Knicks' throwback defense helps make them tough to beat
Julius Randle of the Knicks reacts during the fourth quarter against the Timberwolves at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 1. Credit: Jim McIsaac
MEMPHIS — The internet may overflow with rumors and wish lists of star chases for the Knicks, but at heart, a longtime Knicks fan has a soft spot for something else. It’s a chance to sit in the upper reaches of Madison Square Garden and chant “Dee-fense!” over and over and have it rewarded with a stifling, hard-nosed effort from the team on the floor.
In the days since the Knicks brought in OG Anunoby with the trade that has laser-focused the team as one built in the mold of the championship teams of the early 1970s and the 1990s teams of the Pat Riley- Jeff Van Gundy-Charles Oakley-Patrick Ewing pedigree, they suddenly have begun to attract national attention.
The Knicks are being seen as a team that not only will make the playoffs but might have the chance to beat some of the flashier rosters when they get there.
Their roster is one of the toughest, if not the most talented.
They don’t have MVP candidates, but they have enough potential All-Stars in Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle to hang in there. And in Anunoby, Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Hart, Mitchell Robinson and Deuce McBride, they have an assemblage of players who live to play defense.
Still, it is a fact of NBA life that even for the best defenders, there will be nights like Thursday — the Knicks’ first loss since the trade after five straight convincing wins — when an offensive force is just better than the defense. In this case, Kyrie Irving scored 44 points for the Mavericks.
“In the moment, it’s frustrating,” DiVincenzo said. “You’re like, [shoot], you’re there, you stay down on the shot fake. [Like the] one he had in the post, I cut him off, spun back, stayed there and stayed down. And he fades away and hits a tough one in my face. You can’t do anything better.
“There were a couple where OG cuts off baseline. [Irving] pulls it back, OG’s right in his face and he hits a fadeaway three in the corner. So those are the ones I think that when you watch the film, you feel better after the fact.
“There’s like 10, 15 dudes in the league that are just pure scorers. No matter what you do, who you put on them, they’re just pure scorers. Those are the ones you tip your cap to and try to make it difficult. The other ones, the open looks, those are hard.”
Still, the way the top defenders on the Knicks and the rest of the league get where they are is with a belief that they can shut down even the best.
“I think I’m frustrated regardless any time anybody scores off of me,” McBride said. “Even if I think I did the right thing, made the right read, I’m still frustrated because if you scored, it probably wasn’t the right thing at the end of the day. The name of the game is to put the ball in the hoop, and my job as a defender is to stop that. If he did his job, I didn’t do mine.
“I like it kind of as an edge thing — if you think you’ve got to live with those shots, then you’re kind of losing that edge of always being ‘I want to get this stop.’ It’s treating every play like the last play of the game, because you never know what it comes down to.”
It has been rare for even the brightest stars to succeed when Anunoby is the primary defender. DeMar DeRozan was 4-for-17 shooting against Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns 2-for-8, Anthony Edwards 4-for-14 and Donovan Mitchell 2-for-7. One of the few to succeed was Randle, who was 8-for-12 against him before the trade. Irving was 5-for-10 Thursday.
“Just trying to make him take the most difficult shots possible,” Anunoby said. “And he makes those shots all the time. So not getting discouraged. Work hard, make him work. I thought I was right there and he was making great shots.”
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.
