The Knicks’ ball movement on Sunday was the best it has been all season. New York finished with 33 assists on 43 shots made in a home win over the Nets.
“They made a lot of substitutions, so we made a lot of cuts and I thought the guys were unselfish,” Tom Thibodeau said afterwards.
Karl-Anthony Cities was in the middle of it for the Knicks, finishing the game with six assists and one turnover.
Thibodeau coached Towns early in his career in Minnesota. After watching him closely again in recent weeks, Thibodeau believes Towns’ passing has reached another level.
“He’s always been selfless. He has always been a team-first guy. But now I think he’s really seeing things,” Thibodeau said of Towns, who is averaging four assists per game over the past five games. “He understands what the defense is trying to do. He knows whether there is overhelp. He now sees the entire floor. Initially, like most young boys, vision was more limited. It may have been one man. But now he sees more than one man. He sees the defense, he knows where everyone is. (He knows) if there is too much help, I can pretend here and throw there. That goes a long way.”
The Knicks (7-6) are 4-0 when Towns has at least four assists. He finished Sunday with 26 points and 15 rebounds.
A for OG
OG Anunoby has been the Knicks’ most consistent player this young season. He put in another strong performance on Sunday night with 24 points and eight rebounds against Brooklyn. He had three offensive rebounds. Towns finished with five.
Towns also found a sharp Anunoby for several quality close-range looks.
Anunoby’s off-ball movement is crucial to New York’s five-out attack. He also plays a central role on the other side of the ball.
The Knicks have a plus-five in net rating when Anunoby is on the floor.
“There’s an awareness of where he is because of the shooting. When he sees the back of his man’s head, he cuts. And he moves extremely well,” Thibodeau said. “The constant movement from him is huge for us.”
A breather for Brunson
The Knicks leaned heavily on Jalen Brunson to score last season. They still need him to score a lot of points this year. But Sunday’s win over Brooklyn was proof that they have enough depth to thrive when Brunson doesn’t score many points. He had 12 points on 3-for-14 shooting on Sunday. The other four starters had at least 20 points.
“It’s nice to have a team that is good enough and talented enough where we are not just dependent on his goals and creations.” Jos Hart said after the game. “KAT can fill it up, OG, ‘Kal (Mikal Bridges), Camera (Payne) can get energy off the bench. There’s not as much pressure on him to knock down shots and initiate everything. Sometimes he can take a few breaths (on) a few assets that we can still hoop.
