New York Knicks: 3 goals for their playoff run

Now that the New York Knicks have made their first playoffs since the 2012-13 season, their goal is to get past the Atlanta Hawks in the first round. They also need to get their young guys some experience in the playoffs.

This season the Knicks were a surprise mainly due to coach Tom Thibedeau turning this team into a defense-first outfit. They then turn this defense into offense by wearing down their opposition which allows them to get some easy buckets.

The New York Knicks have made their first playoff appearance since the 2013 postseason. Here are three goals that will help them.

Their half-court offense is run through power forward Julius Randle who had a career year. He averaged career-highs in points (24.1), assists (6.0). and steals (0.9) per game. He averaged an equal career-high in rebounds with 10.2 per game.

Just how good was the New York Knicks’ regular-season defense?

The Knicks had the best defense in the NBA last season. They only allowed their opposition to score 104.7 points per game which is a really good number. The way they managed to do this was by getting into the passing lanes of their opposition, which only allowed for 23.6 assists per game against them, which is sixth in the league.

This then meant that the Knicks were able to force bad shots, usually near the end of the shot clock. This led to the Knicks holding their opponents to a league-best 44.0 field goal percentage. They also held their opponents to a league-best 33.7 percent from deep.

In a league that is 3-point shooting focussed, this will be a tremendous asset moving forward, not just in the playoffs, but also for next season. With all this in mind, let’s take a look at the goals for the playoffs for the New York Knicks.