Knicks Attempt To Resuscitate Season By Dominating Doncic In Dallas

Thoughts on Sun Tsu, a Quick Deuce, and the raucous roller-coaster ride that is the 2021-22 Knicks season...

On Tuesday, a day after New York registered their second straight victory by knocking off the Kings courtesy of a stunning second-half comeback, Knicks shooting guard Evan Fournier posted a photo of him in the shadows inside Madison Square Garden above a three-word caption which read: "Death Ground Strategy."

Some background before we continue…

Sun Tzu was a Chinese general and philosopher who is believed to have lived from around 540 to 490 BC. Legend has it that Sun Tzu defeated an army of 300,000 with only 10,000 soldiers by strictly adhering to a guiding set of military principles and tactics. He outlined these tenets in "The Art of War," which is widely considered the earliest known treatise on combat and military science. 

According to Sun Tzu, there are nine situations or "nine varieties of ground" on which troops can operate from. The final, and most perilous, position a fighting unit can find itself in is "desperate ground" or "death ground," depending on the translation from the ancient text. This is a situation in which retreating is not an option. Where an army literally has its collective back against the wall. In ancient China, this would be when troops were severely outnumbered and pushed up against a mountain range or a body of water. In such dire circumstances, according to The Art of War, an army "can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay."

Sun Tzu asserts that when an army is positioned on "death ground," it will be forced to summon a spirit to fight it wasn't aware it had, which can ultimately propel the group to conquest. In chapter nine of his legendary tome, he writes, "Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve. Officers and men alike will put forth their uttermost strength." Under such circumstances, soldiers "lose the sense of fear. If there is no place of refuge, they will stand firm. If they are in a hostile country, they will show a stubborn front. If there is no help for it, they will fight hard." 

After losing (in crushing, heart-breaking fashion) to the Suns Friday night on a Cam Johnson buzzer-beater, the Knicks woke up the following day and found themselves 13 games below .500, sitting in 12th place in the East, and a full six games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the 10th seed.

Needless to say, even the most blindly optimistic Knicks fan would acknowledge the team had reached "desperate ground." The chances of New York, a team in the middle of a seven-game road trip (hostile country), riding a seven-game losing streak heading into Sunday's matchup with the Clippers (who had won five in a row), even sniffing the Play-In Tournament were beyond remote. The 2021-22 season was pronounced dead. 

Yet, after blowing out the Clippers and then crowing the Kings the next night, the Knicks appeared to have a slight pulse.

Last evening in Dallas, the Knicks put together arguably their best defensive effort of the season, limiting the Mavs to 77 points on 31.4% shooting. Like the Clippers, Dallas had won five straight games before New York extinguished their streak. 

Julius Randle once again led the way in Wednesday's win. After pumping a career-high 46 vs. Sacramento, he tallied 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists in his hometown of Dallas, doing much of his damage after halftime. Over 38 second-half minutes in the Knicks' last two games, Randle has scored 52 points while shooting 19-of-29 (65.5%) from the floor and 9-of-15 from downtown. 

RJ Barrett wasn't efficient on Wednesday, shooting just 7-of-16, but still chipped in 18 points, seven rebounds and four dimes. Alec Burks turned in a fantastic all-around effort, registering 15 points, 11 boards and five assists. Mitchell Robinson, still dealing with an illness that limited him to just two minutes on Monday, recorded another double-double and dominated the paint while he was in the game. 

And despite paltry offensive numbers, the backup backcourt of Immanuel Quickley and Miles "Deuce" McBride once again played a critical role in the Knicks' success. IQ and McBride were a combined 3-of-14 from the floor, but their effort and intensity on the defensive end, combined with their offensive playmaking, was invaluable. Quickley, who was a game-high +28 vs. the Mavs, is averaging 15.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.3 triples while shooting 51% from the field, 43.9% from deep and 93.5% from the charity stripe over New York's last eight games. He is one of just seven players in the league to max or exceed those thresholds in those categories during this current stretch. (Luka Doncic, Lebron James, Kyle Kuzma, Devin Booker, James Harden and Jayson Tatum are the other six.)

Most of McBride's contributions haven't shown up on the stat sheet, but his impact is undeniable. It's not a coincidence that New York's three-game winning streak has coincided with Deuce finally entering the rotation. Dating back to Sunday, the Knicks have outscored their opponents by 54 points in the 60 minutes McBride has been on the court. The only player in the NBA to post a higher individual plus-minus over the past week is his teammate, RJ Barrett (+80). New York is 5-2 in the seven games this season in which McBride has logged more than 15 minutes. 

Last night vs. Dallas, Doncic got hot in the third quarter, scoring 17 points over the first nine minutes of the period. His step-back trey cut the Knicks lead to 14. However, Deuce checked in and quickly helped cool off Doncic. Before McBride entered, Luka was able to consistently isolate Taj Gibson and New York's other bigs up top. Yet, by aggressively fighting over screens, McBride prevented such mismatches. Doncic didn't score a point, or even attempt a shot, with McBride as his primary defender last night. We also have to credit Thibs, who decided to run double-teams at Doncic late in the third and into the fourth. 

The combination of IQ and Deuce gives New York a pair of perimeter defenders who are willing and capable of preventing opposing guards from penetrating into the paint, which is essential to success in today's NBA. 

"Deuce makes it easy because he picks up full court," Quickley told reporters earlier this week. "He can do everything.. [In practice] he pushes me; just like he guards in the game, he guards me," adding, "We have great chemistry… I like having him around."

The Knicks are allowing just 88.9 points per 100 possessions in the 154 minutes Deuce and Quickley have shared the floor together this season. That's a remarkably low number and the best DefRtg by any two-man grouping on the team. 

Incredibly, the IQ-McBride duo has also posted NY's highest offensive rating during the 2021-22 campaign. The Knicks' are averaging a whopping 129.5 points per 100 possessions with those two in the game simultaneously. 

Sum it up, and you get a mind-boggling Net Rating of +40.7. 

That not only leads the Knicks, but that's also the best OffRtg and the highest Net Rating of any two-man lineup in the NBA this season, according to the league's tracking data. 

Yes, among the 1,768 different two-player groupings that have shared the floor alongside each other for at least 150 minutes in 2021-22, no other pair in the league has posted a Net Rating higher than 31 or an Offensive Rating north of 128.

To put those numbers in context, consider this: During the Sixers' scorching hot streak since welcoming James Harden to Philly, the combo of Harden and Joel Embiid have posted a 133.0 OffRtg and +30.7 Net Rating in the 128 minutes they've played together.

So, here we are. 

Not only have the Knicks registered three consecutive, impressive victories, all on the road, but the Hornets and Hawks also lost on Wednesday night. It was the second straight defeat for both clubs. Suddenly, the Knicks are 3.5 games back of Atlanta and Charlotte, who are tied for the 9/10 slots. 

On Friday, New York heads to Memphis to take on a Grizzlies team that owns the league's second-best record (45-22). After that, the Knicks wrap up their road trip with a Sunday matinee vs. the Nets in Brooklyn. The 'Bockers then have three days off before beginning a four-game homestand. NY first hosts a Blazers team that has lost six straight games by 194 combined points, followed by contests against the reeling Wizards and the Jazz, before welcoming Trae Young and his Hawks into MSG. 

If the Knicks can somehow continue to build off this newfound momentum, that matchup with Atlanta 12 days from now may actually mean something!? 

At this point, New York's future strategy is evident.

As Sun Tzu once said, "If you fight with all your might, there is a chance of life; whereas death is certain if you cling to your corner."