RJ Barrett hit the game winner at MSG, Evan Fournier continued his dominance over Boston, and the Knicks won a beautiful symphony of a game at home to inch closer to .500.

Listen to this while you read.

“Adagio for Strings” is a piece of music whose complexity belies its surface. On the surface it’s a moving, somber, straightforward swelling of strings; there’s a reason it’s been used in a million films. But the theory behind it is richer than you might think. There are shifting time signatures throughout, split chords, an incredible dynamic range and a cadence that mirrors last night’s 108-105 New York Knicks victory over the eternal foe from Boston.

“Adagio for Strings” opens with four beats a measure, then quickly moves to five, back to four, eventually six, and ends with four. The Knicks and Celtics played a game of constantly shifting runs: Boston was up double-digits early behind the brilliance of their Mitchell Robinson, Robert Williams. New York made a bit of a run late in the first. If you listen around the two-minute mark of the song, you’ll hear the Knick run: the song begins to sound encouraging, hopeful, but it’s just an interlude before a longer phrase responds. That longer phrase was the second quarter and most of the third, which was was all Celtics behind Jayson Tatum and Dennis Schröder. Boston went up as many as 25 after nailing eight of their first nine 3-point attempts in the second.

The third saw the Knicks shift into comeback mode, and the fourth… well, we’ll get to the fourth.

“Adagio” also features split chords, which is when you hear a chord that’s simultaneously in major and minor. Major chords often sound happy and minor is usually sad; it’s rare to hear them together, rarer still to hear them together without sounding dissonant. It’d be like going out Friday night on Monday morning. Somehow in “Adagio,” what doesn’t seem to go together does; the split chords manage to fit conflicting choices into a singularity that works. That happened twice in last night’s game, each involving the heroes of New York’s last game vs. Indiana.

Julius Randle heard boos and MVP chants in the same game, running the emotional gamut about as wide as one can. “Adagio” at its softest is pianissimo, very soft, and its peak is fortissimo, very loud. The boos came in the third quarter, with the Knicks down 20 after committing their second 24-second violation of the quarter, the first having come when they had a 5-on-4 advantage after Marcus Smart laid on the floor after taking an RJ Barrett elbow to the face. The booing wasn’t anything crazy, nor was it unfair, and neither was Randle responding with a thumbs down he later explained as signifying “Shut the @#$% up.” 

Randle and Barrett, Tuesday’s heroes, missed their first 11 shots combined on Thursday. What could be more of an NYC split chord than that? What seems at first a dissonance — two sides arguing — is really two sides who both care deeply wanting the same thing. That’s as real as it gets. That’s the city on a cellular level.

Randle helped spark the comeback. The final bow came courtesy of Barrett, who struggled with his shot as he often does, but finished strong, as he often does. Barrett opened and closed the second half with 3-pointers. The symphony swirled thanks to contributions on both ends from Immanuel Quickley and a career night for Evan Fournier, who turns into Steph Curry whenever he plays Boston. Fournier tied J.R. Smith’s Knick record with 10 3-pointers en route to a career-high 41; his onslaught from deep in the final frame set up the fat lady for the final note. 

A 21-3 Knick run bridging the third and fourth quarters cut a 20-point gap to three. Fournier hit five 3-pointers and two long 2-pointers to make it 1-point game with two minutes left. In the final minute, Quickley hit a runner off glass to put New York up two. After Marcus Smart missed from deep, RJ was fouled and hit one of two at the line. Smart drew a quick foul and hit both to pull the Celtics within one. Alec Burks struggled to inbound, nearly committing a five-second violation, before taking a gamble and connecting with Randle. That gamble would prove huge. 

After Randle made one of two, Tatum hit a jumper with 1.5 seconds left to tie things at 105. Because of the timeout Burks saved, the Knicks were able to advance the ball into the front court and draw up a last-second shot. If you listen to “Adagio” at 8:55, you’ll hear a phrase stated, then repeated a bit more slowly, the final two of the song. That’s how RJ’s final shot both symmetrized and surpassed Tatum’s.

This was the Knicks’ 217th win all time over the Celtics, their largest comeback since 2004, and their first buzzer-beater since 2013. Like “Adagio for Strings,” there were crests and collapses, loudness and quietude, pathos and beauty. A true Manhattan masterpiece. 

Notes

• Per Stan Van Gundy: New York came into this game with the league’s second-best D over the past eight games, trailing only Memphis. The Knicks have now won five of seven and got a lotta home games coming against not awesome teams.

• I have no problem with Randle taking issue with the fans. Patrick Ewing did too during his career. A lot of people responded to me tweeting that with “But that’s Patrick Ewing. Randle’s not Ewing.” I don’t see why you have to be the greatest Knick ever to call out fickle nonsense. The fans have every right to boo; the players have every right to their feelings about the fans’ feelings.

• Burks shot just 1-10, but contributed nine rebounds, seven assists and zero turnovers.

• It feels like the Knicks, especially in transition, are getting better at finding bigs with a little pinned in front of them. They found Mitch on one of these moments in the first.

• Fournier is now averaging 35 a game in three outings vs. Boston. If he does that again tomorrow, the Knicks need to seriously consider retiring his number next year.

• IQ was a nice defensive presence at times and played a big part in cutting the lead to single digits before the fourth.

• Tracy Morgan rocking a pharaoh necklace almost big enough to be a real pharaoh.

• Boston fell to 2-11 in games decided by five points or less. This was the fourth time this year they’ve blown a lead of 19 or more, the most in the NBA. 

• Not gonna lie — Tatum has one of my favorite shots in the league when he’s on. Shooting forms are like batting stances — whatever works, works, but some work cooler than others.

• Tatum was quite the playmaker. Lotta assists; coulda had more if his teammates could have hit some open looks. If he gets that skill on par with his scoring, he’s an MVP-caliber player.

• Kenny Anderson was at the game. Been following that man since his high school days. Bless you, Mr. Chibbs.

Quoth Brian Anderson calling the game-winner: “Good off the window!” The Knicks may feel like they’re looking at a mirror instead, as they’ll face these same Celtics again tomorrow in Boston. A win would clinch the season series over the Celtics and put the Knicks back at .500. See y’all then.