It's been a while since New York has been in this position: The team coming off a playoff loss and having to adjust. It's the first time since April 23rd, 13 wins ago.
That's the Knicks reality after San Antonio came into Madison Square Garden and took Game 3 behind 32 points from Victor Wembanyama, making it a 2-1 series.
"We have a veteran group. Nobody is 'panicking' or anything like that," Knicks coach Mike Brown said. "Everybody is disappointed that we didn't go out and execute and play to what we feel our standard is. That's not taking anything away from San Antonio, but we feel like we can play a lot better than what we did."
"We learned from film today, and we'll be better tomorrow," is how Josh Hart put it.
The Spurs made some key adjustments in Game 3, both on offense — relentlessly attacking the rim even when the Knicks packed the paint — and defensively, where Victor Wembanyama spent more time on Josh Hart (even when he hit 3-pointers) and around the basket than matched up on Karl-Anthony Towns. What do the Knicks do now in a critical Game 4? Here are three things to look for on Wednesday night.
More Karl-Anthony Towns
Jalen Brunson rightfully drew praise for scoring 32 points in Game 3, a dozen of those in the fourth quarter. However, he wasn't efficient getting there — he was 11-of-25 shooting in Game 3, and that was better than he has been in these Finals. Brunson is shooting 37% from the floor through three games with as many turnovers as assists — and the Knicks are -13 for the series when he is on the court (they are +31 with Towns on through three). This is not a knock on Brunson, in the previous two rounds the Spurs turned Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Anthony Edwards into inefficient scorers (compared to their regular-season selves).
The Thunder and Timberwolves didn't have the depth to overcome that. New York is supposed to, but when Brunson came out in the second half of Game 3 overdribbling and trying to hunt mismatches — of which there are no great ones, there is no James Harden to target on the Spurs — it took the Knicks out of their flow. Brown talked about it after the game. The Spurs are doing a lot more cross-matching of wings and guards on Towns, rather than Wemby, that was a change that seemed to throw the Knicks off balance.
New York needs more Karl-Anthony Towns — like the guy we saw in the first two games of the series. The Knicks wins. His quiet 11 points in Game 3 are not enough (and Towns remains scoreless in the fourth quarter for the Finals). There were actions the Knicks ran in the first two games that got Towns touches near the basket, those seemed to go away in Game 3 and need to return for Game 4.
"It's extremely important that he's getting touches, that he's involved, not just in the fourth quarter, but obviously throughout the ballgame," Knicks coach Mike Brown said.
Protect the paint
San Antonio took 40 of its 84 shot attempts in Game 3 either at or within a few feet of the rim. That included drives from Stephon Castle and more alley-oops to Wembanyama.
It was a change from the first two games of the series, when the Knicks controlled the paint.
"I'm sure we're going to change some things and switch up some schemes to protect the paint because obviously, like you said, those guys are very dynamic when they touch the paint. Obviously, Wemby, when he rolls, he brings in a crowd," Josh Hart said.
Part of that is physicality, but the bottom line is in a series with two elite defenses, the team that gets more easy buckets is going to get the win.
Spray the ball
One number from Game 3 told the story: New York had 18 assists on 40 made baskets (45% of their buckets). In the first two games of this series, the Knicks assisted on 64.5% of their baskets, nearly two-thirds.
"We've got to pick up the ball movement, for sure," Towns said of adjustments for Game 4. "We have what, 13 games in a row, 50 days of film to show what it looks like when we're at our best. So we've got good film. We'll get back to our fundamentals, what makes us great, what made us great, and get back to work."
Brown's term is to spray the ball — have a guard or Towns get the ball in the paint then, if the defense collapses, kick out to shooters. On Tuesday, Brown talked about his players making quicker decisions to move the ball, noting that there was too much isolation and too much holding on to the ball, which let the defense reset.
That's easier said than done against the long, athletic defenders of the Spurs, but the Knicks need to get those defenders in rotation and keep moving the ball until a good shot opens up. Taking contested ones against Wembanyama is generally a bad idea.
