Knicks 114, Lakers 109: The tell-tale Hart(enstein)
In a game featuring multiple All-NBA and Hall of Fame players, a German-Oregonian back-up big showed the NBA how far he and the Knicks have come
11 years and one day before last night’s 114-109 Knicks’ win over the Lakers, LeBron James posted his first triple-double against the Knicks, to that point the 30th of his career. Last night was his 109th. Anthony Davis scored 34 points. Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle had 29 and 27. And none of them were the story.
There’s a store near me that sells clothes cheap. I can get a T-shirt for $8, a hoodie for not much more. The first time you wear anything from there, threads start loosening. First time you wash the clothes? You’ll need a DNA test to identify them. Five minutes down the street, there’s another clothing store. Much pricier. Incomparable quality. Your skin can taste the difference the moment those clothes slip on.
Three years ago the Knicks were a bargain hunters dream at the center spot. For $10.5 million, they featured Mitchell Robinson, Nerlens Noel and Taj Gibson. It’s become de rigeur to poo-poo Noel in retrospect, but he was a defensive gem that season, while Taj maxed out on grit and wisdom. Robinson missed most of that season with injuries, including the playoffs, where the threads started coming loose at the 5-spot. Clint Capela made New York’s back-up bigs look washed. And it wasn’t the gentle cycle.
Today, just like three years ago, Mitch is out hurt, and will miss a big chunk of time. Last night, his replacement in the starting lineup, Jericho Sims, injured his ankle, left after three minutes and is now in a walking boot. You might think LeBron and AD ran riot. That they didn’t, and that the Knicks – not a big team to begin with – won again while shorthanded size-wise is a credit to what happens when you shop for quality. It’s how you end up with an Isaiah Hartenstein.
Hartenstein’s early days as a Knick were a workplace rom-com, minus the romance and heavy on the comedy — dark comedy. If he wasn’t turning the ball over he was fouling somebody. He was fouling everybody; the Statue of Liberty couldn’t believe how often his arm was raised, either to hack or gripe. He was Noel with none of the shot blocking and all of the cinder block hands. It’s hard to adapt to living and working in New York City. It’s harder when tens of thousands of people are watching you mess up live while millions more see it on TV and rub it in on social media.
Last night Hartenstein suited up for 39 minutes, the most he’s ever played in a win in the NBA. 82% of his minutes came with AD on the floor. You might look at Davis shooting 14-of-22 and think Hartenstein didn’t do much. Look closer. Davis only got to the free throw line three times. If 82% of his minutes had come against Noel or Taj, his numbers would’ve have gone from Shaq-like to Wilt-like.
Nor can one underestimate the holistic impact of being able to trust one defender against one of the opponent’s two superstars. The Noel/Taj Knicks would probably have had to throw Randle at AD, at some point, at least for a spell. Instead, Randle mostly stayed on James, who shot just 3-of-9 against him. Outside of Davis, James and Austin Reaves, no Laker reached double-figures.
Also, it’s pretty rare for any team to just stick one defender on one scorer and have that match-up play out. Teams run pick-and-rolls now like they get a tax break for doing so; as the German field marshal Helmuth von Moltke observed, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Teams are going to switch. So measure AD’s numbers against LeBron missing five of his seven attempts against iHart, who looked good all night.
I mean, yes, he did look good entering the arena. I meant looked good as far as his play.
Hartenstein, the biggest man on the floor for either team, ran three miles, than anyone else who played (AD is listed as slightly heavier, though that likely includes the added weight of all the prosthetics and titanium holding his body together). If you’ve ever tried to workout after the holidays and discovered you’re trucking more freight than you used to, you know how much work an extra five or 10 pounds adds to cardio. Hartenstein played a bit less than James, yet covered 20% more ground, allowing him to contest 15 of L.A.’s 31 two-point attempts. Nor were his efforts restricted to the defensive end.
Hartenstein was third on the Knicks in touches and passes; he is, in the vaunted parlance of our times, a connector. Of his career-high 17 rebounds, seven – just two fewer than the entire Laker team – were offensive. The box score says iHart had but two assists, but best believe Randle, Brunson and Immanuel Quickley got a share of their 76 points thanks to German engineering. Hartenstein finished second only to Randle with a +15.
Talk around the Knicks always comes back to what’s characterized as a need, a feening or an unhealthy obsession with shopping for a top-shelf star. Hartenstein is a rugged real-time reminder of the benefits of paying more today to get more down the line. The Knicks next play tomorrow in Brooklyn. The Nets know all too well the risks of paying high prices today for yesterday’s quality. During this holiday season, New Yorkers can be grateful that, between the Knicks and the Liberty, the city houses two winning basketball teams.
