Knicks Star Has Helped Lead Team's Defensive Turnaround

Almost all of his value during his tenure with New York has been from his offensive production. He recently surpassed the 8,000-point plateau in 300 games with the franchise, joining an elite group.

The offensive hub for the Knicks, it has been his performance on defense that has spearheaded the team’s recent hot streak and helped get things back on track after an ugly stretch in which they lost nine out of 11 games.

It wasn’t very long ago that some defensive metrics had Brunson as the least impactful player on that end of the court in the NBA. Opponents would relentlessly target him, involving him in actions constantly to create mismatches.

The coaching staff deserves some credit for realizing this and making adjustments. Brunson has been surrounded more consistently by defensive-minded players on the court, helping cover up his deficiencies.

Schematic adjustment helping Knicks on defense

New York is actively working to keep him out of disadvantageous positions. Jose Alvarado made his impact felt in his debut with the team, blowing up a Boston Celtics play near the end of the third quarter by switching twice, allowing Brunson not to get matched up against Jaylen Brown.

Those pre-action changes have done wonders for the Knicks defense. Earlier in the season, Brunson would get stuck in that switch, and then help would be sent, leading to breakdowns defensively.

They also extended their defense, picking Celtics players up further away from the basket than any opponent previously this season.

Alas, it is impossible to keep their star out of every action. He will eventually get matched up against someone looking to score against him, but he has turned up the production in that regard as well.

As always, he does a great job of getting himself into the right position. He isn’t the biggest or strongest player, but his basketball IQ is through the roof, which has contributed to him drawing the most charges in the NBA through Feb. 9 with 16.

During the recent 10-game stretch, during which New York is 8-2, Brunson has been stellar on the defensive end.

Over the last 10 games, as shared by NBA.com, Brunson is allowing opponents to shoot 39.7% from the field, as they are 52 of 131 when he is the closest defender.

Where he has found the most success in slowing opponents down is between six and 10 feet from the basket. From six feet or less, opponents are shooting 23 of 36, and outside that range and from 10 feet or less, they are shooting 27 of 51.

From more than 15 feet away from the basket, Brunson is holding opponents to 28.1% from the field. That insinuates he is doing a great job of contesting jump shots and getting players off of rhythm when they are shooting the ball.

That success is what made his performance, and the team’s as a whole, against the Indiana Pacers so disappointing. Brunson scored 40 points in the 137-134 overtime loss, but he was susceptible to being scored on.

Jalen Brunson is buying in defensively

Pacers players, when defended by the star point guard, shot 11 of 15 from the field. The 73.3% shooting was 27.9% over the expected field goal percentage of those attempts. Some of that could certainly be bad luck or tough shotmaking by Indiana, but it was a disappointing performance all around.

Alas, the lack of success was quickly nipped in the bud by Brunson and his teammates. They brought it all night in the second game of a back-to-back set against the Philadelphia 76ers in a 138-89 bounce-back victory.

12 shots were attempted against him, and only four were made. That 33.3% was 12.5% under the expected shooting percentage on those shot attempts, getting him back on track to what he had been doing prior to the Pacers disaster.

With their captain buying in and playing at such a high level defensively, his teammates have followed suit. The Knicks look like a well-oiled machine on both ends of the court currently, and it is turning into impressive victories.