The Knicks can’t seem to consistently play well on defense. Who’s to blame for this?
It’s safe to say that the previous loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder this past Sunday might have been the worse defensive performance from the Knicks so far this season. Not only did they give up 145 points against a rebuilding Thunder squad but they also allowed 17 made three pointers. This is the 4th time that an Knicks opponent has scored at least 120 or more points and the 3rd time that it has occurred at MSG. These performances are starting to become a trend, which is bad news for the Knicks and good news for the rest of the league.
Throughout the beginning of this season, The Knicks have not found any consistency on the defensive end of the ball and it has cost the Knicks some winnable games down the stretch. According to the statistics, The Knicks rank 25th in points allowed and are ranked 16th overall defensively. For a team that has a defensive minded head coach in Tom Thibodeau, those ranking’s are unacceptable. It was just two seasons ago where the Knicks had one of the best rated defenses in the entire league but they haven’t reached back to that level since.
Even though coaching does play a role in this issue, the Knicks have also displayed a lack of urgency on the court. Knicks guard Jalen Brunson has talked about in recent press conferences.
At this point, both the players and coaches really need to take a look in the mirror and determine how bad do they really want it because as of now it doesn’t look like they care enough about playing defense. Which can only make the issue worse.
