3. Too Much ISO
The New York Knicks have done an outstanding job of generating offense early and often. Courtney Lee has become a first quarter star, Derrick Rose has been driving at will, and Carmelo Anthony has taken over many a first half.
Unfortunately, the Knicks seem to forget that the second half is even more important to team success than the first two quarters.
New York’s ball movement has stalled in the fourth quarter, more than any other. The primary ball-handlers go into hero-ball mode and the rest of the players on the floor stop moving without the ball in their hands.
According to Al Iannazzone of Newsday, head coach Jeff Hornacek doesn’t want the ball to stick with any one player.
"“We try not to make [Porzingis] the focal point, but we’re trying not to make Carmelo necessarily the focal point or Derrick the focal point. We want everybody to be involved.”"
That’s a rational goal, but it’s also one that hasn’t been met through six games.
Anthony’s isolation tendencies are stopping the ball and the same can be said about Brandon Jennings and Derrick Rose. They’re far from the players to blame for New York’s struggles, but against elite opponents, over-dribbling will lead to failure.
The occasional isolation possession can be invaluable, especially with a scorer of Anthony’s caliber, but dribbling out the shot clock is irrational and unhelpful.
Thus far, New York has gone ISO on 10.8 percent of its possessions—the third-highest mark in the NBA—and converted just 38.5 percent of those shot attempts.