New York Knicks: What went wrong?
Lack of offensive firepower
We always knew the Knicks were a defense-first squad. It’s what kept them alive and fighting against superior teams during a grueling regular season, but when the chips are down in the playoffs, shot creation becomes the more important part of the game.
To be frank, the Knicks simply didn’t have the guns to compete with the Hawks’ scoring. Trae Young was by far the best offensive player in the series, both scoring and creating for others. The Knicks expected that, and they also expected Randle to follow as the second-best in that department, but alas it turned out to be Atlanta’s Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Randle struggled, Barrett was fine but not great, and all of a sudden we were banking on the scoring of Alec Burks to match up with Trae Young? No wonder we lost in 5. Derrick Rose turned out to be the most consistent scorer for the Knicks this post-season, and that simply isn’t good enough.
Some credit has to be given to the Hawks’ defense. Hiding Trae Young on the Knicks’ non-creators, De’Andre Hunter chasing New York’s primary ball handlers around the permitter, and Clint Capela cleaning up inside, that’s a decent enough defensive game plan for a team who isn’t about to drop 140 points on anyone.
On top of that, the Hawks basically told Knicks Head Coach Tom Thibodeau “Hey, we’re double-teaming Randle every time he touches the ball. Find someone else to beat us, we dare you.” With that in mind, Thibs looked up and down his bench and saw he didn’t have enough. That was it right there.
As a team, the Knicks averaged 97 points on 38.9% shooting in the playoffs. Now, the playoffs are another animal, we all know that, but compare those numbers to the team’s average of 107 points on 45.6% shooting during the regular season and you can see how bothered they were by the Hawks; defense.
Knicks’ Julius Randle fizzled
In a similar fashion to Pascal Siakam last year, Julius Randle learned the hard way the difference between being the number one option during the regular season and during the playoffs.
The team was banking on Randle to be the same scoring go-to-guy he was throughout their run to the playoffs, but between double teams, constant pressure on-ball and around the rim, and the knowledge that his team’s chances at victory depended on his making tough shots, and Randle had a noticeably worse post-season than regular season.
It wasn’t all his fault. The Hawks knew that if they took out Randle as a scorer they basically stopped the Knicks’ offense, but where Randle could’ve done better was move the ball once he was met with those double teams.
We saw it in the second half of game 2. Randle started being a playmaker for others rather than a scorer. Finding the open man when doubled, beating his man to the rim and then kicking it out. That’s the kind of creator Randle can be, and the team is capable of knocking down open corner threes But too often Randle was putting up tough, heavily contested shots.
It was a tall order what we were asking him to do, but he didn’t deliver. If he had been on top of his game it might not have been enough to win the series, but it would have made it much more interesting.
The Knicks had no answer for Trae Young
Once the Knicks realized Elfrid Payton wasn’t an option, the question immediately became “oh god, what do we do about Trae Young?”
The Hawks point guard is easily the best player on his team, but since this series was his playoff debut it was unclear at first what level of devastating he was going to be. Especially against a defense as stingy as the Knicks’.
Rose earned himself minutes because of his scoring, but it was clearly apparent he didn’t have the lateral quickness anymore to stay with Young. Quickley took some time with Young, but in the end, it was mainly Reggie Bullock who guarded him.
Now, Reggie Bullock is a fine player and a good defender, but come on. By fault of his own, he tried his best and had some good possessions on that end, but he was out of his depth and he knew it.
You’d be hard put to find a guard who can hang with a playoff team offensively and be able to effectively guard Trae Young, but that’s what this series required. The Knicks didn’t have the right mix of offense and defense at the guard position, and it’s a big reason why they lost the series.