Hornacek: Knicks need to get defensive
Point guard shortcomings will challenge new coach
For Jeff Hornacek, the chance to coach the New York Knicks represented more than a new opportunity. It came as a complete surprise.
“I really didn’t think it was,” Hornacek said of how realistic a possibility it was of getting the job. “My agents called and said that Phil (Jackson) was going to call you. And I said, ‘Really?’ ”
Hornacek, who enjoyed success as a head coach of the Phoenix Suns before he was fired after a 14-35 start this season, joins a team that lacks a first-round pick in 2016 and needs to improve upon bottom-half finishes in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
Jackson went a different direction from Derek Fisher, a firsttime coach who struggled with admittedly inferior personnel. Jackson said he had looked at how Larry Bird built his Indiana Pacers staffs — a young coach supported by offensive and defensive assistants — before hiring Fisher.
“This is entirely different,” Jackson said. “This is a coach who knows how to run practice, who has coaching experience.”
Hornacek doesn’t have a silverbullet explanation for how he’ll fix New York’s problematic defense.
“I played for Cotton Fitzsimmons, who was very offensiveminded, and Jerry Sloan, who is very defensive-minded,” he said. “So for me, I’ve always played for coaches who wanted us to play tough, hard-nosed defense, and to let that be our guide. ... To me, if you want to win and win big, you’ve got to buckle down defensively. You can’t just rely on the big guys — it starts with pressure on the ball from your guards.”
Hornacek had two or three point guards available to him with the Suns. But the Knicks lack anyone at the position with the athleticism and experience of an Eric Bledsoe, Goran Dragic or Isaiah Thomas.
Ultimately, the development of Kristaps Porzingis and the health of Carmelo Anthony will have far more to say about Hornacek’s fate in New York than an offensive or defensive philosophy. But the Knicks showed they are ready to expand their reach for success, and in Hornacek they have someone who thinks in broader terms.
Easy basket after easy basket for the Golden State Warriors, and Cleveland Cavaliers players were looking around for the culprit.
Whose man was that? Who blew the assignment? Why is it happening again and again and again?
Golden State’s ball movement and player movement have rendered the Cavaliers lost on defense in the NBA Finals.
“Defensively we’ve been good at times and then at times we just looked like OK,” Cavaliers star LeBron James said after Sunday’s Game 2 loss. “We’re a step slow. We messed up on the coverage. We don’t get back or we’re just one step behind where we should be. We should be closer to our man. When you’re behind these guys, they make you pay every single time.”
Equally as troubling for the Cavaliers is that their offense resembles nothing like the highscoring machine that powered through the Eastern Conference playoffs, winning 12 of 14 games.
That efficient three-point shooting? Non-existent. Easy buckets in the paint? Difficult to come by.
If Game 1 was a bad loss for the Cavs, Game 2 was worse. The defending champion Warriors have a 2-0 series lead after their 110-77 victory Sunday.
The Warriors are treating the Cavaliers the way the Cavaliers treated the Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors, and the Cavs have no answers for what the Warriors are doing offensively and defensively.
“We can’t have as many mental lapses. More on the physical, it’s a lot of mental as well,” James said. “These guys put you in so many mental positions where you have to figure it out, and they make you pay for it when you don’t.”
The Cavaliers shot 35.4% from the field and 21.7% on three- pointers. They made five threepointers in Game 2 and seven in Game 1 after entering the Finals with a playoff-best 14.4 made three-pointers per game and playoff-best 44.3% on three-point shots. They are at 27.3% on threes against Golden State.
That’s not going to work against the Warriors, who deserve credit for slowing Cleveland’s offense with versatile defenders who can switch from defending one Cavs player to another with ease.
In the past five Finals games between the two teams, starting with Game 4 of the 2015 Finals and through Game 2 of the 2016 Finals, the Cavs have not shot better than 40% a game. They are 153-for-414 for 37% in those five games — all losses.
Meanwhile, Golden State shot 54.3% from the field and 45.5% on three-pointers Sunday, and they made it look easy. Two games, two double-digit victories.
“I think we’re surprised the way they won, yes, but that’s what the playoffs are about,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “They took care of home court. We know we’re going home. We have to play better. The guys are not discouraged. More pissed than anything. But we’ve got to be tougher. That’s the main thing for us. We’ve got to be tougher, got to play more physical and then live with the results.”
A combination of bad offense and bad defense leaves the Cavs in a troublesome situation.