The Knicks didn’t shoot well Sunday night, but coach Mike Brown believes losing the “possession game” was the main reason for a 115-107 defeat at Miami, writes Steve Popper of Newsday. Since taking over the team, Brown has emphasized the importance of limiting transition points and opponents’ free throws. As his players adjust to the up-tempo style he wants to implement, Brown understands that defense will make the difference on most nights.
“On top of the 45 transition points, we gave up 31 free throws,” he said. We talked about both of those things at halftime and then we gave up 15 free throws just in the third quarter alone … That’s where the game was won or lost. Could we have played better offensively? Yes. But it’s going to be hard to win versus a good team on their home floor if you give up that many fast-break points or transition baskets and we send them to the line 31 times.”
New York also shot a miserable 15-of-54 from three-point range and had to rely on Jalen Brunson, who finished with 37 points, to carry the offense. The game was tied when Brunson checked out in the third quarter, but Miami was able to build a big lead during his time on the bench.
After the game, Brunson delivered the same messages as Brown.
“We were definitely a step slow in transition defense,” he said. “Just not being disciplined on their drives, fouling. Not a good night for us defensively. That shouldn’t happen this early. But at the same time, it is early and we have to understand we’re getting back in the flow of things, so we need to be ready to go when the ball is jumped up. Very correctable mistakes.”
There’s more on the Knicks:
- Brown continues to adjust his starting lineup based on the opponent, observes Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. On Sunday, he matched the Heat’s size by turning to Ariel Hukporti, who didn’t play Friday against Boston after starting the opener against Cleveland. Hukporti was only on the court for 10 minutes Sunday night and went scoreless.
- Josh Hart is wearing a splint on his surgically repaired right ring finger, but he says that’s not why he’s off to an 0-of-6 start from three-point range, per Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News. Hart blames conditioning after missing nearly all of the preseason following a back injury early in the first game. “I think most of my shots have been short,” he said. “I’m just getting my legs under me, getting a rhythm. I think it’s more legs than the finger. The finger is what it is. But when I get my legs under me, a lot of those shorter shots won’t be short.”
- In a unique perspective, James L. Edwards III of The Athletic focused solely on OG Anunoby throughout Sunday’s game.
watching that game.. the Knicks are very poorly coached and if Brunson isn’t on the floor.. have zero spacing and cannot score. The Heat exposed them drastically… it was the difference between a great coach and one that’s been fired over and over. This won’t be an issue for them against bad teams.. but against well coached teams that can exploit it.. the Knicks will be in trouble. They need an impact bench scorer then currently don’t have… Hart and/or Clarkson could fill that role but that will be up to Brown to figure out.
Yeah one game does it for you. Third game of season.
When Knicks missed two rotation players. And have three players banged up. Heat were an 8th seed and got swept by Cavs. Heat will be lucky to be a top 6th team this year. Good win for them.
@KnickAl
Do you support the Knicks becoming just like the Celtics last season and GSW as far as how many threes they take?
In the 3 games, they’re 1st in the league in 3PAs at 46.3 while being 22nd in 3pt FG% at 33%- that’s a losing combination.
This should be to you …. I messed up
No —— I believe in good shots. An open
Look is a good shot. Wether its a three or two. You exploit a defense. By taking what they give you. That varies game to game. All teams play to their strengths. Knicks have 5 starters that can go for 20. I like to see them less dependent on Brunson scoring.
NBA standard is 34% on threes. They are there. I don’t believe in stats as formula. I believe in wins. Analytics is a tool not a way to play. But I am good with 39-40 threes a game. Its about good shots good looks. Not stats. Only stat that matters is Ws.
Knicks are favored to win the East. I don’t care about three games. Give them 20-25 games. Then we can start to be more critical. Its a new bench new coach new offense. And they are banged up. So you are not seeing the Real Knicks.
jeremyn:
If you think you can conclude all of that from one regular season game, your opinion is not worth reading.
I think I was listening to the broadcasters talk about it the entire game and former NBA players know a lot more than I do about the game
jeremyn:
Well if broadcasters are taking that many conclusions from one NBA regular season game, they should be fired on the spot.
gonna go with a 40 year long TV analyst (that ironically worked for the knicks in the 80’s lol) and a former NBA PG that played for over 10 years over… you lol
jeremyn:
First of all, I didn’t hear the comments. So you can be completely taking them out of context so I don’t know. However, anyone with a brain in their head would never look at one early season regular season NBA game and draw definite conclusions from it. Doesn’t that make sense to you? Anything can happen in one game. Every other player besides Brunson was off that night. That doesn’t happen every night. So what we thought out person would draw conclusion from one game? Yes the heat know the formula to shut everyone else down, right? That’s idiotic. You can’t draw a conclusion like that from one game. So silly.
what context to “the knicks have no spacing and cannot score without brunson on the floor” did there need to be? lol
jeremyn:
You missed the point yet again. Only a moron would come to that conclusion based on one loss. And yes, there could be context to that comment. Was he just talking about this game or in general? Because in general doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
one very specific point Jon Crotty made was “the knicks fired their coach for playing their starters too much, now they can’t score without them on the floor, they need to figure that out”
jeremyn:
Except bench scoring was not an issue with the first two games. Hence, only a moron would make this conclusion from one game.
ok… guess the heat without their best player are the best team in the NBA or something then haha
jeremyn:
No, nobody was saying that either. The main point is still the main point. It’s one freaking game. You can’t make a definitive conclusions from one game. That’s ignorant.
It’s a bit weird to see Brown blaming the defense and free throws when the whole team other than Brunson and bridges couldn’t make a three – just 28% from three (while the team shot 55% of their FGAs from 3 pt range). The Heat shot only 10 more free throws while taking 17 fewer threes.
Hey Mike, you might get some more free throws if you ran some inside plays.
I think what you mean is that this team is soft. And if Brunson isn’t getting the Shai whistle, no amount of coaching is going to fix that.
Who do you want inside plays for? Yabusele? Towns? Robinson? None of them are even average in the post offensively.
Bridges shot was broken %90 of the regular season last year… if he’s doing the heavily lifting for your offense behind the arc, it’s a house of cards
You really should know your facts if you are going to trash players ——- Takes two mins to search before you post ……
2024-25 NBA season Bridges splits are ….
.594% 2pt, .354% 3pt, .814% FT. He avg 18 a game. What Knicks need from Bridges is more shots so he can give us 22 a game. This year his shooting splits are even better go look it up.
Towns didn’t have a good game. Knicks missing two top bench guys. Players are banged up. Yabusele and Landry 30 mins total 2 points. Still can’t lose to Heat.
My biggest take is Bridges played 37 mins was 7/11 for 20 pts.
Clarkson played 14 mins was 2/11 for 8 pts. Both took 11 shots ………
20 pts is good for Bridges. But if Clarkson can take 11 shots in 14 mins lols. Then why can’t Bridges take 17-18 shots in 37 mins. I been saying for a year now. Bridges has to be more aggressive more selfish. Stop being Mr Niceguy please ………
Knicks first three games avg 22 ast a game. Thats not enough. Especially with this new offense. Knicks avg 27.5 ast last year. And were 11th in NBA. Like to see 30 ast a game this year. Thats what a good offense does.
No —— I believe in good shots. An open
Look is a good shot. Wether its a three or two. You exploit a defense. By taking what they give you. That varies game to game. All teams play to their strengths. Knicks have 5 starters that can go for 20. I like to see them less dependent on Brunson scoring.
NBA standard is 34% on threes. They are there. I don’t believe in stats as formula. I believe in wins. Analytics is a tool not a way to play. But I am good with 39-40 threes a game. Its about good shots good looks. Not stats. Only stat that matters is Ws.
Knicks are favored to win the East. I don’t care about three games. Give them 20-25 games. Then we can start to be more critical. Its a new bench new coach new offense. And they are banged up. So you are not seeing the Real Knicks.
Hart is and never will be a great shooter from three. He needs to stop pretending he’s Curry.
Hopefully, last night isn’t an indication of what the transition to Brown’s uptempo offense is going to entail. We can’t afford a long adjustment process to fix an offense that wasn’t broken in the first instance, while the real issues the team has continue to go unaddressed.
It’s early, and that can mitigate concerns about execution. But it can’t justify the lack of effort. I don’t know enough about Brown’s coaching style or personality. Maybe he was more upset than he appeared to be. In the end, it will be what he does about the issues, more than how he talks (or doesn’t talk) about them.
KNICKS will be be okay, they’ll be in the upper half of the East playoffs, relative good health permits.
Yabu looks way off though, he looks slow and lethargic …. where’s the dancing bear at.
The new bench hasn’t really stepped up yet.