The New York Knicks failed their first test without Jalen Brunson, as a poor second half led to their demise against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday losing by a score of 105-95. New York has lost three straight games and is now 40-23 on the year while Los Angeles improves to 34-29.
The Knicks could not get any offense going late
Surprisingly, The first three quarters went well for New York, as they held a nine-point lead at one point and got good contributions from Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart. However, they were badly missing their closer in Brunson down the stretch, and it showed with poor offense.
The Knicks scored just 17 points in the fourth quarter and went 0-for-7 from three in the closing period. Without Brunson to generate offense, they struggled to find a go-to guy on the court, and they weren’t getting enough from the guys that needed to step up.
New York was playing severely shorthanded, as Mitchell Robinson also sat this game because it was the second night of a back-to-back. Without him and Brunson, the Knicks’ offense fell flat. They shot just 38.5% from the field and 26.5% from three on the night.
The Knicks couldn’t match the Clippers hot shooting
While the Knicks struggled shooting from long distance, the Clippers shot the lights out against New York, making it significantly challenging for the Knicks to overcome the deficits.
The Clippers shot a blistering 15-for-38 (39.8%) from three-point range. James Harden and Nicolas Batum each dropped in five three-pointers and they seemingly had no problems scoring without their leading scorer, Norman Powell.
The Knicks had major struggles guarding the three-point line, especially in the corners as they were allowing that spot of the court to get very clean looks all might. New York was fortunate to be within striking distance despite that defensive miscue, but it is clear that they need to make major gameplan adjustments without Brunson.
Overview
The Knicks won’t have Brunson for a while, so they will need to adjust to life without him to stay afloat in the Eastern Conference. They will get two much-needed days off before they take on the Sacramento Kings Monday night.