The Knicks’ offense is scary good and may just be getting started

On By Littum

DENVER — Josh Hart hadn’t seen anything like it to before.

Back in October, the defending champion Boston Celtics welcomed the New York Knicks into the new season with an offensive performance so ridiculous that the Knicks guard could only laugh as he tried to wrap his head around what just happened. Boston took 61 3s and made 29 of them. The Celtics converted on over 50 percent of their field-goal attempts en route to an opening night 132-109 beatdown of New York. Boston made the 2015-16 Warriors look mortal that night.

“The NBA has to test them all,” Hart joked. “I’ll tell you that.”

Fast forward a month later, and based on Hart’s standards, the Knicks probably should have had to pee in a cup after Monday night’s 145-118 drubbing of the Denver Nuggets.

New York was synchronized swimming on hardwood, a chorus of sneakers. Forget the fact that the Knicks’ point total was the most in regulation for the franchise since 1980, the franchise had a record for most assists in a game (45), they had a player score of 40 points, and another scored 30, while only missing three shots, and another scores 23 points and hands out 17 assists. The Knicks shot 60.9 percent from the field and 52.8 percent from 3 over a 48-minute contest, surpassing all of the Celtics’ efficiency marks on a night Hart joked had never experienced before.

“You’re going to have games like that,” said Hart, who scored 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting. “That’s why we don’t panic after every game. We leave the panic to all of you.”

After the game, many of the Knicks tried to downplay what just happened.

“I feel like we’ve done this a lot,” said OG Anunoby, who was the scorer at 40 as he continues his “I’m more than just a defenseman” streak this season.

In a way, Anunoby is right. The Knicks have had as effective an offense as basketball has seen this season. However, they have not done that before. Not many teams have ever shot over 60 percent from the field, over 50 percent from 3 and had 45 assists with that type of volume as a team. It’s not normal. Denver wasn’t bad from the jump; The Knicks just crumbled the Nuggets and smoked them with a relentless offense.

What Anunoby got to, though, is that New York’s offense might not actually be normal. It’s already scary good. And it might get better. The Knicks have the second best offense in the NBA after the win. They and the Cavaliers are the only two teams in the NBA to rank in the top three in both 2- and 3-point field-goal percentage. Only two teams shoot better from mid-range than the Knicks. There are only a handful of teams better at moving the ball. They take care of the ball at a league-leading level.

New York has an elite offense despite being dead last in the NBA in free throw attempts per game. game and is toward the bottom of the league in shots at the rim. Part of the reason the Knicks rank low in these areas is because they are such an efficient jump-shooting team. They lean on their strengths. They’ve gotten better at getting into the paint and generating good 3s from inside and out, but can still make progress in that department.

The addition of Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored 30 and grabbed 15 rebounds, and the spacing he provides has opened up opportunities for Jalen Brunson, who scored 23 points and dished out a career-high 17 assists, to get to his spots in the floor and lately get deep paint with less traffic. It has opened up lanes for Anunoby and Hart to cut defenses from multiple angles. It allows the team to create good looks from the 3 for good 3-point shooters. That has helped Mikal Bridges get room to get to his coveted midrange jumpers while his 3-point shooting catches up.

The Knicks have several guys who can create their own shots. They have just as many who can score while not initiating attacks. When the ball is moving with the determination it has been in recent games, there isn’t much a team can do to slow down the Knicks’ offense.

“I feel like this is a good place for us (in terms of chemistry),” Brunson said, “but I feel like it’s going to continue to grow through this year and into next year.”

The narrative that has followed head coach Tom Thibodeau for the past decade-plus is that he is a defensive coach. However, Thibodeau has had top-5 offenses in Chicago, Minnesota and several times in New York. His teams generate the type of looks needed to win in today’s NBA. They now have the talent across the board to convert those tries at a high level.


OG Anunoby, shown with Jalen Brunson, reacts after a successful 3-pointer. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)

Brunson is finding a perfect balance between getting others involved and still taking advantage of the scoring chops he has. Towns has been extraordinarily effective as a shooter since being traded to the Knicks. Anunoby is shooting the ball better than he has in his career. Hart is an A-plus cutter and the best finisher at the rim at the moment. Bridges is one of the better mid-range shooters in the league. Miles McBride and Cameron Payne have come off the bench and scored at effective rates.

The Knicks’ defense still needs to catch up with its offense, but there have been several instances this season where the swarming defense has turned into easy points on the other end. As New York’s defense improves, the offense will only increase.

Until then, the Knicks will be OK because the goal of the sport is to score more points than your opponents. And lately, it feels like New York is the only team that can stop New York from scoring.

(Top photo of Karl-Anthony Towns: Ron Chenoy / Imagn Images)