After a brutal Game 3 loss in Atlanta put New York in a 2-1 hole, many thought their worst fears about this team were realized. There was no cohesion -- the offense looked directionless, the defense debilitated by the team’s best player.
The three games that followed were a complete reversal. The Knicks topped the Hawks by 16, 29, and a whopping 51 points to close the series, making their strongest statement of readiness to contend to date.
It was only the first round against an upstart team, but it may have solidified what this team’s winning identity will be these playoffs: versatility. The postseason is all about matchups and adjustments, and the Knicks have all the talent, but sometimes struggle with utilizing it.
It didn’t look that way to close out the Hawks. Everything coach Mike Brown preached and implemented was executed to glowing perfection. The Knicks ate the early struggle and adjusted to win the series -- here’s how.
Their biggest issue through three games was the offense -- completely freezing down the stretch of Game 2 and well into Game 3. Jalen Brunson struggled outside of the first quarter of the postseason, and the Knicks failed to get other creators to pick up the slack.
They corrected this by getting Brunson off-ball much more and running their offense through their most glaring advantage -- Karl-Anthony Towns. Every half-court possession moved through him in the pinch post, as Brown and the Knicks employed flex action to create cutters and space.
This gave Brunson many easier opportunities and higher-efficiency outputs, and opened the door for OG Anunoby to step up. The Knicks needed more scoring with the slow start from their guards, and shifted more offense in a favorable direction with Anunoby able to use his size to explode in the series.
None of this would work if not for the work that Towns and Brown put in during the regular season. It took some time for the two to find synchronicity in the offense, with many of these added creation reps causing friction early in the year.
It’s certainly paying off now as Towns looked prepared to leverage this Hawks matchup, patiently picking off their defense with strong decision-making and raw talent. A triple-double amid a career series from Towns and 22-and-9 averages from Anunoby later, and the Knicks are advancing in their most dominant fashion in years.
Brown also switched up the bench rotation for more ball handling, inserting Jose Alvarado and making sure that he and Jordan Clarkson were playing if Brunson wasn’t.
Defensively, Brunson was getting picked on while guarding CJ McCollum. Brown turned to veteran Josh Hart for the assignment, moving Brunson onto Dyson Daniels with both stepping up in the new defensive alignment to swing the series.
Now, have the Knicks figured out they need to be running their offense through Towns' high-post creation and making Anunoby their bona fide third scorer? That may have worked against Atlanta, but Boston or Philadelphia offer different challenges.
Towns won’t have the same advantages versus Joel Embiid, and New York’s likely to see much more drop next round, no matter its opponent. Maybe we’ll see different bench pieces to combat the different issues they face
Going up against Boston could make for more of a Mikal Bridges series, coming off last year’s run when he scored more than 20 in Games 4 and 6. Anunoby will be dealing with much tougher wings, and Bridges is much more comfortable against conservative pick-and-roll defenses and smaller guards.
The point is, fans who spent the regular season fretting about an identity or the team’s constant evolution were missing the bigger picture. These Knicks are built to win any way necessary, not in one specific one -- this is a feature, not a bug.
They spent the regular season fidgeting with schemes, lineups and rotations for this championship run, so that if Brunson has a slow series, or Towns an unfavorable matchup, they have other options in their back pocket that have been tried and tested. It may have taken longer than necessary against the Hawks, but we saw what that ability to adapt looks like fully unlocked.
They’ll need to be even more ready against a tougher foe like the Celtics or 76ers. Styles make fights, now let’s see if the Knicks are truly prepared for the bouts ahead.
