The statistical, historical greatness of the New York Knicks’ starting five
Maybe Thibs plays them so much for a good reason
The New York Knicks are up 1-0 in their opening round playoff series with the Detroit PIstons. That may not surprise you. Cameron Payne getting 10 minutes of run in the decisive fourth quarter may have, given how reliant the team has been on its starting five for the bulk of the season. It’s a tricky balance for Tom Thibodeau: you don’t wanna burn out your best players, but they tend to carry you farther than your non-best. And New York’s starting five were really something this year.
How something were they? Here are some fun regular-season numbers to hopefully raise your hopes for what could be come late April, and hopefully May into June.
Jalen Brunson averaged 26 points a game this season, eighth in the NBA, with Karl-Anthony Towns pouring in 24.4, good for 12th. They’re the first pair of Knicks to both finish top-20 in scoring since 2013, when Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith were fifth and 16th. Before that you have to go all the way back to 2002, when Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston finished 18th and 19th.
The only players to score more per game than Towns with a better shooting percentage were Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokić. Kevin Durant shot the same 53% from the floor, though he finished a thousandth of a percentage point above KAT; if that matters to you and you’re reading this, you’re probably Kevin Durant.
Only eight players league-wide made at least 150 threes and 350 free throws, including Brunson; Towns fell just short of each (142 and 339). The other seven are a pantheon of point-getters: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards, Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum, Trae Young and James Harden. Thanks to Brunson, the majority of that list is not annoying. Three of them are. Bet you think the same three I do.
This list isn’t just about Towns and Brunson, I promise, but those two really were exceptional this season! For instance, by each scoring 24-plus per game, they’re two of only 10 Knicks ever to score that many. How many of the rest can you guess? We’ll save the answers for the end of this piece.
While you’re tossing that one ‘round your noggin, try this one out too: Towns and Brunson are only the fourth Knick teammates to score 24-plus in the same season. One duo did in the 1960s, it was 50 years till it happened again and it’s already happened three times this decade. Who ya got? Check the end for that revelation, too.
