Knicks 116, Heat 107: Like falling in love
The Knicks came back to win a game they should have won because these Knicks are just that good
The New York Knicks are better than the Miami Heat.
You may have thought that recently. Knick die-hards will insist New York could’ve/should’ve/would’ve won the 2023 playoff matchup between the two, if not for injuries/refs/Pat Riley’s ritual blood magic. And last year the Knicks finished second in the East while Miami dropped all the way to 8th, a play-in desperado – albeit one whose 46 wins weren’t out of sight from New York’s 50. I haven’t thought that thought in many, many moons.
You have to go back 25 years to the last time the Knicks weren’t just ahead of the Heat, but demonstrably superior, to the extent that newborn children come into the world knowing it. Last night’s 116-107 Knick win in Miami would have stood out even in recent years, as the Heat have been one of their bugaboos in the Thibodeau era. It would have stood out as Karl-Anthony Towns’ signature game as a Knick (four games in). It would have stood out for the visitors’ second-half dominance. And for all those reasons, it did. (It would not have stood out for another Josh Hart stir-fry special, where he threw in a lot of everything, if only because that’s sorta Hart’s thing. That doesn’t mean it should be overlooked. What a player.)
Non-Dominican Knicks shot 30% in the first half. But with Towns scoring 24 of their 52 points at the break, the deficit was only six. And KAT wasn’t settling for threes, if that’s even a thing you can accuse a career 40%-shooter from deep of doing. For the first time since Patrick Ewing, the Knicks had the biggest and baddest dude on the floor in South Beach.
Which made their first-half struggles the opposite of whatever nostalgic is. Like too many nights when #33 was doing his thing and his teammates were doing nothing, #32 was a man on an island in the first half. Then the third quarter arrived and so did the rest of the Knicks. The non-Dominican starters shot 10-of-15 in the frame, while outside of Tyler Herro the Heat were continually off-center, and eventually off-putting. To be fair, that wasn’t the most off-putting effort they gave their fans this week.
The Knicks had 16 assists to just three turnovers after the entr’acte, with Jalen Brunson looking a bit like Sabrina Ionescu this year with the New York Liberty. The Liberty made roster changes that could (and ultimately did) result in a better, stronger team, but making that happen meant Ionescu changing her game, at times doing less of what she’s so good at so others could do more of what’s needed. She defended better than ever, improved as a playmaker and thus was able to lead a lineup down the stretch of the championship game that hadn’t played a minute together all year to a title.
Brunson spent much of last night in a facilitator role rather than looking to score. He’ll always be a scoring threat, maybe the Knicks’ best, even ahead of Towns. But if he levels up as a set-up man, the Knicks level up as a contender.
Towns scored 20 in the second half, on even better shooting (8-of-11) than the fireworks display in the first (9-of-14). Whether out on the perimeter or down in the paint, he was Tony Montana to Miami’s Frank Lopez.
The Knicks hit different this year. Even with Mitchell Robinson and Precious Achiuwa still unavailable, they look bigger. They look badder. This is a baby monster yet to find its footing, yet their promise is water-clear. They smushed the Indiana Posers. They went down to the wire with against Cleveland, a team that’s been together so long if they were a marriage the sex would’ve stopped years ago. Then they went down to middling Miami and exposed them as meh.
Not to make a mountain out of the molehill that is October basketball. But there’s something undeniably exciting about this team, even in its infancy. This was the first season since 2000 that I came into thinking “The Knicks can get to the Finals.” Thinking such a thing is like being alone for years and suddenly one day realizing you’re open to love again. Seeing the Knicks play and win like they did last night, a win that felt always a matter of “when” and not “if,” was as electric as realizing you’re holding hands with someone and in love again. Next game is Friday in Detroit. No heartbreak need apply.
