Knicks 101, Hawks 87: “KEM-BA WAL-KER!”
The Knicks fired on all cylinders at home on Christmas day, gifting the fans a dominant win over the hated Hawks at the Garden.
One holiday season years ago, I was single and living in Buffalo. I’d fallen for a boy who I’d thought was interested until he invited me out to meet his girlfriend. I agreed, intent on hating her. The second we met, I forgot about him and fell entirely for her.
It was completely innocent. I didn’t make a move or have any plans to. I really liked him and they were a stunning couple. I was content to enjoy them each from a distance. Then one night over the holidays we all decided to meet at a bar. I got there first and was nursing a gimlet when there she was, sitting right next to me at the bar. He was about 10 feet away.
“So when are you and I gonna make out?” she said. Just like that, the sea became the sky. Everything was upside down and exactly as I’d hoped it could be, even if I’d never believed it.
The New York Knicks were embarrassed last year in the playoffs by the Atlanta Hawks. They entered their Christmas Day showdown 12th in the East, looking up at last year’s nemeses. They exited with a 101–87 win, their sixth straight regular-season victory over the ATL. The Hawks were without a billion players, as all teams are nowadays; they were also without Trae Young due to COVID, so thousands of well-intentioned cursing fell on absent ears.
The Knicks are only now getting players back from the COVID protocol; they’ll feel no pity for other teams being shorthanded. New York entered the game four games below .500, tying their low water mark under Tom Thibodeau. The bad news is, even with the win they remain on the outside looking in, as close to 13th-seeded Indiana as they are to 10th-seeded Toronto. The good news: the Knicks have won three of five, and not only are they getting healthier, but the schedule is friendly for weeks and several players are showing signs of their former, better selves. While both clubs were without many of the players who’d be in their postseason rotations, the Knicks have to be encouraged by the performances of a few players who figure to be especially important should they reach the playoffs again.
Last year, Obi Toppin spent most of the year as a rumored bust. He showed signs late in the season and in the playoffs vs. Atlanta. No Knick has taken a bigger leap this season, literally or figuratively; Toppin scored nine straight in the second quarter to help the Knicks maintain the lead they built in the first.
He didn’t just get the crowd going in this one. You know you’re athletic when other world-class athletes can’t help jumping with delight at your jumping. This some joy to the world hops.
Late in the first half, Evan Fournier, signed to present more of a multidimensional threat than Reggie Bullock did in the first-round series with the Hawks, got hot, providing the distance in New York hitting the break up 10.
Mitchell Robinson’s box score is not Springfield bound — just four points and eight rebounds. Mitch was out injured when these teams met in the playoffs. Without their biggest and most talented center, Clint Capela ran roughshod over Robinson’s understudies: the Hawk big man averaged 10 and 13.5 on 67% shooting over the five-game series, better numbers than Nerlens Noel and Taj Gibson combined (they played 60 more minutes than Capela). But Mitch blocked five shots in holding Capela to just six points and nine boards. After Young, Capela killed the Knicks more than any other Hawk last postseason. If Mitch is healthy and at least canceling out his match-up, the scales tilt quite a bit toward a fairer fight.
Julius Randle had arguably the GOAT regular season in Knicks history last year, then became the goat to many people during and after (and for some, ever since) his playoff struggles. Part of what’s made Randle’s play vs. Atlanta so mystifying is the level to which he dominated them through last year’s regular season. Today was our first glimpse in many a moon at Randle looking like the hot knife who cut through the NBA so gloriously in 2021.
There were other encouraging signs. Quentin Grimes hit five 3-pointers in 25 minutes, his second-most minutes this year after not playing in two weeks. RJ Barrett was a +9 in his first action since December 10. Perhaps you’re wondering how the recap’s gone this far burying the lede, i.e. the continued renaissance of the once-banished Kemba Walker. It’s only because I knew I couldn’t bury Walker’s brilliance for long.
Of late, nobody can. After scoring 50 in his first two games back, then 44 two nights ago, Lazarus continued to show the tomb was never his scene, recording a triple-double. Though he struggled with his shot, Walker was footloose and fancy free. He looked great. It’s possible his knees getting three weeks off has something to do with that, but credit where credit’s due: Walker is a pro, he stayed ready despite zero evidence he ever would again, and he’s seized his starter’s spot back (one would think, at least for now), not to mention his hometown’s hearts.
Also, as you may have noticed in the video clips, MSG did a whole new look for the court. This dope.
Not much sweeter in this life than following Christmas presents with a Knicks win, especially against a team they may be fighting with to reach the play-in. Next stop is Tuesday in Minnesota, the start of a four-game road trip. Next step is to win two games in a row, something the Knicks have gone nearly two months without accomplishing. In the tight Eastern conference, win a few games in a row and your position can change pretty radically. May the Knicks’ seas soon be their skies. May you find peace and inner light as the year winds down.
