Although the Golden State Warriors outran the New York Knicks for the latter half of their recent game, the Knicks showed brief success as they explored their lineup contours and thus found mismatches.
On Sunday, the New York Knicks hosted the Golden State Warriors and as unfortunately polite hosts, they let the Warriors shine in a 116-95 win. Take away their 14-0 run in the meat of the first quarter and the Knicks’ deficit balloons to 35 points. And the Knicks played the Warriors as well as almost any team thus far; against the Warriors, most teams can pray only for moral wins.
Though the rest of the game far from qualified as a moral win, the Knicks have a 14-0 run to tack onto their ever-growing resume. More important, the Knicks did not break when the Warriors snapped that run with a Draymond Green floater. In fact, the 7-point lead the run constructed remained for nearly another quarter’s worth of basketball.
What the Knicks finally seemed to realize made those 10 minutes magical. During their time on top, Derek Fisher and the Knicks found a way to manufacture mismatches on nearly every possession.
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Three different Knicks bigs (Derrick Williams, Robin Lopez, Kyle O’Quinn) scored on Marreese Speights, Carmelo Anthony submerged himself in the triangle and earned himself both of his assists, and the Knicks ran around the out-of-sync Warriors as they notched six of their 10 points off turnovers during that time.
This run featured Knicks breaking down a handful of the Warriors’ defenders coming in different shapes and sizes. Jerian Grant shook Shaun Livingston from his hip and stepped back to nail a jumper right in front of the foul line also drawing a foul from Livingston’s overcompensation.
Anthony hit one of his signature drive-fake-pull-up midrange shots over Andre Iguodala, Golden State’s premier perimeter defender.
Sure, this means the Warriors plowed through the Knicks for the rest of the game, but how many other teams can boast such condensed success against this all-time great team? Very few.
And considering the Knicks have taken the Spurs and the Thunder down to the last minute in the past month, Knicks geeks like me will remember this short but profound run as a pleasant foreshadowing piece when we look back at the process of building around Kristaps Porzingis.
So what can the Knicks take away from this run?
As I stated earlier, the Knicks can find mismatches more easily than most teams. For example, Williams’ frame, at only 6’8″, fools many guards into thinking they can switch onto him on picks he sets. However, Williams has an explosive gene that is unprecedented among most other 6’8″ players and he therefore punishes those who switch on him with superior athleticism in the paint.
They can also learn from the Warriors; the Knicks succeeded when they ran and found open shots. They did not rush their possessions, rather they just took the first open shot they could find. It was reminiscent of Stephen Curry flipping the ball to Klay Thompson for a transition three despite the fact that the Warriors don’t have a big down the floor yet to snag the rebound.
They noticed, but might not have learned, that it’s easiest to get the ball into the paint earlier in the shot clock before the defense is set. And in doing so, penetrating on a flimsy defense also augments the chances of drawing a foul, as Grant did on the and-one and as Melo did on multiple occasions.
The Cleveland Caveliers have increased their offensive pace as of lately and the results are overwhelmingly positive: LeBron James‘ team scored 110 points or more in five straight games for the first time in his career. The Knicks should follow their ephemeral and the Cavs’ new lead.
Pushing the ball finds open shots and draws fouls — and the Knicks are the best team right now at hitting their free throws.
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Keep it up Knicks, and by “it,” I mean their pace.