The Knicks have taken a 2-0 edge in The Finals by limiting the Spurs’ efficiency on the break & capitalizing on halfcourt offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Spurs and Victor Wembanyama need to get out on the break and score more as the NBA Finals continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NEW YORK \u2014<\/strong> In a series where offense has been hard to come by, transition opportunities are gold, yielding layups and open 3-pointers before the defense is set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Synergy tracking, the Spurs have had 57 transition possessions over the first two games of\u00a0the Finals. That (28.5 per game) is more than they averaged through the first three rounds (24.9) and a lot more than the Knicks have had in the series (39, 19.5 per game).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dylan Harper\u00a0leads the entire postseason\u00a0with 96 transition points, and the Spurs\u2019 five starters are all in the top eight (66 or more). Their last two (huge) buckets of Game 2 \u2013 layups from\u00a0Harper\u00a0and\u00a0Victor Wembanyama\u00a0\u2013 came in transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But overall, the Spurs have not been able to capitalize on all those transition opportunities as much as they did against their Western Conference opponents. They\u2019ve scored just 0.84 points per possession in transition through the first two games of this series, down from 1.14 per possession through the first three rounds. That (0.84) would have been the worst mark\u00a0in the regular season\u00a0by a wide margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spurs\u2019 transition points per possession<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n via Synergy tracking<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Credit the Knicks\u2019 defense. They\u2019ve made some fantastic defensive plays in transition in this series. Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart are all guys who can fly back on defense and use their length and athleticism to make those transition opportunities as difficult as possible for the Spurs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019re a really good transition team,\u201d Bridges said Sunday. \u201cYou got to get back, show bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, going along with the Knicks\u2019 overall mentality, Bridges isn\u2019t satisfied with the stops they\u2019ve gotten so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI still think we got to do a way better job \u2026 I don\u2019t think we are up to what we\u2019re supposed to be doing as a team defensively in transition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said Sunday that there\u2019s no clear diagnosis for his team\u2019s lack of efficiency in transition thus far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had a few turnovers in transition that are not as common throughout the season,\u201d he said. \u201cIt really hasn\u2019t been a real clear theme of why that is, other than not making the right play or not finishing those advantages out as we have throughout the season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indeed, there\u2019s been some\u00a0general sloppiness, including\u00a0Wembanyama\u2019s game-deciding turnover\u00a0in the closing seconds of Game 2. There\u2019s been some\u00a0settling for decent shots\u00a0when better ones can be found later in the possession. And there\u2019s been some forcing things that just aren\u2019t there:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Toughest to swallow are the empty results that turn into transition opportunities on the other end of the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGoing from looking like we\u2019re probably getting a bucket to giving up a bucket,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThose are big swings in this game when you start talking about the margin of error at this level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Knicks have been similarly inefficient in transition in this series, going from 1.32 points per transition possession (best in the playoffs) through the first three rounds to just 0.85 per possession in The Finals. But it\u2019s not as big of an issue for them, because they\u2019ve found more success in their halfcourt offense. While the Spurs have just seven field goals in the last seven seconds of the shot clock over the two games, the Knicks have 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stephon Castle struggled in Game 2, when he scored just two points on his six transition possessions. He\u00a0couldn\u2019t finish through Brunson,\u00a0got stuffed by Hart,\u00a0turned the ball over, and missed a pair of free throws after a transition foul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harper, meanwhile, continues to be the Spurs\u2019 best weapon in transition, totaling 13 points on nine transition possessions in the series. He turned on the jets to drive through four Knicks for a transition layup early in the fourth quarter on Friday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And he got the Spurs\u2019 14-0, fourth-quarter run started by taking a lead pass from De\u2019Aaron Fox after a Knicks bucket and\u00a0drawing a foul. But the Spurs will need more from everybody else if they\u2019re going to win Game 3 on Monday (8:30 ET, ABC\/ESPN<\/strong>), end the Knicks\u2019 13-game winning streak, and give themselves a real chance in\u00a0this series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every possession, transition or otherwise, is critical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[Transition] is a huge part of the game for us,\u201d Johnson said, \u201cwhen we are at our best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve yet to see the Spurs at their best, but another opportunity awaits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Knicks have taken a 2-0 edge in The Finals by limiting the Spurs’ efficiency on the break & capitalizing on halfcourt offense. The Spurs and Victor Wembanyama need to get out on the break and score more as the NBA Finals continues. NEW YORK \u2014 In a series where offense has been hard to come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410520,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410519\/revisions\/410520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Season\/round<\/th> POSS\/G<\/th> PTS\/G<\/th> PPP<\/th> Rank<\/th><\/tr> Regular season<\/td> 24.1<\/td> 27.7<\/td> 1.15<\/td> 13<\/td><\/tr> First 3 rounds<\/td> 24.9<\/td> 28.4<\/td> 1.14<\/td> 6<\/td><\/tr> Finals<\/td> 28.5<\/td> 24.0<\/td> 0.84<\/td> 2<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n