And they have done it against all playoff teams to start the year.

martin wrote:I think Bruson has up'ed his game too, he doesn't look lost

Fun to watch. Brunson hides in plain sight well. Obscured from the ballhandler's view he gets a lot of interceptions.

SergioNYK wrote:There is a reason why Thibs was voted as the second best defensive mind in the entire league by his peers.

For me there is a confluence of players and development within roster that can set the type defense you are capable of and it's been a nice evolution across the 3 years to what Thibs and Knicks have done.

Your defense will never be good with guys like Kemba and Fournier on the perimeter, that is just a given. Swap in Brunson and Grimes, and things look better. Add in a buffed up Robinson and toss in a bench of DDV, Josh, iHart and things are much better and you can actually do all of those rotation things to your liking.

It's been a nice build.

DLeethal wrote:It seems during his mins Thibs is always putting DD on the best guard on the floor, he clearly values his defense.

I wonder if that will change. DDV seems more of a defensive playmaker (steals/blocks, deflections) and less of a lockdown defender than Josh Hart. with the wing-heavy lineup, it might be harder to cross-match with Josh. Ball for example seemed more comfortable going to the basket against DDV than I think he would have versus Hart. Either way, it is a good lineup so long as Barrett and IQ can carry anything close to the offense load they have so far.

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https://www.twitter.com/TheStrickland/status/1724082511741845670

martin wrote:It seems like a focal point for the team to me.

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https://www.twitter.com/bmorelikestate/status/1721851466279756121

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https://www.twitter.com/shwinnypooh/status/1721911357660868652

Waits for Celtics to put up 140 on us tonight BUT more hopefully we are a legit top 3 D this year.

We have at least 6 (Mitch/Grimes/Donte/IQ/J-Hart/I-Hart) rotation players that are very-interested & capable defenders - that’s a good foundation.

Ultimately probably coming down to shooting, decision making and Randle implosions on offense.

EwingPSD wrote:I was wondering what's changed too. They were middle of the pack last year in def rebounding % so that helps. I think I-Hart has significantly upped his physicality and I thought he was a physical player last year. Perosnally I think that helps. They are also more switchable when they run the JH/Barrett lineups and Mitch is off to a killer start. I wonder how teams are shooting the 3 against us. Anyone know? I am not sure how to find out. That is a significant variable that the statsheads often feel is somewhat out of the control of the defense. If teams are shooting anywhere near average from 3 against the Knicks I think it is safe to say the defense is off to a great start.

I found the answer to my own question. Right now we are 11th in 3% against. teams are shooting a little below average against us from 3 but pretty close to league average. We are also 14th in attempts given up. We were 25th the 2 prior years.

https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/opponent-three-point-pct

https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/opponent-three-point-pct

Actually when you think about it 4/5 of our wins have been blowouts. 14+ point margin of victory. 2 very close tough losses to Boston and Milwaukee in the final minute. The Cle/New Orleans losses were 2nd games of a back to back where we shot under 37% in both games.

So my point is we are playing really well - actually have a strong point differential and now that we're seeing Randle stabilize and we'll eventually see Brunson hit a higher % of his 2's, we're gonna be in pretty good shape if this is the way this team plays ball and stays healthy.