The most telling comment of the Eastern Conference Finals came from Pacers coach Rick Carlisle after Game 3, just after his team blew a 20-point lead and let the Knicks back in the series. Much of the Knicks’ second-half surge that night came while All-NBA point guard Jalen Brunson was on the bench due to foul trouble.
Carlisle said the comeback was due to the Knicks having their “better defensive players” on the court.
In what was a season to be celebrated, defense was always the issue in New York. Knicks players are on their way to Cancun today because their core players couldn’t guard well enough when it came time to slow the space-and-pace Pacers. That all started with Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. For the entire Eastern Conference Finals, Brunson was -26 on a Knicks team that was -11 total.
It begs the question: Can the Knicks take that next step with those two as their best players?
One can argue that after this last series, OG Anunoby is the Knicks’ second-best player. However you choose to rank the roster, the Knicks likely bring back their top seven players from this season have the taxpayer mid-level exception and other moves to add some talent.
Can Leon Rose and the front office add a couple more quality rotation players who can defend, then get Thibodeau to trust them and play the bench next season?
Successful Knicks season and missed opportunity
This was the best Knicks season in decades — it was their first Eastern Conference Finals since 2000 and Madison Square Garden was electric. Timothée Chalamet spent so much time with Ben Stiller that he might appear in the next season of “Succession.” New York had the fifth most wins in the league and was one of the final four teams standing.
This season was also a missed opportunity. The Knicks were healthy and slayed the Goliath of the East in Boston — a series where New York was the better team even before Jayson Tatum’s injury. There was a path to the Finals and maybe a ring.
That path should still be there next season. In a more wide-open East (with Boston’s Tatum and Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard expected to miss most, if not all, of the season due to significant injuries), the smart play may be to run it back, but will it be good enough?
Knicks need depth, defense
Brunson and Towns both made All-NBA and led New York to the fifth-best offense in the NBA this season. They needed that from the duo to cover up a mediocre defense where those two were part of the problem. The Knicks’ defense improved in the second half of the season, particularly with Mitchell Robinson on the court, but it still had its limitations. After the All-Star break, New York had the 11th-ranked defense in the league, and it was 1.8 points per 100 possessions better than it had been before the break.
Still, there were places for the Pacers and other teams to attack in the half court, and Indiana largely won this series on transition buckets where Knicks players simply did not get back.
Thibodeau faces a paradox because Brunson and Towns drive the offense but are defensive targets.
In Game 6, the Knicks’ frustrations with Towns’ defensive lapses were evident. Towns played in more drop coverage off pick-and-rolls, which may not have been the plan based on reactions from teammates. Frustration with Towns’ defensive execution is not new to this series, it was an issue all season and reportedly led to a lot of team meetings.
This is the first time the Knicks have been in the conference finals in more than two decades — that should be celebrated. Beyond that, Knicks fans can rightfully say that if their team doesn’t blow Game 1 (giving up a 20-point lead and losing in overtime), they might win this series (or, at least they would be headed home for Game 7).
However, the Pacers dictated the run of play, and the style of play through much of the Eastern Conference Finals. They were the better team. At the heart of that is Tyrese Haliburton’s ability to get everyone around him involved and lift up his teammates in a way that the ball-dominant Brunson does not. Haliburton was the perfect conductor of a more ensemble cast, one that fits together beautifully.
Knicks offensive diversity
New York’s offense with Brunson leading it is very station-to-station. It’s predictable and involves a lot of pounding the ball before one of the stars tries to beat their guy. That works against most teams due to the talent Brunson and Towns possess, but against elite defenses and teams, it often falls short.
The book on how to defend the Knicks has been in place for a couple of seasons: Use a wing to guard Towns and assign your center to Josh Hart — a non-threat as a 3-point shooter — and let him protect the paint on drives. That has stayed the strategy because it works. Against a team like the Pacers, with a good wing defender in Pascal Siakam and a solid rim protector in Myles Turner, that strategy is particularly effective.
With the ball-dominant Brunson running the show, the Knicks’ offense lacks diversity in its attack. Thibodeau had to lean into Landry Shamet against the Pacers because he could bring a little more offensive diversity — a guy who could be run off screens and score — that they had been lacking.
Take a look at what some other NBA executives and front office personnel told ESPN.
“I love Brunson. But I’m not sure you can win with a ball-dominant player like him,” the West executive said.
“There’s a ceiling for how far he can take you because you have to play the way he plays,” the scout said. “Those guys need a specific player next to them.”
Brunson is an elite point guard, but the Knicks need more shot creation around him, more players to take the burden off his shoulders. Bridges was supposed to be that, and after the Knicks gave up five first-round picks to get him they face a huge question with him eligible
for a contract extension. After giving up so much to get him, do the Knicks max out Bridges at four years, 156 million? Do the Knicks try to get him for less, and would he accept that? Do they try and trade him?
Anunoby was the second shot creator for much of the playoffs. The Knicks front office needs to spend part of the summer finding players who can take over some of that shot creation and get others involved to make this a more balanced team.
Those players also need to be high-level defenders. Finding those guys is not easy.
New York is close, but they have steps to take if they are going to beat the Pacers and Cavaliers next season (and maybe Boston), plus any other teams that make a bold offseason move (Toronto?).
The Knicks cannot have a better +/- in a playoff series with their star off the court next season. We know what Brunson is and what he can do, but he and Towns need a little more help while this window is open.
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