"Time's Running Out": Stephen A. Smith Comments On The Struggles Of His Beloved Knicks

When the New York Knicks are playing well, Stephen A. Smith is yelling, “Orange and blue skies! ” to the high heavens. It’s been a while, though, since SAS exclaimed something like this on national television.

With the objectivity (and, indeed, the restraint) of a sports critic, Smith appeared on Wednesday’s “First Take” and bluntly stated what ails his team the most.

“Defense. They’re horrible,” the ESPN personality said. “Third-worst defense in the league behind only the Jazz and the Nets since Christmas Day. Both teams are bottom-three in their respective conferences.”

For Smith to mention the Knicks in the same breath as the Jazz and the Nets is quite telling. New York (25–18) has teetered between the No. 2 spot and No. 3 spot in the Eastern Conference for several weeks now, while the two other teams in question have been mentioned in conversations involving tanking.

SAS sounds highly doubtful of his beloved team’s chances in the near future, and for good reason. Aside from the stats he rattled off, the Knicks are a middling team when it comes to containing opponents’ points off turnovers (14th) and fast-break situations (16th). They’re also a mediocre team when battling for defensive rebounds (15th), and they’re outright dreadful in limiting opponents’ three-point efficiency (27th).

The Knicks’ defensive flaws led Smith to call out head coach Mike Brown, throwing in a comparison to Brown’s predecessor in the process. “These are things we did not hear about Tom Thibodeau,” Smith pointed out. “You didn’t have Josh Hart coming out and saying, ‘We’re abysmal defensively.”

While Thibodeau’s bread and butter was indeed top-tier defense, his playbook on offense was a red flag in the latter years of his stint in New York. To Brown’s credit, he has gotten the Knicks’ offense humming better in his first season with the team. The Knicks are fourth in offensive rating, thanks to a fresh scoring repertoire from Brown, not to mention the sustained brilliance of Jalen Brunson and a longer rotation compared to the Thibodeau days.

Still, the adage about defense winning titles holds true to this day, as exemplified by the spectacular two-play of the defending champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder. If the Knicks are to have any hopes of challenging the Thunder and the other heavyweights of the league in the postseason, they’ll have to tighten things up as prescribed by their most outspoken fan.

“They better get it together,” Smith said. “Time’s running out.”