Knicks' defensive struggles hidden by their potent offense
Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen goes to the hoop between Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, left, and guard Josh Hart during the first half of an NBA game Saturday in Salt Lake City. Credit: AP/Spenser Heaps
DENVER — When the Knicks' loss to the Utah Jazz Saturday was over Josh Hart sat at his locker and there were none of the usual jokes or smiles and he didn’t want to talk about the offensive struggles the team had endured. He had one topic that he wanted to get to and did it directly and quickly.
For the talk about what the Knicks can be, the offensive potential and the time needed to acclimate and adapt to the new roster, Hart saw a problem. And didn’t agree with any of the excuses.
New faces? Miscommunication? No, it was simpler.
“Yeah, we’ve been struggling on the defensive side for the whole season,” Hart said. “When you’re not making shots and you’re playing well defensively that’s a recipe for disaster. We’ve got to figure it out on the defensive end. Offensively, we’ve got enough talent on the offensive side. But we’ve got to figure it out defensively.
“We’re just not playing well enough. We’re not being physical enough. We’re not giving enough ball pressure, myself included. We’ve got to figure it out. We can’t just be an offensive team and that’s what we’ve been for the first 15 games. And when you have games like this where you’re not shooting well and not figuring it out offensively it looks bad.”
And it did look bad as the Jazz, who entered the game with a 3-12 record, beat the Knicks from the perimeter with wide-open three-point shots and they outmuscled them in the paint with their imposing front line of Walker Kessler, Lauri Markkanen and John Collins.
As the failures mounted on the defensive end there were expressions of confusion and some of exasperation as they slumped shoulders and headed to a timeout time after time.
“We have to be more consistent, but for the most part we’ve got to make sure we have each other's back,” Jalen Brunson said. “There's going to be times it's messed up or an assignment's missed, or something happens on the defensive side of the ball, but we can't point fingers. We’ve got to cover for each other.”
The task gets tougher Monday as the Knicks take on the Denver Nuggets, who are 9-6 and boast the 8th-ranked offense in the NBA. The Knicks are second in offensive rating, but 21st in defensive rating. They rank 24th in effective field goal percentage defensively and 10th in points in the paint surrendered. That last one bodes ominously as they face Nikola Jokic, who is putting up MVP numbers again. Also the absence of Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein has been hard to miss.
With Karl-Anthony Towns at center the Knicks have upgraded offensively in the middle, but there is also a clear drop-off defensively from Robinson, one of the top rim protectors in the game. While Robinson is rehabilitating from ankle surgery with the team targeting a December or January return, Towns has managed to hold his own on most nights. But the pairing of Mikal Bridges with OG Anunoby has not provided the perimeter shutdown that might have been expected.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau when asked if defenses are ahead of offenses at this point early in the season, he said, “It depends on what teams you're talking about. I think it's really an individual thing. I think you don't really know who your team is, probably 15 to 20 games in, and again that's probably a bigger indication. But then there's a lot of variables to it, whether it's new guys that you have, whether it's key injuries that you have. So you probably don't have a true picture yet of who everyone is and you get that over time.”
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.
