Knicks' offense beginning to show adeptness at passing, cutting
\Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns looks on against the Washington Wizards in the second half of an NBA preseason game at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 9. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
HOUSTON — Through the good and the bad times in recent Knicks history, the playoff runs led by Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle and the struggles of the Carmelo Anthony-led squads, the team has won and lost to the beat of a basketball dribbling out the shot clock.
But the early returns on the rebuilt Knicks squad might be changing that perception.
As the Knicks have become a potent offensive team in recent years, the notion that Tom Thibodeau teams are just defense-based groups has been hard to shake despite the numbers. Watching this group as it comes together, though, has provided a hint that maybe things are different.
Are they the fluid motion of the Golden State championship teams? The beautiful game of the champion San Antonio teams? The thing to remember as they readied to take on the Houston Rockets on Monday night is that this group has been together for only five games. Those teams had much more time to grow into what they became.
The internet went viral with one possession from Friday’s win in Detroit in which every member of the Knicks’ starting five touched the ball, moving, cutting, passing seven times without a dribble until Karl-Anthony Towns began a move from the top of the key and found Mikal Bridges open for a corner three-pointer.
“We’re just reading the play,” Brunson said. “We see something, we attack it. We see another opening, we attack it again. We’re not scripting anything. We’re just reading and reacting, trying to help each other.”
“Karl is very, very unselfish,” Thibodeau said. “So our guards are getting a lot of pressure, and if we move without the ball and make quick decisions, and if you cut and if you’re open, you know you’re going to get it. It makes you cut hard. And even if you don’t get it, it makes an open shot for the next guy who is behind you. So I think all the movement is really good for us.
“And then let the game tell you what to do. We talk about making deep paint decisions. Sometimes there’s a cut, we drive off the back of the cutter and that makes an easy decision for someone else. And oftentimes when you help somebody else, you end up helping yourself. So keep working together. And when we work together, our offense is going to be really good.”
That was a huge part of the offense in recent years, Randle backing into the paint or RJ Barrett barreling to the rim with the intent of drawing a double team, creating openings to spray the ball out to the perimeter. That created three-point opportunities or layups, the high-value shots that Thibodeau pushes his team to find.
While they may not have the post presence that Randle provided, the offensive versatility of Towns has opened up the spacing in a new way. On Friday, Towns had seven assists, one fewer than he’d totaled in the first four games, to go along with 21 points and 11 rebounds.
“It’s a part of my game, something I’ve worked on since I was young,” Towns said of his passing. “We have great talent around, they’re cutting really well, so it gives me a chance to utilize that talent. So shout-out to my teammates. They’re the ones making it happen.”
“It’s just read and react,” Josh Hart said. “We’ve got [me who] will cut. Mikal is a really good cutter. OG [Anunoby] is a very good timing cutter. We know obviously there will be a lot of back doors for JB with teams trying to overplay him. So it just comes with the feel. I think we’re in game six, certainly learn more every game [about] guys’ tendencies and where they like the ball.”
Notes & quotes: The Knicks have not made it official, but a league source confirmed that the team is converting rookie Ariel Hukporti from a two-way to a standard contract and signing free agent Matt Ryan. The team is required to have 14 players on the roster by Tuesday, but by waiting, they have the ability to prorate the contracts, keeping them below the second apron of the salary cap. Ryan, a 6-7 Westchester native, shot 45.1% last season from three-point range for New Orleans and has shot 41.1% in his three seasons.
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.
