The Knicks faced off against the defending champs at home with their first significant COVID ravaging in two years. Things went as badly as expected, but an unexpected breakout from Quentin Grimes saved the day.

My parents were always obsessed with Seinfeld when I was a kid, to the point the'y’d watch the back-to-back repeats on Fox every weeknight before dinner like it was as necessary for them to live as the food we were about to consume. As a result, I swore off the show for years, because by the time you’ve seen every single episode a dozen times, it starts to get a bit grating.

Now an adult and at least 14 or so years removed from my parents’ daily Seinfeld routine, I decided to rewatch the show through my 31-year-old eyes that know what it is to be a grown-up (or at least know more of what it is to be a grown-up than I did then). No surprise, the show is way funnier to me now (and I love the flashback to a simpler time before the internet ran our lives, but that’s a separate convo entirely).

Anywho, there’s this episode where, among the many other things in the comedic web of the episode, George Costanza’s perpetually angry dad Frank starts following a stress and anger relief technique that has him say “Serenity now!” every time he starts feeling hot. Kramer, the titular character’s neighbor, starts using the technique as well, thinking that he’s dissipating his anger every time he utters the words (the anger he was attempting to dissipate was thanks to kids in his and Jerry’s apartment building repeatedly vandalizing Kramer’s “porch” he had set up in the hallway, which is weaved into a few different elements of the episode — but I’m not gonna give the whole synopsis here, just watch it, it’s on Netflix).

Eventually, it’s revealed that the “Serenity now!” technique doesn’t actually bring serenity, it just bottles your anger up, letting it fester until some anger-inducing event ultimately pops the top and causes a rage-filled meltdown of seismic proportions.

This Knicks season has just felt like a long string of opportunities to scream “Serenity now!”

“The Knicks lost to the Magic… the Magic might suck, but slip-ups happen! Serenity now!”

“Lost five out of seven games after starting 5-1? It’s OK, the team is just gelling! Serenity now!”

“Two young 40% 3-point shooters from last year can’t hit the side of a barn for weeks at a time? They’re young, they’ll figure it out! Serenity now!”

“The feel-good story of the season is out of the rotation after 20 games? It was always a risk, he had a balky knee! Serenity now!”

“None of the rim-protecting centers can protect the rim all that well on a consistent basis? They’ll get healthy and/or in shape, it’ll be OK! Serenity now!”

“The two highest paid players on the team are both not playing nearly as good as they did to earn those contracts? Well, at least neither of them are on a supermax deal! Serenity now!”

“The Knicks are a game… two games… three games… let’s be real, after Tuesday, four games under .500, 28 games into the season? At least Quentin Grimes scored 27! Serenity now!”

I don’t know when it’s going to be, or what’s going to cause it, but I feel like I’m a handful more 20-point deficits away from causing some real damage to my house.

Sunday’s game against the Bucks didn’t come without caveats — yes, the Knicks were missing two starters and arguably the most key player on the team, who happens to come off the bench. Obi Toppin and RJ Barrett were out thanks to COVID safety protocols — both players are vaccinated, so there is a chance they could be back as soon as Steph Curry’s record-breaking slaughter on Tuesday. Alec Burks was out for the birth of his child, so congrats to Alec for that, of course.

With that, Quentin Grimes got his first NBA start, and Derrick Rose took the reins at point guard. How the rest of the rotation would shake out was a mystery, but approximately 72 of the 240 minutes in a basketball game needed filling.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Knicks got in a huge hole early, falling behind 7-0, and then 20-10, and then 56-38 before the half, ultimately entering the break down 61-48 after a mini run dared to give me the smallest bit of hope.

A lot of that hope was thanks to Grimes, who started his coming-out party off with a 13-point first half featuring 3-5 shooting from deep and three lovely assists. I said on Twitter that I think there’s a clear path to him becoming Reggie Bullock with a handle, which people took as me saying that as his ceiling. Obviously the ceiling is higher, but if we’re talking about outcomes for Grimes that have about a 90% chance for him to be that good or better, Reggie with handles is that to me.

(That very type of move is the wrinkle that Evan Fournier was brought to the Knicks to do instead of Bullock, and yet I can’t remember the last time he pulled something like that off.)

Among other things that happened in the first half, Kevin Knox got into the game before Immanuel Quickley. That was certainly a thing that happened. Rose played well in his starting effort. Julius Randle and Fournier did not — with the Knicks short three very important players, their two highest paid guys combined for 11 points on 3-11 shooting in the first half.

In the second half, things went roughly the same. Grimes, not content to just be a one half flash in the pan, fucking erupted and hit three triples in a row on his way to a final stat line of 27 points and a Knicks rookie record seven made threes.

The Knicks, all in all, played alright in the second half. They only shot 38% overall, but managed to hit 37% of their threes and only lost the second half by two points to the defending champs. This was all with Randle and Fournier combining for three points on 1-6 shooting in the second half — apparently, like Grimes, they were determined to show their first half futility wasn’t a flash in the pan, either.

Basically, this game felt like a game from a Knicks season past, as long as that season wasn’t 2020-21 or 2012-13. The game was over before it began, full of disappointment from some of the highest-paid players, and left fans reaching up, grasping for optimism like a wayward swimmer trapped below a riptide.

Serenity now!

Notes

• In our Patreon-exclusive Strickland Discord (Strickcord), I’ve been one of the staunchest supporters of Mitchell Robinson. I think he really does still have it in him to be the great player we saw flashes of during his first three years in the league. But if a looming contract isn’t enough to motivate this guy to get in shape and play every minute like his livelihood depends on it, I don’t know if or when he’s going to ever hit his best self. His first half was deplorably bad, and he followed it up with a solid second half. And then made sure everyone knew what his plus/minus was after the game. Thanks, Wally Szczerbiak, show us your PER next. Nobody cares, play better.

• I’ve also been quick to defend Julius Randle, and even did literally on today’s Locked On Knicks. But he’s got to stop being so damn passive. I don’t know how the guy in this game and the guy that dominated the Chicago game a week ago are the same person. If Julius is indeed more of a “lead by example” leader than a vocal one, he’s got to make sure the example is one of him being aggressive and decisive at all times. Control what you can control, big guy.

• In case you were wondering, Kemba Walker’s time on the Knicks is over. I doubt I’ll be proven wrong on this assessment. Short three key players and a lot of guard minutes, today would’ve been the day to get Kemba a couple minutes and work on some stuff in a schedule loss. He stayed nailed to the bench while Rose played 37 minutes.

• Speaking of Rose, he was great, with 18 points and seven assists on 50% shooting. Putting Rose into the starting lineup is probably a cleaner fit than Burks, which would leave Quickley to take the backup point guard minutes and continue building that skillset. The best move would perhaps be to move Fournier to the bench and keep Burks in the starting lineup.

• I know it’s gonna be tempting to be like “Grimes has to start and/or play 20 minutes IMMEDIATELY,” but as great as his offensive performance was, his defense left a lot to be desired. He over-helped a few times and just straight up got burned on others. I’m not going to hold it against him or anything, he’s a rookie, but just gotta call a spade a spade. I hope he starts getting some incremental playing time, but he’s not gonna shoot 7-13 from deep every day to make up for the rookie lapses on the other end.

• I really missed that instant pop that Obi offers when he gets his customary “at least five minutes less than you were expecting” in every game. Despite some of the bench players playing better than the starters, nobody quite brought that same feeling that Obi does when he checks in and immediately makes a cut for a huge dunk.

• To my eye, the Knicks are doing a much worse job of funneling perimeter players to the middle this year, which has made rim protection a lot harder for the two already-hampered rim-protecting centers on the roster. I say screw it, once Obi’s back, just start playing small. Thibs definitely won’t listen to this rant if he reads it.

• Shoutout to Kevin Knox for scoring 18 points, his highest total since apparently January of this year, though if you would’ve asked me off the dome the last time he hit that number, I would’ve guessed his rookie year. Knox looked good shooting the ball and noticeably meh at everything else. Modern day Steve Novak seems like his career trajectory, at best.

• Thibs needs to start doing a better job. It’s not all on the players why the Knicks are as bad as they are right now. His rigidity is a huge detriment to the team at times, and he needs to also do a better job (or any job at all) of holding the big money vets as accountable as he does the guys on the rookie contracts if the Knicks ever want to turn this ship around.

That’s all I can muster for this game. Steph Curry’s going to come to MSG well rested on Tuesday looking to break the NBA’s all-time 3-pointer record. Four games under .500 feels inevitable. How the Knicks respond to that will be a big deal.

Serenity now!