The Knicks’ sluggish starts to games were a recurring problem in the regular season.
But by the postseason, they largely fixed their propensity to come out of the gate slowly. In these Finals, though, it’s returned.
They’ve fallen to early first-quarter deficits in each of the three games of this series so far. In their Game 3 loss Monday, they trailed by as many as 12 points in the first quarter. In Games 1 and 2, they trailed by as many as 10 in the first quarter.
“Yeah, we’ll have to figure it out,” Karl-Anthony Towns said Tuesday. “We’ll have to figure it out because in every game we’ve played here in the Finals, we’ve put ourselves in a position where we have to start fighting immediately. Every time we find a way to get back into the game, but we can’t trust that result is going to happen every single time. The Spurs have done a great job starting in the game, dictating the pace and dictating how the game is going. We have to try to be the first ones to throw the first punch.”
A major factor in that development this series is just how good the Spurs’ starting lineup is. That unit — De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie and Victor Wembanyama — has a net rating of 25.0 points this postseason, by far the best of any five-player lineup that has played at least 100 minutes together this postseason. The Knicks’ starting lineup — Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns — is second, though much lower with a net rating of 11.2 points.
The Spurs have outscored opponents by an average of 4.5 points in first quarters this postseason, also most among all playoff teams.
“We didn’t do a good job coming out [Monday] night, not just in the first half but in the second half as well,” coach Mike Brown said. “We have to up our level of physicality, especially at the start of the games, and try to maintain it throughout the course without fouling.”
It’s an added burden to immediately be on the back foot and have to come back every night. Brown, on numerous occasions, passionately challenged his side to clean the issue up during the regular season. His players spoke repeatedly about it, too.
They cannot just bank on the Spurs unraveling, as they did in Games 1 and 2.
“I just think we need to be ready to go,” Jalen Brunson said. “Very vague thing to say. I think it’s very simple as well. Just need to be ready.”
