When people said they wouldn’t care if the Knicks went 0-82 this season, I don’t think that they meant it as an invitation.
The first three games have gone from disappointing to annoying to bewildering as the Knicks sit at the bottom of the standings with a 0-3 record after three close losses to Eastern Conference rivals, all of which were winnable with better execution. It’s the first 0-3 start since David Fizdale was coach in 2019-20 (yikes).
In these games, the Knicks have scored 103 or fewer points
in all of them. Raw point totals aren’t everything with this team’s preferred slow pace, but that doesn’t work in the modern NBA. This is early-Thibsian-level offense.
Is it process-based or just shoddy shooting? It could be both.
On Opening Night, the Knicks fell to the Sixers not only due to inconsistent shooting at the perimeter, but also startlingly bad finishing at the rim. As a team last year, they shot 66.3% in the restricted area and 58.3% on shots in the paint. On Opening Night? 58.6% and 42%.
These shots make up half the team’s shot diet, so shooting 16% worse at it can decide games. That’s especially concerning against a team with incredibly little rim protection, even if it were the freshest Joel Embiid you’ll ever see.
The jarringly bad shooting continued through Boston and Orlando. They’re 26th in FG% at the restricted area (63%) and dead last in total FG% in the paint (50%).
The main culprits? Andre Drummond (8-for-15 at the rim, 8-for-18 in the paint), Jalen Brunson (4-for-18 outside the restricted area), and Josh Hart (4-for-8 at the rim, 7-for-13 in the paint).
Those last two are the ones we can directly compare to last season. Brunson shot 47.9% on incredible volume outside the restricted area last season, while Hart shot 67.4% at the rim and 60.4% in the entire paint. The sample is small, but important in three close losses.
The perimeter shooting has been pretty bad, too. Outside of Deuce McBride’s Boston heater, nobody has had the touch to start the season. Four players have attempted at least 14 threes so far, and all of them are below league average (Brunson 26.7%, Anunoby 28.6%, Hart 33.3%, Shamet 35.7%). Mikal Bridges is also doing his best October 2024 impression, starting the year 0-for-10 from deep.
On Sunday night against the Magic, the Knicks shot 32 open and wide open threes and made only nine of them. There were some bad looks in there, but a lot of them were clean looks that you’re used to them making. Last season, they only averaged 30.5 of those attempts per game, but shot 37.3%. That’s equivalent to three extra made threes last night, which could’ve swung the game.
Really, they lost on Sunday because the Magic, an extremely poor shooting team, shot 43.6% on those looks and had just their third game in the last two years where they shot 40 threes and made at least 40% of them, but you could’ve also made shots yourself.
As if their shooting at the rim and behind the arc wasn’t bad enough, they’ve also been ghastly at the foul line.
As a team, they’re shooting 70.8%, which in prior years you’d think would be dragged down by the Hack-a-Mitch, but there’s no excuse this year. Even if you remove the only poor free-throw shooter on the roster, Drummond, they’re at an unacceptable 72%. If you removed Mitch last year, the team shot 81.6% from the line.
It added up against Philly; it didn’t help against Boston; and it directly hampered their chances at a late comeback against Orlando.
Anunoby is at 81.8%, but after him? Brunson is 14-for-20, and Towns is 12-for-17, both around 70%. For two guys who are career 85% free-throw shooters, it’s a back-breaker.
Looking at the splits (and turnovers, which are also a small problem) through three games, the Knicks aren’t close to where they need to be as a team:
vs PHI: 37/33/70, 14 TO
@ BOS: 44/40/71, 16 TO
vs ORL: 41/24/68, 14 TO
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25-26: 48/37/79, 12.9 TO
The only game they shot adequately was against Boston, but they committed a season high in turnovers and still didn’t make their free throws. In the other two games, it was poor play at all three levels.
In the modern NBA, three-point shooting is everything. For the Knicks under Mike Brown, they are as reliant as a team can be without being Joe Mazzulla-esque.
2025-26 Knicks, including playoffs:
22-0 when shooting 44% or better
0-7 when shooting 25% or worse
Last season, when the Knicks shot worse than 33.3% from downtown, they went 11-19.
When they shot 33.3% or better, a mark that is not even league average, they went 58-13.
It’s a cheat code for their success, and considering they returned every shooter from last season’s roster, it’s one that needs to show up to right the ship.
