Melo shot “well” in only three of those 21 games, with the Knicks winning two of them. The one loss was a big one, though – eliminated by the Pacers in 2013. Meanwhile, in Ewing’s 135 postseason games as a Knick, he shot poorly 23 times, or 17% of them, versus shooting well 47% of the time. The Knicks were 11-12 in the former games, 36-28 in the latter. The takeaway from these numbers may tell us something about those players, but forensically their real significance is what they reveal about those teams.
In the 1983 Eastern semis, the penultimate Knicks/Sixers playoff matchup, half the non-King starters shot 40% or worse (Rory Sparrow, Paul Westphal). The only two other Knicks who shot well – Bill Cartwright and Trent Tucker – combined to score 18 points a game. The tragic irony of Ewing is the one time his Herculean feats lifted the Knicks within sight of Olympus, Derek Harper and John Starks (outside Game 1 and Game 7) stepped up, but it was the big man who had his worst-shooting series ever in the Finals. Even in the magical 2013 season, look at the Knick playoff shooting against Indiana. Jason Kidd took eight shots the entire six-game series and missed them all. J.R. Smith? 29% from the field. Iman Shumpert? 38% – and he was one of their hotter guards that series. Pablo Prigioni’s aim was fine, though he averaged fewer than three attempts a game. In retrospect, Raymond Felton’s 41% deserves a banner at MSG.
Things are different now. While Brunson’s struggled mightily against a Sixer defense keyed in on him, five of the other seven Knicks who’ve played are averaging double-figures – six if you round up Bojan Bogdanović’s 9.5 per game. Though Brunson’s made just two of his 12 3-pointers, the rest of the Knicks are shooting 44% beyond the arc.
In the decisive fourth quarter of Game 1, Josh Hart, Miles McBride, Mitchell Robinson and OG Anunoby combined for 27 of New York’s 32 points; Deuce and Hart both finished with 20+. In Game 2’s fourth quarter, 20 of the Knicks’ 25 points came from people not related to Rick Brunson. All five starters hit double-figures, with Hart again breaking 20 and Donte DiVincenzo netting 19, including this three you may have heard mention of.
