"We know Wembanyama is in the paint. And when the ball gets sprayed, guys have to make plays.

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… Guys were great having a second drive and those are things you have to do against this team."

Karl-Anthony Towns menjadi sosok kunci dengan mencetak poin penting saat menghadapi penjagaan Luke Kornet, Keldon Johnson, hingga Wembanyama.

Towns secara konsisten memenangkan posisi di bawah ring untuk menciptakan peluang tembakan kedua bagi Knicks.

"They are going to put a small guy on KAT quite a bit," tutur Mike Brown.

"And when they do that, we want KAT to hang out in the dunker. We don't want him around the 3-point line."

"We would rather have Josh there, and we know Wembanyama is still going to be down on the floor.

So KAT is going to hopefully have an opportunity to get offensive rebounds."

Perubahan taktik ini membuat serangan Knicks bermain dengan kecepatan tinggi yang menjadi syarat utama menghadapi Spurs.

Menjelang akhir kuarter ketiga, kerja sama antara Josh Hart dan Miles McBride berhasil menembus pertahanan Spurs yang mengalami salah komunikasi.

"Josh has to shoot the ball if he's open, or he's got to make quick decisions with the basketball," kata Mike Brown.

"DHO here, DHO there, or touch off the paint, play a two and spray it.

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We are trying to keep it as simple for our guys as possible and they have to take advantage of where Wemby is because he's just so impactful defensively."