BOSTON — Karl-Anthony Cities has mentioned it earlier than: So long as the Knicks are profitable, he doesn’t care about shot makes an attempt. Doesn’t care about touches. Wins are all that matter — and for the better objective, he’s prepared to sacrifice.
However the Knicks simply misplaced one among their largest video games of the season.
And within the wake of Wednesday’s blowout loss to the Celtics in Recreation 5, shot profile — and frequency — are again on the desk.
Cities considers himself — and is well known as — the perfect capturing heart in NBA historical past. His regular-season numbers again it up: 42.7% from deep on 4.7 makes an attempt per sport, marking his sixth season capturing over 40% from past the arc. It’s a profession mark that surpasses even Nikola Jokic’s finest.
However the shot hasn’t been there in Spherical 2.
Cities has tried simply 13 threes in 5 video games in opposition to the Celtics. He’s made solely two. That’s a 15.4% clip — a stark distinction from Spherical 1, when he made 12-of-25 (48%) from deep in opposition to Detroit.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau mentioned it’s extra about Boston’s defensive design than an absence of intent.
“They’re staying with him,” Thibodeau mentioned after the 25-point loss at TD Backyard. “They’re playing small, so they’re up on him. And he’s in foul trouble.”
Certainly, the Celtics have thrown All-NBA defender Jrue Vacation — listed at 6-4 — on the 7-foot Cities. The transfer has disrupted rhythm and spacing. Cities mentioned he’s sticking to the sport plan.
“I haven’t really been out there [at the three-point line] really. Haven’t had the chance to shoot,” he mentioned postgame. “We’ve just been trying to do our game plan, and I’m just trying to execute at the highest level. So I’m trying to do most of my damage inside and do whatever my team asks of me.”
Nonetheless, the optics are onerous to disregard.
It is a five-time All-Star. A two-time All-NBA participant. The 2022 NBA Three-Level Contest Champion. And in a sport the place the Knicks badly wanted his scoring, Cities touched the ball simply 25 instances within the entrance courtroom — the bottom amongst all 5 starters.
The Knicks traded for that résumé — and that skillset — once they dealt Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota. Randle, now revitalized with the Timberwolves, is averaging 23.9 factors and 6 assists on 51% capturing within the playoffs. It was Randle, not Anthony Edwards, who buried the Golden State Warriors with 29- and 31-point back-to-back performances to clinch one other Western Convention Finals journey.
In the meantime, the Knicks are nonetheless attempting to determine find out how to totally unlock what could be essentially the most gifted basketball participant in New York, a seven-foot unicorn who’s being requested to play a conventional heart’s offensive position.
“I think we can run actions that get him open more,” mentioned Josh Hart. “We’re working lots of ball-screen actions. And so they’re in a drop [coverage], however we will determine methods to get him going — whether or not it’s transition or flares or fast screens. Ball screens which can be broad.
“We have to figure out ways to help him. Obviously he’s a hell of a shooter. But if he was a guard, we’d be in a different situation, because he’d have the ball in his hands and be able to create [for himself]. We’ve got to help him get in positions for that.”
Staff captain Jalen Brunson agreed, saying it’s on him to get Cities extra concerned — and to learn the matchups extra sharply in-game.
“I need to trust everyone out there and knowing who to attack and when to set the table,” Brunson mentioned. “I think the biggest part of that is knowing how they are defending. If they are going to put a small guy on him, and then they put a bigger guy on him — him being aggressive gives us a big advantage.”
The Knicks want Cities to be aggressive. However additionally they want to offer him the prospect.
As a result of buried beneath all of the playoff grit and defensive toughness is a generational offensive weapon — one who can shift a sport, a collection, even a season with the flick of a wrist.
The Knicks traded for firepower. Now, it’s time to tug the set off. As a result of if they’ll’t determine find out how to maximize Cities, it gained’t simply be a missed alternative.
It could possibly be the explanation the defending champs come again to steal this collection.
