They prefer to have captain crunch play iso ball so that he can still have a chance to get mvp

Yeah, whether by design or KAT shying away from the moment an 8% usage rate and 5.6% assist percentage in these 4th quarters are crazy low figures. Champagnie is more involved for the Spurs in the 4th quarters than Towns is for the Knicks.

It’s just KAT’s playstyle. He is excellent at scoring when the ball finds him, but he does not really have a go-to move to do in 4th quarter. He is just not a shot creator, that was probably one of the main reasons Wolves traded him. The only way Finch was getting him going in 4th was the horns action and shooting after catch or attacking a mismatch, which was not super efficient. That’s why Wolves were 27th in clutch in 23-24 season, KAT was passing too much and Ant was not that guy yet.

During the run, Knicks have been going through KAT fairly aggressively in the first quarter/half then his usage falls later in the game. Part of it is by design but most of it is due to the opposing team’s defense. For example, the Spurs were denying and doubling KAT hard in game 3. The Spurs are also a great defensive team, so it’s very difficult to get open looks in the 4th.

That’s what Brunson did early in the hawks series too. The Knicks are clearly at their best when Towns is the focal point and Brunson just can’t adjust to that reality when it gets to crunch time. Almost cost them game 2 and likely did game 3.

They literally stand him in the corner. It’s wild.

Is the KAT-Brunson pnr just not a thing?

He’s been bricking, had a couple last night

Brunson was 4-7 with 12 pts in the 4th. Him and OG were the only ones that scored in the 4th.

That is the maximized version of the team. KAT beast mode for the first 3 quarters and then Brunson being the closer. Just a bit too much of it last night and KAT’s defense wasn’t as effective on Wemby as the first two games.

Was bad in game 2 too and also cost them in the close losses to the hawks. Brunson hits miraculously clutch shots but he’s actually been pretty inefficient and their offense stagnates 

He’s the only player that can reliably create a shot against an elite Spurs 4th quarter defense. Brunson was great in the 4th last night. The goal isn’t to give it to Brunson and have him make something out of nothing. That’s just what they can get from the Spurs defense.

Shai passed the ball a lot more despite being a much better scorer and not having a shooter like KAT or OG.

He’s too good of a teammate unironically

Yeah it’s not a large sample size and they obviously need him, but Albarados minutes have felt better even when Wemby is on the floor.

Ehhh and it also almost cost them game 2. It’s not just about shooting % in the 4th, it’s the overall process. 

He won game one. Almost shot us out of game 2 and basically shot us out of game 3 before he got hot again.

It did win them games 1 and 2. But the Spurs can easily adjust for the rest of the series. They need another couple guys to step up in the 4th

Not sure what a steal has to do with iso ball?

He’s overall shooting poorly this series and putting the Knicks in tough spots with his iso ball. KAT is one of the best big men in the league. He’s barely getting touches in the 4th, and that’s a problem partly caused by Brunson’s ball dominance.

Double edged sword. He ended up getting the wins but not ideally in the sense that it’s unsustainable over time. Sure luck plays into it, but again, those were not comfortable victories whatsoever.

I mean the Knicks lost the 4th brutally in game 2. Their offense has been genuinely bad in the 4th.

He actually almost lost game 2 as the offense stagnated and they blew a huge lead before the Knicks got gifted the game by spurs inexperience 

Another story you could tell about game 1 is that Brunson was only the 4th quarter hero is because his terrible play for 3 quarters (7 for 22 for 17 points, 4 turnovers) is the primary reason the 1st game was close!

In the 2nd game he *did not* win the game with his isoball, having a 9 point lead through 3 quarters allowed the Knicks to survive a bad quarter that Brunson was at the center of.

The last game felt like going in a time machine back to April 24th when the Hawks were up 2-1 on the Knicks. The iso-heavy Brunson ball we saw yesterday was the very thing that caused the Knicks to start out in a hole against Atlanta.

Brunson ball is a throwback to the offense under Thibs. It’s bailing out the other team’s defense and freezing out the considerable offensive talent the Knicks have in their lineup.

Brunson literally won them both games in the 4th with his iso ball

Brunson’s abysmal shooting for the first three quarters is the reason he “literally won” the first two games. They wouldn’t need his heroics if he wasn’t the reason for their deficits in the first place.

Brunson is the only reason those 2 games needed clutch shot making (he nuked their offense trying to play hero ball) lol. Congrats on bailing them out of a situation he single handedly caused i guess?

I dunno, he shot 28% and 38% in the first two games. They needed the clutch shooting after the bricklaying in the first 3 quarters.

And its not like other guys on the Knicks haven’t hit big shots when you give them a chance. A lot of the time he’s chucking it with plenty of time on the clock or dribbling it out instead and taking a brutal shot.

You seriously think it’s Brunson ball hogging and not the coaching staff trusting their clutch PG???

Nah his fourth was the out of bounds call San Antonio challenged which was like 7 minutes remaining. He didn’t have a foul problem last night.

It’s both probably. The first 2 he was guarded by wemby which strangely is an easier match up for him. Obviously it’s hard but wemby is sorta ass at guarding in space which is horrifying to think about since it meanz there’s room for improvement in the thing he is the most dominant at.

This game they put smalls on him and let wemby guard the rim which led to a lot of floating on the perimeter from kat. He couldn’t do the fulcrum thing because guards aren’t gonna let you play with the ball like a big will and they held him all game the same way the knicks held wemby. It took its toll clearly.

4th quarter is Brunson time, for better or for worse (usually better)