New York Knicks: Don’t Blame The Triangle, Blame The Defense
Defensive Woes
The offense was doing just fine during the first half of the season. The New York Knicks ran Jeff Hornacek’s up-tempo and early offense to get to 16–13 through 29 games. When New York started to slump a little, team president Phil Jackson implemented the triangle back in the offense.
When he changed, the offensive players were out of position. Since the All-Star Break, the Knicks have a record of 7-17—.292 percent.
Although there was a lot of drama surrounding the team this year, that wasn’t the cause of the 51 losses. Even though the triangle changed some of the players’ roles in the middle of the season, the primary reason for this horrific season was the defense.
I’m not the only one who thinks the defense is the problem. Former Knick Bill Cartwright told Ian Begley of ESPN that the Knicks’ defense was the major issue, not the offense.
Bill Cartwright thinks it's 'preposterous' to think the Knicks' issues stem from the triangle offense: pic.twitter.com/ocbnHXLoWc
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) March 30, 2017
Stats don’t lie, Cartwright and I are correct on how the defense was the cause of the 51 losses.
The Knicks are 14-2 when they allow 100 points or less. On the other hand, New York is 16-49 when it allows 101 points or more according, per Maxwell Ogden of Daily Knicks.
Ogden said: “New York allowed averages of 99.6 points per game during its 30 wins and 112.8 points per game during its 51 losses.”