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Tim Cone, who has used the Triangle Offense in his 25-year coaching stint, believes the Knicks will figure out the system soon
MANILA, Philippines – New York Knicks rookie head coach Derek Fisher is quickly learning that getting his team acclimated to the infamous Triangle Offense is going to take a lot of time.
Despite earning an impressive early season win against the Cleveland Cavaliers, which features perennial All-Stars LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love, the Knicks have gone a total 2-3 in their first five games of the 2014-2015 NBA season and have at times struggled to execute the new offensive system instilled by Fisher.
New York is currently averaging just 89.8 PPG – second to last in the NBA – and is making just 44% of their shots, good for 19th best in the league.
The averages of Carmelo Anthony, who put up 27.4 PPG and 8.1 RPG last season, have gone down to 19.6 PPG and 4.0 RPG. His shooting clip has also regressed from 45% to 41%.
Tim Cone, an 18-time Philippine Basketball Association champion coach who currently leads the Purefoods Star Hotshots, has watched every Knicks game so far, studying how they’ve executed the Triangle Offense, the system invented by Tex Winter and pioneered by new Knicks president Phil Jackson.
Throughout his 25-year PBA career, Cone has used the Triangle Offense system with the two franchises he’s coached for – Alaska and Purefoods – and in the process became the winningest coach in Philippine basketball history and the only PBA coach to win two Grand Slams.
Despite New York’s 2-3 start, Cone says he’s been impressed with the way the Knicks are playing defense under Fisher.
“It was like when I first joined B-Meg or San Mig or Purefoods, whatever you want to call it. When things are comfortable, they execute well. Like in the beginning of the games or when they have the lead,” 18-time PBA champion head coach Tim Cone said about the Knicks.
“But when the pressure starts to build, they start to revert to their old instincts. They start doing a lot of one-on-one, Carmelo starts to worry about, ‘maybe I’m not helping enough.’ James [Yap] tried to do that for us as well.”
Like Fisher’s 2014 Knicks, both Alaska and B-Meg also struggled out of the gates while learning the Triangle system after Cone took over coaching duties.
“It just takes a little bit of time to get to that, that belt of trust that during tough times you have to rely on Triangle, not just the easy times,” he said.
After facing opponents like the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards, and Detroit Pistons – the first four of whom are expected to be playoff teams – the Knicks have allowed just an average of 96.6 PPG, which is 13th best in the NBA as of this moment.
“I thought, actually, both their wins were more a function of their defense than their offense,” said Cone. “What the Triangle did for them is that it kept the game in a tempo in which they could defend the way they wanted to defend.”
Cone says that approach helped them limit the production of James and Irving, who combined for 39 points on 13-of-30 shooting in New York’s surprising win over Cleveland.
“[It kept] the game slow, [it kept] LeBron out of the open court, and [kept] Kyrie Irving out of the open court. They played the tempo they wanted, and that helped their defense,” he said, before mentioning that the offense still needs work but will get better as the team plays more games together.
“The offense will come in time, and I think Derek Fisher’s approach is perfect. He’s focusing in on defense, allowing it to carry them until they all learn their offense. Give him another month – maybe in December or early January – I think they’re going to go on a big run.”
Fisher was hired as New York’s head coach over the offseason by Jackson, the Knicks’ president, who won his 11 championships using the Triangle Offense system presented to him by his assistant, Tex Winter.
Jackson and Cone were both featured in an article recently released by sports website SB Nation, in which the PBA coach was called the “foremost apostle” of the Triangle Offense.
“I met a couple of writers and they found out I was a Triangle guy and they’ve been calling me and interviewing me and did another one a couple of days ago, so you know it’s always an honor to be recognized as one of those guys,” said Cone.
However, Cone still gives credit to Jackson and Winter as the main masters of the system that has yielded at least 29 championships between the NBA and PBA.
“They know it 10 times better than I do.”
“They (SB Nation) can’t go to those guys so they talk to me,” joked Cone.
Beating Allen Iverson
Cone was recently given the opportunity to coach against NBA legend Allen Iverson, who made his second visit to the Philippines for his “All In” charity basketball game that took place on Wednesday, November 5, at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Iverson didn’t play but coached his team of Ball Up All-Stars, dubbed Team Gawad Kalinga, against Cone’s Team PCWorx that was led by former PBA import DerMarr Johnson and current Philippine college basketball stars Kiefer Ravena, Jeron Teng, Mac Belo, and Troy Rosario.
Cone’s squad came away with the win, 98-96, thanks to Ravena’s game-winning layup:
“It’s an honor to be just around him, much less coach against him,” Cone said about Iverson, who won the NBA Most Valuable Player award in 2001.
“It’s really cool. He’s such a legend. I grew up with him, following the NBA. One of my favorite series was the Lakers-Sixers finals [in 2001]. I really, really loved that series. He’s been a guy I’ve followed all my career.”
Outside of the tall Johnson, Cone’s players were at a disadvantage as they went up against Ball Up athletes bigger and more athletic than they were.
However, Ravena and company stayed within striking distance all game long, not allowing to get blown out, and managed to steal the victory late in the game thanks to the UAAP MVP’s heroics.
“It was a great move. From the very beginning you could see he wanted the ball and he wanted to make that last shot, and he just has a special quality about him,” Cone said.
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