How one defensive wrinkle makes Knicks real NBA championship contender

NEW YORK — In the first quarter, Jalen Brunson dropped 19 points on 8 field goal conversions. The rest of the game, he would make one more shot.

The bench contributed just 20 points the entire contest, well below their regular season average of 31.6 per game.

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Yet, despite the imperfect offense, the New York Knicks toppled the Atlanta Hawks Saturday, April 18 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series, 113-102, in a sign that this team is built to win in different ways; it can explode on offense, or it can grind teams down.

With OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, New York always had arguably the top duo of wing perimeter defenders in the NBA, but Saturday night showed the Knicks may have unlocked another element that can elevate this defense into a championship-caliber outfit. Forward Josh Hart, a high-energy utility player who can slide into numerous roles asked of him, has blossomed into an irritating defender who is now often tasked with guarding the opponent’s best player. In Game 1, that made him the primary defender on the Hawks’ Jalen Johnson.

This started the last few weeks of the regular season, and it has freed Anunoby and Bridges to hound other players. It has also elevated the entire defense.

“Josh is very good at getting to the ball and trying to make the ball-handler uncomfortable,” coach Mike Brown said. “Having Josh, having Mikal, having OG, they allow us to be versatile defensively.”

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That versatility gives New York something it can use in this series and beyond, particularly against teams whose players share ball-handling duties: it allows the Knicks to switch pick-and-rolls.

And since the primary function of a pick-and-roll is to create offensive mismatches, the ability to switch players — especially when they’re exceptional defenders — negates that.

This is a problem for Atlanta.

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Publish date : 2026-04-19 03:46:00

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