Josh Hart was taken aback when told of Jalen Brunson’s ugly shooting numbers.
“Damn,” he said.
Brunson misfired on 18 of his 26 attempts in the Knicks’ Game 1 victory, which was encouraging because they won but concerning because capturing a series with that type of production isn’t feasible.
Brunson gave most of the credit to Philadelphia’s scheme, which was focused on thwarting Brunson and daring his teammates to make shots.
“It was great defense, and they had a great game plan,” Brunson said. “I’ve got to go back to the drawing board and be better. But I think the one thing I kept doing: I just kept turning the page, turning the page, knowing that things would be better. I have to have short-term memory when things like that happen. Honestly, you’ve just got to give them a lot of credit.”
“I think I had spurts where I was good,” added Brunson, who finished with 22 points and seven assists. “Five turnovers, obviously missed a lot of shots. … [They were] just throwing bodies, clogging the paint, making everything difficult. Got to give them a lot of credit. I’ve got to be better.”
Sixers coach Nick Nurse said he was “pretty satisfied” with the defense against Brunson and was fine with the shots his team allowed.
Hart, who struggled all season from deep, buried four treys.
Miles McBride knocked down five.
“We were sitting in a zone for a lot of it. But our zone shifts — obviously you are trying to guard certain guys,” Nurse said. “Give them credit. I think we’re probably okay with some of those shots, but they hit them. Give them credit for stepping into them and hitting them.”
Paul Reed, who stoked trash talk before the game by saying the Knicks were a preferred opponent, was on the court for just 11 minutes as the backup center, and the Sixers were outscored by 21 in that stretch.
The Sixers bench was largely abysmal. Buddy Hield, the trade-deadline acquisition, was scoreless on two shots.
The Knicks are giving out the intel on the referees — the good, the bad, the quick whistles and their tendencies with New York.
In a new wrinkle to the game notes for the media, the Knicks included a “referee breakdown” of the crew for Saturday’s contest.
The sheet is compiled by the analytics staff and includes, among other things, an official’s rate of total foul calls compared to his/her rate of calls against the Knicks.
The numbers on Scott Foster, for instance, lived up to his reputation as a stickler.
Foster, the crew chief for Saturday’s game, rated “very high” overall in the following categories — foul calls, personal fouls, fouls in the restricted area, offensive fouls and dribbling violations.
He was 99th percentile in foul calls.
Nevertheless, Foster rated “low” in his overturn rate — a sign he’d been whistling correctly, even if very frequently.
Over the last five years, Foster had called more fouls against the Knicks per game (15.6) than his average (14.9).
It was the opposite for the other referees in Saturday’s game. Brian Forte, who rated “average” for number of foul calls, whistled the Knicks for fewer fouls than his average per game over the last five years.
On Saturday, the Knicks were whistled for 18 fouls (roughly their season average) while the Sixers got 21 (one above their average). The Knicks successfully challenged two calls.
