In the eyes of Josh Hart, one layer to the Knicks’ defensive surge — where they’ve been one of the league’s best teams at forcing turnovers, and, by extension, one of the league’s best units over the last month — revolves around personnel. The return of center Mitchell Robinson, and all of the shot-blocking and rebounding he provides, has certainly added a jolt.
But it takes more than just that. It takes moments like the one late in the third quarter Sunday, when the Trail Blazers’ Duop Reath sent a pass toward the wing and OG Anunoby jumped into the ball’s path, sprinted upcourt and finished a dunk. It takes moments like the one early in the fourth quarter, when Hart stripped Deni Avdija and raced down the court to convert a layup. It takes, as Hart said, “aggression that we needed early in the season.”
Because for the first four months of the campaign, the Knicks’ defense was far from the strength that it’s expected to be for Tom Thibodeau-led teams — and that it has been in past campaigns for the Thibodeau-led Knicks. At the end of February, they ranked 20th in the NBA for defensive rating (114.1), sat in a tie for 23rd for defensive field goal percentage (47.4) and were last for defensive 3-point percentage (38.0). But that changed once the calendar flipped to March and the Knicks embarked on a 15-game stretch that produced a blueprint for what they can resemble defensively over the final eight games of the regular season and whatever follows in the playoffs.
So much of the Knicks’ last month has been defined by Jalen Brunson’s ankle sprain and when their star could return after exiting late in a March 6 loss. But as they searched for methods to replace his offensive production, the Knicks also experienced an uptick in their defensive numbers — capped by allowing just 35 second-half points during their 110-93 win over Portland on Sunday. Entering Monday’s games, the Knicks were tied for seventh in the NBA for defensive rating in March, tied for 12th in defensive field goal percentage and ranked fifth with 8.8 steals per game, and they’ve turned those forced turnovers into points.
