Tom Thibodeau Sounds Off On Brutal Knicks Weakness
The New York Knicks may have made great strides to improve their defense over the last few months, but Friday’s loss was certainly a step back.
New York allowed Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves to walk into Madison Square Garden and blow out the Knicks 116-99.
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Any number in the box score was a scary indictment of the Knicks and the lack of improvement they have made against top teams around the league.
Minnesota shot over 50% from both the field and from beyond the arc. Even sixth-man extraordinaire Naz Reid had a monster game going 6-6 from three with 23 points.
Following the game, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau was left explaining the struggles.
“There’s a couple of ways to look at it. We’re pretty high in what we allow. We didn’t cover it tonight. We gave up 40. The best way to guard the line is to prevent the 3s and that’s where we’re pretty good. But we do have to challenge [shots],” Thibodeau stated. “We have to have the ability to get in and get out, and have an awareness if a guy gets hot. We’ve got to make sure we’re there on the catch, take his air space away.
“You’ve got to read the game, make guys do one or two things that they really don’t want to do.”
In fairness to New York, the Knicks were without All-NBA center Karl-Anthony Towns who has been dealing with a hand injury over the last week.
But if the Knicks truly want to be considered one of the better teams in the league, then their defense must greatly improve moving forward.
Otherwise, they won’t be considered anything other than pretenders.
