Knicks 118, Hornets 109 (OT): “The unsung hero for us”
These young but maturing Knicks continued to impress once again, pulling out a win late in a game that a previous iteration of the team may have lost vs. the Hornets on Saturday.
In this season of unfathomable leaps, the Knicks beat Charlotte 118-109 in overtime, because of course they did. Because that way they’re still alive for the fourth or fifth seed entering the final day of the season, the madcap cap to this unforeseeable season from out of the blue and orange nowhere. As was the case Tuesday in Los Angeles, the Knicks found themselves in an overtime nail-biter against a team with something to play for. This time around, the Knicks made the plays needed down the stretch to win.
After New York spent much of the first half up double-digits, Charlotte was down 17 in the third. Then Jalen McDaniels and Miles Bridges went to work, the former from downtown, the latter from above the rim. Bridges scored 16 in the third; by the end of the quarter the lead was down to three.
Over a stretch that carried into the fourth, the Hornets made 13 of 16 shots. After this nifty layup by Devonte’ Graham they went up four:
At its best, basketball is symmetry, flow. It’s lovemaking. The last six minutes of regulation were the Knicks and Hornets fumbling over each other and into one another, treating their bodies like amusement parks — condemned, abandoned amusement parks. Neither team could score for minutes on end. A Julius Randle 3-pointer and long two seemed like the straw that’d break the Hornets’ back, but Terry Rozier tied it in the last minute. Overtime crooked a finger.
In added time, the best player on either team played like it. Randle opened the 49th minute by drawing a foul on a jumper. Shortly after that, he found Alec Burks behind the arc. Knicks up five.
Then he found Reggie Bullock behind the arc. Knicks up eight.
Then he found Noel underneath. Randle’s sixth triple-double of the season wasn’t a pedestrian triple-dub, if there is such a thing; this was a 33-point, 10-rebound, 13-assist masterpiece. He made four 3-pointers and gave the team 46 minutes on a day they needed every one of them. Elfrid Payton had a nightmare beginning, even for him — after New York went up eight early, Payton fouled Rozier as he made a 3-pointer, giving him a 4-point play. A few minutes later, after the Knicks were up six, Payton committed his second foul, giving Bridges a 3-point play.
Escaping Elf’s private hell meant going to your happy place. In this one that could have meant Bullock drilling long ball after long ball early, or Derrick Rose microwaving soup off the bench, or Immanuel Quickley pouring in a fast 11, or the Knicks making a dozen 3-pointers before halftime.
Like the win over the Spurs, the Knicks pulled out a close one late. They won’t see a team as weak as those two in their playoffs, but any experience winning close-and-late is meaningful muscle memory for a maturing young team.
Notes
Eight points, 11 boards, five blocks and a couple of steals. Why it’s so easy to love Noel, in one clip:
Randle has made 158 3-pointers entering the last game of the season, a total John Starks and Allan Houston each passed only once during all their years in New York. So weird. So weird.
The rare RJ technical foul early in this one, only his second of the season.
Good scoring efforts for Rose, Burks and Quickley, though the Knick bench was outscored by the Hornets’, thanks to Bridges and Graham scoring 30 and 25, respectively.
Quoth Randle regarding Noel: “He’s the unsung hero for us.” When Noel plays like he did in this one, the Knicks can compete with anyone. We’ll see who he matches up with and how once the playoffs are all set. The last game is Sunday at 1 PM when the Knicks host the Celtics. Something will be at stake for New York’s postseason position. See you then.
