New York Knicks: 1 area where they rank dead last in the NBA

It’s been an up-and-down start to the season for the New York Knicks, to say the least.

Now sitting at 6-4, New York has rattled off some impressive wins and puzzling losses. They have lost 3 of their last 4 games, with losses to the Raptors, Pacers, and Cavaliers. All of the losses came to Eastern Conference teams where the Knicks were the favorites to win.

New York Knicks: Defense has been a struggle

New York has battled in all of their losses. There were points in some of the games where it seemed as though they were about to get blown out, but they managed to crawl back and make the game close. All of the games have seemed “winnable”.

Since the New York Knicks were able to make some of these games close, games in which it seemed like they were playing at their absolute worse, it gives you hope that these are just “lapses” and you say things like “we had an off night”.

Well, how many off-nights can this team afford to have before we address it as a real problem?

The Knicks are dead last in the NBA in opponent 3-pointers per game. They are giving up just about fifteen 3-pointers per game and their opponents are shooting them at a 36.3% clip, which ranks 23rd in the league.

Last year, New York had the absolute best opposing 3-point field goal percentage mark of any team in the NBA, giving up threes at just a 33.8% clip.

There are arguments for both sides — that this has been “flukey” or that this has been something to watch for long-term. It’s early in the season, but we have a small sample size now.

We did see Myles Turner and Ricky Rubio turn into Steph Curry when they played the Knicks.

On the other hand, this can’t become something that the team keeps telling themselves “this was flukey” and suddenly we’re 25 games into the season and every loss is a “fluke”.

There are adjustments to be made. We have seen defensive lapses at a higher rate than last season, there is no question about that. 

Now, the Knicks take on a red-hot 76ers team this evening.

What can this team do to tighten up their 3-point defense?