Knicks 116, Heat 112: The worse the real world is, the better the Knicks
After Friday’s last-second win in Memphis, the Knicks had enough left in the tank to heartbreak the South Beach boys, too
In a year featuring one high point and starry show after another, the New York Knicks saved their best for last night with their biggest comeback of the season, a 116-112 overtime victory in Miami MSG South. Despite trailing the first 45 minutes, being down 19 in the third and behind by double-digits more than halfway through the fourth, the Knicks never let up, taking over yet another road arena before taking over the game, too.
Jalen Brunson had five points at halftime. He finished with 31, 18 coming in the paint in another virtuoso performance that saw New York progress from being blown out to being in yet another late-and-close contest. At this point with Brunson, it’s like a spider leading its prey to its web – once the game reaches crunch time, he has the opponent right where he wants them. The Heat threw a hodgepodge of bigger, stronger and/or aggressive defenders at El Capitán: Davion Mitchell; Haywood Highsmith; Terry Rozier. Brunson shot 9-of-10 inside the arc from the third quarter on, assisted by the Knicks eventually figuring out that if they kept Karl-Anthony Towns out above the break, the Heat wouldn’t dare send Bam Adebayo to double JB. Anytime in the halfcourt or transition that Brunson saw no Bam between him and the hoop, he got to the hoop and scored.
Brunson is now nearing a daily degree of dominance you don’t see very often, even in an area a dozen pro sports teams call home. Ron Guidry in 1978 . . . Doc Gooden’s 1985 . . . Aaron Judge last year (pre-October, natch). That’s about it. The last time the metropolitan area had a basketball player so seemingly destined to make all the biggest shots in all the biggest moments?
But as the good book says, man shall not live by big heads alone. Besides Brunson, OG Anunoby was super-charged for this game, showing a motor and even a mouthiness we’re not accustomed to but loved glimpsing. 23 points, nine rebounds, five dimes, four threes, three blocks, two steals, disappearing Tyler Herro as a factor late in the game and also handling Adebayo down the stretch. OG even set the reverse screen halfway through overtime that sprung Brunson for what was the game-winning trey.
Anunoby hit big jumpers. He drove down the lane for a soaring throwdown; he also had the game-clinching dunk in the last 20 seconds of overtime. Tom Thibodeau called his play “phenomenal” postgame. That’s the least you can call it when OG not only did so much tangible good, but also had a huge putback late in OT to keep the Knicks within striking distance. He even talked some s@#% to Rozier after annihilating his shot out of bounds, possibly helping push Scary Terry into an ill-advised technical foul that helped the Knicks in their comeback. This was the rare but radiant “OG’s jersey is untucked!” game, always a sure sign Dr. Jekyll isn’t available but Mr. Hyde will see you now. When OG’s a-boasting, this team is a-coasting.
Anunoby turning up to 11 was essential on a night Towns seemed more a decoy than a scoring threat. Maybe it’s the recent knee discomfort, or the knee discomfort from January, or seeing his minutes climb every month – 32 per game in October, 34 in November, then 35, 36 and eventually 37 in February – but KAT has been fading for a bit. After being an enormous net positive all season, peaking at +17.1 in December and +9.6 in January, last month was his first as a net negative (-2.8). Before the All-Star break Towns made 44% of his threes. Early days and small sample since, but in five games after the break he’s just 8-of-36 from deep (22%).
Always grateful for the work he puts in on the glass, including another 16 rebounds in this win, but KAT hasn’t looked for a while now like the guy who the first half of the season was so clearly superior to Julius Randle. Hopefully that boils down to him healing up from his assorted aches and pains. With Brunson and Towns both at full strength, the Knicks are a full-on problem. If the Big Bodega approximates Myles Turner without the shot-blocking . . . blecch.
And yet the Knicks continue to find ways to win, whatever it takes. They dominated the second-chance points 19-8. For the second straight game, their opponent turned the ball over late in clutch time thanks to an eight-second violation; unlike the one a relentless Bridges forced from Ja Morant in Memphis, last night’s was the result of Tyler Herro casually dribbling up the floor with all the hurry of a family of five tourists walking in front of you. That was Erik Spoelstra’s team out there suffering so many cramps and farts all up in their collective cranium.
Meanwhile, credit to Thibs: on a night Bridges couldn’t hit the broadside of the president’s backside (he did contribute eight assists, with no turnovers), Deuce McBride saw more playing time over the second half and overtime, drilling three threes while finishing second only to Brunson in plus/minus. The Knicks went nine-deep again, as they did against the Grizzlies in Mitchell Robinson’s first game back in action. If last night hadn’t gone to overtime, it would have been the second straight game the Knicks staged a dramatic, long-running, late comeback win without a single starter breaking 40 minutes.
And maybe it’s time to look to what could be the positives of cramming all those top-heavy minutes into this year’s squad. The Knicks are now a league-best 5-0 in overtime games, while their clutch and super-clutch numbers rank at or near the top of the league while continuing to trend up. I believe the win over the Heat makes it 10 straight clutch wins for the Knicks, “clutch” defined as games in which the teams are within five points of each other entering the final five minutes. They also improved to a league-best 6-1 in games decided by three points or less.
Miami has always been a second home for Knicks fans, especially when staging their largest comeback of the season there. The joint was legit r-o-a-r-i-n-g with MVP chants for Brunson, as well as a late and loud “Let’s go Knicks!” A big win, obviously, especially with the teams in front of New York (Boston) and behind them (Indiana) both winning. The sooner the Knicks can lock themselves into a playoff seeding, the sooner they can begin resting (in theory) and preparing for the postseason. Next game is Tuesday when they host Golden State. That could be fun.
