The New York Knicks don’t play much outside of their seven-man rotation, and that could bite them in the behind in the second half of their series against the Boston Celtics.
The defending champs don’t go much deeper than the Knicks, employing an eight-man rotation, but the depth is certainly in their favor in the series, especially when it comes to Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard.
Bleacher Report writer Andy Bailey looks at how the depth has changed the series between the two teams.
“Right now, the Knicks are essentially playing seven: Brunson, Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Miles McBride and Mitchell Robinson,” Bailey wrote.
“And those two New York reserves simply don’t bring the same upside that Boston’s bench does.”
“McBride is averaging 7.0 points and 0.7 assists, while Robinson is chipping in 5.0 points and shooting 30.4 percent from the free-throw line,” Bailey continued.
“The Celtics have Porziņģis (still due for a breakout), Luke Kornet (an always steady defender and rebounder) and Payton Pritchard (the single biggest reserve wildcard in this series).”
“Saturday, Pritchard had 23 points. For the series, he’s shooting 41.7 percent from deep. He’s the one Celtic whose shot didn’t seem a little off prior to Game 3.”
“And New York doesn’t really have an answer for his ability to swing quarters or even entire games from the bench.”
Pritchard led the Celtics in scoring in Game 3, and his role during the series has only become more important with Jrue Holiday not operating at 100 percent following his hamstring injury.
The Knicks have done a decent job defending the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but if they aren’t able to guard Pritchard well, all of that could go to waste.
