Following what was not only the best win of the season so far, but arguably one of the best games all season against the Celtics on Sunday, the Knicks suffered an embarrassing 112-105 loss to the Lamelo Ball-less Charlotte Hornets.
It’s honestly pretty funny to see the Knicks beat teams like the Celtics and Heat, yet lose to the 14th-seed Hornets. It’s almost poetic in a way. Regardless, New York had a few weaknesses that were exposed by Charlotte that could cause some trouble in the future.
While these likely won’t lose New York a playoff series, these two issues are worth mentioning as things to keep an eye on as the season comes down to the line.
2 weaknesses the Hornets exposed in Knicks’ 112-105 loss
Weakness #2: No Jalen Brunson
Despite beating the Celtics without Jalen Brunson on Sunday, his absence was much more notable against the Hornets. Not only did the Knicks not have a consistent offensive player aside from RJ Barrett for the majority of the game, but his skill as a playmaker and closer were missed as well.
Not only has Brunson arguably been the Knicks’ best player this season, but the clutch gene and overall ability to close a game out make him incredibly important to this team. It was clear he was missed last night.
In the final four minutes of play, New York scored just five points. That’s right, five points in four minutes of what was a close game. This number is absolutely unacceptable and while the team has done a fantastic job of closing games out recently, that did not matter.
Through the entire fourth quarter, New York made just five baskets as a team and scored 16 total points, compared to Charlotte, who scored 25. I have no doubts that if the Knicks had Brunson, this would not have been the case.
Regardless, the Knicks must be able to win games like this without Brunson. He’s a great player, but not the only capable scorer on this New York squad.
Weakness #1: Overall defense
While normally this wouldn’t be a problem, it really was last night and showed that certain teams, especially in a playoff scenario, could wreak some havoc for the Knicks on defense. While at first things were going pretty well for New York on that side of the ball, once the second half started it got incredibly rough.
Despite the Knicks being up 16 at the half, the Hornets rallied back and scored 37 in the third to the Knicks’ 23. That was followed up by the aforementioned 25-point fourth quarter to the Knicks’ 16.
This loss could certainly be put on the offense, as no one had a genuinely “good” game on that side of the ball. A lot of that had to do with there being no Brunson. Regardless, a team like the Hornets should not have given the Knicks that much trouble on defense.
For the game, Charlotte shot 49.4% from the field and 37.5% from three on 32 attempts. A big point of emphasis was the Knicks’ paint defense, as 27 of the Hornets’ 42 made shots came from the painted area.
There are no doubts the Knicks’ paint presence and defense weren’t as good as we’d like to see, however, we’re not too worried about this as the team ranks 14th in defensive rating this season. This may not be the best, but it is not nearly bad enough to be overly concerned about.
Hopefully, as the season comes to a close, these two issues solve themselves as the Knicks enter their second playoff berth in three seasons. If they do not go away, we could see a similar scenario to the 2021 playoffs where the Knicks don’t make it too far.
New York Knicks all-time draft bust starting 5
The history of the New York Knicks is littered with poor draft picks. Here is the all-time draft bust starting five, stuffed with frontcourt players.