Defense has been a troubling issue for the New York Knicks this season, especially defending the three-point line. They currently rank 26th in opponent three-point percentage at 38.4% and 15th in opponent points per game at 115.1.
Knicks are slowly improving defensively
However, there was some improvement defensively against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday. While they still allowed Brooklyn to get a lot of clean looks, the Nets shot poorly from three, going just 14-for-48.
The Knicks have emphasized cutting off lanes to the basket rather than staying home at the three-point line. The strategy has had mixed results, as it hasn’t been effective against strong shooting teams, but it has been successful against weaker shooting teams, such as the Nets.
Head coach Mike Brown anticipates that the defense will improve over time.
“We’ll keep working on it. We’ll keep addressing it. Again, we’re gonna be fine at the end of the day cause our guys want it. They have been better. We were better in Dallas. We were even better in Miami. There was a stretch where we were getting better,” Brown said, via Posting and Toasting.
Knicks will need others to step up defensively
Defense has been an issue for the Knicks all season long, but it will be even tougher for them in the interim. They won’t have OG Anunoby for a while due to a hamstring injury, and they just lost Landry Shamet to a shoulder injury.
Shamet and Anunoby are two of the team’s better perimeter defenders, so losing them for an extended period of time is going to hurt them. They will have to rely on Mikal Bridges a lot more to help defend the perimeter, and they will need Mitchell Robinson to make an impact on the interior.
The defense will hopefully see more improvement as these games pass by. They will look to have a stronger defensive outing in their next game on Wednesday against the Charlotte Hornets.