Much of the early-season conversation surrounding the New York Knicks has been about the triangle offense.

But offense wasn't the issue on Tuesday night.

The Knicks' defense -- or lack thereof -- led to their loss against the Milwaukee Bucks.

And it continued an alarming trend for this team.

The Knicks entered play Tuesday ranked with the worst perimeter defense in the NBA, allowing opponents to hit 42 percent of their 3-pointers.

They didn't do anything to improve that number on Tuesday night.

The Bucks, who entered the game with the lowest 3-point field goal percentage in the NBA, hit six of their first nine 3s. Many came off of strong dribble penetration. Milwaukee knocked down 53 percent of its threes over the course of the game.

This is the kind of performance Knicks fans might have to get used to.

Derek Fisher said earlier this week that he'd like the Knicks to prioritize paint defense and transition defense over defending the 3-point shot.

"We talk to our guys a lot about the fact that I think the 3-point shot is being analyzed so much as one of the most efficient ways to win," Fisher said on Sunday. "... And so we've kind of, I think, gone in to this emergency state of being afraid of teams shooting 28-foot shots as though that was going to beat you."

Fisher believes that opponents "won't beat" the Knicks from beyond the arc.

"What they'll do is that they'll beat you getting to the rim, getting points in transition," he said. "If we don't have our defense in and compact they're going to get to the foul line."

You can make an argument that the defensive philosophy isn't all that important for the Knicks this season. They might just not have the personnel to play strong defense.

With Tyson Chandler on the roster, New York finished 24th in defensive efficiency last season.

Chandler is now in Dallas and, outside of Iman Shumpert and Samuel Dalembert, the Knicks don't have many players with a strong defensive pedigree.

So it's not all that surprising that the Knicks rank 25th in points allowed per possession.

But it's fair to wonder if Fisher's approach to defending the 3-point arc will hurt the Knicks in the long run.

Last season, some of the most successful teams in the league defended the perimeter well.

Seven of the teams that ranked in the top 10 in opponent 3-point field goal percentage finished in the top six in their conference.

Conversely, only two of the teams that finished in the bottom 10 in opponent 3-point field goal percentage made the playoffs. The Knicks were among the eight teams in that group to miss the playoffs. Will they meet the same fate this season thanks to their leaky perimeter defense?

Question: What do you think is the Knicks' biggest issue on defense this season? Do you agree with Fisher's strategy on defending the perimeter?

You can follow Ian Begley on Twitter.