Knicks head coach Mike Brown credits paint protection and unselfish play for his team’s winning record against the best in the NBA.
The Knicks entered Wednesday’s matchup against the reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder — the second leg of a back-to-back following Tuesday’s road victory over the Toronto Raptors — with a 14-10 record against the top-six seeds in both the Eastern and Western Conferences.
The record is good for third-best among all 12 teams seeded sixth or higher in their respective conferences, trailing only the San Antonio Spurs (17-9) and Detroit Pistons (15-5).
Wednesday marked the Knicks’ first matchup of the season against the defending champs. They are 0-3 against the Pistons, 3-0 against the Raptors, 2-1 against the Boston Celtics, 2-1 against both the Spurs (including the mid-December NBA Cup Final win) and Cleveland Cavaliers, 1-1 against both the Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves, 1-0 against both the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers, and 1-2 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“Anybody — and I can’t say this cause I can’t think about just the games against the top teams—but you wanna have a physical presence without fouling against anybody you play. It starts there,” Brown explained. “And then the only way to protect the paint is if you have five guys on a string. Guys have to be on a shift. If the balls moves, everybody has to move, and you’ve gotta communicate and then you’ve gotta go finish the play by boxing out.
“So that’s one of the things we’ve been doing well. Another thing is trying to hit the paint, play off of two feet, make sure the floor is spaced properly and then spray if you have an opportunity. We have guys who are crashing — not most times but all the time — because being relentless on the offensive glass can help you win a ball game.”
The Knicks remain third in the top-six standings even when removing the NBA Cup victory over the Spurs, a game the NBA does not count as part of a team’s official regular-season record. The Thunder entered Wednesday’s matchup at Madison Square Garden 10-8 against the league’s top-12 seeds. Both the Celtics (12-12) and Rockets (10-10) are .500, and the Cavaliers are 12-14 but 3-2 against the league’s best since trading for James Harden at the Feb. 5 NBA Trade Deadline.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are 9-11 against the top-six seeds from each conference. The Lakers (8-10), Nuggets (8-11), Sixers (7-16) and Raptors (6-18) round out the top seeds who’ve performed the worst against the best this season.
THUNDER’S EYES
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said the Knicks’ defense is what stood out for a team that entered Wednesday’s matchup winners of 12 of its last 16 games.
“I haven’t watched many Knicks games, but starting with their personnel, they’ve got great defensive personnel on the wings,” Daigneault said ahead of tipoff. “They’ve got excellent defenders who are disruptive in the passing lanes. They’re versatile and switchable. They’re playing hard right now. They’re on a roll right now. It’s an exciting game for us. Another one to see where we’re at.”
Daigneault said he didn’t view Wednesday’s matchup as a potential NBA Finals preview.
“No not this early in the season. We just use the 82-game odyssey, the criss-crossing all these teams: the context of the season is different for everybody in terms of time,” he said. “So we just try to use every game to improve. This is a game with an atmosphere against a team like this where we can definitely get better, but we don’t see it as anything more than that.”
