The New York Knicks fell short of winning an NBA title last season; they were eliminated by the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Entering that series, many felt that New York had the more talented group to defeat Indiana, but things unraveled quickly.
The Knicks blew an opportunity to win a title last season
After blowing a double-digit lead in Game 1, they never truly recovered and lost the series in six games. Former Knicks point guard Baron Davis went on Paul George’s podcast titled “Podcast P with Paul George” and detailed what exactly went wrong for New York last season.
“Nobody on the Knicks outside of Jalen Brunson could bring the ball up the court. That’s the only reason why they lost. Indiana puts pressure. You turn the ball over. Indiana puts pressure, then you extend your offense,” Davis said. “And now you know Karl-Anthony Towns got to play one-on-one from the top of the key the entire series.”
The Knicks are not a team known for passing the ball and moving it around. A lot of their offense focused on isolation and drive-and-kick plays, which at times were effective, but were relatively ineffective as a whole.
The Knicks hired Mike Brown to fix the offensive problems
As a result, the Knicks parted ways with Tom Thibodeau in search of a new identity on offense. The guy they landed on was Mike Brown, who helped turn the Sacramento Kings into one of the best offenses in the league through his emphasis on ball movement and spacing.
With the amount of talent the Knicks have on their roster, their offense should look a lot more free-flowing next season. Brunson should still get plenty of looks for himself and will still use his isolation skills, but his assist numbers will likely rise under Brown’s system as the others get more involved.
Nevertheless, it was clear that New York needed to make a change of some sort to improve the scoring output, and they are hopeful that Brown will be the answer to their offensive issues that cost them a chance at a title last season.
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