“How could you not see that?”
A fan sitting baseline has a clearer view than the official.
It’s the fourth quarter of Wednesday night’s NBA Cup quarterfinal between the Knicks and Atlanta Hawks — a game Atlanta ultimately seals, 108-100, as All-Star Trae Young theatrically rolls imaginary dice on the Knicks’ center-court logo to punctuate the victory.
OG Anunoby is hunched over, clutching his nose. Seconds earlier, he took a forearm to the face from Atlanta forward De’Andre Hunter on a cut to the rim — a blatant foul that should have sent him to the line for two free throws.
Instead, play continues. Hunter’s burly arm halts Anunoby mid-motion. He stumbles, half-shoots, recovers the ball, and kicks it out to Miles McBride in the corner.
Away from the play, Josh Hart flails his arms in frustration: How could the official closest to the action miss such an obvious foul?
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau says he saw it coming.
“Just looked at who was refereeing, and I knew what it was going to be like,” Thibodeau said postgame.
If there’s a formula for derailing the Knicks’ high-powered offense, it’s becoming increasingly clear: disrupt the flow, push the physical limits, and dare the officials to call it tight — a strategy perfectly suited to this season’s heightened emphasis on physical defense across the league.
The blueprint worked when New York suffered its first back-to-back losses of the season — first to the Houston Rockets, a team embodying Dillon Brooks’ bruising defensive persona, and then to these same Hawks in Atlanta, where the Knicks squandered a 110-105 lead, surrendering a decisive 16-6 run in the final three minutes of a Nov. 6 loss.
It worked again Wednesday night. Atlanta’s aggressive defense disrupted the Knicks’ rhythm early and often. On the other end, Young orchestrated a relentless series of pick-and-rolls, putting Mikal Bridges, New York’s point-of-attack defender, in perpetual motion.
“There’s going to be 50, 60 of those,” Thibodeau said of Young’s screen game. “Some we defended really well. Some not as well as they should’ve been. And some he made tough plays. A great player, you got to guard him with your team.”
The Knicks faltered on both ends, exposing a vulnerability they’ve yet to solve. While officiating played a role — highlighted by a pivotal missed foul on Anunoby — it tells only part of the story. The deeper issue lies in New York’s struggle to match the physicality required to succeed in high-stakes environments like Wednesday’s NBA Cup quarterfinal.
For a team with championship aspirations, the early returns remain a mixed bag. Twenty-five games into the 82-game regular season, the Knicks have showcased offensive brilliance but have yet to establish defensive consistency. They’ve padded their record with wins against lottery-bound teams but faltered against playoff-caliber opponents.
The numbers are telling: a 5-6 record against teams above .500 contrasts with a 10-4 mark against sub-.500 opponents — a disparity that papers over glaring cracks in their foundation.
Meanwhile, time is ticking for this revamped roster to find its rhythm. The offseason trades that brought Karl-Anthony Towns and Bridges to New York reshaped the team’s identity, but the chemistry necessary for sustained success remains elusive.
“I don’t know how long [it should take], but I don’t think it matters how long it takes,” Anunoby said after the loss. “As long as you find [the rhythm], it doesn’t matter when you find it.”
The Knicks are banking on finding that rhythm sooner rather than later. Wednesday night, however, served as another stark reminder of just how far they still have to go.
* * *
Dyson Daniels turned his head. Jalen Brunson pounced.
It’s midway through the second quarter, and Daniels — the reigning Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month — has been stuck to the Knicks’ All-Star guard like white on rice, disrupting his rhythm at every turn.
But on this possession, Daniels’ focus shifts momentarily, and Brunson capitalizes.
Hart holds the ball near the foul line, exploiting a mismatch with the smaller Young. Brunson, who had already moved off the ball and stationed himself in the corner, begins a subtle drift toward half court. When Daniels glances away to help on Hart’s post-up, Brunson darts back to the corner with precision timing.
Hart spots the move and delivers a sharp bounce pass. Daniels recovers, but he’s a step too late. Brunson’s corner three rips through the net for his second of the night.
It was a rare moment of freedom for Brunson. He would miss his next three attempts from deep and forgo the three-point shot entirely in the fourth quarter. Daniels’ defensive intensity had clearly disrupted Brunson’s rhythm.
An early sequence, however, told a different story.
At the 7:40 mark of the first quarter, Brunson gave up the ball and curled around back-to-back screens set by Hart and Towns. The second screen knocked Daniels off Brunson’s trail just enough for him to rise into a mid-range pull-up while drawing a foul.
That shot was one of the rare instances where the Knicks effectively countered the relentless defensive pressure on their star guard. It underscored a pressing need for New York to rewrite the book on Brunson — a book that opponents are using to disrupt him by turning games into a physical grind, throwing the crafty, all-world scorer and playmaker out of his natural rhythm.
“All of us — including myself — have to do a better job of making it even easier for him,” Towns said postgame. “Obviously, there’s some good film in the loss tonight and things that we can learn so we can be the best version of ourselves and especially help Cap. He does a lot for us, and I know everyone in this locker room wants to do what they can to make his life easier.”
The Knicks will need to find answers against teams like Atlanta, where defensive pressure intensifies, and every possession feels like a chess match.
“He’s faced length all year, last year, the year before,” Thibodeau said. “They’re long, the whole team is long. So just got to read the game.”
* * *
The Knicks can’t afford for Towns to be this careless. With Mitchell Robinson still recovering from ankle surgery and Precious Achiuwa gradually returning from an early-season hamstring strain, New York’s depth at center is razor-thin. That reality places even greater pressure on Towns, whose history of foul trouble makes discipline an absolute necessity.
On Wednesday night, Towns was dominant when he was on the floor, delivering a stat line that read like a fantasy basketball dream: 19 points, 19 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and three steals. Yet, foul trouble limited him to just 37 minutes — a number that felt insufficient in a game where the Knicks needed him to go the distance.
Two fouls, in particular, proved costly. The first, a double hip-check on a screen and re-screen sequence, drew the referee’s whistle for a repeat offense that could have been avoided. The second, a frustration foul in the fourth quarter, came when Towns swiped down on Jalen Johnson during a drive to the rim. Both were lapses in judgment, and both left the Knicks exposed.
The Hawks exploited Towns’ absence, forcing New York to go small. Atlanta dominated the glass, with three players pulling down double-digit rebounds. The disparity was most glaring on the offensive boards, where the Hawks outworked the Knicks 22-12 and turned those opportunities into 14 second-chance points.
“Tried searching with Precious, but Karl got in foul trouble, so that shifted us,” Thibodeau said postgame. “His foul trouble made us different. You make or miss, you got to put your body on somebody.”
Adding to the Knicks’ struggles was Atlanta’s timely three-point shooting. The Hawks started cold, hitting just 3-of-16 from deep in the first half, but found their stroke after halftime, connecting on 40% of their attempts in the final two quarters. Young’s pick-and-roll wizardry repeatedly drew help defenders, creating open looks for his teammates. He finished with 22 points and 11 assists, orchestrating the Hawks’ attack to perfection.
“I think we did pretty good [guarding Young],” Anunoby said. “I think Mikal guarded him well. KAT was helping him. And we all tried to clog it up, make it difficult for him. He just made shots, made plays.”
Young didn’t just dominate on the stat sheet — he made his presence felt in more ways than one. With the game in hand, he sauntered to center court and theatrically rolled imaginary eights, mocking the Knicks’ crowd and adding an exclamation point to Atlanta’s victory.
The Hawks are cashing their NBA Cup game checks and packing for Las Vegas, where they’ll face the Milwaukee Bucks in the semifinals. Meanwhile, the Knicks are left to regroup, knowing that the growing pains of integrating major offseason additions are part of the process — but also recognizing the urgency to address their shortcomings.
Time is ticking for this championship contender to find its groove. But how much patience the Knicks have before considering moves to shore up their weaknesses remains uncertain.
“The Miami Heat years ago with LeBron [James] had a whole year it took before they figured out how to put a banner up,” Towns said. “And then other teams — it took the Lakers with LeBron half, 75% of the season. You don’t know. I can’t tell you [how long it should take]. I don’t have a crystal ball in front of me to tell you how long before things are fully clicking at a consistent level.”
