It seems like a focal point for the team to me.
I think Bruson has up'ed his game too, he doesn't look lost
we dominated the boards again last night, 48-31, and 18-7 on the offensive glass. we have won the rebounds in EVERY game this season. whoever we play at the backup 4 whether it be Hart, RJ or DDV is an upgrade defensively and shooting over Obi. This team truly looks dominant on the boards and defensively. One thing I've noticed is we are defending the perimeter much better now, probably due to DDV and the smaller lineups, and I think this is allowing Mitch to stay at home in the paint more and be even more dominant.
And they have done it against all playoff teams to start the year.
It’s really good. Mitch is an early DPOY candidate. I hope this level of defense sticks.
It seems during his mins Thibs is always putting DD on the best guard on the floor, he clearly values his defense.
I've been wanting to see Mitch with 4 wing/guards for years, and this is why. Our quickness on the perimeter and switchability makes us much more dangerous.
martin wrote:I think Bruson has up'ed his game too, he doesn't look lost
Fun to watch. Brunson hides in plain sight well. Obscured from the ballhandler's view he gets a lot of interceptions.
There is a reason why Thibs was voted as the second best defensive mind in the entire league by his peers.
SergioNYK wrote:There is a reason why Thibs was voted as the second best defensive mind in the entire league by his peers.
For me there is a confluence of players and development within roster that can set the type defense you are capable of and it's been a nice evolution across the 3 years to what Thibs and Knicks have done.
Your defense will never be good with guys like Kemba and Fournier on the perimeter, that is just a given. Swap in Brunson and Grimes, and things look better. Add in a buffed up Robinson and toss in a bench of DDV, Josh, iHart and things are much better and you can actually do all of those rotation things to your liking.
It's been a nice build.
I think if you stack up our center duo against the rest of the league its hard to better. Maybe not the raw shot block numbers, but the way Mitch/Hartenstein contest at the rim is impressive. Mitch has great range/recovery and Hartenstein goes vertical and anchors with strength. I feel like we stop a lot of shots at the rim and clean the boards well. Its the heart of what we do.
DLeethal wrote:It seems during his mins Thibs is always putting DD on the best guard on the floor, he clearly values his defense.
I wonder if that will change. DDV seems more of a defensive playmaker (steals/blocks, deflections) and less of a lockdown defender than Josh Hart. with the wing-heavy lineup, it might be harder to cross-match with Josh. Ball for example seemed more comfortable going to the basket against DDV than I think he would have versus Hart. Either way, it is a good lineup so long as Barrett and IQ can carry anything close to the offense load they have so far.
I was wondering what's changed too. They were middle of the pack last year in def rebounding % so that helps. I think I-Hart has significantly upped his physicality and I thought he was a physical player last year. Perosnally I think that helps. They are also more switchable when they run the JH/Barrett lineups and Mitch is off to a killer start. I wonder how teams are shooting the 3 against us. Anyone know? I am not sure how to find out. That is a significant variable that the statsheads often feel is somewhat out of the control of the defense. If teams are shooting anywhere near average from 3 against the Knicks I think it is safe to say the defense is off to a great start.
Rebounding is definitely one of the keys
we just seem quicker and more active defensively. DDV and having Hart from the start of the year is probably a big reason why.
And our rebounding is better too as I think DDV and Hart just get after it much more than Obi did.
Its really incredible that we have outrebounded the opponent in every single game this year.
martin wrote:It seems like a focal point for the team to me.
Waits for Celtics to put up 140 on us tonight BUT more hopefully we are a legit top 3 D this year.
We have at least 6 (Mitch/Grimes/Donte/IQ/J-Hart/I-Hart) rotation players that are very-interested & capable defenders - that’s a good foundation.
Ultimately probably coming down to shooting, decision making and Randle implosions on offense.
EwingPSD wrote:I was wondering what's changed too. They were middle of the pack last year in def rebounding % so that helps. I think I-Hart has significantly upped his physicality and I thought he was a physical player last year. Perosnally I think that helps. They are also more switchable when they run the JH/Barrett lineups and Mitch is off to a killer start. I wonder how teams are shooting the 3 against us. Anyone know? I am not sure how to find out. That is a significant variable that the statsheads often feel is somewhat out of the control of the defense. If teams are shooting anywhere near average from 3 against the Knicks I think it is safe to say the defense is off to a great start.
I found the answer to my own question. Right now we are 11th in 3% against. teams are shooting a little below average against us from 3 but pretty close to league average. We are also 14th in attempts given up. We were 25th the 2 prior years.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/opponent-three-point-pct
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/opponent-three-point-pct
EwingPSD wrote:EwingPSD wrote:I was wondering what's changed too. They were middle of the pack last year in def rebounding % so that helps. I think I-Hart has significantly upped his physicality and I thought he was a physical player last year. Perosnally I think that helps. They are also more switchable when they run the JH/Barrett lineups and Mitch is off to a killer start. I wonder how teams are shooting the 3 against us. Anyone know? I am not sure how to find out. That is a significant variable that the statsheads often feel is somewhat out of the control of the defense. If teams are shooting anywhere near average from 3 against the Knicks I think it is safe to say the defense is off to a great start.
I found the answer to my own question. Right now we are 11th in 3% against. teams are shooting a little below average against us from 3 but pretty close to league average. We are also 14th in attempts given up. We were 25th the 2 prior years.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/opponent-three-point-pct
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/opponent-three-point-pct
makes sense from what i've seen we are just quicker and more active guarding the perimeter and can switch more easily now.
We are 2nd in the league in points against. Minnesota (featuring an insane amount of length) is first.
Actually when you think about it 4/5 of our wins have been blowouts. 14+ point margin of victory. 2 very close tough losses to Boston and Milwaukee in the final minute. The Cle/New Orleans losses were 2nd games of a back to back where we shot under 37% in both games.
So my point is we are playing really well - actually have a strong point differential and now that we're seeing Randle stabilize and we'll eventually see Brunson hit a higher % of his 2's, we're gonna be in pretty good shape if this is the way this team plays ball and stays healthy.
All this and "Randle sucks"........
Randle is a big part of what is happening good and bad.
our bigs are boxing out. Thats helps others get rebounds like when Josh and DDV swoop in and have a good nose for the ball.
We tend to focus on individual stats but there is a lot going on.
Ball movement? More. Means guys have to adapt from the iso and move without the ball.
Grimes brings the defense, if not Evan would be getting minutes. We got depth!
Beating the snot out of weaker teams is ok. Clips are out of sorts and Charlotte lost Miller and gets Miles Bridges back this week.
Tonite will be a good test.
