This game once again demonstrated one of the major problems with these Knicks.
It's outside shooting!
Crawford had a terrible shooting first half and they got killed.
Crawford had a terrific shooting second half and they came back and almost won.
Look closely at their games. When Crawford is hot from the outside they either win or play a very good game. When he is ice cold, he continues shooting at the same rate and they get killed.
Part of the reason for that is that no one else besides him can hit an outside shot. Qrich can't hit the ocean from the outside and Marbury (when he's playing) and the rest of them are only adequate. Teams know they can collapse on Curry, Randolph, Lee etc.... inside because there are almost no serious threats from the outside unless Crawford is having one of his "zone games". But those are few and far between.
Look at this List.
Qrich, Balkman, Lee, Curry, Jeffries, Collins, Rose. None of them can hit the ocean from mid range or further.
Even guys like Robinson and Jones have pretty weak shooting percentages even though they occasionally have a decent night.
The key for this team remains the same. If we want immediate improvement we need a SF that is a serious and consistent 3 point threat that can pick up the slack when Crawford is off. If we had that, it would open everything up for our big men and hopefully allow Crawford to back off when his shot is not dropping.