Coming Up Clutch

Can the Knicks make hay in the NBA Cup? If they do, we may look back at Monday's win as a sign of things to come.

Good morning! You know the deal: NBA Cup Quarterfinals, Knicks vs Hawks, 7 pm, ESPN. Winner faces the Bucks, loser faces the Magic. It’s that simple. On the injury front, the Knicks are listing Josh Hart as questionable with an ankle sprain while KAT is probable. For the Hawks, Trae Young and De’Andre Hunter are probable while Jalen Johnson and Bogdan Bogdanovic are questionable. Come say hi at halftime.

Coming Up Clutch

The more I think about Monday night, the more impressed I am by a victory that on its face shouldn’t be all that impressive.

A supposed contender beat a 7-17 (now 7-18) team missing their starting point guard for the entire game and their nominal best player for the final 18 minutes. Wake me when I need to pay attention.

Except this game was more than a mere speed bump in New York’s way, at least given how they’ve performed in similar situations this season. As Jeremy Cohen pointed out after the game, the Knicks had been 28th in the NBA in net rating during clutch moments, getting outscored by 28.5 points per 100 possessions. That number was better than only the Wizards and Bulls, who managed to best the Knicks in a clutch situation not long ago.

This was quite a change for a team with the 7th best clutch net rating in the NBA just one year ago. Growing pains come in many shapes and sizes.

So for as much as the Knicks did not shower themselves in glory for the majority of their trip to Toronto, the fourth quarter contained far more good than bad. We’re going to go through some plays from each category right now, focusing purely on the defense, starting with something good:

Deuce McBride has been New York’s best point of attack defender this season, and a play like this shows a few reasons why. For one, he gets into Davion Mitchell and doesn’t allow him to get comfy, dislodging his dribble on the initial move. After that, Deuce does a great job staying with Mitchell as he curls around the screen, but the real star of this possession is his level of awareness.

Knowing that Kelly Olynyk is a legitimate enough 3-point threat to warrant his attention, McBride does a nice job peeling off the driver and getting back out to offer a worthwhile shot contest. From there, it’s off the races, where he takes advantage of a great hit ahead pass from Karl-Anthony Towns.

So no, the issue last night wasn’t that the Knicks weren’t playing any defense. It’s that they weren’t playing defense for the full 24 seconds of every possession (or even more frustrating, playing acceptable defense through the initial shot going up and then failing to come up with the defensive rebound). Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but for a team that has been as uneven on defense as the Knicks have been, I’ll take any and all signs of progress.

See: the next possession after the one above, where New York was exceptional for about 19 seconds…