What is going on with the New York Knicks defense?
By Adam Kester
New York Knicks: Poor transition defense
Transition basketball only makes up a small fraction of a game, and yet, those few transition points can decide the outcome of a game.
The New York Knicks transition defense is a mess. Currently, the Knicks give up the 6th most fastbreak points per game. Last season, they gave up the 2nd fewest fastbreak points per game. It’s a drastic drop-off.
This may be a conversation about defense but New York’s offense is actually part of this. There was a lot of conversation this offseason about how with New York’s new additions of Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier, there would be more room for creativity on offense.
With all of the added playmaking and shooting ability, we’ve New York’s offense be more creative. Extra passes and quick drives to the rim are more frequent. The New York Knicks averaged the longest time-per-possession last season and have gone up from 30th to 23rd so far this year.
It’s been a transition in the team’s approach to basketball. A lot more threes, and a lot more extra passes, and just a new brand of basketball to what they were playing last season.
I don’t think the team is used to defending fastbreaks. At least, not this frequently.
The Thibodeau defense requires a ton of switching and overloading. It requires all five players to be in a set position and ready to make high-risk rotations.
In the transition game, they’ve been getting burned.
It’s been erratic in transition and there are some more baskets that the Knicks have given up that maybe didn’t “qualify” as transition points but were scored as the team was scrambling to get set.
Miscommunications and poor individual judgment have been to blame.
Is this just what this team is now? Or can they get back to the level of defense they played at last season?