Wrap this in cellophane. Place it in a safe place away from dust and wind. Let it continue to look and feel as fresh, new and authentic as it did Thursday night around 9:55 p.m., circa 1994, when 19,812 people jumped to their feet, cheered and greeted the final buzzer. Until this spring.
Want to know about this Knicks collection? This is your answer.
There were a dozen reasons they should have lost to the Pacers at Madison Square Garden. They were missing three starting pitchers and a key backup player. Even with resident magician Tyrese Haliburton on a minutes restriction, they were playing against a vibrant Indiana State. They trailed by 15 points in the second quarter, by 10 in the third, and by eight points early in the fourth. They were on the back foot for 42 straight minutes.
There’s only one reason they won this game.
Because they demanded to win the game.
And so it was. The final score was 109-105. Jalen Brunson, who had just been named an All-Star for the first time, did his part, scoring 40 points and scoring all the important baskets until the end, playing the final two minutes and making no mistake, going for the middle basket of the three. Ta. He could see after being poked in the eye.
“We kept fighting, dude,” Brunson said after the game, sucking in the last roar from the exiting crowd. “No matter what, we’ll keep fighting. Especially here, that’s what we do and fight.”
A final wave of gratitude from believers.
“This is an incredible place,” he said.
Now, this team is currently on a nine-game winning streak and 15 of 17 wins, and is only half a game behind the Bucks for second spot in the East. This time, Quentin Grimes joins the absent troika of Mitchell Robinson, Julius Randle and OG Anunoby, further diluting an already poor lineup. It didn’t matter. The Pacers have the highest-rated offense in the league. It didn’t matter.
The Knicks quickly led by six points, but with 120 seconds left, the referee used Brunson’s face as a speed bag and removed Indiana, giving the Pacers a sneaky lead at 100-99.
It didn’t matter.
“We have an All-Star and an MVP-caliber point guard,” said Donte DiVincenzo (20 points, two steals). “We’re playing together and we’re going to continue to play together. When you play like that, it’s hard to win.”
It’s impossible to beat them these days. These days, the Knicks seem to enjoy upping the ante, ignoring the missing pieces of the puzzle for now and throwing players like DiVincenzo (who missed 18 of 26 shots) and Josh Hart (from outside). He laughs off the tough night of filming. all six of his).
These days, there’s always more steadfastness to the plan than there used to be.
Was under the basket in the first half of the Knicks’ win. Robert Szabo of the New York Post
“Jalen was just Jalen,” Tom Thibodeau said.
Of course, as Brunson left the floor, begging to answer questions about his All-Star berth as the deafening Garden Losers chanted his name, his big smile turned teary-eyed. I almost did it, and in the end I trembled. his head. “I have nothing to say,” he said, and in saying that he said a lot.
He knew what else had to happen Thursday. He noticed three of his teammates grabbing double-digit rebounds: teammates Hart (12), Precious Achiuwa (16), and Isaiah Hartenstein (18). . He knew that Deuce McBride scored 16 points. That included a huge 3-point run that started the Knicks up 12-0, turning a six-point deficit into a six-point deficit midway through the fourth inning.
“We were down, we kept it going, and we came back and a lot of our guys stepped up across the board,” Hartenstein said. “The group of players we’ve got, the coaches we’ve got, we feel like we’re never going to give up no matter how big the team is.” [deficit] teeth. “
That’s it, there it is. That’s why this game belongs to Bubble Wrap and can be easily studied and admired. Because that best sums up this team. In the NBA, teams shrug their shoulders and accept the possibility and inevitability of always losing. At this point, for a month and a day, the Knicks have simply chosen not to do so.
It starts in Branson. That’s always the case. When Charles Barkley expressed his anger last week that Brunson wasn’t named an All-Star starter, he said something that’s been on his mind for the past two years. — I knew he was this good. ”
It is clear whether they did it or not. He’s this good, and that’s why the Knicks are this good. They had good reasons to lose this game. I decided to win anyway. Pack it up, put it on a shelf, and keep it safe.
