New York Knicks: Keys to victory against Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 20

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NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 15: Enes Kanter #00 of the New York Knicks goes to the basket against the Utah Jazz on November 15, 2017 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) /

3. Rebounding

The New York Knicks are one of the most dominant rebounding teams in the NBA. Unfortunately for the Knicks, the same can be said for Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and the Los Angeles Clippers, thus creating the current talking point.

Both teams are going to make it a point to control the pace of the game through rebounding, and New York must at least keep up in this battle.

Thus far in 2017-18, the Knicks are 6-4 when they record more total rebounds than the opposition and 2-3 when they fail to. The issue for New York is that the Clippers currently rank No. 1 in the NBA in offensive rebounds per game and No. 5 in second chance points.

Thankfully, the Knicks rank No. 1 in the NBA in second chance points per game at 16.5—well above the 12.6 Los Angeles allows.

This is all based off of a small sample size, but it’s a fair reflection of how the Knicks and Clippers generate offense and lock in on defense. By creating and limiting second chances, the playmakers are enabled to control the pace at which the game is played on both ends of the floor.

For what it’s worth: New York has averaged 18.9 second chance points per game during its eight wins and 13.7 during its seven losses.

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