The KNICKS Downfall: Don't Blame The TRIANGLE 

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"I learned that in probably 15 minutes when I was in Chicago. It's not that difficult. It's a triangle." - Dennis Rodman, 2014

The Knicks look like the 2K AI trying to execute a play.

I still remember Kobe's comment on the Knicks running the triangle: "Triangle, looks more like a square." lol

Melo Off Ball offense and Rose urgency is so bad bro... They tend to just walk around, and look disinterested whole season.

“With both Melo & Rose out, we get some real pure triangle offense. And it’s run almost to perfection ...” Hilarious

These guys getting paid millions of dollars a year and can't set a damn screen...

I'm seeing why Phil was so mad at Melo, it seems like every time the triangle failed it was bcos Melo couldn't follow the directions of the play

it's cause melo couldn't play with a hoodie

It's a beautiful offense and also my favorite that led to many nba championships with MJ and Pippen then Shaq and Kobe. I think in the Knicks case is the players who were not buying into it especially Rose and Melo that lead to disaster rather than success. I remember Phil said that other teams who try run it but failed it's because that the organization including the coaches and players were not trusting the system they want to implement. At the end of the day it won't really work if the players won't trust it.

Looks like the triangle had no buy in. Players look like they hate basketball in some of these clips. Paid millions and they piss around like that. The young guys want it but mostly have limited skill. The old guys have the talent but they want to play hero ball. Bad combo.

As in the Bermuda Triangle, where all the talents disappear.

The problem is that Phil Jackson most likely had very little interaction with the teams offense, because he's not the coach. The problem is JEFF HORNACEK is forced to run the triangle and probably doesn't understand how to run it properly.

The only way to prove that the triangle works is showing how golden state uses it. You have to show that it's coaching and the execution by the team that makes it effective. If you give a sports car to someone who doesn't even know to drive a manual, then it won't work and they'll blame the car. Put it in the hands of a pro and results would differ. I'd love to see how golden state incorporated the triangle and where it didn't. Kerr was pretty adamant that he mixed a bunch of different philosophies and it wasn't "full triangle". Why is that?

The Knicks struggle with the triangle because of its endless options. And it seems that they have trouble picking their options. *Cough cough Draft picks

several teams still use elements of the triangle! It hasn't been disbarred completely...

Knicks downfall? The Knicks haven't been relevant since the 90's

Man Mello ready shot his career in the foot with his unwillingness to learn from coaches and apply himself to their strategies.

Don't worry coach I totally understand the triangle and believe in it. I believe in basketball you don't need the best players to run the triangle but the triangle is so flexible it can maximize the talent that your team does have. But if you do have a team loaded with talent it can just be that much more potent when ran right.

Thanks coach, I gotta go back & watch the Denver & Indiana games. I love the Triangle Offense just as much as you & used it while coaching High School feeder teams.

The triangle gave Phil 11 rings. So yeah, it's not the triangle.. it's Melo.

lol at that guy sitting to the right behind Phil Jackson in the last shot

Hey coach, seeing this video made me realize there are alot of players I don't know when you highlight them. Could you highlight them in post editing to help us learn bench player names

I love the triangle offense, it's literally a triangle on one side and a two man game on the other , you can get so creative with it , all you need are willing passers , just pass the ball and get in to the motion right away .. although I never did realize you can get more out of it by spacing yourself correctly .. but even then like you said coach it STILL generated good looks

I wonder what would've happened if PJax let Hornacek run the offense he ran in Phoenix.

Huge work by coach Nick. That was interesting! I thought Knicks used triangle at least 20-30% of time.. But that's how it is...

All of the sarcastic shots taken at Phil Jackson backfired. It hurt the image of the Triangle Offense more than Phil. Great job bro !!!

With the work coach nick put in, this channel deserves way more view

The Triangle is a very old and classic system, that's why everyone's trying to kill it. These days everyone hates tradition or timeless systems. It's the best offensive system to me because it's very sustainable and simple, it's very iso-heavy which I prefer but it's also a system of spacing and positioning. People should watch Jordan's finals highlights and see how dominating he was in the high post and midrange with no ball screens whatsoever. The triangle slows the game down and it won't tire players out by constantly running, screening and taking a huge amount of shots, it's a half court centered offensive system that is still pretty exciting. Melo is offensively gifted but he just will not buy into the triangle so why would any of the other players?

can u analyze how competitive the cavs could be vs the warriors compared to how they were before the kyrie trade

Can you do 1) on how to beat Texas Tech's defense 2) on how to run the Texas Tech's defense 3)on how to defend the triangle offense on it's variable entries 4) I know you already did two videos on how to run the triangle offense with it's variable entries 5) but can do at least one video on how to run the Triangle offense to generate three pointers consistently. I am pretty sure that the Golden State Warriors do it some times but they use a lot of offensive schemes. Spacing is not always as much importance to them as is player and ball movement.

How many Knicks games did u watch 2 make this 😂

Coach Nick, how do you access the game film that you analyze ?

Step-Up or Button-Hook screens are the new trend. That can be used like as 2-Man Game similar to early offense Pinch Post. You could still have a weakside 3-Man Game going on with a Down-screen. Coach Hornacek was intentionally fighting the Triangle Offense also. He face it many times as a player & Coach Jerry Sloane was very good at breaking down offenses.

Maybe we should not blame the triangle but when you have players as talentet as Melo and Porzingis, you should build your system to their style of play. Like or dislike Melo but he is one of tne best offensive players in recent history.

Melo has been cancer as he rooted out Lin & D'Antoni as he don't care about winning. All he wants is to be his own team's boss. It's not the same Rose under Thibs when he had everyone playing hard & playing good D & committed & engaged. It is still PJ's fault as he did sign the no trade clause and did not bring the right coaching staff in that can jell the team & get the buy in.

Hornacek ran a 1-4 High UCLA cut offense with Dragic & Isaiah Thomas in Phoenix. I would have been happy with that.

10:30 This sequence says everything......Rose was/is a big enough star in his mind to show it completely...."Here you go Melo"

D. Rose and Carmelo apologists won't like this

Coach it might have been nice for some of us plebs to explain exactly what the triangle offense even is.

Mother of God, its the players tsk tsk

Utah Jazz uses Spurs Motion Strong to transform into Triangle Offense. 1.) PG pass to Top of Key/ Trailer 2.) Instead of setting a down-screen for the corner shooter (Double-Staggered) the guard runs baseline to the OPPOSITE corner. 3.) Top of Key player passes to the wing & sets a single down-screen instead of the traditional double-staggered screen & regular Pinch Post alignment is established. The average fan doesn't even realize that the Utah Jazz uses parts of the Triangle Offense too.

3:52 they would call that carry every time at the park lol

Hope you do Brooklyn Breakdown this year

Best channel ever

The issue is not that the triangle is flawed, rather it is the fact that it was rammed down the coach's throat. Hornaceck couldn't make his players believe in something he himself didn't believe in. This upcoming season will serve proof to how much Hornaceck believes in the Triangle.

Great video, just highlights the poison Carmelo Anthony is to team basketball. Maybe in Houston or Cleveland he will be forced to buy in because of superior players but if he believes he is the best player your team is doomed. He and Rose basically torpedoed the speed of the offense and its spacing. In the end though its on Phil, he resigned Melo and he inexplicably traded for Rose.

Watching your videos is the antithesis of watching First Take; can't help but come out of a viewing a little more well educated on the sport after every vid. Your commentary couldn't be more diametrically opposed to the soundbites they can't elucidate on: Skip not knowing why teams run zone or Stephan A getting every NBA championship pick wrong in the last decade; flying in the face of dumb luck. Thanks for doing what you're doing Coach!

Coach Thibodeau used Triangle Offense in Chicago, so D.Rose played in it before his New York Knick days. D. Rose just refused to do 2 simple things: 1.) Pass the ball 2.) Go to a corner

small correction: player @2:30 is kelly olynyk and not jerebko

You can not run the triangle with guys who have egos that prevent them from truly learning and trusting the system. The reason the triangle worked in Chicago and LA was because Phil convinced Jordan, Shaq and Kobe to trust him and his system without question.

I'm afraid, I really want a couple of those shirts.

in contrast, how often (# of posessions) did Phil's Bulls/Lakers teams run the triangle?

Coach I think you put out great content. The issue though why it's not getting as big as it should is the ads. We not only have youtube ads that play, we then get an intro to watch another product for a good 30 seconds or so. Then we have the seatgeek ad which is another 30. So basicly we're watching 3x the ads we're custom to. I think this turns ALOT of ppl off, especially when the ads are in the middle of the video. I'm sure thats part of the deal but sometimes not taking money can be the better thing. I think this channel would gather more than 500k subs if you'd done this all along. Ads are fine, but not when they're interrupting a video. 99% of youtubers know this and the expectations have been set.

Hey Coach Nick, the Knicks still using the triangle this season so far right? I see a lot of folks on reddit still dissing it like it's some ancient offensive system from the 70s.

This is what I've been telling Melo apologists and Bronsexuals bashing Phil Jackson. Thanks coach Nick.

Don’t forget the legendary line Kobe said on the triangle

we got robbed of KP in a proper functional triangle offense

I couldn't agree more with this video : Most of the NBA columnists argue that the Triangle no longer works in the NBA. Well, as Coach Nick said, most of the NBA teams are using parts of it in their offenses. And of course, the Knicks barelly used it last year and when they did, it was such a mess. This statement could be true even with a simple Horns set...

I want to get tickets... which is better StubHub or SeatGeek

I want to see an unbias Coach Nick talk about the Triangle

Almost everyone who coach Nick named were capable enough to run that offense. It was Rose, Melo, and also Brandon Jennings and Courtney Lee who looked loss.

lols look how great tim cone's brgy ginebra now. 6 game winning streak.. since the return of 7 footer greg slaughter they run a pure triangle offense and it works they look unbeatable..

LISTEN TO THIS MANS POD

I play the triangle and it´s a rather good offense

anyone have a good glossary or explanation vid for the terms he uses in his vids lol

Statistically the main takeaway is that they're not actually using the triangle. The PPP on the triangle plays they ran is hard to evaluate because the number of actual triangle plays is such a low number that the error bars are huge. That said, the detailed analysis of individual plays is really valuable to seeing that the problem was in execution, not in the triangle offense philosophy itself. Also, Melo kind of sucks.

Frank Ntilikina is part of Phil Jackson's legacy, because the Foreign players were drafted during Phil era in New York.

So were Melo and Rose just too stupid to run the triangle? Or was it Hornacek's fault for not coaching them right?

fantastic video coach nick! Thank you for proving again and again that Melo is the problem in NY and has been ever since he joined. i hate how delusional knicks fans are in defending carmelo, he's useless in an any nba offense because he's become so lazy and will only attempt to iso, which has been proven to be one of the most inefficient shots. you have proven that moving the ball will result in a layup, dunk, or open side shot. the triangle is still a viable option if players actually buy in and want to run it, but one year after melo came to ny, he gave up trying and should not be a HOF player. Melo looks like he's playing in practice. The intensity and urgency is absent from his game in every possession- pathetic. ex. the play at 5:20. It's clear that melo only understands iso ball, which is evident by him now attempting to let the play develop at 5:44, but like you said, he slips the screen, which is the wrong play, so that he can immediately get the ball. At 6:24 melo positioning wrong screws up the beauty of the triangle offense. clearly, he doesn't understand the importance of spacing and positioning, which is why he's never seen and never will see the nba finals. this poor effort by melo rubs off on his teammates, which is why the knicks are by far the worst team in the league. He doesn't set any good screens, late on every action he's involved in during this play, doesn't work to even get himself in decent position for the shot. how can anybody succeed like this? 8:57 prime example of why melo is garbage. doesn't believe in an offense. how can anybody play alongside a guy that is reluctant to receive the ball in the low post, which was cleared out for him!! selfish players don't take that great positioning and go up to the 3 point line to take the ball from his teammates hand. melo doesn't even do anything special with the ball in his hands, except for setting his teammates up for difficult shots. awful in so many ways. How do you coach an stupid, ignorant, selfish player that won't listen and follow the plays you run? melo should've gotten benched early on so that melo learns that he can't just do what he wants and forget the play, just to get an iso. look at what coach pop does to players that don't run the plays that he calls. that's how you win titles.

Watching this now just makes you realize Melo’s really not a system player and keeps looking for that post up and the problem was really the players they had.

Well it's all history now

Did they go like 140 with hawks 4ot

So if a ticket is $17, and I use your code does it make it free

Doesn't the Timberwolfs run some triangle in their offense also?. Denver was also a big triangle user as well.I think the triangle is here to stay, but as a evolved version.

The funniest part is that Phil Jackson is gone & Melo still wants out of New York. It probably has something to do with the media saying Porzingis should be the focal point of the offense & Melo should take a step back. New York Knicks fans fell for it & started booing Melo.

watching the bulls and lakers, i understand the TO more and more. watching the knicks, i just get confused

So the video is pretty much saying that they didn't buy in lol

I started watching NBA seriously in the 08-09 season and following the Lakers. Average guys like Vujacic even *ahem* Mbenga can look really good under the Triangle offense. If only Melo and Rose incorporate the Triangle, they'd be like a 50+ win team.

I'm here for the seat geek ad

Do a Isaiah Thomas on Cav please

I'M GONNA RUN TRIANGLE LIKE MJ & KOBE & PHIL DID

This is Hard to watch. Triangle offense is a beautiful offensive system that if done right will present tremendous amount of wide open/high percentage shot opportunities. The knicks are not even trying to make it work, theyre abandoning it every chance they get, and then people blame the triangle offense for their struggles? Damn. It is the coaches problem for not knowing much about the triangle itself and how to implement it.

so it was like you told him start low then cut the pinch post, he will just start at the pinch post. Melo got to the result, ignored all the process. Little does he know that it is the "process" creates the "spacing" needed in triangle.

Damn. It hurt me to hear Coach Nick say Derrick Rose's name so many times in this video. Lol. Based on this video alone, it looks like Derrick Rose was the largest reason for the failure of the triangle offense next to Carmelo.

Hey coach, another great breakdown here. Unfortunately it doesn't tell the whole story. I'd like to see a similar breakdown of the NYK offense when they were 14-10 vs towards the end of the year. The problem with the Knicks in the Phil era was never the triangle. I've always thought Phil's talk of triangle more of philosophy about how the game should be played. And I agreed with that. But when you are the president you should let the coach be a coach. Phil simply could not do this. If the Knicks didn't have all that choas behind the scenes and consistently mixing up offensive sets they would have looked much better. The players looked confused on sets simply because like all other plans Phil had, they were poorly executed. Phil should have let the coaches run what they want. In fact I thought Fisher was doing ok until Phil had to step in again. If Phil wanted to coach then he should have coached. His plan for building a team was null and he wasted 3 years. Yes he got KP and Willy but the franchise was more of a mess because of him. That's why Knicks fans were happy when he was let go. Not just because of the triangle but because he made a mockery of the franchise. His cryptic messages to talking about players. It was a mess and the results showed on the court.

Melo, great, well, very good one on one player. Need him off my Knicks ASAP. His style of play is so outdated, especially as the #1 option. Wouldn't mind Frank, THJ Willy and KP running the triangle this year in a tank season. Then Doncic or Porter JR next season,.

Why wasn't this video available before the All-Star Break??? Fans are starting look at Carmelo Anthony in a different way after watching this video. New York reporters created a NARRATIVE, because of their dislike for Phil Jackson during his Chicago Bulls days. He totally humiliated reporters after Chicago Bulls games. This was their payback. I hope Carmelo Anthony doesn't get traded to Houston. New York fans need to be able to enjoy Melo for an ENTIRE year after Phil Jackson.

Twice you showed the highest scoring games were when they barely ran the triangle. How is that an endorsement for the system?

The main problem I think is that Phil Jackson wasnt a president He was a coach who cannot be coach anymore So he wanted to do everything but he was never here to actually do it

It thought it was steve kerr in the beginning

Damn, I was only joking about D. Rose's intelligence. I forgot all about him getting caught for cheating on his SAT exam.

Coach Nick, the triangle was definitely not the only thing fans didn't like about Phil Jackson.

Notice how most of the successful plays JENNINGS and not Rose initiated the offense ... and our problem was clearly Defense not the triangle

While the Triangle system itself is not to blame, I think the Knick's efforts to incorporate it made them worse than they could/should have been. Nobody seemed to be competent or confident in the Triangle. With doubts like that, it's hard to play well. Being uncomfortable and confused out it in the court can ruin anyone's game. And honestly, I'm convinced that Hornacek is just not a good coach. And this past season was even worse for him since Hornacek was tasked to teach the Knicks the Triangle which is something not even he completely understood.

2:30.. that's olynyk buddy..

IT'S CARMELO HE IS A FUCKING HANDFUL AND HIS GAME IS AIIGHT

A system cannot work when your two best players do not execute it properly or seem to have no interest in executing it properly.

I called Derrick Rose's injury career before it happened, during his MVP season. And called a disaster when he joined the Knicks. And the same when he recently just joined the Cavs. Carmelo has always been Carmelo but when you add a Derrick Rose who doesn't get basketball very much beyond his physical gifted abilities..... Coach Nick, you better start making that video about how D-Rose is again not the answer to another roster, this year being with the Cavs. The triangle could've worked with the skill set of the Knicks roster but the lack of basketball IQ and the lack of understanding and commitment for the details in this offense (and any high level offense) by some core players just won't work out. To ask that of Carmelo and D-Rose both when on the same team....... that seems like a coaching disaster. I'm a basketball coach myself and that pair sounds like a disaster and that pair would make me look bad and cost me my job. What a situation for Coach Hornacek..... I can't even imagine a season of practices, film sessions, anything basketball team related with that pair. Geezus.

Phil himself is going to have to coach it to make it work