NEW YORK — Think of your favorite song.
Surely, there’s a crisp snare following a thumping kick drum. A melody that rides over both like a wave does the ocean floor. Vocals cutting through to provide perspective to the backdrop of the track. All together it evokes an emotion.
Harmony.
The Knicks’ offense is in that level of flow state. It’s vinyasa with a basketball, synchronized swimming on the hardwood.
It’s greater than just the ball going through the basket — but that’s happening a lot, too. New York made 53 of its 84 shots en route to Monday’s 137-98 blowout win over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Knicks are going from one action to the next without thinking. They have a counter for the counter. They’re moving around one another with purpose. Individuals are oozing confidence and, in turn, the whole appears greater than the sum of its parts.
This is nirvana.
“It’s a lot of fun when you have concepts on either end of the floor and guys are trying to embrace those concepts at the highest level,” New York head coach Mike Brown said. “When they do, it doesn’t really matter what you call or initiates the action because guys are trying to play the right way. It can be any team out on the floor. If they’re trying to embrace what you’re throwing out there, sacrificing, all of that other stuff, it can be a lot of fun to watch.”
This is the offense Brown envisioned when he took over last summer — a system that didn’t always need play calls but, instead, had concepts that generated a whistling flow while erasing predictability. Guys would go from one action to the next until it created an advantageous situation. A defense couldn’t always guess from where it was going to get hit.
There was a lot of trial and error early on in the season. It got to a point where New York ended up running a similar offense to that of Brown’s predecessor in order to play to his players’ strengths and minimize the confusion. Now, in the playoffs, the Knicks look more comfortable doing something that once made them uncomfortable, and they’re throttling teams in the process. Dating back to Game 4 against the Hawks in the first round, New York has outscored its opponents by 135 points. It has put up over 125 points in three of those four games. And everyone is getting in on the action.
This is a Jalen Brunson series, meaning the 76ers don’t appear to have the defensive infrastructure to slow down one of the game’s greatest scorers. There isn’t a Dyson Daniels hounding Brunson like the Hawks had. There also isn’t an Onyeka Okongwu at the center spot who can switch and move around to cause disruptions. The 76ers, with the aching Joel Embiid as the back line of their defense, have to primarily play in drop coverage, and Brunson has made an All-NBA living eating up defenses that allow him to get comfortable in the middle of the floor. That’s why he had 35 points on 12-of-18 shooting. When the 76ers did switch with Embiid or try to blitz, Brunson easily maneuvered around Embiid and was able to create for himself or others with the defense in a scramble.
Then there’s Karl-Anthony Towns, who is mastering an offense in which he’d often felt lost. He’s in the pinch post holding the ball as his teammates set screens for one another and try to break free. Towns either finds a cutter or flows into a hand-off, and is then able to pop or roll. He’s been excellent at finishing from 3 feet or 30 feet.
And let’s not forget OG Anunoby, who, as a cutter, is often the beneficiary of Towns’ passes, and is doing more than that, too. Defenses can’t throw extra attention at Brunson and Towns and Anunoby all at once. So, Anunoby is punishing his one-on-one matchups with direct, purposeful drives to the rim that are often ending in dunks. He also hasn’t missed a 3 this postseason (not really but it feels that way).
Mikal Bridges is now back initiating some offense, allowing Brunson to do more off the ball, and has found his shooting stroke as the beneficiary of several drive-and-kick 3s generated by Brunson and Towns. Josh Hart, like always, is wherever he can fit, turning defense into offense and being another connector who gets the ball moving.
On Monday night, every New York starter except Hart, who had eight points and six assists, scored 17 or more. Only Brunson took more than 11 shots. The starters were efficient and straight to the point, which is why they got to rest for yet another fourth quarter.
“A lot of trial and error,” Hart, whose team had 34 assists, said of where the offense is. “Seeing what works, seeing what doesn’t. We’re being unselfish. I think that’s the biggest thing. With where we’re at right now, everyone is unselfish. We’re willing to sacrifice individual numbers and stats for the betterment of the team. When we do that, we’re playing our best basketball.”
There was a possession in the first half that perfectly depicted just how sharp New York’s offense is right now. Philadelphia switched Embiid onto Anunoby in hopes of keeping him out of the action. The Knicks then flowed into a pick-and-pop with Brunson and Anunoby that forced Embiid to drop and cover the Brunson drive while Anunoby stood all alone from 3. Brunson kicked the ball out to Anunoby after drawing two defenders and … bottoms.
When New York is in sync like this, it is as tough of an offense to guard as there is in the NBA. The individuals are handfuls in their own right, but when they’re playing off one another, it’s almost like a pick your poison situation.
And, right now, every poison is deadly.
“You always want to peak later in the season, so this is the process of the year,” said Anunoby, who scored 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting in Monday’s win. “We’re starting to click, and hopefully getting better and better. We’re a really tough team with threats all over the place. It’s very hard to guard.”
