00:00The Knicks gave us something in their third preseason game that nobody asked for, overtime.
00:04But the Knicks did get a win if you're counting that in the preseason.
00:07They improved to 3-0 in the games that do not count with a 195 overtime victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
00:15And there were a lot of things that were good in this game for the Knicks, some bad, and we're going to get into all of it.
00:21Going to start with the bad because this was the Knicks' first game that they were going up against a pretty good defense in the Timberwolves.
00:27The Timberwolves were a team that ranked 6th in defensive rating last season, averaging just over 111 points per 100 possessions.
00:35So this was a good defense the Knicks were going up against.
00:38And all preseason long, we've been very intrigued in watching how the Knicks' offense would fare.
00:43Now, we saw things that they did good against the Sixers in Abu Dhabi, but the Timberwolves, they were another test.
00:49And the Knicks struggled in this one offensively.
00:52They shot only 34% from the field for the game just over that, and just over 26% from three-point land in this one.
00:59So not a good offensive showing for the Knicks overall as a team.
01:03Now, in terms of the rotation, something that a lot of fans are also keeping an eye on,
01:07you saw the starters play much more minutes than we had seen of them in Abu Dhabi.
01:12In fact, all of the starters, except for Mitchell Robinson, who did not start the second half and only played 13 minutes in this one,
01:18the other four starters played over 24 minutes, at least 24 minutes in this contest.
01:24Deuce McBride, he played 28 minutes off the bench, so a lot of minutes for Deuce McBride off the bench.
01:30We also saw a lot of Jordan Clarkson off the bench.
01:32In terms of the starters, who did play well offensively and who's been having a good preseason,
01:37you've got to look at Mikel Bridges, 6 of 12 from the field in this game, 15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals.
01:43He's been very active getting into the passing lanes, pushing the ball in transition.
01:48He has been attacking the rim more than we saw him last season, not shying away from contact.
01:53Mikel Bridges is having himself a really solid preseason
01:56and looks like a player that can truly thrive in Mike Brown's offense.
02:00You see him running to the corners immediately off of misses, off of makes, same with O.J. Ananobi.
02:07Mikel Bridges had himself another good game, was really the only Knick that had a strong shooting performance in this one.
02:13Another observation for me in terms of offense with the Knicks, as we're keeping more of an eye on that,
02:18was how they generated corner threes.
02:20Now, they generated a lot of corner threes, a lot of good looks, but like I said, they shot only 26% from downtown.
02:26They did not shoot the ball well on the night at all whatsoever.
02:29In the first six minutes, the Knicks generated five corner threes.
02:33Unfortunately, they missed them all.
02:34You did see some more threes in the game that players were able to hit.
02:38Mikel Bridges hit one.
02:40You saw some other players knock down a couple even late.
02:43Garrison Matthews hit some.
02:44So you're seeing the Knicks really going to the corners, sending their wings to the corners,
02:48but also generating good looks from corner threes.
02:50Even Carlton Towns had a corner three-pointer attempt in the first few minutes of this game, which he missed.
02:56So that's something to watch for the Knicks, because last season, they generated 38.7% of their three-pointers came from the corners.
03:03They would like to see that get up a little bit more this year.
03:06Two seasons ago, the Knicks shot just over 40% of their threes were corner threes.
03:11And back in the 2020-21 season, they were also over 40% of their threes coming from the corner.
03:18Why do you want that?
03:19Well, it's the easiest three to make in terms of distance, the shortest distance.
03:23And so it's also the highest chance you can get for more points in a game.
03:27So you want to get that from the shortest distance.
03:29If you can get those easier threes and you're the Knicks, that's something you would like to do.
03:33So you're seeing a concerted effort from the Knicks here in the preseason to generate more corner threes.
03:39Unfortunately, all of them did not fall.
03:42Now, the Knicks did come back in this game.
03:44Their bench did spark them in this one.
03:45Not great shooting performances, but some good scoring outputs from Deuce McBride, from Jordan Clarkson.
03:53Both struggled shooting from the field.
03:55They were aggressive offensively.
03:56I think other notes off the bench, you're looking at Malcolm Brogdon.
03:59He played well in the minutes when he came in.
04:01Only five points, but a steady hand.
04:03You can see he can run the ship.
04:04He's trusted as a ball handler.
04:06Was very interesting.
04:08The first player off the bench was Deuce McBride.
04:10Then you also saw Gershon Yabaselli.
04:12Then Jordan Clarkson.
04:14Didn't see Ariel Hockporti until the second half.
04:16Same with Pacom Dadie, who checked in late into the third quarter.
04:20Pacom Dadie, of note, had been missing shots.
04:23Did hit two shots in this game, including an open three, which gave the Knicks the lead in the third quarter.
04:28So that was huge for him in terms of getting minutes.
04:31But I think this game, in particular, the third preseason game, you're starting to get a little bit of a taste of what Mike Brown's rotation might look like as we get closer to the regular season.
04:40So some good things for the Knicks.
04:42They're still working out the kinks on the offense.
04:44They're still looking to try to get better.
04:46There are going to be some growing pains with this.
04:48But this was not a good shooting night against a pretty good Minnesota Timberwolves defense.
04:52So that's going to be the key to watch what the Knicks offense can do against teams that we expect to be good defensively in the NBA.
05:00The Knicks, they'll continue the preseason.
05:01They have two more games, both here at the Garden.
05:03Next one coming up on Monday against the Wizards.
05:06So we'll see how they do there.
05:08Those are my news, notes, and thoughts about the Knicks' 100-95 overtime victory, which nobody asked for, here at Madison Garden.
05:17We'll see how they do on Monday against the Wizards.
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