Knicks’ loss to Warriors shows three-point woes go beyond defense

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The Knicks took four more shots than the Warriors on Tuesday. They hit 45 percent of their field goals. Golden State made 49 percent of their shots. Not a huge discrepancy. So how did the Warriors end up with a 12-point win?

The three-point line.

Golden State made 13 threes. The Knicks made eight. Obviously, this wasn’t the only reason the Knicks fell short on Tuesday. But it’s a common occurrence for New York.

The Knicks rank 30th – dead last – in opponent three-point field goal percentage. Fortunately, they are not allowing a ton of threes. (The Knicks have the sixth-lowest three-point attempts allowed per 100 possessions in the league.) But they also aren’t shooting a ton of threes. They are 27th in three-point attempts per 100 possessions.

Players have said all year that there’s an emphasis on shooting threes. But it hasn’t translated to the floor often.

How can they create more three-point attempts?

“For us, I feel like it’s our pace,” Miles McBride said after Tuesday’s game. “I feel like our pace can be a lot quicker getting up the floor. And then when we get up the floor, then moving with action, getting the ball flowing. It’s hard to just not really get action and then go into a shot, so I feel like for us, we just have to get a lot more action, a lot more pace.”

What about the other side of the ball? How can the Knicks improve their three-point defense?

“Communication is big in guarding,” McBride says. “If we’re switching, talking early so they can’t get downhill and kick out threes.”

The communication wasn’t there on Tuesday night. It will have to be better over the final few weeks of the season if the Knicks want to have success in the playoffs.

WATSON ON BOARD

By claiming Anton Watson off waivers Tuesday, the Knicks will be able to make him active for the rest of the regular season. Watson is on a two-way contract. Most two-way players signed at his point in the season are eligible for 12 regular season games. But the Knicks avoided that limit by claiming Watson off of waivers. With Watson on board, the Knicks have now filled both open two-way spots created when Jacob…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/knicks-loss-warriors-shows-three-061628340.html

Author : SNY

Publish date : 2025-03-05 06:16:00

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