The Knicks overcome a 12-point deficit in the first half to take a 2-0 series lead, leveraging a focus on their star guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SAN ANTONIO \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>The Finals\u00a0has been the least efficient series of these playoffs, with the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs having combined to score just 103.5 points per 100 possessions through the first two games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And because they\u2019ve been just a little more efficient than the Spurs, the Knicks are heading back to New York with a 2-0 series lead. Game 2 on Friday (105 points on 97 possessions) was their\u00a0fourth worst offensive game\u00a0of the postseason, but also the Spurs\u2019\u00a0third worst defensive game\u00a0of the 11 they\u2019ve played at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s amazing is that the Knicks are up 2-0 with Jalen Brunson having shot\u00a019-for-56\u00a0(34%), with only nine free throw attempts in the series. Those would be both his lowest field goal percentage and his lowest free throw rate in the 15 playoff series he\u2019s played in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brunson missed a couple of open looks on Friday, but he\u2019s had the lowest shot quality among the 13 players who\u2019ve attempted at least 10 shots in the series. He\u2019s been the focus of the Spurs\u2019 defense and he\u2019s mostly had to work hard just to get tough shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s worked out well for San Antonio in regard to his inefficiency, but the focus on Brunson has created opportunities for his teammates, and they\u2019ve stepped up and made big plays and big shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some notes, numbers and film on how the Knicks\u2019 got just enough offense against an elite defense (that made a few mistakes) in Game 2:<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the opening tip, it was clear that the Spurs were going to apply more ball pressure than they did in Game 1, while also defending Brunson more aggressively on ball screens. Here\u2019s the first 10 seconds of the Knicks\u2019 second possession of the game, with Stephen Castle in Brunson\u2019s shirt 90 feet from the basket and Devin Vassell blitzing a ball-screen from OG Anunoby:<\/p>\n\n\n\n That possession resulted in a stop, but the Knicks moved the ball pretty well before Mikal Bridges missed a tough floater over Victor Wembanyama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Spurs believe they can rotate out of those two-on-the-ball situations, and no defender can recover better than the Defensive Player of the Year. But the ball can move quicker than bodies, and the Knicks often found good shots when Brunson got rid of it quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Early in the fourth quarter, Wembanyama blitzed a Karl-Anthony Towns ball-screen for Brunson and three passes later, Landry Shamet got a catch-and-shoot 3 from the left corner:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dylan Harper almost got there, but that was a quick-release pass from Josh Hart (who caught the ball with 4.6 seconds on the shot clock) and a quick-release shot from Shamet (who let go of it with 3.5 on the clock).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Spurs didn\u2019t just double Brunson on ball-screens. They sometimes sent a second defender in one-on-one situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Late in the second quarter, Vassell came with a double when Brunson was looking to run the clock down. Two passes later, Towns had a wide-open corner 3, because Wembanyama was concerned with another unguarded Knick (Shamet) in the paint:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Midway through the third quarter, Castle gambled with a blind double-team when Brunson was isolated against Julian Champagnie. But Brunson saw it and hit Shamet for a wide-open 3 from the left corner:<\/p>\n\n\n\n More aggressive defense can lead to more weak-side shots, and the Knicks are now 15-for-28 (54%) on corner 3-pointers in the series after averaging\u00a04.0 makes per game\u00a0through the first three rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And while Brunson won Game 2 with a free throw and Wembanyama missed two mid-range jumpers in the final minute, the difference on Friday was 3-point shooting, with the Knicks outscoring the Spurs by 12 points (45-33) from beyond the arc. Both teams made six 3-pointers that weren\u2019t wide open, but the Knicks were 9-for-19 (47%) on wide-open 3s, while the Spurs were 5-for-12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to tracking data, Wembanyama was the screener\u2019s defender on 22 ball-screens or handoffs for Brunson, up from 12 in Game 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Spurs will sometimes try to pre-switch those actions (sending another defender up to defend the screen), so that Wembanyama can remain near the basket. But the Knicks were often able to draw him out to the perimeter. And if he\u2019s out on the perimeter, he\u2019s not protecting the rim or in good rebounding position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s what everybody tries to do is pull Vic away from the basket,\u201d De\u2019Aaron Fox said after Game 2. \u201cWe have to figure that out, because that\u2019s not something that we haven\u2019t seen before. But obviously [the Knicks] and the way they shoot the ball, the way they move the ball, we have to figure out a way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brunson, of course, doesn\u2019t have to use the pick that\u2019s being set for him. He\u2019s an opportunistic rejector of screens, and he caught both Carter Bryant and Wembanyama on the high side when he rejected a Towns screen late in the second quarter:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Spurs gave themselves a chance to win this game by doing a better job of defending the Brunson-Wembanyama actions in the fourth. But they still came up one possession short of tying the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Knicks did a great job of executing against a more aggressive defense, but the Spurs had a lot of self-inflicted wounds in Game 2. Defensive breakdowns, missed free throws and a brutal turnover in the closing seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The series is not over, but they\u2019ll need to be sharper in Game 3 on Monday (8:30 ET, ABC\/ESPN<\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Knicks overcome a 12-point deficit in the first half to take a 2-0 series lead, leveraging a focus on their star guard. SAN ANTONIO \u2014\u00a0The Finals\u00a0has been the least efficient series of these playoffs, with the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs having combined to score just 103.5 points per 100 possessions through […]<\/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-410533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410533","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=410533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410540,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410533\/revisions\/410540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\n1. Blitzing Brunson<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Double teams create more open shots<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. The Knicks put Wembanyama in the action<\/h3>\n\n\n\n