ESPN.com · May 28, 2025
NBA playoffs 2025: The hidden scheme deciding the conference finals
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With just under six minutes remaining in Sunday's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, the New York Knicks tried a new defensive tactic.
The Knicks typically set up their base defense deep in their own end, and to that point in the series, they had never sent more than one player to apply more than light pressure after a made free throw. But after Karl-Anthony Towns sank a freebie late in a must-win game, with his team clinging to a 91-90 lead after a surprising comeback, the Knicks sent not one, not two, but three different defenders to the backcourt to add pressure on the ball.