Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns have, somewhat quietly, started solving the New York Knicks’ most damning issue. Their two-man game has lacked punch for much of their time together, but the star duo is hitting its stride entering the playoffs. In remedying this problem, however, JB and KAT have created another: increasing New York’s reliance on non-stars hitting their corner three-pointers.
Beginning with the Atlanta Hawks, we should expect to see postseason defenses more aggressively go after Brunson and Towns. We aren’t just talking about the inevitable placement of wings on KAT, either.
Atlanta will surely experiment with throwing extra bodies at these two-man actions. Whether that entails throwing two players on the ball (i.e. Brunson) or at Towns’ dives coming off screens, reinforcements are coming. When they do, the Knicks need their “others” to drill the (relatively) wide-open corner treys they’ll earn off ball movement.
It sounds easy enough. If recent trends are any indication, though, it’s anything but.
The Knicks’ efficiency from the corners is way down
Prior to the All-Star break, New York was draining 43.2 percent of their looks from the corners. Only the Milwaukee Bucks posted a higher clip on their shorter-distance threes.
Since the All-Star break, though, the Knicks are shooting 37.7 percent on their corner triples. That is well below the league average, and ranks 22nd overall.
Blame cannot be placed upon any one player. With that said, Mikal Bridges is among the biggest culprits. New York’s resident iron man converted just 33.9 percent of his corner attempts following the All-Star break.
After a scorching hot first half of the season, Mohamed Diawara showed some slippage himself—particularly from the left side, where he nailed just 22.2 percent of his attempts. Deuce McBride didn’t play a ton while recovering from core-muscle surgery, but his 11.1 percent clip from the corners during this span, though too low to be considered sustainable, stands out as well.
Landry Shamet dipped below 32 percent from the right side. For all the value Jordan Clarkson’s revival has brought to the fold, he’s struggled to make shots from the corners basically all year.
Then, of course, you have some later-season slumps. Most notably, Jose Alvarado made only 27.3 percent of his corner triples after March 1.
Brunson and KAT need this trend to change
Some of these tumbles in efficiency will normalize. Others may not matter as much. Players like Alvarado, Diawara, and Clarkson aren’t guaranteed spots in the playoff rotation.
This still comes as minimal comfort when zooming out. Both Shamet and McBride are mission critical to the rotation, so their struggles must be monitored. This says nothing of potential regression from OG Anunoby (47.4 percent) and Hart (57.9 percent), both of whom have been lights out from the corners since the start of March.
It would not be a stretch to say the shot-making from New York’s supporting cast could determine the team’s playoff fate. Brunson, specifically, needs to trust that he can continue deferring to his teammates, rather than feeling as if he must go it alone, as he’s had to before—including for stretches this season.
Without reliable outlets for Brunson and KAT in the corners, maybe the Knicks get past the Hawks. But they aren’t getting much further than that.
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