Recaps
Knicks Run Out of Auburn Hills by the Pistons, Lose 112–92
The young guys get plenty of playing time and ‘Melo was a no-show
After dropping Saturday’s game against the Pistons, the Knicks have now lost four of their last five. The Triangle Offense looks as stale as ever, and the NYPD might as well put out an APB for the Knicks’ non-existent fastbreak defense.
The Pistons simply outhustled the Knicks on both ends, jumping lazy passes and sprinting to easy layups in transition. Here’s a few trends I noticed from tonight’s action:
Turnovers
The Knicks turned the ball over five times in the first quarter. Derrick Rose was particularly sloppy with the ball and finished with four turnovers at the end of the first half. All due credit to the Pistons for punishing lazy cross-court passes out of the pick-and-roll, but the Knicks, and especially Rose, have to tighten up on that front.
Lazy fastbreak defense
To make things worse, the Knicks didn’t look like they cared all that much after they gave the ball over. Part of the Pistons’ gameplan was clearly to run the floor after steals, but the Knicks were content to just jog back halfheartedly. I get it. It sucks turning the ball over. They’re wasted possessions, and when they’re your fault it’s easy to get a little deflated. But you have to get back and cover.
No answers for Tobias Harris
Tobias Harris put up a season-high 28 points, which may not seem that impressive until you realize he only scored one point in the fourth quarter. Harris had 23 points in the first half and torched the Knicks from the midrange area. While most defenses would be happy to give up a high volume of shots from that 15–19 foot range, the Knicks did a poor job of contesting or making Harris put the ball on the floor and make a play. When Harris was the ball-handler in pick-and-rolls, not his strong suit by the way, the Knicks kept switching a big man onto him. And whether it was Kristaps Porzingis or Willy Hernangómez, they had no chance of containing them. Harris melted the Knicks, and Jeff Hornacek’s strategic responses were questionable at best.
Detroit’s low pick-and-roll was a huge factor
A lot of the Pistons’ success came off of low pick-and-rolls from the free-throw line area, a play James Harden and Clint Capela run to death in Houston. Harden, in this case Reggie Jackson, caught the ball at about the 15 feet mark while rolling off some kind of off-ball action. The Pistons big, in this case Andre Drummond, set screens but doesn’t immediately roll. The trick here is timing the roll so that Drummond lags behind Jackson a little. Jackson hesitated with a live dribble around the 6–8 foot range, then pulled up for a shot. If the opposing big overcommitted, Jackson shot a lob to Drummond for an easy dunk. If the opposing big sagged back too much, Jackson just shot. The way to defend this is to have a mobile big step up and swarm Jackson, which Porzingis is more than capable of.
But Porzingis just floated in no-mans land, in perfect position to get destroyed on the play every time. He was consistently too low to contest Jackson’s shot, but too high to interrupt the lob. Detroit ran this over and over again, and Drummond had a little alley-oop fest to himself at the rim.
All aboard the Chasson Train
Chasson Randle, the Knicks’ third-string point guard, is winning a lot of Knicks fans. A big reason for this is that teams have completely figured out how to contain Derrick Rose. At this stage in his career, Rose is an absolute zero from three-point range, can’t hit midrange jumpers consistently anymore, and isn’t quite explosive enough to force his way to the rim like he used to. So what the Knicks are left with is what they saw on Saturday, where the Pistons simply sagged eight feet off of Rose, begging him to take the jumper. Rose actually made a few midrange shots early, but it didn’t change the floor spacing at all. This is getting Rajon Rondo-esque.
But Chasson Randle! The 24-year-old undrafted rookie out of Stanford checked into the game, and immediately cashed in a three from the left wing. Before the first quarter timed out, Randle caught the ball and heaved a shot from half-court at the buzzer, which went in, of course, because he’s Chasson Randle and his life will eventually be an inspirational sports movie that gets 43 percent on Rotten Tomatoes for being “too predictable.”
Randle finished with four threes, and generally looked like he knew what he was doing out there, although his lack of athleticism showed a bit against Reggie Jackson. Still, get space on the Chasson Hype Train while you still can.
Porzingis couldn’t box out Drummond
Porzingis is 7'3". If he wants to be an elite center in this league, he has to rebound like he’s 7'3". In all fairness, Drummond is the second-leading rebounder in the league, with Hassan Whiteside in first. But Porzingis has to be able to hold his own against the best.
It’s not that he isn’t trying. He put in the work to get great position on Drummond, but the physicality was a real issue for him. It’s obvious from the eye test that Porzingis is a lot lankier than Drummond, and on at least one occasion Porzingis had to just yank on Drummond’s off-hand to stop Drummond from jumping over Porzingis and grabbing the offensive board. Porzingis got called for it by the referees but still couldn’t adjust, which is a sign that he doesn’t have an answer yet. He’s been trying to put on mass since he came into the league, and he has filled out significantly since draft night, but the lack of strength still sticks out when he goes up against guys like Whiteside, Drummond, or DeMarcus Cousins. The Unicorn needs to bulk.
The Knicks play the Nets in Brooklyn tomorrow at 6pm EST.
— Harrison Liao, site writer
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