Knicks (8-6) vs Suns (9-6) recap and reaction

Knicks vs Suns 

This game was a game between two teams, one who has struggled a lot over it's last 5 games, while the other has been playing some good basketball in the same stretch. The Knicks are 4-1 in their last 5 games coming into this one, while the Suns have really struggled since Kevin Durant went down with  calf injury two weeks ago. The Suns were off to a 9-1 start before Durant was injured, but come into this one having dropped 5 of their last 6 games. The great start of the Suns has been sewed a little now considering how much they are struggling right now. The Knicks seem to have found their footing after questionable early losses. The offense is clicking now and Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony-Towns have found some chemistry playing together and have done a good job playing off of one another throughout the game. Now let's dive into the recap. 

Recap 

The starting 5 of the Knicks would remain the same with Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Karl Anthony-Towns. The Knicks would be without Deuce McBride to this one. The Suns put out a lineup of Devin Booker. Royce O'Neale, Ryan Dunn, Tyus Jones, and Jusuf Nurkic. The Suns would be without Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant. The matchups in this one is really what interested me from the start. Rookie, Ryan Dunn, was tasked with guarding Jalen Brunson. Dunn has been a bright spot this year as he's off to good start shooting the ball, something he did not do well at in college, and playing really good defense. He still fouls a lot, but the Suns seem content to let him figure it out on his own and make some mistakes. O'Neale started off guarding KAT and Nurkic matched up with Hart. I think this is the route a lot of teams are going to take considering how much a problem KAT is when picks and pops on the perimeter. Lots of teams have tried matching up a wing on him instead of their centers and it's part of the reason KAT is playing well this season. The start of the game was super quick for the Knicks it took them only 2 minutes and 30 seconds to score 14 points and jump out to a 14-3 lead. The offense this season for the Knicks is really humming well. They were able to get out in transition and get some really easy baskets at the rim and some easy step in 3 point shots. As a team the Knicks are shooting 39.5% from 3 a top 5 number in the league. They've really found  the offensive fit well and is one of the reasons they traded for KAT. The lack of shooting from the center position had clogged the lane for Brunson to operate and this season the spacing has been really good so far for the Knicks.  Also fueled by this run was the laziness from the Suns. It helps when you're hitting shots that makes your offense look good, but their was no resistance at all from the defense of the Suns. For the Suns, Devin Booker was really effective early on he was super aggressive in hunting his shot. I will say more on what I would like to see from him later on. The Knicks continued the hot offense throughout the entire quarter and took a 44-28 lead into the 2nd quarter. The Knicks scored 16 fastbreak points in the quarter and put up a season-high for points in a quarter as well. The second quarter would continue to be the Jalen Brunson show. He got to any spot he wanted. He hit threes from the triple-threat, he scored in the 5-9 foot range well with his floater, and he got to the foul line very. It was said the last time Brunson played in Phoenix he went for 50 and 9/9 from 3. He started this one 4/4 from 3. Rookie Ryan Dunn was able to get a taste of the elite play from Brunson the entire night and Brunson took the rookie to school quite frankly. I love the way the Knicks, in the flow of the offense, find KAT on the post. It doesn't feel like KAT is hijacking the possession by asking for the ball on block or mid post. The Knicks have done a good job of finding mismatches for him throughout the duration of possessions. The Knicks are in the top 10 this season on post-ups and isolations as a team. Much of this has to do with KAT and Brunson tandem getting their mismatches.  Knicks would ride the hot hand of Brunson into the break with a 76-58 lead. The Suns even started to double Brunson towards the end of the half and the Knicks made plays out of the double teams. Brunson lead the Knicks with 23 points on 8/9 shooting and 4/4 from 3. He also had 7 assists. Booker lead the Suns with 18 points on 7/15 shooting. The third quarter started with the Suns showing a little bit of fight and showing some more effort on the defensive end to force some misses from the Knicks. The Knicks lead was cut to 11 behind some good shooting and the Suns getting out in transition. However, the Knicks would quickly regain control and push the lead back to 20 points. For the Suns, I know this isn't a huge deal at the moment, but Grayson Allen has really struggled to start the season. He lead the NBA in 3 point percentage last season at 48%, but is well below 40% this season. His game is a little more diversified this season and he's attacking the basket more, which isn't a bad thing he's shooting relatively well from 2 and if the three point shot would start to fall he would be near 48/40 splits, which is good, but right now he's really struggling to find his rhythm this season. The Knicks attacked Nurkic in the pick and roll to push their lead back to 20. He played a deep drop and Brunson was able to step into some easy threes and knock them down. When Nurkic was at the level of the screen KAT would space out the three point line and put a lot of pressure on Nurkic with how he attacked his closeouts. It also helps that Nurkic was pretty bad in this one tonight as well. His defense is a real problem at times for the Suns. The Knick would take a 110-93 lead into the 4h quarter. The Suns were trying to hang tough in the beginning of the 4th quarter. O'Neale, who has shot the ball really well for the Suns this season was good in this one. He made several threes in the quarter to try and make the game competitive, but the Knicks held strong and were able to win 138-122. The Knick put up a season-high in points and dominated the Suns start to finish.   Brunson finished the game with 36 points on 12/21 shooting and 7/11 from 3, he also added 10 assists. His assists numbers this year have been great he averaging 3 less points a game on the same efficiency compared to last year, while also adding in 7 assists a game too, highest in his career. KAT had 34 points on 12/19 and 10 rebounds. The two of them really have been clicking and the chemistry has to be coming on faster than most anticipated. All 5 starters were in double figures for the Knicks and they shot 19/39 from 3. Booker lead the Suns with 33 points on 12/23 from the field. O'Neale had 17 on 5/10 shooting from 3. The Suns drop to 9-7 while the Knicks move to 9-6. 

Reaction

The Knicks are really finding their footing on offense they're up to 3rd in offensive efficiency and it's exactly what they pictured with KAT being able to space the floor next to Bridges, Anunoby, and Brunson. HOWEVER, the one thing they need to figure out is the defense and no it's not from KAT. Mikal Bridges has been a little lackluster to start the season that end of the floor. He been beaten a couple times on drives tonight that were  pretty puzzling to me. I  don't think Royce O'Neale or Josh Okogie should be beating him off the dribble and putting the Knicks in rotation. His shot creation has taken a step back this year as well and I think is something the Knicks thought would come along nicely next to Brunson and KAT. Bridges being able to do a certain level of shot creation when they were on the floor I think it something I expected to be more noticeable in the non KAT and Brunson minutes. He got cut off a couple times tonight and in the past with Brooklyn he was able to make a counter and get to his spot very well.  The Knick are 3rd in offense and 15th in defense. I think if they can get to 12th or 10th in defense by the end of the season, while keeping the offense at 3rd or better then history says they can win a championship. 

The Suns have been really bad in the last 6 games they're 0-6 and 26th in defense and 24th in offense over that span. They're giving up the most points in the paint and giving up the highest shooting percentage from the field in that same stretch. They have 6 days off and are hopeful for the Durant and Beal to return on November 26th, their next game. I think I'm sounding the alarm on Devin Booker officially. Admittedly he is my favorite player, but he has not been good so far this season. The three point percentage is down, mainly causing his field goal percentage to be down, but I really think him taking more threes has not worked out for him so far. He's taking a lot of tough pull up jumpers, similar to how he does in the mid range and he's not connecting on the shots from 3.  I'm not saying he needs to take less I think he should take the same amount he is taking now, pair this with how well he is in the mid range and finishing at the basket then he can increase his field goal percentage and his scoring output. The main stat that is down for him is catch and shoot threes. He's shooting 34% on 4 attempts and he's also shooting 33 on pull up threes on 4 attempts a game as well. In 2022-2023 He took 7 threes a game and shot 38% and shot 43% on 4 catch and shoot threes a game. I think if he can get back to shooting well on catch and shoot shots then he can get  his scoring numbers back to the 27-28 point range. The Suns are 0-5 with just Booker this season, with no Durant or Beal. The Suns ultimately need to get healthy and win some games before they fall too far back in the western conference. This game felt like a collection of all the breakdowns they've had in the last 6 games.