The Knicks find themselves in a 1-1 lock with the Hawks in their first-round matchup, as they head to Atlanta following an embarrassing defeat at home. While they’ve given themselves no shortage of issues to address before Game 3, one factor likely to be high up on New York’s list: stopping CJ McCollum.
The 6-foot-3, 34-year-old veteran guard has smoked the Knicks in back-to-back games at MSG this series. He scored 26 in Game 1 on 11-for-20 shooting, 4-for-9 from three, then added 32 points on 12-of-22 shooting, including 3-of-10 from three.
No other Hawk has managed to hurt the Knicks to McCollum’s degree and consistency thus far, making him the current biggest threat to end this New York playoff run early.
With that in mind, let’s break down how he’s cut through their defenses and what can be done to switch things up.
McCollum’s primarily been guarded by Jalen Brunson, who, for all he’s done on the offensive end, is the Knicks’ biggest weak point defensively. Normally, New York would hide him on a favorable matchup, but with Karl-Anthony Towns on the non-shooter (Dyson Daniels) in Atlanta’s lineup, head coach Mike Brown doesn’t have much of a choice.
To be fair, McCollum got a lot of his Game 1 buckets off silly Knicks mistakes and semi-transition stuff that’s easy to clean up. He’s also burned every other Knick that ends up guarding him via switch or changed matchup in those few attempts.
But he’s also identified Brunson as an easy target and is taking advantage. He’s 9-for-12 from the field when guarded by Brunson, and went from singling him out in Atlanta’s offense a little in Game 1 to all the time in Game 2.
From the middle of the second quarter of Game 2 on, if McCollum was on the floor with Brunson, that was the matchup he was playing to. Repeated isolations and pick-and-rolls, punishing every way Brunson and the roll man tried to play him.
His double-cross got Brunson way out of position multiple times. If he rejected a screen, Brunson slammed into it; if he used it, Brunson couldn’t recover in time.
Sometimes, even the slightest move gave McCollum a walking lane to the paint. Brown tried switching Brunson with Mikal Bridges, who was guarding Nikeil Alexander-Walker, down the stretch, to no avail.
McCollum would call for an Alexander-Walker screen, which Brunson would switch, giving Atlanta the matchup they wanted. McCollum would dance and usually score.
It should go without saying, but the first adjustment is for Brunson to show much better defensive effort. This is a uniquely tough matchup for him, an explosive guard that’s much quicker, but isn’t giving up size or strength.
That doesn’t matter. Brunson isn’t expected to be a lockdown defender, but he has to be better than he’s been and has proven it before.
His bouts with Andrew Nembhard and Tyrese Maxey looked similar at points, but they weren’t routinely walking right by him. He can make up much of this gap by fighting harder through screens, actually trying to stay attached to McCollum’s hip, and not giving in to switches so easily.
Brown will do his part and try different matchups, as well as throwing more aggressive schemes at McCollum if he’s rolling again. If Brunson is on NAW and McCollum is calling over screen after screen to pick on him, Brown needs to have his guards trap or another alternative to mix things up.
There’s also doing nothing.
For as tough as McCollum has been, if the rest of his team remains subdued, this defensive approach may end up fine.
Remember, the Knicks had a double-digit advantage and played a great defensive fourth quarter, but couldn’t convert on the offensive end. If they had, maybe they win, and this McCollum conversation isn't something to worry about, especially given the Hawks scored only 107 points. And it's not much of an offense when it rests on a 34-year-old zero-time All-Star.
However the Knicks choose to react, they’ll be doing so under immense pressure on the road. Win one in Atlanta and the series is in your hands again, don’t and it’ll be much more than Brunson taking the heat.
