current location:HOME > Sports News > Basketball Hub > Text content

NBA Stats Notebook: Why the Knicks' low-passing offense works so well

nqajqrqw7months ago (05-19)Basketball Hub93

The NBA schedule naturally lends itself to several checkpointsthroughout the season that serve as frames of reference to check ateam's pulse. The trade deadline and All-Star break are typicallyviewed as the midseason opportunities to evaluate performance.

However, for some teams, there's a specific date when theirseason drastically changed. For this year's New York Knicks, thatdate is December 4, 2022.

That night, in a 92-81 win against the Cleveland Cavaliers, TomThibodeau trimmed New York's rotation to nine players. Since makingthe tweak, the Knicks are 27-14 and one of three squads with top-10offensive and defensive ratings, per Cleaning the Glass.

New York has bounced up to the fifth seed in a strong EasternConference and only gotten better since acquiring Josh Hart priorto the trade deadline. His addition, marking another importantseason benchmark, has coincided with a seven-game winning streakthat has given this young squad a glow in the nationalspotlight.

The Knicks are fun because they don't have one cure-all playerresponsible for the surge. Sure, Jalen Brunson's off-dribble juicehas changed the game, and Hart has been a seamless fit so far, butthis squad really jells because of collective improvement andsynergy across the rotation.

New York owns the second-best offensive rating innon-garbage-time minutes since Dec. 4, and they are No. 1 since thewin streak began. But interestingly, their scoring distributionlooks nothing like the pass-heavy green flags we associate with"good" offense. Look at some of these ball-movement numbers fromthe league's stats database since Dec. 4:

StatValue (sinceDec. 4)NBARankOffensive Rating116.25thPasses per game265.525thAssists per game21.630thPotential assists pergame38.930thAssist-to-passratio9.6%29th% of makes that wereassisted52.3%30th
Share with friends:

“NBA Stats Notebook: Why the Knicks' low-passing offense works so well” ofrelated articles

2024 NBA Playoffs Day 5 Recap: Miami surprises Boston, OKC routs NOLA

Day 5 of the 2024 NBA Playoffsfeatured the Miami Heat taking a game off the mighty BostonCeltics, stealing their home-court advantage. It was a tough...

Brandon Miller impresses in first meeting against his 'GOAT’ Paul George

The Charlotte Hornets might havelost the game, but Brandon Miller certainly left an impression inhis first opportunity to play against his “basketball...

2024 NBA All-Star Saturday Night recap: Lillard, Curry, McClung shine

The 2024 NBA All-Star SaturdayNight at the Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis saw someelectrifying highlights across all four events, includin...

Knicks file protest for controversial end-game call in loss to Rockets

Knicks file protest for controversial end-game call in loss to Rockets

The New York Knicks have filed aprotest to the NBA to dispute the controversial end-game foul callthat resulted in a loss to the Houston Rockets, acco...

Kyle Lowry will sign with Philadelphia 76ers after buyout

After getting bought out by the Charlotte Hornets, Kyle Lowrywill sign with the Philadelphia 76ers, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.This was th...

Blazers spoil Siakam's debut, Haliburton's return with win over Pacers

Pascal Siakam made his IndianaPacers debut on Friday night, but the Portland Trail Blazersspoiled the party by beating Indy, 118-115, at the ModaCente...