Five Takeaways From Last Night’s Knicks Game

Well, the Knicks got off to a really bad start to the season. Were they going to go 82-0? No, but did fans wait around all offseason to watch the team get smoked at home? Absolutely not. That being said, the apocalypse is not coming. This is a long season, and Knicks fans shouldn’t hit the panic button (myself included)…..yet. It was definitely tough to watch last night as the Knicks emulated a bad preseason performance. Clearing your nightly schedule to watch the new-look Knicks on ESPN should not be rewarded with a 24 point loss. Anyway, let’s have a look at five things that we can takeaway from last night’s loss.

1. The Triangle is going to drive fans crazy in the beginning. Of course it is a very complex offense with cutting and passing that the Knicks are surely not used to. The fact that Jose Calderon was a game-time scratch definitely threw a wrench in the Knicks offensive plans as they had to rely on Shane Larkin as the floor general. Nothing against Larkin, but that is way too much to ask for from the second year point guard. With the triangle offense, it’s almost like one of those companies that list at the bottom of the page, “Firm X is an Equal Opportunities Company.” It doesn’t matter if your name is Samuel Dalembert, Quincy Acy, or Carmelo Anthony; if you get the ball on offense, you can put it up from anywhere! Does this bode well for the Knicks moving forward? Definitely not. Having a veteran like Calderon back at the point will allow him to realize, “Hey guys, Melo hasn’t touched the ball in like 5 possessions. He’s the only one that can shoot this possession.” The Knicks can’t be robotic about running the offense; sometimes you need to run an iso for your best player when Mike Dunleavy is guarding him. Remember: Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan both led the league in scoring as a member of the triangle, and led the league in field goal attempts.
2. You can’t play everyone. Derek Fisher made a valiant effort to get everyone playing time on opening night in an attempt to find out what lineups work. The strategy definitely backfired on the Knicks. No one could get into any sort of rhythm on the offensive end, and you had a second unit being worked through Jason Smith. That’s not going to get the team anywhere. Tim Hardaway Jr. was given the short end of the stick last night. Sure he was 2-10 in just under 18 minutes, but most of that came in garbage time in the fourth quarter. Someone can’t play. Either make a trade to move one of the shooting guards, or try one of them at point guard so we don’t have to watch Pablo Prigioni and Shane Larkin get 25 minutes a night each.
3. Defensively, the Knicks are still horrendous. As many problems as there were on offense, there were twice as many on defense. Here’s an example: when Stoudemire started 4-4, the Bulls put their defensive stopper, Joakim Noah, on him to shut him down. When Tahj Gibson was lighting it up, the Knicks put….Jason Smith on him. WHAT?! Iman Shumpert is our great perimeter defender who actually did fine guarding Derrick Rose, but who is our front court defensive stopper? As much as the triangle is meant to help the Knicks offensively, there are benefits to it on defense as well. Ideally, it should create better floor spacing that will allow the Knicks to play better transition defense and matchup much quicker. However, the offense was oversaturated on too many occasions and quickly led to defensive lapses.
4. Two way players are what makes the triangle effective. The Knicks don’t have any. This is a major problem moving forward. Jackson’s great Bulls team was centered around Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, who not only were the best two offensive players in the league, but we also First Team All Defense each year. The Knicks have guys that are good on one end, and abysmal on the other. When the Knicks want defense and play Acy and Dalembert, they get poor offensive production. When they want offense and play Stoudemire and Hardaway, they get brutal defense.
5. The Knicks are a bad jump shooting team. Obviously playing a defensive juggernaut like the Bulls didn’t help, but too often the Knicks settled for 18 footers as opposed to taking it to the basket. When Stoudemire was dragging Noah out of the lane, there needs to be an effort to attack the basket. The Knicks only took 17 foul shots last night. When you are shooting 36.5% from the field, you need to find a way to get easy baskets. No one is getting fouled on a jump shot (unless Shane Larkin is running into Kirk Heinrich for a 4 point play).

It was ugly, but it was only game one. The Knicks still have 81 more games to go, including another one tonight in Cleveland. If Calderon can’t go again tonight, the Knicks could look equally as bad as last night. Hopefully Fisher tightens up the rotations and find a way to get Melo the ball more. It’s going to be a long season.