SPANISH HARLEM – The Yankees and Mets both lost, so we’ll skip the baseball talk and go straight to the hardwood…The Knicks are one win from advancing, and while it was looked rough there for a couple games, the last two have New York looking like the team we imagined they could be. Let’s take look at what they have done differently on both sides of the ball.
Offense
The best thing the Knicks have done is have Karl-Anthony Towns touch the ball early and often. It seemed at times that Mike Brown would rely heavily on Jalen Brunson to run the offense and while that may seem like the logical choice, it also had him exhausted by the end of the game. KAT operating from the top of the key has allowed for Brunson to play off-ball, providing less stress overall during possessions. You also see players on offense more involved and moving to create for themselves and others, KAT has proven so far in series that the more time he is involved with the offense, the better everyone will be.
Defense
You could say it is effort and determination on the defensive side, though this could be true, it’s the fact that they held CJ McCollum in check. When he is hot, the Hawk’s offense can look unstoppable. Atlanta is very reliant on his shot-making ability and allows Jalen Johnson to roam around to do what he does best, which is a little bit of everything. If they can keep those two from going bananas on offense, they will have a great chance to win this series.
Overall, I think the Knicks defense has been fairly great throughout the whole series. Their offense has been that one development that has made the them more formidable in these last two games.
Here is to hope they can win tonight in Atlanta and advance… LFG Knicks!
That’s it for now, please come back tomorrow for more great content from Jackson Sternberg.
