Since Tom Thibodeau was replaced over the offseason with new head coach Mike Brown, it’s been a sort of culture shock for New Yorkers.
Day after day, you’d hear reports about Thibs’ hard hat approach at the helm of the squad. He preached defense, toughness, and intensity on both ends of the floor. He did it in Chicago, he did it in Minnesota, and by God, he’d do it in New York.
And that’s what you got. The Knicks, fueled by the Mikal Bridges-OG Anunoby duo, were a defensive-minded team. It was on full
display last postseason against Boston. I know you’ve already seen the clip I’m about to attach. I don’t care. Let’s watch it again. You’re welcome.
However, on the other end of the floor, the offense looked stagnant a bit too often to be comfortable. You can only run everyone-look-at-Brunson-I-hope-he-bails-us-out so many times down the stretch of the season, and while we all know JB is 1A guy in this league, all five guys need to do something to contribute on the offensive end of the floor.
Mikal Bridges disappeared during stretches of the regular season. OG Anunoby did the same. As a whole, KAT was a reliable second option in the playoffs, but the lack of bench scoring made things look far worse when he didn’t have things going.
That’s what Mike Brown came in to fix. The question has been whether he could get contributions from as many dudes as possible on the team.
So far, the answer has been a resounding yes.
Yup, that’s New York sitting in front of the entire league in offensive rating this month.
And there’s New York attempting corner threes, the most efficient shot in basketball, at an unprecedented rate.
It’s been abundantly clear that the offense has been humming. The current four-game winning streak will testify to that. 129.5 points per game isn’t too shabby, and everyone has been making their presence known. It’s beautiful to watch.
Note that it hasn’t been Brunson leading the way! We’ve been doing this with our guy shooting mediocre (by his standards) from the floor. It hasn’t come at a cost to him either, as he’s still putting up 18 shots a game. Both can coexist.
When Landry Shamet, Miles McBride, and Jordan Clarkson can all come off the bench and provide a scoring punch, defenses should be very scared. Add to the equation that OG, Mikal, and Bridges are all hitting their threes at high clips as well, and this team is damn near unstoppable.
Is it sustainable? Of course not. But the looks generated have been top notch. The ball is finding the open man, and everyone’s playing within their role. Good things happen when that’s the case.
It’s three more games at home to round out the week – vs. Memphis, Orlando, and Miami, respectively. Let’s see if Mike Brown can keep the good times rolling early in the season for the Knickerbockers.
