NEW YORK — Sometimes shots go in, sometimes they don’t.
That’s not what this is about. The New York Knicks’ offense in Monday night’s 100-94 Game 2 loss to the Detroit Pistons was egocentric. It was messy. It was undisciplined.
New York’s offense at times resembled a pick-up run, like a collection of hoopers had just met one another minutes before the second biggest game of the season. The Knicks’ offense at times resembled a group of heroes all trying to take individual credit for taking down the final boss. At times, New York’s offense looked like it didn’t know what it was supposed to do.
The Knicks earned their standing as the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 seed behind an elite, efficient offense that ranked fifth in the NBA. You wouldn’t have known that from watching Monday’s game.
“It derives from us playing slower,” Josh Hart said. “When we play fast, it’s tough for teams to keep up. We got a lot of weapons out there. When you’re playing fast, you cause the defense to make mistakes. When you’re playing stagnant, it’s tougher for them to make mistakes, it’s tougher to attack the basket. We just played a little too slow. The thing about the playoffs, it’s never easy. We just have to watch film, learn and grow from it.”
New York’s 15 assists had as much to do with the stagnant offense Hart mentioned as it did players missing shots. The Knicks’ 42 percent shooting from the field had as much to do with the shot selection as it did with the ball going through the basket. It’s possible that all of this manifested for New York because it was too caught up in the fact that the physical, great-defending-but-also-oft-fouling Pistons had only committed one shooting foul, according to the officials, in the game’s first 24 minutes — a rightful gripe, but not one that should rattle a veteran team to that degree at this stage.
Karl-Anthony Towns’ last shot attempt came with 5:20 left in the third quarter. That can’t happen. Jalen Brunson took 27 shots himself, while Towns, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby combined for 39 shots. Against a defense like Detroit’s, that can’t happen.
No one person is to blame for what took place. This was an offensive performance deserving of many finger-pointings, and one that, if it happens again, could have the Knicks on the ropes in a series it must win.
Towns’ has taken only five 3-pointers through two games in this series. Some of that is his doing, but this is an example of how it’s not and New York needing its ballhandlers to be more aware of their surroundings.
Brunson does everything right here up until he lets the ball go. His dribble-drive penetration creates an advantage and causes Paul Reed, who is guarding Towns, to sprint into the paint to try and negate the layup. Brunson knows he is being doubled but never recognizes that Towns is all alone. And while the Knicks’ star guard has made that shot one million times this season, it doesn’t fall here. Even if it did, it’s not the right read. Towns, an elite 3-point shooter, is wide open.
“I feel like I’m getting in spots and missing shots that I normally make,” Brunson said after the game. “And I feel like it could be a lot better. And I hold myself to a higher standard than that. And I just have to put my team in position to win. And all the other stuff doesn’t matter. The stats, when it comes to a loss, it doesn’t matter at all. I just got to help my team and put them in position to win, and tonight I didn’t do that.
Without question, the Knicks need to do a better job of getting Towns involved, but he’s not absent of blame himself, either.
Teams like to guard Towns with smaller wings and it’s because of instances like this, where an opponent can sometimes easily bait the New York big man into a difficult shot.
Towns should be doing his work early here. He should be putting the smaller Tobias Harris under the basket, giving himself not only a better shot but, potentially, drawing a foul in the process. Towns doesn’t do that and, instead, bails the Detroit defense out. He is content with catching the ball outside of the paint, takes six backdown dribbles (none with purpose) just to still shoot a difficult turnaround jumper outside of the paint, all while wasting eight seconds in the process.
In a perfect world, outside of setting up closer to the basket, Towns throws the ball back out to Cameron Payne as soon as Dennis Schröder digs down at the elbow. If Payne doesn’t have a 3 after that, the Pistons are likely in a defensive rotation because Schröder will have to recover to Payne.
There are too many possessions like this for a talented New York offense. Towns is skilled enough to make that shot but it’s not good process for a Knicks team going up against a defense that already makes things difficult on their own. This just makes life easier for the Pistons. Towns should know that.
Another issue that has regularly presented itself for New York is the lack of discipline with its spacing. The above clip is a prime example.
The Knicks flow into a Brunson-Hart pick-and-roll that allows the former to get downhill. Hart, as he’s supposed to do as the non-shooter in the lineup, rolls to the basket to force the defense to collapse. Towns looks as if he’s going to space out to the corner, which he’s supposed to do, but never fully does. However, as soon as Brunson gets near the paint, Towns dives toward the basket, nearly crashing into Hart, and a turnover happens.
It appears that Brunson is expecting Towns to be in the corner and has to adjust mid-air when he notices that the big man has cut to the rim. Had Towns spaced out instead, it’s possible that he’d be able to step into a catch-and-shoot 3 or at least cause Detroit to get into rotation. Harris had his eyes locked onto the Brunson drive before Towns took off and, as you can see, realized he made a mistake when Brunson jumped to pass. However, Harris believed Towns was still in the corner and was trying to recover. This turnover feels like it could have been easily avoided by sticking to principles.
Throughout Game 2, there were many examples of how the Knicks’ offense was all over the place. It was a party bag of frustration, maybe sparked by the lack of calls the team got in the first half. Even then, this team has too many veterans and too much talent to have the stinker of an offensive performer that it did on Monday night.
The playoffs are a different beast. New York knows that. The margin for error is razor thin compared to the regular season, even for a team as talented as the Knicks. The one thing New York can’t do is make things easy for the Pistons. Not anymore. Otherwise, this season might end sooner than everyone anticipated.
(Photo of Karl-Anthony Towns being defended by Tobias Harris: Al Bello / Getty Images)