Knicks' tough defense should benefit from NBA's kinder non-calls
Miles McBride of the New York Knicks is guarded by Moses Moody of Golden State on Monday. Credit: Getty Images
SAN FRANCISCO — The career-high 29 points for Deuce McBride Monday night against Golden State was nice, but the noticeable part of the game from the opening tip was on the other end of the floor — or across the entire length of the floor.
McBride played a throwback style, not far off from the Derek Harper or John Starks defensive strategies, pushing his head at times into the chest of Steph Curry until they were almost one, never allowing him to shake free as he tried to race around screens. Although Curry didn’t leave with the bruises across his arms that Harper would inflict on opposing guards and he and McBride were never rolling around the floor fighting like Starks and an assortment of his targets, there was a clear level of physicality that echoed days gone by.
And although the game actually broke the Knicks string of five straight games holding the opposition under 100 points with the 119-112 victory, it was another 48-minute piece of evidence that the game has abruptly changed in the NBA and the Knicks might be as well-positioned as any team to take advantage.
Although the league has insisted that no directive has been issued on the subject, free throws and fouls are down since the All-Star break and more to the point, any eye test will show that hunting fouls isn’t working anymore.
“We definitely feel it,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. “I love it. The main thing that I think most of us in the league are looking for is just eliminating the B.S. and I think the league has done a pretty good job of that in the last few weeks — way fewer bait fouls where guys just run into somebody and flail their arms and get sent to the line. So there has been a shift. It’s been good for the game.”
For the Knicks, this is gold. McBride is a throwback defender, an elite high school football player who decided on basketball instead and took that mentality to West Virginia where coach Bob Huggins pushed a relentless style, which has been continued under Tom Thibodeau. Josh Hart is a 6-foot-4 tireless worker — averaging 13.8 rebounds per game over the last five. Jalen Brunson is an elite scorer and we focus on his refined footwork and skills, but he is also a bully in the paint despite his diminutive height.
“I think it’s a lot better,” OG Anunoby said this week before shutting down again with elbow inflammation. “Some are still doing the head, throwback thing. … I think it’s an advantage for a lot of us. Usually we have to play different because of the rules. But we know we can play how we were meant to play.”
“For me, for a defender like I am, I like to be physical, so I enjoy it,” Hart said. “Battling with it a little bit, just because the change is a little drastic, just going from pre-All-Star — obviously, it was on the far end of the spectrum. And now it’s kinda on the other far end of the spectrum. So sometimes, it’s tough to try to figure out where they’re calling fouls and those kinds of things. Ideally, I like it. But just gotta try to find out how exactly they’re calling it.”
But Hart believes it will benefit the Knicks as they head toward the postseason.
“Yeah, I think so, just how physical we are,” he said. “Honestly, we wanna get into guys defensively and be disruptive and those little kinda things so being physical allows that. And offensively, getting into guys’ bodies and those kinda things. So I think it helps.”
It’s been pointed out time and time again that the Knicks don’t have the top tier star — the MVP on a resume (despite the chants of MVP for Brunson that even made it into Chase Center). But what they do have is an identity of toughness. And now the whistles have been put away and they can see just how effective that style will be in the postseason.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
