Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns have looked out of sorts at times for the New York Knicks in the Western Conference Finals. Some would even go as far as to say they look gassed, which is a big reason why they’re down 3-1 in the series. One of those analysts is Kendrick Perkins, who articulated how the Knicks can fix the issue in a short segment.
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It’s not that Brunson and Towns have been playing badly for the Knicks against the Indiana Pacers. The duo has averaged the most points per game among the team. But it’s the clutch moments where the two have failed to show up. Which is surprising, given that Brunson won the Clutch Player of the Year award.
Perkins believes the reason for the lack of clutch plays from the Knicks’ stars is that they are tired from being singled out defensively. Especially Brunson.
“You’ve got to be able to protect guys that they’re hunting, right? They’re hunting Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. It’s the reason they only had two points apiece in Game 4 [in the fourth quarter]. Because they’re tired! They’re involved in every action,” Perkins said on NBA Today.
It’s hard to disagree with the former NBA veteran. Brunson and Towns combined for 4 points on 2-6 shooting in the fourth quarter in Game 4. Not only were they not making shots, but they weren’t taking them because they were getting gassed out defensively.
Yet, Perk wasn’t all doom and gloom for the New York fans out there. He had tape showing how the Knicks can counter what the Pacers are doing to Brunson, and he used Draymond Green as an example.
“See, Draymond Green, he sniffed this play out early, and he knew this was for Austin Reaves to create a mismatch. So, he wanted to be involved. Look at all of the switching, all the pointing, because he wanted to be involved in this. And at the end, who’s guarding Austin Reeves?” Perk asked facetiously. “It’s Draymond Green. But look what it took to get there.”
It was a great example that showed how valuable Draymond can be defensively. And not just on the ball, but off it as well. Green knew what the play was going to be and redirected traffic so that he could be switched onto Reaves for the shot. He didn’t wait for Reaves to switch onto a mismatch.
This is exactly what Perkins urged the Knicks to do for Brunson defensively: protect him.
“They are looking for Jalen Brunson. They’re trying everything, you got him in a drop coverage. They keep going screen for screen, guard for guard. At this point, right there, Mikal Bridges has an opportunity to switch with Jalen Brunson to take the heat off of him. But he doesn’t,” he claimed.
Perkins seemed to be giving credit to Brunson for giving it his all defensively, but at the end of the clip, you can see he’s not fit to guard Tyrese Haliburton in space. And once Hali saw the mismatch, he promptly pulled up and banged a three-pointer in Brunson’s grill.
So, we’ll see if the Knicks have identified the issue that Perkins was able to spot from his analytical chair and address it. If they don’t, it could be the end of their season. It’s either get aggressive and proactively avoid mismatches defensively, or continue to get picked apart by one of the most lethal offenses in the league.
