The New York Knicks have a problem. A big one. And it is on full display in their first-round series against the Detroit Pistons.
This is not just about New York's 100-94 Game 2 loss at Madison Square Garden on Monday. Oh, make no mistake, it's absolutely part of the equation. But this issue nearly got the best of them in Game 1. It has also come back to bite them on many occasions throughout this season. Last year, too.
If the Knicks wind up losing to the Pistons, or just barely getting by them, or even if they get trucked in a subsequent series, it is the flaw most likely to spell their undoing. And it is not the defense. It is the offense. More specifically, it is the glaring lack of secondary creation alongside Jalen Brunson.
Game 2 loss highlights an issue the Knicks have struggled with all season
New York's complete and total dependence on Brunson isn't new. It is years old at this point. But it is more apparent now than ever before, on the NBA playoffs stage, and one offseason after surrendering control of seven first-round picks to land Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges.
Since Brunson joined the Knicks, nobody else in the NBA has as many unassisted two-point buckets (1,155) and unassisted three-point makes (227), according to PBP Stats. That is brain-bending dependence on one player.
Adding Bridges and Towns has not really toned it down when looking at this season alone. In 2023-24, Brunson ranked in the 99th percentile of true usage (which incorporates shots, turnovers, assists and potential assists), per BBall Index. He finished in the 98th percentile this year. His crunch-time usage in 2024-25 (42.4) is actually higher than it was last year (37.5). And where Brunson's teammates rated in the 40th percentile of half-court shot creation in 2023-24, they wrapped the 2024-25 regular season in the 36th percentile.
These differences seem minor, particularly when the Knicks finished fifth in offensive efficiency for the year. But molehills become mountains in the playoffs. New York is finding that out now.
Bridges and Towns will receive a lion's share of the blame given the total cost of landing them. It is tough to argue against that after Game 2. Bridges missed a bunch of quality threes, finishing 3-of-11 from beyond the arc. Towns' night was even more disastrous. He was the ghost of a ghost for much of the night, and didn't attempt a single shot during the fourth quarter, despite playing all 12 minutes.
Karl-Anthony Towns did not score in the second half and took his last shot of the game with 5:20 to go in the third quarter. He played all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter and did not get a shot during that time.
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) April 22, 2025
KAT's performance was so bereft of aggression, it earned a passive aggressive dig from head coach Tom Thibodeau. And yet, this problem is so much bigger than any one player, or even Thibs.
There is plenty of blame to go around in New York
Harping on the holes in Bridges' and Towns' offensive games is fair. Then again, they have always been some version of these players. It is unreasonable to expect they'll suddenly become primary creator-types, for both themselves and others, when that's not how they're best deployed.
Sure, Towns' vacillating aggression can be infuriating. His three-point volume never seems high enough. Nor does it ever feel like he's punishing nearly enough mismatches down low, or even on drives. But the Knicks have to put him in the right situations, too. Towns can't brutalize Detroit's cross matches on the block if he's not getting the ball.
Towns had 35 total touches all night, his second-fewest in any game this season.
— Yaya Dubin (@JADubin5) April 22, 2025
This part of the issue is on Thibs' offensive design. It is also on Brunson, who so often seems like he passes as a last resort, or falls in love with taking tough shots.
More than anything, though, this is on Leon Rose and the front office, the architects of this roster. They mortgaged the farm on a core with one true advantage creator (Brunson). Everything else is a ripple effect of that decision-making up top.
You cannot fault Towns for being an extension of who he's always been. You cannot be angry at Bridges for not being Devin Booker, or at Anunoby for not being Jayson Tatum. It says a lot that New York needed Cam Payne to put on his own superhero cape just to eke out a victory in Game 1.
It is frustrating to watch Brunson over-dribble, miss potential passes, or settle for difficult shots. It is even more frustrating to understand why—to know his own role in this is fueled by the reality that neither Bridges nor Towns nor Anunoby nor Hart can consistently break down set defenses, score at multiple levels, and table-set for others. That burden is Brunson's alone to bear.
Until that changes, the Knicks will not be true contenders. They have better performances in them, and other cards they can play when Towns or Bridges vanishes. They should still beat the Pistons. But going any further demands the type of changes they cannot make until the offseason—assuming they have the ability to make them at all.
Dan Favale is a Senior NBA Contributor for FanSided and National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.