The Knicks' massive issue vs. the Pacers in 1 terrible stat
The Knicks' massive issue vs. the Pacers in 1 terrible stat
Good morning, Winners! This is For The Win's daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Here's Mike Sykes.
When Rick Carlisle was asked why the Pacers struggled so much to score late in Game 3 during the Knicks' furious rally back into the game, his answer was simple.
"They had a lot of their better defenders in the game," Carlisle said, alluding to the fact that Jalen Brunson sat out most of the fourth quarter with foul trouble. Karl-Anthony Towns played the entire quarter and ran the Knicks' offense to perfection, leading New York to a win.
But when Carlisle said that, I thought this was a bit of gamesmanship. I thought he was trying to coax Tom Thibodeau into benching Brunson again in the fourth quarter.
But, as it turns out, he was dead serious. And, more importantly, he was right!
That was demonstrated in Game 4 when the Pacers kept spamming the pick-and-roll with Tyrese Haliburton to get Brunson and Towns in the action with just three minutes left in a six-point game. Those six points felt like 20 because, well, the Knicks couldn't get a stop. Their two best players were turnstiles.
It was bad. Really bad. But it also doesn't feel that correctable, either.
The Knicks' two best players can't play together in this series. The numbers bear it out. According to data pulled from PBP Stats:
The Knicks are a +10.76 in 127 minutes this postseason when Towns is on the floor without Brunson.
The Knicks are +5.73 in 174 minutes this postseason when Brunson is on the floor without Towns.
The Knicks are -4.63 in 438 minutes when Towns and Brunson play together.
That's a problem, guys! And I'm not sure how the Knicks are supposed to solve it.
Their two best players are also their best scorers. When they're both off the court, the Knicks' offense crashes and burns. They're a -12.86 in 39 minutes with a 92.9 offensive rating. You don't have to know precisely what those numbers mean to see that they're bad. That's untenable.
Staggering their minutes is reasonable, but the Knicks have done that already. They play a ton without each other and the results seem promising. But can you bench one or the other for an entire quarter at a time without the offense sputtering or wearing them down? The Knicks don't have many great options here.
That's why this series feels kind of over. Most people (including myself!)thought this series would be pretty close. New York had a solid shot of winning and advancing to the Finals.
The series isn't over until it's over. But, uh, I think we were wrong.
Smashing records — again
You can say what you want about Angel Reese, man. But nobody cleans up the glass like she does. In year two, she's still crushing WNBA rebounding records.
Reese became the fastest player to reach 500 points and 500 rebounds in just 38 games. That's pretty impressive considering some of the names that have come before her.
The Sky are still winless this season, so I'm sure she'd much rather have a 1 in the win column instead of this record right here. But that'll come eventually.
This is still something that should be appreciated. What she's doing is impressive.
CFB 26 is right around the corner
It's that time of year again. It's almost like Christmas in July. College Football 26 will be released in just about a month, on July 10. That means we'll be getting more content about the game as the release date approaches.
With that, folks, we have a glimpse of this year's cover. And, boy oh boy, is it an awesome one.
A look:
SOPHOMORE SEASON, LOADING!!!
Ryan Williams and Jeremiah Smith were two of the most electric players in college football last season. Having one on the cover would be great. Having two? I'm in love.
Hurry up, July 10. Can't wait.
Quick hits: Cam Brink is right ... The Fever are still worth it ... and more
— Cameron Brink made a fantastic point about roster expansion in the WNBA. Meg Hall has details here.
— Cory Woodroof says the Fever will still be fun, even without Caitlin Clark.
— Terry Bradshaw says the Steelers are a joke for pursuing Aaron Rodgers. Hard to disagree here.
— ESPN is off the rails. Kendrick Perkins' take here is proof.
— Jalen Ramsey is counting down the days until the Dolphins can trade him. Christian D'Andrea has more.
— Joe Burrow made a valid point here about the Bengals-Ravens game. Andrew Joseph has details.
That's a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
"I've never seen a man take something so personal" - Magic Johnson on what pushed Michael Jordan's buttons during famous Dream Team practice
"I've never seen a man take something so personal" - Magic Johnson on what pushed Michael Jordan's buttons during famous Dream Team practice originally appeared on Basketball Network. Before the gold medals, before Barcelona, before they stepped onto the Olympic floor as giants among men, the real drama happened in a closed gym. Advertisement The greatest collection of basketball talent the world had ever seen — the 1992 Dream Team — was about global dominance. It was about hierarchy. Pride. Power. And, on one unforgettable day, the winds shifted. Inside that high-stakes practice, East versus West, legends squared off. Magic Johnson, still the voice of the league, led one side. On the other stood Michael Jordan. Younger, hungrier, already crowned but still chasing the mountaintop. The air crackled with tension. And then it snapped. The day Jordan took it personal Magic's team came out gunning. Fast breaks. Ball movement. Confidence. They ran the floor with the kind of joy that comes before the storm. As their lead swelled, he turned to the one man he knew wouldn't let it slide. Advertisement He poked the bear. "I've never seen a man take something so personal and then go out there and take that scrimmage over," Johnson said, on what prompted Jordan's competitiveness to stir. "It was amazing to see him come out and just dominate. And I'm just talking about dominate the best in the game." That was the moment. Not a game-winner. Not a Finals performance. A scrimmage, closed off from the world, with no cameras and no crowds. But that was where the line was drawn. Jordan flipped a switch, he detonated. Possession after possession, he took over. Jumper, layup, steal, dunk. Yes, it wasn't the points that stunned the gym, but the silence afterward felt louder. Even the trash talkers fell quiet. The mood shifted. Advertisement Everyone in that gym could feel it. The old kings had just been dethroned. Jordan wasn't chasing Magic or Bird anymore. He wasn't trying to prove he belonged in their orbit. At the time, he was already a two-time NBA champion with six straight scoring titles and three MVP awards. But that moment in Monte Carlo was about a message. He didn't ask for the throne. He walked in and took it. The mood back at the hotel was lighter, but the message still hung heavy. Jordan didn't let it fade. He walked up to Bird and Magic with that familiar smirk — half-serious, half-serrated — and dropped the line that would echo through basketball history. Advertisement Related: "Dad, you at 17, me at 17, who was better? I said, 'Listen, son...'" - Dominique Wilkins on the moment he realized his son didn't know how great of a player he was There's a new sheriff in town That wasn't bravado. That was the final seal. A verbal stamp on a symbolic passing of power. Magic felt it immediately. "When we knew that the torch was been passed from myself and Larry unto Michael," Johnson said. For Bird, who had led the Celtics to three titles and won three MVP awards while redefining what forward play looked like, the transition was clear. He ruled the '80s alongside Johnson, their rivalry the lifeblood of the NBA's rebirth. But Jordan wasn't cut from their cloth. He was something else entirely. He was cut sharper. Advertisement Magic had owned the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers. Five titles, three MVP awards and a smile that could melt a defense. But even he could admit: Jordan was inevitable. That Dream Team would steamroll through the Olympics with an 8-0 record and a gold medal that never felt in doubt. But the real legacy wasn't what they did to Croatia. It was what happened behind the curtain. That Monte Carlo scrimmage was the changing of the guard when basketball's past handed the keys to its future. Jordan didn't ask for permission. He made his case on the court, in a room full of legends. Then he looked the legends in the eye and told them what time it was. Advertisement And they believed him. Related: "It was easy, beautiful basketball" - The moment Spencer Haywood realized what a genius Magic Johnson was This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 9, 2025, where it first appeared.
Boston Globe
2 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Back at home, Pacers have some things to figure out before Game 3 vs. Thunder in NBA Finals
Yes, the Pacers are tied with the Thunder 1-1 after two games of the NBA Finals. For the lower-seeded team, that's huge; the Pacers took home-court advantage away by Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'We're going to have to be a lot better on Wednesday,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. Advertisement That might sound like coaching hyperbole, but really, it isn't. The Pacers have yet to have anyone score 20 points in a game in these finals. They've led for a total — a total! — of 1 minute, 54 seconds in this series, or just under 2 percent of the time. (That's a major improvement over the 0.0001 percent that they led Game 1 for, in a winning effort, somehow.) And Advertisement Points in the paint isn't a stat that tends to jump off the page. It's possible that a lot of people didn't even notice. But consider this: Before Sunday night, more than nine years had passed since the Pacers didn't manage a single paint point in the first quarter of a game. 'We have to do a better job of getting to the paint,' Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton said. 'It's a lot easier said than done. . . . Our offense is built from the inside-out, and we have to do a better job getting downhill. They collapse and make plays from there. I thought we could improve a lot there. But yeah, man, they are flying around. They have got great point-of-attack defenders and great rim protectors.' Chet showing his TWO-WAY IMPACT with the stuff 💪🚫 OKC on a 23-7 run in Game 2 on ABC 👀 — NBA (@NBA) For a team that has now won 81 of its 100 games this season (not counting the NBA Cup final loss, since that doesn't figure into any records), the Thunder somehow tend to get overlooked on the defensive end. Oklahoma City handcuffed the Pacers in the first two games, daring Indiana to take 3-pointers and barely giving up anything easy around the rim. It starts with bothering Haliburton, which the Thunder have managed to do for the majority of the first two games. 'Most of the guys I guard have the ball most of the time,' said Thunder forward Luguentz Dort, who has drawn the assignment on Haliburton for much of the first two games. 'My main thing is to stay in front of him and make everything tough. He's a great player. He is going to make some tough shots and great reads, so I just have to stay in front of him.' Advertisement No team gave up fewer paint points in the regular season than the Thunder. It truly is a clash of styles; the Pacers are averaging 46 paint points in their 13 wins in these playoffs as opposed to averaging 36 paint points in their five losses. 'I think we have been one of the better teams scoring in the paint all year and we have to establish that early,' Pacers forward Myles Turner said. 'I think we only had four or six points in the paint in the first half (of Game 2) and that's not Pacers basketball. When you live and die by that three or mid-range shots, it doesn't always fare well for you.' Myles Turner this postseason: 15.2 PPG 2.2 BPG 38.9 3P% And this massive poster 😱 Indy is tied 1-1 heading home in the NBA Finals! — NBA (@NBA) Maybe at home, things will be easier. The Pacers got a split in Oklahoma City; things could be much worse. And now, the Pacers have two days to try to find a way to respond to what the Thunder defense is taking away. 'We'll watch the film, see where we can get better,' Haliburton said. 'We know that the paint is our emphasis and the paint is our friend. The more that we're able to attack the paint, usually better things happen for us.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
NBA Finals 2025: Want to win a championship? Your team might need a Chet Holmgren
Over the final four minutes of the first quarter in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, as he does for stretches on most nights, Oklahoma City Thunder big man Chet Holmgren showed a little bit of everything he can do. Defensively, Holmgren slid from the corner, where he was hidden on Indiana Pacers center Thomas Bryant, to block one-time slam dunk champion Obi Toppin at the rim. A few possessions later, Holmgren switched onto T.J. McConnell, sticking with Indiana's pest and forcing him into a contested long 2-pointer. Advertisement Offensively, Holmgren spotted up from the left arc for an in-rhythm 3-pointer. That set up his next attack a few plays later, as he took another pass on the left arc, drawing Pacers big Myles Turner to the perimeter. Holmgren took him off the dribble, finger-rolling home a layup from his outstretched 7-foot-6 wingspan. Otherwise, Holmgren keeps the ball moving with his passing, even calmly registering an assist from his backside on a broken play early in the second quarter. As it turns out, everything he can do is quite a lot. In other words: Every NBA team could use a Chet Holmgren. Sure, it is easy to say: Get yourself a 7-foot-1 No. 2 overall pick who can shoot the 3, attack close-outs, pass with aplomb and hold his own defensively in space. But, as his Thunder remain betting favorites to win the championship, according to BetMGM, he begs the question: Does a team need some semblance of a Chet Holmgren — or, at the very least, a floor-spacing rim protector — to compete for a title? Advertisement Holmgren finished the Thunder's Game 2 victory against the Pacers with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block, hardly the stuff of legend, but his contributions to Oklahoma City go well beyond stat lines. While 3-and-D wings were once the craze — and still are (they are extremely necessary, too) — the 3-and-D big is what unlocks every lineup combination for his team. Put him at center, and he can anchor smaller five-out units, which feature shooters everywhere and a more versatile defensive approach. Slide him to the power forward position, and he can help to physically punish opponents in double-big combinations. As Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said after Game 2, "When we play small, we tend to be a little bit more of a turnover defense. When we play bigger, we have other strengths. It's a combination of things." Typically, teams will have to choose between sacrificing rim protection in small-ball lineups or versatility in double-big outfits, but with someone like Holmgren, that sacrifice is minimized, or eliminated entirely. Case in point: The Thunder outscored opponents by roughly 15 points per 100 meaningful possessions regardless of whether Holmgren manned the 4 or the 5 position during the regular season, per Cleaning the Glass. That dominance was nearly halved to a mortal figure whenever he was off the floor. Advertisement The Thunder inexplicably abandoned their double-big lineups in their Game 1 loss to Indiana, which was curious, because the Pacers have no counter for them. They have Myles Turner, a center whose ability to space the floor and protect the rim has unlocked a sensational small-ball outfit that has carried Indiana this far. What they lack is a second big who can play alongside him. What they lack is a Chet Holmgren. And maybe that is the final piece to a championship puzzle: Teams need a facsimile of Holmgren to unlock the double-big arrow in their quiver, and they need that second capable big to employ it. This is why the Thunder felt compelled to give Isaiah Hartenstein a three-year, $87 million contract last summer. Consider the Boston Celtics, who won last year's championship with a pair of big men, Al Horford and Kristaps Porziņģis, both of whom could shoot the 3 and anchor a defense. They could play separately or with each other, and the ability to do both is what unlocked their full potential. They survived without Porziņģis for much of last year's playoffs, but this year they ran into New York Knicks big Karl-Anthony Towns, whose ability to play as a 4 or a 5 allowed then-head coach Tom Thibodeau to toy with lineup combinations until he found one with Mitchell Robinson at center that punished the smaller Celtics. Look at the league's recent champions, and you will find someone who can flutter between the 4 and the 5 and be effective at both. As we saw again this season, Aaron Gordon could play alongside Nikola Jokić or spell him at the 5 for the Denver Nuggets. Draymond Green was the original "Every Team Needs A Version of This Guy" for the Golden State Warriors. He played with Kevon Looney or without. Advertisement Look at the standings, too. Every good team has someone like Holmgren (i.e., Evan Mobley of the 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers). Every bad team does not (the Washington Wizards, for example, hope Alex Sarr can become him). Every middling team wishes its version of Holmgren was as good as he is. (Imagine, for a moment, if you swapped Isaiah Stewart for Holmgren and what the Detroit Pistons might look like.) Think of the Houston Rockets. They boasted both Alperen Şengün and Steven Adams, either of whom could man the center position and neither of whom was best positioned to play power forward. While they enjoyed some success as a double-big combination, the Rockets rarely trusted them, because they lacked versatility on defense and shrunk the floor on offense. It made them susceptible to the first-round loss they suffered against the Warriors, who practically invented this concept of an ultra-versatile big. Think of the Chicago Bulls, who feature Nikola Vučević. He can shoot but cannot defend the rim. Think of the Atlanta Hawks, whose bigs can defend the rim but cannot shoot. You can get paid handsomely to do one or the other, but can you win on the highest level? Not if the most recent champions are indicators. It is not a novel concept to consider that every team needs a Chet Holmgren or someone who can do a bit of everything in the frontcourt. But it may be a necessary one if you hope to win the championship.
