Knicks 116, Bucks 107: Winning weird

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro

All five Knick starters played a part in New York’s 116-107 season-series-sweeping win last night in Milwaukee. All five also did something weird or unusual.

• OG Anunoby was dialed in like you rarely see. I’m not saying OG is generally apathetic; I’m saying he came out like it was Game 7 of the Finals. He’s been more aggressive in the absence of Jalen Brunson, both in how many more shots he’s taking and how many of them feature Anunoby driving to the rim. When 80 inches and 230 pounds doesn’t feel like stopping, there’s not many who can make it. This was only the seventh time all season he took 10 threes in a game, while he tied his career-high with 10 free throw attempts. 

  Weirdly he somehow ended up a -2 on the night, but if this were hockey Anunoby was one of the game’s three stars. This was OG with his hair down, center stage, singing from his diaphragm. He was even going back and forth a bit with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Wonder if that had anything to do with the likelihood that if Giannis wants out of Milwaukee this summer and has eyes on New York, OG makes the most sense as the guy they’d send to the Bucks.

• Karl-Anthony Towns had a weird shooting night, in that he had a poor one. It was KAT’s first game shooting sub-40% in three weeks, since the first game without Brunson, the loss at the Clippers. This was also his first time beind held under 20 points since the night Brunson hurt his ankle against the Lakers. He may have committed the five most infuriating fouls you will ever see in your life. This was not KAT at his best.

  But it was KAT present, at least, existing, and whether in marriage or basketball, some days you just need to know the other person is still in there. Towns playing center creates space for everyone else. Pair Towns with Mitchell Robinson and that’s 14 feet of bigs who between them do it all. For all the anxiety over the minutes load this year (raises hand), Brunson appears likely to be the only starter who won’t play 70-plus games. You go 25 years without a generational center, you don’t take ‘em for granted. Towns helped build a 17-point lead in the first half, before OG went nuclear. If Damian Lillard were healthy that’d be tough sledding for the Bucks; with Lillard out, it was a non-starter.

• Josh Hart did not have a triple-double, which is weird because he seems to put one up every night. “Only” 13, 18 and 8 for Johnthony Starkson, a.k.a. the basketball love child of John Starks and Anthony Mason. It was a tough night for the 6-foot-4 Hart on the defensive end, where the taller Giannis and Kyle Kuzma had success scoring against him. But as Mother Nature takes with one hand, she gives with the other: Hart repeatedly torched the 7-foot Brook Lopez, scoring on him three times while dishing four dimes when matched up.

  Also, I will always love this about basketball. The bright red line drawn to separate the end of the game and the resumption of normal human relations. I wouldn’t automatically remember Hart and Lillard were teammates in Portland, but seeing their body language and warmth with one another, the memory flooded like endorphins. Always down for more of these scenes.

• Delon Wright started, which was weird, period. Not a sentence I expected to write at any point this season. Then again, I’m not sure I remember the Knicks ever being down their top three point guards, so needs must. I’m not sure I’ll ever forget the sight of Wright’s opening frame against the team that traded him, draining four baskets, including a couple of threes en route to 10 points that put the Knicks on the front foot from the start. I feel like you have a Delon Wright on your roster for nights like last night. He wouldn’t make some teams, and wouldn’t play much for most, but he’s a pro who can win you a game some nights and will never lose you one.

• Normally when you see someone went 12-of-24 from the field, and you know that included multiple threes, you figure that someone scored 30-plus points. Weirdly, Mikal Bridges did not, mostly because last night in one very specific way Bridges looked like he did before Brunson went down injured. Not a good way.

  In November, the first full month of the season, Bridges failed to get to the line in 12 of 15 games (80%). You don’t expect Frank Ntilikina numbers from someone you’re very likely extending in the next year for around a quarter-billion dollars. Grace meant granting Bridges a transition period, and in December and January he appeared to have settled in, failing to attempt a free throw only in 11 of 26 games (42%). Then February came and Bridges was back to forsaking freebies 72% of the time.
  In the first 10 games after Brunson went down, Bridges averaged nearly four free throw attempts per game; three of the four games he’s had his most this season have come in the past three weeks. Last night wasn’t necessarily a sin of omission on his part, though. While Bridges didn’t get to the line, he was no passive observer on offense, scoring multiple baskets against five different Bucks. After initially looking to score more after Brunson was lost, Bridges has been facilitating more the past week or two, coinciding with Anunoby’s growing profile as a scorer. If those two develop in new ways that can survive Brunson’s return, the Celtics and Cavaliers may both start looking over their shoulders.