Defensive issues abound for the New York Knicks. If their second-half performances in recent games against the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers are any indication, they have at least one real solution to explore—so long as they’re willing to risk taking major steps back on offense.
New York turned up the heat in a win over the Clippers with more aggressive coverage, and some incredibly stingy lineups without Jalen Brunson on the floor. The latter is not sustainable. Brunson is an issue on defense, but he’s mission critical to the offense, and not someone Mike Brown has the option of playing less.
The Knicks’ second-half effort in their Friday night loss to the Suns were more telltale. Over the final two frames, they surrendered 1.04 points per possession, the equivalent of a league-best defense. The method by which they got there was also rooted in additional aggression.
We saw more effective hedging and recovering from Brunson, and more notably, tons of activation from Karl-Anthony Towns on the perimeter. The common denominator tying it all together: Mitchell Robinson.
The Knicks defense is working during two-center minutes
New York forfeited a stupid-stingy 0.64 points per possession to the Suns when Towns and Robinson shared the floor. That is…not sustainable. But the team’s defense on the season has rated in the 89th percentile of points allowed per possession when both bigs play. There is proof of concept to the dual-big alignment.
Having Robinson on the backline allows the Knicks to put Towns on more stationary wings, and defend more aggressively. It also invites (permits?) them to switch more, since Robinson can clean up after any miscues once ball-handlers reach the paint.
This theoretically places more responsibility on Towns’ shoulders. Then again, not really. His ball-watching isn’t as damaging when he’s not the last line of defense. Anecdotally speaking, he also always seems to fare better when guarding the heart of the actions. Just look at how he performed in the Boston Celtics playoff series last year, or what he did for much of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 2024 postseason run.
The dual-big look makes life easier on Brunson as well. The Knicks are not nearly as exposed on his hard hedges if Robinson is on the back line, and they have the freedom to concede more straight-up switches, too.
New York is allowing 1.15 points per possession when Brunson, Towns, and Robinson play together. That isn’t elite, but it’s pleasantly middle of the pack. And it sure beats the 1.22 points per possession the Knicks give up when the duo goes to work without Robinson.
There is a catch to the Knicks’ defensive solution
Defaulting to more Brunson-KAT-Robinson minutes is a no-brainer in theory. It’s much harder to pull off in practice.
Robinson’s defensive impact isn’t breaking news. The problem is his workload. The Knicks have him on a maintenance program, and can’t count on him to rack up too many overall appearances or minutes.
More pressingly, New York’s offense just isn’t the same with this trio. It ranks in the 36th percentile on the season when filtering out garbage time.
Quality cuts are harder to come by with Robinson down low. More than that, Towns’ struggles get dialed up to 11 alongside his fellow center. He is shooting 15 percentage points worse on twos with Robinson in the game.
It isn’t clear whether this can change with the benefit of time. Even if Towns can get more involved on offense during dual-big minutes, the uncertainty surrounding Robinson isn’t going anywhere.
Is this a core-lineup look the Knicks can default to, not necessarily to start the game, but as a staple during it? Can they find a more durable big than Robinson on the trade market, who also doesn’t detract from KAT’s offensive volume? If not, is it worth the trade-off to keep playing Towns and Robinson together? Is there another way for New York to fortify the defense during Brunson-Towns minutes?
It’s not a stretch to say that the Knicks’ ability to discover and implement the answers to these questions will define their season.