of the first or a 17-0 run in the third period that whittled a 19-point Utah lead down to two.

The Knicks allowed both John Collins and Walker Kessler to earn rebounding-aided double-doubles, as they lost the latter department by a season-worst 12. Turnovers were kept in check as the Knicks only lost nine, but four of the five starters accounted for that tally. OG Anunoby was flawless in that regard but every other opening man had at least two.

The lack of adaptability was particularly glaring against the lowly Jazz, as noted by the Knicks’ headliners. Such struggles came on a night when New York hit only 17 three-pointers on an exhausting 51 tries, just the fifth occasion where they tried that many in franchise history.

“You have to win games different ways,” Thibodeau said in Popper’s report. “Nights in which you’re not shooting well, you want your defense, your rebounding, and your low turnovers to carry you. If you do those three things, you’re going to be in a position to win regardless of how you shoot the ball.”

“When you’re not making shots and you’re not playing well defensively, that’s a recipe for disaster,” Josh Hart added. “We’ve got to figure it out on the defensive end. Offensively, we’ve got enough talent on the offensive side where, even if certain guys aren’t going that day, to play well and to win games. But we’ve got to figure it out defensively.”

The road to improve doesn’t get much easier for the Knicks, who will try to make things right on Monday against the Denver Nuggets (9 p.m. ET, MSG2).

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