![]() If you’ve watched the Knicks this year, you may rightly be wondering: Aren’t the majority of offensive possessions stewarded by Elfrid Payton faced with a zone of sorts? This is a suffocating combination.īut this only tells part of the story. The 2020-21 Knicks are an outlier in the league in terms of the sheer volume of zone possessions they’re facing, and how inefficient they are scoring against this zone. And just as crucially, they have Ben Simmons. But, crucially, the Ben Simmons-led Sixers face exactly half as many zone possessions (5.4%) as the Knicks. Only the Sixers are less effective against a zone, scoring 0.63 points per torturous possession. By comparison, the Knicks make those Hawks look like a team of Ray Allens, scoring just 0.7 points per possession. Those Hawks are 22nd in offensive efficiency against a zone, scoring 0.88 points per possession. Only one team in the league plays against more zone than the Knicks: the Atlanta Hawks, at 11.6%. ![]() The Knicks’ number, though, is at an eye-watering 10.8%. This is a safe - apologies for the triggering language - space.Īccording to Synergy Sports, the average NBA team has spent 3.7% of their possessions playing against a zone this season. My name’s Jack and I regularly watch defenses ignore Elfrid Payton. It’s only been 24 seconds, since the claustelfobia began, but it usually culminates in feelings of intense emotion towards any shelves in the vicinity, as the room recedes to its regular dimensions, and on the screen, the Knicks stumble back on defense, similarly dazed, understandably disorientated, and - though there is no evidence of this - almost certainly thinking about shelves. You feel trapped by the former room that is now an uncomfortably humid and angry phone box. Your heart beats faster as - somehow - the oxygen in the room is Hoovered up by whatever is happening on the TV’s screen. Are those walls a few inches closer? The ceiling a few inches lower? Is that previously friendly floor gazing up at you, hungrily advancing? Hot flushes. Your unsuspecting body develops an involuntary tremor, the beginnings of a centuries-old fight or flight survival mechanism. It starts with profusely sweating, and a sudden awareness of the room’s walls, walls magically emboldened and full of malice. It’s by no means new, but does seem especially potent in its second season, circulating exclusively in rooms with Knick fans, when the Knicks are being broadcast, and - curiously - when starting point guard Elfrid Payton is on the court. ![]() Tune in to your average New York Knicks offensive possession this season, and you may be afflicted by an acute and debilitating condition. ![]()
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