When Phil Jackson arrived in New York and insisted the triangle offense on the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony emphasized that they were going to make it work no matter what. The triangle can be a complex offense and takes time to learn. It also goes against the trend of modern NBA basketball.
First-year Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek, upon being hired, suggested that he would incorporate the triangle in his system. Talking with the New York Daily News, Hornacek had to be honest about players’ desire to run the triangle:
Hornacek said when teams are in their halfcourt sets they all run a variation of the triangle. The difference is that most NBA teams get into their offense quicker and that running the triangle exclusively will slow the pace.
“I think that’s where most people are coming from,” Hornacek said. “If you end up being a slowdown team and never end up getting easy buckets and you’re running that halfcourt set all the time… guys, first of all, don’t like to run it.
“But secondly, it makes it very difficult to get easy buckets early in the offense and I think in today’s game those early buckets are nice to get. We’re not running it every time. We’re mixing it here and there. Hopefully, for us it’s a good thing we can do when we need to execute a play on a dead ball that we have something to go to.”
Knicks point guard Derrick Rose has admittedly struggled to learn the triangle. Rose is definitely more suited for the kind of uptempo style that Hornacek himself prefers, a model that is much more consistent with how more teams are playing offense.
The assumed challenge for Hornacek and the Knicks is reaching that delicate balance between Hornacek’s preferred pace and the half court principles of the triangle. While Phil Jackson is certainly encouraging that balance, Hornacek says he’s not forcing anything on him.
“Phil’s been great,” Hornacek added. “He’s not trying to take over and make us do anything. He’s giving us the leeway. There are some things that we do that aren’t the triangle stuff; our early stuff that quite honestly we probably thought he’d say ‘let’s not do that, or let’s not do this option.’ But he hasn’t said that at all.
“He’s just trying to give us hints on when we’re in the halfcourt sets. Just how to really execute it. It’s great help.”
