Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Knicks, despite being the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, are struggling against Atlanta, raising doubts about their title chances.
- Jalen Brunson's enormous offensive role and defensive shortcomings are making the Knicks overly predictable and vulnerable.
- While adjustments the Knicks can adjust their offense, there is only so much they can do to hide Brunson on defense and keep him from being targeted.
All season long, it's been unclear if the New York Knicks are true title contenders. At the surface level, they're the most talented team in the Eastern Conference, and they still finished as the No. 3 seed. However, the Knicks have never truly "looked right" throughout the entire season.
One of the biggest problems is their overdependence on Jalen Brunson's offense, paired with his poor defense. Currently, the Knicks are tied with the Atlanta Hawks in the first round, and this flaw has been glaring (especially in the Knicks' Game 2 loss).
The Knicks' offense can't continue to be so reliant on Jalen Brunson
Thus far, Brunson has been averaging 28.5 points in the playoffs, which sounds great, right? What's not so great is shooting 39.6 percent from the field and having nearly double the amount of shot attempts as anyone else on the team. Moreover, through two playoff games, Brunson is carrying an absurd 35.1 usage rate and a 39.4 usage rate in the fourth quarter per NBA.com.Â
The Knicks being overly dependent on Brunson makes their offense predictable. Sometimes, that's okay. At the end of the day, Brunson is a top-10 or so player in the league. Nevertheless, against a Hawks perimeter defense that has the personnel to limit him, there must be more variety. Nickeil Alexander-Walker deserves plenty of credit as he's held Brunson to 5-for-14 shooting in the series when he's been the primary defender.
Brunson should absolutely be the Knicks' go-to scorer, but being this dependent on him isn't sustainable for a deep playoff run, especially against elite perimeter defenses.
Playing this heliocentric style two years ago made sense, but with an upgraded roster and new coach, it's truly baffling why the Knicks are still this putting everything on Brunson.Â
The frustrating part is that the Knicks have plenty of other talent. Karl-Anthony Towns needs more touches against a Hawks' frontcourt that lacks a true rim protector. Additionally, the Knicks need to involve the wing pairing of OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges. While they aren't lead creators, they are both talented offensive players who are consistently drawing weaker matchups; sometimes, they are even ignored when Brunson is doubled.
Brunson must make better decisions as a creator and involve his teammates more if he doesn't have a good look. On this play, Brunson opts to take a difficult shot over Jalen Johnson instead of hitting Josh Hart on the roll.
At the same time, Mike Brown needs to run more actions to involve his complementary players; this is especially the case as Brunson is the team's only true lead ball handler. For the Knicks to be less Brunson-dependent, changes from both Brunson and Brown are required.
Brunson's defensive limitations might be an unsolvable problem
On the other side of the ball, Brunson's defense makes him an easy player to matchup hunt, especially in the playoffs. At 6-foot-2, Brunson's size will always be a concern, and the Hawks are already exposing it. Notably, Atlanta is shooting 52.9 percent with Brunson as the closest defender, including 65 percent on 2-pointers and 87.5 percent (!!) within six feet of the rim.
The Hawks have nobody whom Brunson can hide on. He has to guard CJ McCollum based on size alone, but CJ has carved him up, shooting 75 percent when Brunson is his primary defender. McCollum's 32-point Game 2 outing was made possible by Brunson's poor defense. And with all due respect to CJ, Brunson will have to guard better players if the Knicks make an NBA Finals run.
Towns' lack of rim protection only hurts things. The Knicks' best two players not being able to defend has always been the biggest concern with the team, and it's quickly proving to be problematic.
While finding ways to rely less on Brunson's offense is a fixable issue, surviving on defense with him might not be because of the Knicks' roster construction and his physical limitations.
The Knicks should still be favored to get past Atlanta. Regardless, it's far from a guarantee, and the Hawks are proving that they have the goods to pull off an upset.
Ultimately, to maximize their chances of advancing in this round and to have any chance of making a deep playoff run, the Knicks have to be less reliant on Brunson's offense. And for the defensive side of the ball, these playoffs could prove that a Brunson-KAT duo is flat-out untenable for a championship team, and force New York to trade Towns this summer.
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