Advantage: Perimeter shooting and defense
Last year, New York got crushed in the second round of the playoffs at the three-point line. Erik Spoelstra was pulling random people out of the stands to knock down threes while the Knicks couldn't buy a shot. The sad thing is, that isn't even that big of an exaggeration.
New York's front office addressed that weakness in the offseason by signing Donte DiVincenzo, who is having the best season of his career. He finished the regular season averaging a career-high 15.5 points on 40.1% shooting from deep. His spacing helps the Knicks tremendously.
When Brunson isn't in the game, Miles McBride will be. With a larger role, he's stepped it up offensively this season. After the Dec. 30 trade that led to an extension for McBride, he finished the regular season averaging 10.6 points per game. On the regular season as a whole, he shot 41% from deep. He isn't the deep threat that DiVincenzo is, but opposing defenses will pay if they leave Deuce open.
Of course, we can't forget about Brunson. His bread and butter is driving to the rim, but he shot 40.1% from three during the regular season. There's also Bojan Bogdanovic, who struggled after the trade to New York but has started to come around.
Then there's OG Anunoby. DiVincenzo and McBride are excellent defenders but aren't on Anunoby's level. He's one of the best perimeter defenders in the league and can knock down shots from that range, too. He disrupts offenses, which he did against the Sixers in January.
Even without Randle, New York is a much more balanced team this year than it was last year.