Knicks Continue to Struggle on the Defensive End, Fallng to Mavericks 129-114
Knick’s coach Tom Thibodeau has always been a defensive-minded kind of guy. He can’t be pleased with what he’s seeing so far this season.
By Scott Mandel
SportsReporters questioned, just two games into this current Knicks season whether the team had the proper mix of personnel to defend opposing teams when it became necessary to get a stop. So far, approaching the first quarter of the 2024-25 season, the Knicks are giving up 113 points per game, ranking them a dismal eighth in the Eastern Conference. They are scoring 119 points a game, third in the conference. Their overall record is now 10-8.
The Knicks can score. They can score in droves, but their big scorers are not known for their defensive prowess.  Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony-Towns are not going to shut people down on the other end of the floor though they most likely will outscore whomever is guarding them. The problem is, when a defensive stop is needed, the Knicks currently do not have a personnel package that can accomplish that objective.
This roster needs the still recovering 7”0” center, Mitchell Robinson, who looks like he’s still a month away (he always seems to be a month away) after ankle surgery, for his elite rim-protecting and rebounding skills especially when players like Brunson or the wiry, but not physically strong Mikal Bridges allow their man to blow past them to the basket for easy layups.
Tonight they lost to a Dallas team playing without their superstar, Luka Dončić. Still, the Knicks gave up 129 points, including a season high 21 points to their former teammate, Quentin Grimes, who had open looks from the three-point stripe all night. Dallas’s bench scored 30 points while the Knicks bench accounted for just 12. Every Knicks player tonight finished in the minus column for +/-, meaning more points were scored by the other team when they were on the floor.
With 22% of the season in the books, something tells us this roster is not exactly the one we will see after the NBA trade deadline in February. It feels like the Knicks will be going after a rangy, athletic guard who can defend and a strong rebounding/defensive-minded forward who has a little three-point shooting prowess in his skill set.
