The Knicks bricked too many shots in their first two games.
asserted
Knicks → bricke → games
But coach Mike Brown wasn’t concerned about the misfiring after his team was toppled Friday night by the Celtics.
asserted
team → topple → Celtics
Those will eventually fall.
asserted
Those → fall → ?
The Knicks aren’t going to shoot just 40.8 percent like the combined home and road openers.
asserted
Knicks → go → openers
But Brown did identify a glaring issue because the championship hangover apparently hit the Knicks with laziness.
asserted
hangover → identify → laziness
“It was a physical ballgame and [the Celtics] had the advantage out there with the physicality,” Brown said.
asserted
Brown → have → physicality
Brown reiterated, several times after Friday’s 107-103 defeat, the problem that has plagued the Knicks intermittently for years: the inability, or unwillingness, to fight through picks.
asserted
that → reiterate → picks
It was exacerbated in Beantown because the refs were cooler than usual with moving screens, allowing the Celtics to hunt mismatches with weaker defenders like Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
asserted
Celtics → exacerbate → Brunson
“They set a screen, and we lay on the screen, don’t fight to get through it,” Brown said.
asserted
Brown → set → it
“And then we have to switch and get the wrong matchup.
asserted
we → have → matchup
That’s why I bring up their physicality in screens, whether it’s the pick-and-roll or off the ball.
asserted
it → ’ → ball
If that is there from the other team and we’re not defending the screens the right way, communicating, and navigating them the right way instead of laying, laying, laying — it’s going to start the dominoes to fall.
asserted
dominoes → defend → them
If they’re illegal or not, it doesn’t matter.”
asserted
it → ’re → ?
Jayson Tatum cooked the Knicks for 36 points, three days after another star ball handler, Tyrese Maxey, filleted the Knicks for 28 points.
asserted
handler → cook → points
He’s supposed to be the Knicks’ top stopper and owns the worst defensive rating among the starters through two games.
asserted
He → suppose → games
Mikal Bridges, the other defensive specialist, was benched for much of Friday’s game — including the final 8 ¹/₂ minutes — amid a 2-for-16 shooting slump.
asserted
Bridges → bench → slump
The Knicks closed with Miles McBride over Bridges and nearly pulled off the comeback, but Tatum buried a couple of difficult shots over Josh Hart.
asserted
Tatum → close → Hart
“At the end of the first quarter there was a two-minute stretch where we were just b—hing to the referees instead of just playing through it,” Brown said.
asserted
Brown → be → it
“In the third, their level of physicality picked up.
asserted
level → pick → physicality
And we found a combination toward the end that handled their physicality.
asserted
that → find → physicality
And that gave us a chance to win.
asserted
that → give → chance
Brown said the effort also negatively impacted the team’s offense because it led to turnovers.
asserted
it → say → turnovers
“When we tried to drive the basketball, we either fell on the ground and there was no call, or when we got in the paint, and they brought a second guy they had us either jumping in the air and turning it over, or they had us on the heels, trying to make sprays.
asserted
they → try → sprays
And it was just because they got us in our bodies,” the coach said.
asserted
coach → get → bodies
There was a level of physicality that Boston brought to the table that caused us to have 18 turnovers on the road compared to their 11 turnovers.
asserted
us → be → turnovers
It’s going to be tough to win.”
asserted
It → go → ?
The Knicks, as a result, became the first defending champs to start 0-2 since the Mavericks in 2011.
asserted
Knicks → become → 2011
The good news is they’re back home Sunday against the Magic, who are also 0-2 after getting blown out Friday by the Timberwolves.
asserted
who → ’re → Timberwolves
A defeat against Orlando would have Brown contemplating a losing start to the first segment of the championship-defending season.
asserted
Brown → have → season
“We break the season into five-game segments,” Brown said.
asserted
Brown → break → segments
“There are marks that we like to hit in those five games and it kind of gives us a good feel of where you were, in a fair amount of games, and to see if you can make progress in the next five.
asserted
you → be → five
“Obviously you want to go 5-0, you’ll take 4-1, and then maybe you have to take 3-2.
asserted
you → want → 3
But if you’re doing anything less than that, you know that nobody is reaching their potential.”
asserted
nobody → do → potential
The Aporia
