SACRAMENTO — Opposing groups have frequently used a wing to defend Karl-Anthony Cities and a middle to defend Josh Hart.
It’s a technique constructed to cease Cities on the perimeter whereas permitting Hart, who has struggled on treys this season, extra room on the 3-point line.
The Knicks, for probably the most half, have didn’t make the most of the dimensions mismatches heading into Monday’s 133-104 win in opposition to the Kings.
It killed their offense.
Hart and Cities provided two methods they’ll counter the technique.
“If you’re going to put an undersized player on me, you get a chance to put me in the mid-post, the low post,” Cities mentioned. “And I think that’s probably best.”
Hart mentioned he ought to get extra concerned within the offense and choose up the tempo if he’s defended by a middle.
“Probably more so to play through me or put me in actions. It’s something that I’m comfortable with … did pick-and-rolls with [Jalen Brunson] and those kind of things. So I’m comfortable with it,” Hart mentioned. “Different factor is, simply taking part in sooner, making whoever that middle is guard and transfer.
“Whether that’s transition, dribble handoffs, having me handle on pick-and-rolls because obviously centers, I don’t think they ever guarded a pick-and-roll while really guarding the ball handler. Other stuff like that, to make them move. I think that’s the biggest thing.”
The Knicks’ struggles with that defensive alignment are partly why their offense has plummeted for the reason that All-Star break.
“I think we could do a better job everywhere. We can be sharper all around,” Cities mentioned. “We simply received to get each side to match up with one another. I feel the final recreation we did a very good job on protection, and we simply didn’t have the offense to go together with it. The humorous factor is the offense has carried us all 12 months and the time we wanted the offense to be just a bit there, we couldn’t get it there. So these are good exams for us to see how we will win in several methods.
“I think a lot of times, we’ve won close games because of our offense and not really our defense. And now we have a chance, we put ourselves in these games against great opponents where our defense stood up but our offense didn’t show up. So we need to find different ways to win because when it comes that time at the end of the year, it may not always be us scoring 120, 130 points. It’s going to sometimes be 90, 80-something for the Knicks. So this is a good test for us.”
The Kings, who had been dealing with the Knicks on the second evening of a back-to-back, had been lacking All-Star Domantas Sabonis, who suffered a hamstring pressure.
The Knicks had been wholesome exterior of Brunson, who left the crew to get better from his extreme ankle sprain.
