The Knicks had effectively guarded the 3-point stripe through their first five games, but they had few answers for the Cavaliers’ long-distance shooters in Sunday’s loss in Cleveland.
The Cavs torched the Knicks for 23 makes on 50 attempts from long distance, led by matching 8-for-13 performances by Donovan Mitchell and Kevin Love and six more connections on eight attempts by Dean Wade.
The Knicks, who slipped to sixth in the NBA overall in 3-point defense entering Monday night, had held their opponents to 29.9 percent shooting (59-for-197) from beyond the arc through their first five games.
“Mitchell and Love [were] a problem. Obviously, Mitchell is going to command a lot of attention and he did … and we didn’t close as hard as we needed to,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We just gotta close … Mitchell, 13 3s, the ones off the dribble, those are tougher, but he shoots them well. And then Love, that’s been his strength for a long time. And Wade.
“They got 50 [3’s] up, and that’s the challenge. You gotta do more than one thing. You gotta compete, you gotta be into the ball, you gotta be up to touch on the screen, you gotta drop with the roller. I liked the way we competed the first three quarters. I thought we did a lot of good things, but we have to understand the intensity of the fourth quarter. We have to do better and we will.”
RJ Barrett had missed 24 of his first 28 attempts from 3-point range through the Knicks’ first five games, but he connected on three of four in Sunday’s loss in Cleveland.
Asked if he made any adjustments with his outside shot, Barrett replied, “No, [they] just went in today. … It’s good to see a few go in, for sure, but I’m always confident. I work too hard.”