Milwaukee Bucks Game Preview: Jan. 6 vs New York Knicks
By Ti Windisch
Major Key For New York: Get To The Line
The one negative side effect of all the threes the Knicks were taking on Wednesday is that the team wasn’t able to get to the free throw line often. New York took just 12 free throws as a team, with only two coming from the bench.
Carmelo Anthony took eight, Joakim Noah took two and Mindaugas Kuzminskas took two. The Knicks will have to play more physical and work harder on getting to the charity stripe against the Bucks in Milwaukee to have a better shot of winning.
Milwaukee took 31 foul shots as a team, with Giannis and Jabari Parker combining to take 15, more than the entire Knicks team did. The 15 extra points the Bucks got from made free throws are obviously important, but there’s another problem with not getting to the line against Milwaukee.
One of the few ways left to stop Giannis is to get him in foul trouble. Few trips to the line likely means few called fouls, which means Giannis can play major minutes with no worries about him fouling out. Indeed, the Greek Freak only got called for two personal fouls against the Knicks, meaning he didn’t have to play careful or sit out crucial minutes due to foul trouble.