Jalen Rose says that Nate McMillan wants Julius Randle to play iso ball, or funnel him into a crowd. The Knicks star is shooting terribly this series.
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New York is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2013. But all doesn’t seem well with the team, based on evidence from the first 3 games of the series. Their offense seems to be lacking in bite when compared to the Hawks.
They did scrape for a handsome come-from-behind win in Game 2 at Madison Square Garden. But their defensive excellence that day was also coupled with some open shot misses by Atlanta.
They will need to be a lot better on offense in the remainder of the series to extend and win it. Trae Young seems unstoppable on offense for the Hawks, so the Knicks will need some stellar play from their own ranks.
Julius Randle was expected to provide the scoring punch alongside RJ Barrett, much like the regular season. However, neither southpaw has had any kind of consistent offensive production thus far this series.
Jalen Rose breaks down how Nate McMillan has coached the Hawks to contain Julius Randle
Julius Randle’s shooting has been a huge cause of concern for Knicks fans. The All-NBAer shot a paltry 24% in his first 3 games of the series. This included a terrible 2-of-15 shooting night during Game 3.
As a result, this weakness of his was also discussed by the ESPN crew ahead of Game 4 today. Jalen Rose, as the former NBA player, had the accurate analysis for how McMillan is containing Randle:
“I played against Mac-10 (McMillan) and I know that he’s going to focus on defense as a head coach. And one thing that he’s doing to Julius Randle is forcing him to play in a crowd.”
“You’re New York City now, you understand that Julius can’t be as crowded every inch and always there. And that’s what they’re doing to him. You see Clint Capela? (points to screen). He’s helping the outside defender.”
“So you use Gallo. You use Collins. They get up on him. They play him at the 3-point line, use their athleticism. And they’re forcing him right to Capela. So watch when Julius goes to iso (he’s one of the top in the league), Capela follows him on the weak side.”
