The New York Knicks now have lost three straight games for only the second time this season. On Saturday against the Philadelphia 76ers, they were unable to overcome a bad loss on Friday and fell flat again at home, losing by a score of 119-130.
The Knicks’ defense continues to be a serious issue
Defense has been a problem for the Knicks all season, and over the course of this losing skid, it’s only become worse. Philadelphia made scoring look easy on Saturday, with Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe being the main catalysts for them.
The Knicks allowed the Sixers to shoot 54% from the field and 47% from three. Philadelphia made things look easy on the court, and at one point in the third quarter ran the same play in consecutive possessions that the Knicks simply couldn’t stop.
New York has a defensive rating of 121.6 over the last three games, which is the seventh-worst in the league in that span. They couldn’t use the injury excuse this time, as Mitchell Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns were healthy and able to play in this game.
Until the defense cleans up, the Knicks are going to continue to have nights like this. It’s not often that a team that wants to make the Finals can get away with being a below average defensive team, so things need to be cleaned up in that department.
Karl-Anthony Towns was strong in the paint, but bad from distance
Karl-Anthony Towns had a game that is tough to grade for many. On one hand, he showed some great physicality by getting work done inside the arc and drawing fouls, finishing with 23 points and 14 rebounds on the night.
However, on the other hand, the three-point shot continued to haunt Towns, which has been an inauspicious weakness to his game this season. He shot just 0-for-5 from three on Saturday against the Sixers, and is now down to 35.4% on the season, a significant decline from his numbers outside the arc last season.
With the bad fouls that often haunt Towns, they can’t afford to have inconsistent offensive production from him. For the team to get going, it all starts with Towns finding a rhythm on the offensive end.
Turnovers and bad shots hurt the Knicks’ chance at a comeback
Similar to how things unfolded Friday against the Atlanta Hawks, turnovers and low percentage shots hurt the Knicks’ chances of making a late comeback. Credit to the Sixers for tightening up their defense when they needed to, but New York failed to execute a better gameplan to thwart their defensive strategy.
The Knicks turned the ball over 16 times overall in the game, and shot 5-for-17 from three in the second half. Oftentimes, they avoided attacking the basket and opted for shooting more threes, a staple of head coach Mike Brown’s system this season.
Shooting more threes is a good thing, but only if they are clean looks. Oftentimes on Saturday, they were settling for contested shots both in the half court and in transition, and the lack of pure ball movement led to contested heaves at the end of the shot clock.
However, they won’t always shoot the ball at an excellent rate, and it’s on the players and the coach to realize that. The Knicks need to come up with a more diverse offensive gameplan, as they have been shooting themselves out of games recently.
Overview
The Knicks are currently at their lowest point in the season, losing back-to-back games at home in relatively disappointing fashion. They will need to turn the page next game, and it’s a big one, as they will take on the No. 1 seed in the East, the Detroit Pistons, on the road on Monday.
More about: New York Knicks
