If the Knicks have a New Year’s resolution, it should be fixing a defense that slipped into the NBA’s bottom third during the holiday stretch.
New York’s 111–99 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday offered another troubling snapshot. The Knicks allowed Atlanta to shoot 48% from the field and surrender 32 paint points in the first half alone. Playing without All-Star guard Trae Young, the Hawks still controlled the game after halftime, outscoring the Knicks 34–23 in the third quarter and stretching the lead to as many as 29 points — New York’s largest deficit of the season.
“It starts with guarding the ball and guarding the ball without fouling,” head coach Mike Brown said after the loss. “And on top of that, obviously our transition defense — both of those areas haven’t been good. Those have been themes as of late for us and we’ve got to somehow, someway fix it.”
The Knicks were shorthanded. Karl-Anthony Towns (illness), Mitchell Robinson (load management), Josh Hart (ankle) and Landry Shamet (shoulder) were all unavailable, forcing Brown to insert Miles McBride and second-year center Ariel Hukporti into the starting lineup. Hukporti delivered one of the better performances of his young career with 17 rebounds — seven on the offensive glass — and four blocks. McBride found his rhythm early from three-point range.
Still, New York never settled into an offensive flow. And more critically, the defense never strung together enough stops to stabilize the game.
“I mean, yeah, those guys are key pieces and I miss them,” Mikal Bridges said after the Knicks’ second straight loss, following Wednesday’s 134–132 defeat to the San Antonio Spurs. “But I trust everybody in this locker room to come in and do what they have to do. We’ve got a lot of talent, a lot of guys that work hard. Everybody’s got to step up.”
Robinson was not listed on the injury report ahead of Saturday’s back-to-back against the Philadelphia 76ers, while Towns remained questionable. But the Knicks’ defensive issues extend beyond the availability of their rim protector.
New York has surrendered 124 or more points in five of its last six games entering Friday’s loss. Over the past seven contests, the Knicks rank 24th in defensive rating and own a negative net rating — meaning they’ve been outscored overall despite posting a 4–3 record during that stretch.
Brown acknowledged the ebb and flow of an 82-game season but made clear this slide isn’t acceptable.
“We’re going to fix it. We’ve done it before,” he said. “Hopefully we’re not going backwards too many more steps. But it starts with guarding the ball and not giving up easy buckets in transition. From there, you can clean up the rest.”
What bothered Brown most wasn’t just the result, but the process.
“Sometimes, if you play the right way, you’re going to take a loss and you’re OK with it,” he said. “But offensively, we were pretty stagnant, and that plays right into their strength. If we don’t play with pace in the half court, if we don’t touch the paint, make quick decisions — our staples — it’s going to be hard for us to score.”
Bridges resisted pointing to schedule fatigue, though the Knicks looked like a team still paying the price for their NBA Cup run. After lifting the trophy in Las Vegas, New York was immediately hit with a road-home back-to-back as the calendar flipped toward the holidays. Friday marked the beginning of yet another back-to-back.
“I don’t want to blame traveling or anything like that,” Bridges said. “No excuse. We’ve just got to be better. You’ve got to learn from it and get ready for tomorrow.”
Both Bridges and Brown acknowledged the feedback loop between offense and defense. When shots aren’t falling, the margin for error on the other end disappears. The Knicks, who lead the NBA with 14 quarters of 40 points or more this season, failed to score 30 in any period against Atlanta. They shot 36-of-97 (37%) from the field and 9-of-42 (21%) from three.
“When the shot’s not falling, where else are we going to hang our hat?” Brown said. “It has to be on the defensive end. And we didn’t do that tonight.”
“I know we weren’t making shots,” Bridges added, “but that doesn’t give us an excuse to not play defense and get back. We can’t let missed shots affect us on the other end.”
