OG Anunoby 1-for-2. Jalen Brunson 0-for-2. OG Anunoby 1-for-2.
Those were three trips to the foul line late in the fourth quarter for the New York Knicks. New York endured a brutal final stanza as the Orlando Magic dominated the last 12 minutes and dropped the Knicks' overall record to 0-3.
All three of the Knicks’ losses have come by single digits. In close games, free-throw shooting often becomes a determining factor. Mitchell Robinson has caught much flak in recent years for his poor foul shooting, but with him no longer on the team, the team’s constant misses from 15 feet away this season have been concerning.
Knicks’ free-throw woes have reared their ugly head in all 3 games
In Sunday’s loss to Orlando, the Knicks went 17-for-24 from the charity stripe. In the brutal fourth quarter, they went 6-for-10.
That 70.8% accuracy from the line during the game matches their season percentage. New York missed eight free throws on opening night and fell to the Philadelphia 76ers by six. The following game, they missed six and lost to the Boston Celtics by four.
The Knicks are now 28th out of 30 teams in free-throw percentage. That’s a far cry from their 10th-place ranking last season, when they made 79.2% of their foul shots.
That was with Robinson on the team. Remove his 42-for-103 mark from the free-throw mark from the 2025-26 regular season, and the other Knicks shot an excellent 81.6%.
During their 19-game playoff run en route to a championship, New York made 75.9% of their free-throw attempts. Robinson shot them even worse in the playoffs, so the rest of the team shot them wonderfully at 82.3%.
So far, only seven Knicks have attempted a free throw (unsurprisingly, Mikal Bridges hasn't attempted one yet). Only one is shooting over 80%: Anuboby at 81.8%. Even he left two points on the board, though, with two fourth-quarter free-throw misses against the Magic.
The shooting woes for the Knicks haven’t just been from the foul line either. Over three games, they have made just 32.4% of their 3-point attempts. New York’s overall field-goal accuracy of 40.8% is just 0.1% better than the last-ranked Charlotte Hornets.
Over a three-game stretch, stats can look wonky. Free-throw shooting isn’t the only reason the Knicks haven't won a game that counts since their Game 5 win over the San Antonio Spurs, but it has certainly played a role.
New York’s next chance to show better foul-line accuracy comes Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden against the Detroit Pistons.
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