Knicks’ Shooting Slump: The Warning Sign Beyond Missed Threes

The Knicks shot 25% from three against Minnesota. Is their preseason slump bad luck or poor shot selection? Here’s what deserves closer attention.

The Knicks’ missed shots are easy to count. Understanding what those misses mean requires a closer look.

New York shot 25% from three-point range and 45.5% overall in its 122-104 preseason loss to Minnesota. The performance added to a frustrating start and sharpened questions about the offense. 

But a cold shooting night can tell two different stories. A team may create good opportunities and fail to convert them. It may also struggle to generate clean looks, leaving shooters to rescue possessions with difficult attempts.

The Knicks shooting slump should be evaluated through that distinction. The percentages describe the result; shot quality helps explain whether the underlying process needs to change.

A Missed Open Three Can Still Be a Good Possession

Imagine a possession in which a drive draws help, the ball moves to the perimeter and an extra pass finds an open shooter. If the shot misses, the offense may still have done its job.

Repeating that process gives a team a reasonable foundation for improvement. The alternative—changing the approach after every unsuccessful attempt—can disrupt useful habits.

That does not mean every three-pointer should be defended as a good choice. Balance, distance, defensive pressure and the time remaining on the shot clock all affect the quality of an opportunity.

For New York, the important question is whether its shooters are receiving the ball ready to finish an advantage or being asked to create one after the offense has stalled.

The Difference Between Moving the Ball and Moving the Defense

Passing alone does not guarantee a productive possession.

A team can circulate the ball around the perimeter without forcing defenders to leave their positions. Eventually, someone has to attack a gap, set an effective screen or make a cut that demands a response.

That response creates the opening for the next action.

The Knicks should therefore be judged on whether their movement produces meaningful advantages. Does a screen free the ball-handler? Does a drive draw a second defender? Does a cut open space for a teammate?

When those actions connect, a three-pointer becomes the product of an organized attack. When they do not, the same shot can become an attempt to solve a possession that never developed.

Mike Brown’s Approach Adds Important Context

Mike Brown has explained that he is keeping the preseason offense deliberately simple to test his players’ decision-making. 

That choice matters when assessing the current rhythm. The Knicks are not necessarily displaying every option they could use in a regular-season game.

Still, a simplified offense makes certain fundamentals especially revealing. Players must recognize when to cut, when to move the ball and when an initial action has created enough space to attack.

The useful evaluation is whether those decisions improve as the group gets more repetitions. Simplicity can expose weaknesses, but it can also show which combinations understand how to create opportunities without constant direction.

Better Spacing Must Produce Better Choices

Spacing is often discussed as though placing shooters around the arc automatically fixes an offense. Its value depends on how the available space is used.

A player who receives with an advantage needs nearby teammates to react appropriately. One may need to relocate along the perimeter; another may need to cut or clear a driving lane.

Those adjustments can determine whether the possession continues smoothly or becomes crowded.

For the Knicks, this is an area to examine rather than a proven explanation for every miss. Without a detailed breakdown of shot locations and contest levels, it would be premature to label the entire slump a shot-selection problem.

The film should establish how often New York creates a clean opportunity—and how often it passes one up or settles for something worse.

Confidence Matters, but It Cannot Replace Execution

Shooters need the confidence to take appropriate attempts even after earlier misses. Hesitation can allow a defender to recover and eliminate an opening.

However, confidence should support good judgment. Taking a difficult shot simply to break a cold streak can make the offense less effective.

The balance is to remain decisive while respecting the possession: shoot when the opportunity is favorable, attack an aggressive closeout and pass when a teammate has a better opening.

Those choices can improve the offense before the percentages recover.

What Would Make the Knicks Shooting Slump More Concerning?

The stronger warning sign would be a repeated inability to create good looks with the main rotation on the floor.

Late-clock desperation shots, crowded driving lanes and possessions that require one player to manufacture everything would warrant closer scrutiny. Consistent open attempts following purposeful movement would offer more reassurance, even through another poor shooting night.

For now, the available percentages establish that New York has struggled to convert. They do not, by themselves, settle why.

The next step is to watch how the Knicks arrive at their shots. If that process improves, patience is justified. If the offense keeps asking difficult attempts to cover for poor execution, the slump becomes a problem Brown needs to address directly.