Knicks see in Magic same grit and tough defense they used to own
The Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns, front, knocks over the New Orleans Pelicans' Yves Missi, center bottom, during the first half of an NBA game Sunday at Madison Square Garden. Credit: AP/Pamela Smith
As he walked into the locker room before the game Tuesday night, Karl-Anthony Towns offered hellos and fist bumps to the reporters and media relations staff in the near-empty room. He then made a point to reach out to one person he’d missed — until he saw that it was an Orlando Magic reporter and he joked that he couldn’t offer him a greeting.
That may seem like a throwback to the old days of the Knicks, when the games were considered battles in a war, and whether it was Pat Riley or Jeff Van Gundy coaching, the opposition was the enemy. And Tuesday's meeting with the Magic not only was a chance to play for a berth in the NBA Cup, but a chance to look in the mirror. It is an image of what they once saw as themselves and believe they can be again.
While the Knicks are topping the NBA in a number of offensive metrics, it is the Magic that seem like a throwback Knicks team as Orlando now has the top-rated defense in the NBA. Despite being shorthanded with the star and face of the franchise, Paolo Banchero, sidelined with a torn oblique muscle, the Magic have managed to emerge as the hottest team in the NBA. They entered Tuesday with six straight wins and 12 in their last 13 games.
And they’ve done it with grit and defense.
“They are going to be physical,” Jalen Brunson said. “I’ve known [Magic] coach [Jamahl] Mosley for a long time. He’s always been adamant about defense. That’s what they do. They play both sides of the ball well, but defensively they are the best statistically right now.”
“You don’t make up for what Paolo does,” Mosley said. “I think you just have to adjust to find the right thing to do with young men that are also hungry to step into a different role. What Paolo brings and the attention that he brings with double teams, usage. When he touches the ball, all eyes are going to be on him. Assists to rebounds there’s so many things he provides for us.
“In this moment with him not being with us and being able to play, guys have stepped up. Relying heavy on the defense and understanding how we need to play to generate more offense. There’s guys who have stepped into a higher level of play. … Each guy has found a different role and has accepted that role and been able to thrive in it.”
The Knicks have managed to keep their starting lineup intact this season — Towns missing one game and it was the only absence for any of the five starters. And they have created a potent offense behind the play of Towns and Brunson
But they entered play Tuesday ranked 22nd in the defensive rating — not entirely unexpected as they put Towns at center and have been without Mitchell Robinson, an elite rim protector.
“To me, the most important thing is net rating,” Thibodeau said — and the Knicks rank sixth in the league at that figure. “How many do you score and how many do you give up? I think we’re Top 10 in points allowed. We’re top 10 in points allowed in the paint, top five in defensive transition. [We're] top five in second chance points allowed [and] sixth or seventh in rebound margin.
“I look at it in totality. That’s the big thing. Would I like us to challenge shots better? Yeah. That’s a big thing. I still think there’s a lot of things we can do better on offense. So I don’t want to stray away from striving for daily improvement on both sides of the ball. In the end, you want to be playing your best at the end of the season. So each day, you try and get better.”
The Knicks have shown that at moments — winning a one-sided game at Denver, limiting New Orleans to a season-low 85 points in their most recent game. But they also have looked as if they lack the toughness that marked the old Knicks teams, that has marked Thibodeau-coached teams and that the Magic have been putting on display.
And if you closed your eyes as you listened to Mosley describe his team, you could imagine it was Thibodeau. “Tied together,” Mosley said of his team. “We’ve got five guys on a string. Active hands. Active bodies. Great positioning. High level of communication. These guys just love to defend the right way for each other.”
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.
