Knicks 112, 76ers 99: “I too want to win!”
Kemba Walker finally found his groove as Kemba Walker, and the Knicks broke a nearly half-decade long streak of losses to the division rival Sixers at Madison Square Garden.
Record of Ragnarok is an anime series on Netflix. Its premise: humanity faces extinction at the whims of the gods. The gods agree to participate in Ragnarok, a tournament of 13 one-on-one fights to the death between a god and a human. The third bout is between Poseidon and Kojiro Sasaki, the legendary swordsman. Sasaki is renowned as “the greatest loser in history” — he’s never won a match. Winning was never his goal. He spent his life (and afterlife) traveling, looking for the best of the best, always surrendering once he knew he couldn’t beat them. While he fought, he studied his opponents’ moves. Later he’d fight them in his head, hundreds, even thousands of times, however many it took to finally best them. TL;DR?
The New York Knicks entered last night’s home affair as Sasaki to the Philadelphia 76ers’ Poseidon. Philly crawled out of the primordial Process ooze four years ago, evolving into an Eastern power and an unstoppable force against New York, especially, beating them 15 straight times. Last night the Knicks got the god off their backs, handling the Sixers with relative ease, 112-99. The hometown heroes are 3-1, having wiped away the taste, if not the memory, of Sunday’s tragic Magic collapse. The Era of Good Feelings is back.
If the Knicks were a baseball team, the bench was last night’s winning pitcher, RJ Barrett was the opener and Kemba Walker handled the closing duties. Barrett has had some rough lines early this season, but he was the offense in the early going, finishing a downhill drive off a Mitchell Robinson pick and showing the outside touch.
As soon as Sixer All-Star Joel Embiid went to the bench late in the opening quarter, the Knick bench went to work. Pick your poison: retro Derrick Rose?
Late-stage 3-point marksman Rose?
Immanuel Quickley impersonating Rose’s off-the-dribble magic?
By the time Tom Thibodeau started sending the starters back in, the tide had turned. This lovely sequence was a welcome riposte to those who paint Thibs as a neanderthal who never paints outside the lines or mixes starters and reserves.
The Knicks did a good job building and holding a lead without Randle having to be MVP Randle. But the last time New York defeated Philadelphia, three of their starters were Maurice Ndour, Willy Hernangomez, and Ron Baker. I couldn’t help feeling like this was the build-up before the pratfall. Then Kemba put on his No. 42 Yankees jersey and went to work shutting the 76ers down. Three games into the season, some have raised concerns about Walker’s lack of points in the paint, but last night he was Mariano Rivera. If it looks like he just kept throwing the same pitch over and over again, it’s because that’s the only one he needed.
Walker led a balanced attack that spun a 39-16 second quarter into a 20-point lead at the half. Don’t forget the defense: Philadelphia mustered just 42 points by the break, ended the first half with a 24-second violation, and only avoided opening the second with another because Seth Curry was whistled for traveling just before the shot clock expired. The Knicks would not relent. Neither would the Bronx Bomber.
His third-quarter 3-pointer to put the Knicks up 24 was the moment my awareness that Kemba Walker is not Elfrid Payton traveled from my brain to my balls. Knowing what an orgasm is has nothing to do with knowing what one feels like. Rarely have I enjoyed typing up consecutive game notes as much as I did these:
It’s the Halloween season; maybe that’s why even without Ben Simmons around — because sometimes humans don’t feel comfortable or valued at work, and if you’re financially secure enough to not go in to a place that causes you stress and anxiety… — I kept waiting for Embiid to don a Jason Voorhees mask and lead a brutal comeback. Philadelphia pulled within 14 a few times, which was usually when Rose would find a way to score from somewhere and push the lead back to a comfy 16-plus. Evan Fournier’s 3-point play with just under five minutes remaining was the first time I de-clenched a tiny bit; his 3-pointer with 2:30 left let me relax for good.
The Knicks ended up with 16 long balls versus the Sixers’ 12, but for much of the night that was one of the glaring differences between the teams: New York opened 9-14 from deep versus Philly’s 2-14. Some may be tempted to dismiss the significance of this win, because 3-pointers are volatile vagaries, no Simmons, etc. But 3-pointers are like home runs: they’re not just points/runs, they’re momentum. For years the Knicks haven’t been able to beat the 76ers. This is a big win for this franchise, bigger than most. It shows they can outslug someone who’s had their number for years. That’s always a good day.
Notes
The numbers will never tell you, but Mitch was a big part of the win. Beefy Mitch helped hold Embiid to just two baskets all night and a -8 rating.
Robinson’s presence extended beyond the defensive end.
On RJ’s first 3-pointer, Kemba passed up a decent look in the paint to kick it out to him in the corner. Easy shot at points in the paint to kick out to RJ for a corner three. In the third, Walker drove into the paint and dished it to Fournier in the corner, who missed. Just a reminder that statistics are representations of reality, not translations of it. Something to share with the next Knicks fan you see ready to jump off a building because of an early, early-season anxiety.
Someone on TV recently said Rose is a Hall of Famer, and I immediately thought “No he’s not.” I tend to think of Rose in comparison to someone like Grant Hill, another unbelievable talent whose career was curtailed by devastating injury. The Basketball Hall of Fame is about one’s total career and contributions, not just their NBA legacy. Hill won back-to-back college championships in an era where guys spent years in college, whereas Rose was one-and-done at Memphis; plus Hill was at the peak of his powers for six seasons, about twice as long as Rose. But if Rose sustains a 3-4 year run as an elite sixth man, especially if he continues with the improved shooting from deep, he pro’ly does belong. In keeping with the baseball analogy earlier, Rose reminds me of David Cone and Pedro Martinez: two pitching geniuses who threw gas when they were young and ended their careers as crafty masters of ball movement and changing speeds.
We were treated to more “O-bi!” chants, along with the first “O-bi To-ppin!” I can remember. What if Toppin’s good? Like, meaningfully good? That puts a new spin on this team, don’t it?
Obi’s athletic dexterity is an underrated, unmistakable asset.
Alec Burks was inches ahead of Toppin on a 2-on-0 break, kept the ball and missed at the rim. A deserved punishment from the basketball gods. Pass to the dunk contest dude next time!
Quickley defending a 4-on-1 Philly fast break by blitzing the ball-handler at the free throw line was... certainly one choice he could make. Maybe there were no good choices in that moment, but that was definitely not the best of the bad options.
A pretty and-one by second-year Sixer Tyrese Maxey in transition! Who’d you rather have: him or IQ?
Kudos to Stan Vun Gundy on the national broadcast for adding his voice to the chorus begging the NBA to stop fouls that abort fast breaks. Most of us aren’t watching the NBA to see how smart teams can be strangling the life out of the unpredictable. Let them dunk.
Somehow Andre Drummond is only 28 years old. I swear I saw that dude guard Rony Seikaly back in the day.
Separated at birth?
Quoth Sasaki while fighting Poseidon: “I too want to win!” The Knicks are still establishing a new era in their history; they’re not yet at the point where they’re judged exclusively on how their playoffs turn out. The regular season still matters with this team, and last night was a regular season high point. Don’t stay in the clouds too long. Next game is tomorrow in Chicago against the undefeated Chicago Bulls. Imagine how good it’d feel if the Knicks knock their historic rivals off their f@#$ing perch. See you then.
