SACROMENTO – The opposite team has been protecting Josh Hart regularly using wings to protect Karl Anthony's town and center.
This is a strategy built to stop surrounding towns while still having space for the heart, three-point line, struggling with the tray this season.
The Knicks were mostly unable to take advantage of the size discrepancy heading towards Monday's 133-104 victory over the Kings.
It killed their attack.
Hart and Towns provided two ways to counter strategy.
“If you put me a player that's getting smaller, you'll get the chance to put me in the mid-post, the lower post,” Towns said. “And I think that's probably the best.”
Hart said he should be more involved in the offense and pick up the pace if he is protected by the center.
“Maybe play through me or put me in action. That's what I'm comfortable with… I did a pick and roll. [Jalen Brunson] And that kind of thing. So I'm happy with it,” Hart said. “The other thing is to make people play faster and those centers have guards and moves.
“Whether it's a transition, a dribbling handoff, I don't think I've ever defended pick and roll while I was actually defending the ball handler, whether it was obviously a transition, a dribbling handoff, and I think that's the biggest thing.”
The Knicks' struggle with that defensive integrity is part of the reason their offense has plummeted since the All-Star break.
“I think we can do a better job anywhere. We can sharpen our surroundings,” Towns said. “We had to make sure both sides match each other. I think the last game did a good job in defense. What's interesting is that the attacks have carried us all year round and the time we needed to have an attack there a bit, we couldn't get there. So these are good tests to see how we can win in different ways.
“I think we've won a close game for offense, but not actually defense. And now we have a chance, we put ourselves in these games against great opponents whose defenses stood up, but our attacks didn't show up. So when that time comes at the end of the year, it doesn't necessarily score 120, 130 points, so we need to find different ways to win. It's sometimes going to be 90, 80 for the Knicks. So this is a good test for us.”
The king, facing the Knicks on his second night back to back, had lost all-star Domanta Sabonis, who suffered from hamstring tension.
The Knicks were healthy outside of Branson, and he left the team to recover from his severe ankle sprain.
