The Knicks are on the verge of elimination – the biggest reason may surprise you

In the New York Knicks game, stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns played key roles in the team's success in the first four games of the final.

For example, it was Brunson's iconic game champion against the Detroit Pistons in Game 4 of the first round. It was the Town who scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, earning a comeback victory against the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 of their current series.

Although players all offer flashpoint moments individually, their partnerships stagger in a very important area during the playoffs, especially in conference finals. This is the biggest reason the Knicks face a 3-1 deficit and eliminate the Pacers: New York couldn't defend when Brunson shared the floor with town.

In 91 minutes, Brunson and Brunson entered the court during the finals, with the Knicks having a defensive rating of 130.2. Against the backdrop, the Utah Jewish Jazz scored a defensive rating of 119.4 with the regular season. Indiana's offense is essentially one of the best offenses in NBA history.

In those 91 minutes, the Pacers shot 51.8% from the field and 39.4% from three-pointers. At that time, Indiana had only 51 assists, but only 10 turnovers, and New York scored more than 24 points.

Brunson allows opposing players to score 57.1% shooting at the main defender, while towns have a conversion rate of 47.5%.

Pacers kept hitting the floor unremittingly while hunting Brunson and towns, often summoning them to the screen. Indiana has particularly forced Brunson to switch to tougher games, such as point guard Tyrese Haliburton.

“It's not good enough,” Brunson said when asked about the Halliburton showdown after Game 4. “I could sit here and be very detailed about certain things, but obviously not good enough. When it comes to that, I have to make a difference.”

“It's not just him. It's all of us. We all have to do better and make it hard for everyone to score points,” the town said.

The hunting puts the Knicks in a difficult position, putting Brunson and town on guard one-on-one, or fighting for defense against Indiana, which makes him move the ball with joy.

Josh Hart of New York said of trying to slow down the Walkers: “I think it’s hard for any team to (stop). “If a domino falls down…that person’s chaos messes up the entire property. Obviously they are running good stuff, but we have to make sure we are physically and locked and make them hard on them. ”

The Knicks don't have an easy answer to make up for the limitations of Brunson (size) and town (sidually fast).

Head coach Tom Thibodeau tried to adjust the starting lineup after Game 3, inserting center Mitchell Robinson into Hart to add presence to the rim. However, despite the group's progress in defense (116.7 defensive rating), the offense was bad and eventually got knocked out of 7 points in 24 minutes.

In the short term, you can choose to separate Brunson and Towns as many as possible.

So far, New York has a net rating of 4.6 when Brunson and Town share the court in the playoffs.

When Brunson had no towns, the Knicks' net score increased to 5.7.

When the town doesn't play without Brunson? The net rating was improved to 10.8, including a defensive rating below 100.

It's worth noting that when New York played a lot of games to return to Game 3, Town was one of his best seasons in the playoffs – Brunson came off the bench due to foul trouble.

However, short-term answers can cause long-term problems. How good is the Knicks if their two best players can't coexist?

Currently, New York is focused on keeping its season alive.

“We’re a team that has found a way to do the impossible,” Towns said Tuesday. “Now, we have to play in one of the biggest battles in our lives. It starts with the next game.”