Two weeks into the 2025-26 season, the Knicks sit at 2-3. Following the team’s 135-125 NBA Cup loss on the road at Chicago, new head coach Mike Brown is already questioning his team’s ability to play with physicality and urgency. The Knicks’ defense has looked different through five games this season, but that doesn’t mean it’s worse.
When asked about the loss, Brown pointed to the player’s execution. “There were a lot of things gameplan-wise we didn’t adhere to,” Brown said, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. Brown cited an example where Bulls swingman Ayo Dosunmu “scored eight baskets…probably six going to his right hand,” adding in frustration, “we did that possession after possession after possession.”
The Knicks’ Defense Looks Different, It Doesn’t Mean It’s Worse
The Knicks’ Defensive Numbers are A Mixed Bag
Star point guard Jalen Brunson also backed up Brown’s statements about executing the game plan. He said players didn’t “have any game-plan discipline” and “didn’t do what was asked of us.”
“Coach came up with a game plan, and it’s on us to deliver. We can’t switch the game plan if we don’t do the game plan hard enough. I don’t know what to say,” he added.
The Knicks gave up 72 points in the first half. The Bulls killed them in the paint in the first quarter, finishing the game with a 16-point differential in that area, 54-38, before flipping the script in the second quarter to the tune of eight threes. In each of their three losses this season, the Knicks have lost the battle for the paint, giving up 50 and 48 points to Milwaukee and Miami, respectively.
The team is 25th in the league in defensive three-point percentage. Against the Knicks, teams are taking 45 percent of their shots from three, making 37.9 percent, according to Cleaning the Glass. Knicks opponents have an effective field goal percentage of 56.5 percent. The team is at the bottom of the league defending the rim and defending non-corner threes.
Despite all this, the Knicks are just a middle-of-the-pack team, 14th in defensive rating, and eighth in points allowed per 100 possessions. Rebounding remains a team strength; the Knicks lead the league in defensive rebounding percentage, and they’re sixth in total rebounding percentage.
Here’s the thing: the numbers aren’t that different from last year. The Knicks ranked 13th in the league last season in defensive rating, finishing ninth in total rebounding percentage and effective field goal percentage.
What’s Really Going On With the Knicks’ Defense?
So who, or what, is to blame for the lack of attention to detail and effort on defense? Time, blame time, Knicks fans. Although the core players responsible for the team’s success under Tom Thibodeau remain, they’re still learning a new system under a new coach with a lineup full of new bench players. Mike Brown has had five games to evaluate his team, four of them without the Knicks’ best interior defender, Mitchell Robinson.
The Knicks front office wanted a coach who would push the pace and “give playing time deep into the bench,” according to Steve Popper of Newsday. Brown has been vocal about playing faster, and fourteen different players have gotten minutes on the court, leading to sometimes disjointed lineups while building chemistry. The bench has been dreadful defensively. Landry Shamet, Josh Hart, and Tyler Kolek profile as three of the team’s worst defenders, per Cleaning the Glass.
With Brown’s mandate to play deeper into the bench, all three will likely soak up heavy minutes during the regular season. It hasn’t helped that Hart is coming off an injury, or that the bench is undersized. Options for rim protection when Karl-Anthony Towns sits are a 6’8″ journeyman in Guerschon Yabusele, and two unproven talents in Ariel Hukporti and Trey Jemison.
It’s no surprise that two of the three have negative point differentials; the third (Trey Jemison) has barely played. Unfortunately for the Knicks, KAT hasn’t been much better. With KAT as a defender, opponents are shooting 65 percent when less than five feet away from the basket. That stat jumps to 100 percent for Jemison. For Hukporti, it’s 70 percent, while Yabusele performs the best, allowing just 64 percent.
Lineup Roulette
The Knicks can’t defend the restricted area because when their perimeter defenders get beaten off the dribble, there’s no backstop. Add to that the team’s two best perimeter defenders are starters. Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby can only do so much to prop up the units they’re a part of.
While it may be evident to some that the Knicks’ best defensive lineups feature some variation of Bridges and Anunoby on the court, Brown must formulate a defense that also includes his bench. By experimenting with as many lineups as he has, he obviously hopes to figure out a rotation that balances his mutual goals of playing with speed and getting stops.
This Knicks team is still mostly a carryover from the Thibodeau years, alongside an all-new bench. Don’t expect Brown to understand how this team fits defensively five games into the season. Last year, the Knicks had the luxury of leaning on their offense when their defensive intensity waned. This year, they’re 23rd in pace and 24th in true shooting percentage. The team is 23rd in assists per game and 28th in field goal percentage when driving. They’re also second to last in paint touch paints, which tracks possessions where the ball is passed or dribbled into the painted area.
Making baskets means the team’s defense can get set. It also means the Knicks aren’t turning the ball over, allowing opponents to play with pace themselves. It’s early, but with some shooting regression and enough time to figure out the rotation, the Knicks should even out as a good-not-great defense.
© Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
The post The Knicks Defense Looks Different, It Doesn’t Mean It’s Worse appeared first on Last Word On Basketball.