Mike Brown remains confident that the Knicks can be a good defensive team after the loss to the Magic
The Knicks battled the Magic back and forth on Saturday until the start of the fourth quarter.
New York entered the final frame trailing by just five points and cut it to three in the opening minutes of the quarter when the Magic ended the comeback with an offensive explosion. Orlando tore the Knicks defense apart, cutting to the basket for easy baskets and hitting their own threes. At the same time, the Knicks’ offense became stagnant, allowing the Magic to build a lead as large as 18 points.
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Despite Jalen Brunson tried to come back, cutting the deficit to 12, but it was too little too late as the Knicks waved the white flag and suffered a 133-121 defeat.
Digging deeper into the game’s numbers, the Knicks defense allowed 64 points in the paint while the Magic shot 55% from the field and 39% from three for the game. And magic made it look easy.
“We have to do a better job of taking care of the paint,” the coach said Mike Brown said after the loss. “We didn’t do a great job of taking care of the paint tonight, 64 points in the paint, that’s what they do. Thirty free throw attempts. That’s what they do, so we’ve got to do a better job in that area as we try to take care of the ball, but we give a lot of credit to those guys for stepping up and creating some separation late in the game.”
The Magic are known for their physical style on offense and defense. It was that physicality that dominated the Knicks the first time they faced each other this season, that time at MSG. Brown made his disappointment with his players known after that loss, saying the Magic “kicked our ass,” but this time it was different for the first-year Knicks coach.
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Brown pointed out that it was a one-possession game in the fourth quarter when he was knocked out Jordan Clarkson and Magic Forward Franz Wagner went on a stove.
“As a group, we deflated a little bit, and like I said, give Orlando credit, they pounced on us,” Brown said. “We needed to do a better job of reproducing their run during that time.”
Wagner scored a season-high 37 points, which was also his season high. On Saturday, the Magic scored a season high in points while three players earned their individual season highs. Wagner’s 37 is fine Desmond BaneI’m 27 and Jalen suggests“26 points.
“For us, we have to be better,” Brunson said of the run that put the game out of reach. “They were getting offensive rebounds, kickout threes. We didn’t end the third quarter well. They got going and then it was too late until we adjusted. We’ve got to start the quarters better, we’ve got to finish the quarters better. It just wasn’t a good performance for us in the second half.”
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Although the teams matched each other in terms of total rebounds, the Magic had a slight edge on the offensive glass, 11-9, but players kept coming back to the disparity in points in the paint.
“This is just a bad job for us,” Josh Hart he said. “Obviously, there are guys out there that we probably could have played with a little bit, but we didn’t and we let guys run through the paint… We’ve got to watch the film and get better.”
Brunson said the team needs to do a better job of keeping the ball in front of them on defense, and that starts with him. However, he says the Knicks need to be better at helping each other defensively.
Despite the terrible defensive performance, the Knicks remain at 9-6 but drop to 1-5 on the road. Brown was asked if he is confident the Knicks defense can be better and the coach believes it is possible.
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“I’m confident we can be where we need to be defensively,” Brown said. “We’ve played well at times, and we haven’t played well, and that’s what you go through, especially during this part of the year. So, I think we can be a really good defensive team. But again, no matter who we throw out there, we’ve got to have the feel and understand what we’re trying to do on that end of the floor to get things done.”
What makes him so confident? Brown says he saw the defense they wanted in the previous two games.
In Wednesday’s win over the Mavericks, the Knicks held Dallas to 41% shooting and held them to 111 points. Against the Heat – a loss – Miami shot 45% and scored 113 points.
“It’s going to be OK in the end because our guys want it and they’ve been better,” Brown said.
The Knicks will look to improve their defense and get back in the win column when they travel to Brooklyn to face the Nets on Monday.