An early-season struggle has come back to hurt the Knicks.
Dealing with teams that pressure ball handlers aggressively — especially with quick, athletic guards — was something that gave them problems earlier in the season.
The Knicks are not particularly quick or athletic, and physicality can at times throw them off their rhythm.
They dealt with it well in wins over the Magic and Spurs in the NBA Cup semifinal and final, and looked to have taken a step forward. But they’ve since lost two of their past three — to the 76ers and Timberwolves — and that physicality discrepancy was a big reason why.
“Not great,” Josh Hart said of how they handled it against the Timberwolves. “They did a good job of getting into the ball. It was kind of getting us out of rhythm and those kinds of things. Give them credit, they played good and we didn’t play well enough today.”
It has resulted in an uptick in turnovers. They committed 18 and 19 turnovers, respectively, in the two losses to the 76ers and Timberwolves. For the season, they average just 13.7.
The 76ers had a 14-point advantage in points scored off turnovers. It was less glaring against the Timberwolves, though they still had a two-point advantage on the Knicks and used the turnovers to stymie Knicks comeback attempts.
Hart led the way with six turnovers. It is where — beyond scoring — Jalen Brunson’s absence was next felt the most as their orchestrator.
In the Knicks’ two previous games before Tuesday, Brunson did not commit a single turnover — recording 69 points and 17 assists in that stretch.
“It’s gonna be hard to win on the road if you have 19 turnovers for 22 points off those turnovers,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said after Tuesday’s game. “And part of it — those turnovers led to easy baskets in transition. … Give Minnesota credit, because they brought a lot of physicality to the game and created a lot of those turnovers.”
The Knicks complained to officials for fouls instead of matching the Timberwolves’ physicality. Frustration boiled over in the third quarter, when Hart was given a flagrant 1 for hitting out at Rudy Gobert’s knees. Hart had been knocked to the ground battling for a rebound with Gobert and thought he was fouled.
That flagrant was the wrong type of aggression the Knicks needed.
“I talked to all of our vets,” Brown said. “The officials, they’re not gonna help you win the game. They’re human. They’re gonna make mistakes out there. And we, as a team, starting with me, we have to try to leave the referees alone, because we’re good enough to still go win games.”
