Knicks' interior defense breaks down in 98-93 loss at Philadelphia
Philadelphia scored 26 first-half points in the paint against the Knicks, and Mike Brown called it out after a 98-93 loss that dropped New York to 2-4.
The Knicks have been one of the hardest teams in the league to score on near the rim. On Friday night in Philadelphia, that stopped being true for a half. The 76ers scored 26 points in the paint before halftime, and the Knicks went on to lose 98-93. Their record fell to 2-4, and they have now lost twice to the same division rival in the season's first two weeks.
Mike Brown raised the interior defense almost as soon as he started talking after the game, the New York Post reported. What bothered the coach most was that Philadelphia got inside without needing to make outside shots. The 76ers struggled from three in the first half but kept driving the ball into the lane anyway. "They were getting in our paint left and right, right and left, and it was really, really easy doing it," Brown said, according to SNY. SNY also reported that Brown was unhappy with his team's turnovers. The Post counted 13 of them.
The Knicks scored only 14 points in the paint in the first half. Tyrese Maxey led Philadelphia with eight points inside before the break, and LeBron James and VJ Edgecombe had six each. James scored on a backdoor cut behind OG Anunoby less than two minutes in, finishing off a feed from Joel Embiid. Early in the second quarter, with reserves on the floor, Maxey pump-faked Landry Shamet and drove in for a dunk. Brown said there was no single cause. He described a pile-up of small lapses, including pick-and-roll communication.
For now, one bad night hasn't wrecked the season numbers. Even after Friday, New York was allowing 39.3 points per game in the paint, according to the Post. That ranked second in the NBA behind Boston's 38.0. The Knicks also kept winning the glass. They had 14 offensive rebounds to Philadelphia's five, with Andre Drummond and Miles McBride grabbing three apiece, and they rank second in offensive rebounding percentage at 36.3, behind only Golden State. Mikal Bridges tied his season high with 12 points, but he is averaging just 6.2 per game.
The bigger worry may be on offense. Before Friday, New York had been held to 93 points or fewer only three times in the regular season since the start of 2024-25, per the Post. The 93 points in Philadelphia were the Knicks' lowest total of the young season.
What it means against Brooklyn
The Knicks return home Monday, November 2, to face the Brooklyn Nets. They will be trying to stop a stretch in which they have lost four of six games. Every loss has been close. The four defeats came by six, four, nine and five points, which fits Brown's point that his team is in games late but gives too much away earlier. Their two wins came in back-to-back games against Detroit and Chicago. In the 133-127 win at Chicago, the offense looked far more like the group that rarely got held under 100 last season.
That makes Monday a test of whether Brown's message carries over. The Knicks need to keep guards out of the lane, take care of the ball, and keep turning offensive rebounds into second chances. A home game against a crosstown opponent is a good spot to show that Friday was a one-night lapse. Full season results and schedule are on our Knicks team page.
