Knicks' Landry Shamet Is Changing Entire NBA Finals in 3 Ways

The Shamet Factor looms large when looking at New York's 2-0 lead.

Landry Shamet has been the x-factor for the Knicks. | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Landry Shamet's mark has already been made on the NBA Finals just two games in. Obviously, his strong three-point shooting is a much-appreciated element he's bringing to the table.

However, Shamet's overall impact on the Knicks goes much deeper than just that, and it's proved crucial to New York gaining an early 2-0 lead.

Shamet allowing Josh Hart to play to his strengths

One area for the Knicks that could've been a bigger issue in the first two games is Josh Hart's lack of offensive production. Despite ending the Cavaliers series hot, Hart's shot has eluded him once more. He's shooting a disastrous 11.1% from the field, has gone 0-5 from three, and posted just three total points so far this series.

Yet, that hasn't stopped New York from winning two games, and Shamet is playing a direct role in making up for that. The 13 points Shamet has notched in each of the opening tilts lines up almost exactly with Hart's season-long average of 12.0 ppg. So despite his offense being essentially absent, the Knicks are still getting that expected output, even if it's by proxy.

This, in turns, lets Hart dedicate his time to where he's best, which is helping out everywhere else. He's grabbed a staggering 21 rebounds, recorded 10 assists, nabbed five steals and even added a pair of blocks in two games to make his presence felt outside of his poor shooting.

Hart maximizing his influence is particularly important with him being in foul trouble for much of these Finals. Being called for at least four fouls in every matchup to this point and forced to sit is disrupting finding a shooting rhythm. But Shamet is helping carry that load -- so the level of play doesn't drop without a main starter off the floor -- and Hart is then coming in with extra energy to use in his best areas as a support player.

A starter averaging 1.5 ppg to begin the Finals would be catastrophic for almost anyone. Yet Shamet's stepping up to fill this void, which is reducing the edge it creates for San Antonio.

Shamet helping Knicks earn the bench advantage in Finals

This hasn't been a particularly strong playoffs for the Knicks' bench, which prompted a concern with the Spurs having Sixth Man of the Year Keldon Johnson and top rookie Dylan Harper as their leading reserve options. San Antonio winning the second-unit minutes was an easy path for making New York's Finals much more difficult.

But, Shamet is giving the Knicks the bench advantage almost by himself. He's narrowly been outscored by Harper 31-26 in two games, which has closed the gap between the bench options. This has allowed New York's reserves to actually outscore San Antonio's 55-39, even though Miles McBride has struggled (5.5 ppg) this series.

Having such a influential bench option in Shamet to turn to for real production helps the Knicks immensely. They can feel better about giving their starters rest, and Shamet's work with the second unit is keeping the team in games when they could fall further behind or lose leads they've built up.

New York has to find other areas to win with the free throw advantage firmly in the Spurs' favor, and Shamet leading the charge on the bench is a big reason the refs haven't gifted San Antonio a win yet.

Shamet making threes in huge and varied moments, which hurts Spurs

Last but certainly not least, the effect Shamet's three-point shooting has on this series cannot be understated. These have come in a variety of ways, which makes San Antonio's efforts to stop him more difficult.

He's done it spotting up, but also relocating when the ball is moving, and even creating for himself with the ball in his hands. All of this stresses the Spurs' defense, as they can't just focus on sticking on him when he's sitting still given his penchant for finding a way to get open.

There's a serious momentum aspect to Shamet's shooting that carries a hidden weight to it as well. In Game 1, he made a nifty step-back three to swing the lead back New York's way. Later that game, down eight in the third quarter, Shamet hit a much-needed triple in transition that kicked off a run to eventually tie things up 76-76 entering the fourth.

In the second half of Game 2, Shamet was instrumental to keeping San Antonio at arm's length, too. He hit a three midway through the third that bumped up the Knicks' lead to 11, then had another trey early in the fourth to go up 12. And his third three of the night just a minute later grew the lead to eight again.

Shamet isn't being left unguarded and hitting shots that don't mean much in the grand scheme. Instead, he's getting himself open with heads-up play. And he's making big shots whether New York is down or up by a good amount, which is what any truly dangerous shooting threat provides.