Level One was about understanding the foundation.
Level Two? It’s about building on top of the offense that’s quickly become a well-oiled machine under Mike Brown.
The Knicks’ 137-point onslaught in Wednesday’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves pushed them to the top of the league in offensive rating entering Friday’s slate. They’ve averaged 128 points during their three-game winning streak, which also includes back-to-back victories over the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards.
And while the defense remains a work in progress for a team still ironing out its rotations, the offensive framework is firmly in place. Brown wants his Knicks to run, space the floor, touch the paint, and let threes fly within the rhythm of the offense.
So far, so good.
“They’re a little higher than Level 1 because you can see when we get discombobulated from time to time, we fall into the correct spacing and we’re able to keep the ball humming or keep the ball moving,” Brown said after practice at the team’s Tarrytown facility on Friday. “We’re getting better, I think we’re past the initial stages.”
Which begs the question: what does Level Two look like?
The Knicks are already firing 43.6 threes per game — nearly 10 more than last season under Tom Thibodeau. Jalen Brunson’s assists are climbing, too: he’s tallied seven or more in four of his last six outings, including a near triple-double (23 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds) against Minnesota.
New York ranks fourth in offensive rating (119.3), second in made threes, and both OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges are trending toward career seasons. All this despite early injuries to Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart that kept the rotation in flux.
“We’re building a good foundation, a foundation of guys being able to have freedom, be able to make reads and react without the ball and use screens. That’s good,” Hart said Friday. “Obviously the more and more games that we have under our belt, the more we understand the system, the more those things can really kick in.”
Brown said the next phase of growth will be easy to spot, though not to the untrained eye: more pace within half-court sets, “so the ball never just comes to stand still and we’re playing on our heels.” The floor spaced so wide, “that you can drive a semi [truck] through all the time.” More ball reversals because ball reversals move the defense.
And quicker decisions.
“When we do catch [the ball], we’re not holding it, holding it, holding it, holding it, so the defense can load up and take us out of our stuff,” Brown said. “So when quick decisions happen all the time and when we’re constantly touching the paint and we’re spacing the right way… when we’re doing those things at a pretty high level but pretty quickly, then we’ll start feeling pretty good about ourselves.”
It took early growing pains — including a three-game road losing streak — to get here. But the Knicks’ offense now looks like a living, breathing system, one the players clearly understand and trust.
“I think the understanding of Level One is good, it’s really good. I think we understand it, then we gotta get to the point where we’re just reacting,” Brunson said after practice on Friday. “We’re a little hesitant on things. If something is wrong that we’re doing, but we go hard and do it with conviction, it doesn’t look like it’s wrong. It’s another thing in the offense that’s random. And then all of a sudden we’re at an advantage. We’re getting better at it. We’re looking at it every single day. Just gotta continue to be on the same page together.”
It’s early, but the returns are strong for a Knicks team steadily leveling up under its new coach, though Hart made clear the offense could look stagnant — as it did during parts of their three-game skid — if the Knicks were to fall into another cold spell from deep.
“I think we understand [the offense]. I think we’ve got smart guys. I don’t think there’s a certain number — like we put up 137, I don’t think that’s like, okay, we understand it,” he said. “There’s going to be another game, hopefully not soon, where we put up like 98 and we still understand it, but we’re just not making shots. We’re where we want to be.”
