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Tim BontempsESPN
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN just played host to one of the most thrilling comebacks of the season. It’s January 6th, and New York Knicks The fans witnessed a ridiculous thing hit bank bang buzzer 3 pointers by RJ Barrett limited the rally to 24 points and won first Boston Celtics.
It was the Knicks’ fifth win in their last seven games and was the reason for the dressing room euphoria at home. But for Julius Randle, whose 22 points and eight rebounds put New York in a great escape, something seemed amiss as he sat down on the podium.
Randle’s answer is truncated and short. After a few minutes of awkward silence and short replies, he was asked what message he was trying to send by handing out a like icon to hometown fans after a bucket in the middle of the fourth quarter.
“Shut up,” he said, Reply to MSG fans who caused boos early in the game with the Knicks followed by double numbers.
It was a sudden release of frustration – emblematic of a season that didn’t go as Randle or the Knicks had hoped. The amusing story he and the Knicks author wrote during the spirited run for the fourth seed of the 2021 Eastern Conference has gone up in smoke with mounting losses in the first half of the season. 2021-22.
After breaking a seven-year playoff drought, the New York mainstays — combined with the franchise’s addition of the franchise’s season roster — delivered mediocre results as the Knicks found themselves in the middle of nowhere. compete for a spot in the play-in.
It all leads to one question: Which ending – last season’s frenetic end to home advantage or another seat at the lottery base – is ahead for the Knicks?
“[The Knicks] is a classic example,” said an Eastern Conference executive, “of what happens when you go from the hunter to the hunted. “
FOUR POWERFUL KEYS Knicks breakout season in 2020-21: Randle becomes all-NBA player, ends in New York with league’s No 4 defense, mid-season buyout Derrick RoseThe Sixth Man’s finalist resurgence and Barrett’s leap to sophomore year.
The mainstays of last season’s surprise streak were on the verge of collapse.
Randle, Last season’s Most Improved Player, has seen his shots fall: from 41% in 3 seconds last season to 31% in 2021-22.
Some of that can be expected; even this year’s 31% clip from behind the arc is the third highest in Randle’s career. But Randle also ranks in the top 5 for the difficulty of Second Spectrum’s dribbling, tracking shots. He’s also made 651 isolation games and after leading the league this season; Of the 31 players who made at least 225 such plays, Randle ranked 27th in performance.
Randle has seen his points-per-drive drop from 1.12 last season – just outside the top 10 in the league – to 1.03, placing 32nd out of 63 players with at least 100 live drives this season, per Second Spectrum.
“They thought they had someone they could build around, and acted that way,” a Western Conference scout said. “That might not be the case.”
“He’s still good, but he’s not the All-NBA player he was last year. That’s a big difference,” said a second Eastern Conference executive.
The Knicks were behind Randle. Coach Tom Thibodeau pointed to ways his struggling star was affecting the game beyond taking shots, while teammates lectured on the importance of his energy it on the field.
But while offense – especially Randle’s – caused trouble, the team’s defense was a bigger problem. Thibodeau, a defensive specialist, is overseeing a team that has dropped to 16th place from fourth place last season.
Two of the main reasons: poor transition defense and a marked decline in the 3-point defense. The forwarding numbers are dire, as New York fell from 11th place last season to 27th this season, allowing 1.33 points per possession.
And the Knicks were the best team in the NBA in defending 3 points last season. They are also the luckiest. The 2.3% gap between what their opponents shoot (33.7%) and what they expect to shoot (36.0) is easily the biggest difference in the league, tracked on per second Spectrum, almost double second place Utah Jazz.
This year, that gap has fallen to 1.3%. As a team, the Knicks fell to 15th overall in terms of the opponent’s 3-point allowable ratio.
Rose, meanwhile, has been sidelined since December 16 with a right ankle injury that will keep him out until near the All-Star break in mid-February.
The 33-year-old keeper, who reunited with Thibodeau on last season’s trade deadline, has become the leader of a bench unit that has regularly outperformed the starting unit; The Knicks are 9.8 points better out of 100 possession with Rose on the field.
The team’s best and most consistent offensive threat in the first-round loss first Atlanta Hawks in last year’s knockouts, Rose averaged 19.4 points per game and hit more than 47% of his 3s in the streak as the Hawks successfully limited Randle’s impact.
“Just having his leadership there, just makes the game so much easier,” Knicks said. Taj Gibson Talk about Rose’s impact on the Knicks. “He also makes it a lot easier for young guys. But at the same time, just because he wasn’t here, a lot of guys would have had to step up.”
Play as Barrett, who in the first half of the season failed to build on the best career numbers he hit during his sophomore campaign.
But after averaging 15 points at 40% shooting through the end of December, Barrett is starting to turn the ball around in 2022. He averaged 23 points in January with 45% shooting from the floor and 44% from long range. ly 3 points, of which three are 30. -Performance points – match the number he had over his first two seasons.
After missing six games in mid-December due to COVID-19, Barrett said last week he was feeling good again. His play has fostered that belief.
Barrett spent three games hovering in his mid-20s for a few minutes while he improved his conditioning, then scored 26 points over Oklahoma City Thunder Eve. Since then, his play has taken off – the 21-year-old winger has averaged 23 points, 6 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game, and has hit more than 44% of his shots from 3 fruits.
“There’s no real ceiling on what he can do,” defends the Knicks Evan Fournier said recently by Barrett. “When he scores on all three levels, he becomes less predictable. So that allows him to do what he’s best at, which is aggressive and driving.
“When he’s playing like that, it’s easy for everyone because he’s attracting a lot of attention and he’s someone who’s willing to pass the ball. So hopefully him. [keeps] it will go. “
KNOWLEDGE CONTINUES their roster rework last week, when they moved Kevin Knox and a protected 2022 first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks to continue Slightly red orange, a former lottery picker and Barrett’s Duke teammate, whom they hope can improve as the landscape changes.
New York’s offseason boom – signing Kemba Walker exemptions and adding Fournier through signings and deals with the Celtics – didn’t have the impact the Knicks hoped for, especially in boosting New York’s offense, the team continued to rank among the last three. end of the tournament.
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Alan Hahn speculates that the Knicks could make another move to round out the team after trading for Cam Reddish.
Walker was benched at the start of the season after New York’s starting lineup was trailed by more than 15 points out of 100 possessions while playing more minutes than any five-man unit in the NBA at the time. Walker only returned to the field when Thibodeau had no choice but to play him in the wake of the team’s COVID-19 outbreak.
Walker has brilliant at the end of DecemberHowever, after playing nearly 36 minutes per game over a six-game span, he took three weeks off with knee pain before returning on Tuesday.
Some of the Knicks’ problems this season are beyond their control. Most striking was something they hadn’t experienced in nearly a decade: the burden of expectations.
Last season, the Knicks were predicted to end with one of the league’s worst records. So hovering around 0.500 for half a season was considered a success – and going home with 14 wins in their last 18 games was hailed as a remarkable achievement. Tracking with a nearly identical record at the same time will never be celebrated in the same way.
“It’s been a long season,” Thibodeau said. “We started last season like this.”
One problem: This is not the winter of last season. The Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers – two of last season’s Eastern Division bottom five – are now in the competition for the best of the conference. The Toronto Raptors, after finishing 12th while playing home games in Tampa, Florida, in 2020-21, returned to the mix as an attendance contender.
Add in the fact that the ESPN Basketball Power Index says New York has the second-toughest remaining fixture schedule in the league, and an attempt to repeat a trip to the knockouts won’t be easy – let alone against last season’s 4th seed.
“It’s hard to argue [the Knicks] “I don’t think Julius will suddenly become more effective, and I don’t think Kemba, Fournier or even Rose – when he’s healthy – will defend better.”
Another Eastern Conference scout: “Things fell into their rightful place last year, and they haven’t been able to repeat it.”
And even though the Knicks have won five of their last eight, they still have a way to repeat last season’s formula – a resilient defense combined with just enough attack led by Randle, Barrett and Rose – and proving that reaching the 2021 playoffs isn’t donkey’s gold.
“Every day you can’t look back [and] you can’t look too far down the road,” Thibodeau said. You just have to look at today. Put everything in today. “
