The Knicks ran into a Pistons team that played hard and played well. It happens. The Knicks won. That happens more.

A wild thriller appears!

A home game expected to be a laugher turned into an epic, as the heavily favored New York Knicks eked out a two-point victory against the 8-49 Detroit Pistons. If you’d have told me at the start of the night that the Knicks would be trailing by one with ten seconds left and need a massive break pull out this win, I’d have assumed it was about to be a frustrating night. But friends, I sit here neither bothered or frustrated. Let’s dive into why.

Hart and soul

It’s weird how a basketball game can lull you to sleep. Maybe it was the low expectations (despite being shorthanded, the Knicks were double-digit favorites), but this game raced by for me. I have a tank-like memory for certain things, but my recollection of this one lies more in the evolving emotions it inspired. It started with gratitude.

As the Pistons, who have nothing to play for except developing their most important players, played meaningful minutes while all three of Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, and Ausar Thompson rested, it occurred to me that it hasn’t even been five years since miserably seeking silver linings was very much a Knicks fan experience. Luckily, those days are comfortably gone. Due to a series of shrewd transactions from Leon Rose and an infusion of culture by Tom Thibodeau, these Knicks have broken through the glass ceiling of lethargy to become something more reliable. As the great Mike Breen alluded to last night, there’s no such thing as a trap game for a team that brings the energy and quality these guys do night in and night out. No player encapsulates that more than Josh Hart.

Hart is a unique conundrum of a basketball specimen, a 6-foot-4 guard whose best attribute is rebounding, isn’t comfortable shooting a bunch of threes (the five he took last night felt like 20) and defensively prefers not to chase shooting guards around screens but who’d also rather not guard up on power forwards. He does all these things quite well, in fact, but seemingly begrudgingly. He is almost a modern-day Charles Oakley in a guard’s body. You never know what Hart’s going to bring on any given night — besides effort. Last night was no exception.

Hart was everywhere on both sides of the court. Cunningham had the type of game that should make Pistons fans feel like there is light at the end of this tunnel of misery — 32 points, eight assists, five 3-pointers, seven free throws — but Hart made him earn it. Offensively, Hart’s aggression was perhaps the most encouraging part of the game for Knicks fans. We know Thibodeau wants to play this guy major minutes, and if he’s going to be out there in the big moments he can’t be a non-factor as defenses load up on Jalen Brunson.

From friends to foes

On the backs of Hart, Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo, the Knicks cruised through the game, maintaining a lead that mostly hovered around double-digits. And then a funny thing happened. Two returning Knicks decided to make this game interesting. Quentin Grimes, who was quiet for three quarters, and Evan Fournier, who inspired the most noise of the night (the MSG crowd booed him each time he touched the ball), turned their respective energies up to maximum and helped their new team battle back.

Sometimes bad teams play well, and as I watched this game unfold I couldn’t help but think this was one of those nights. Grimes and Thompson traded possessions on Brunson, who finished with 35 and 12 assists but needed 26 shots to do so. Fournier had two steals, a scandal to anyone who watched him try to play defense in a Knicks uniform. Grimes scored 14 in sparking the Pistons’ fourth quarter comeback, showcasing an aggression with the ball in his hands that was fleeting when he was in New York (and probably the reason he was traded). He even tracked down what could have been the game-sealing rebound.

Ultimately, this is why I didn’t walk away from this one frustrated. Maybe I’m blinded by a lucky break that, for once, went in the Knicks’ favor. After Thompson got his hands on a steal with 10 seconds left and the Pistons up one, DiVincenzo almost tackled him, allowing Brunson to get the ball back and set up Hart for the game-winner. It certainly felt like the Knicks stole one. But they stole one from a bad team masquerading as a good one. The Pistons performed admirably. Sometimes that will happen in an 82-game season. Especially under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden.