Knicks 122, Rockets 97: “Had to get off on the right start”
The Knicks did what they had to do to start their road trip — they beat a bad Houston team. Julius Randle treated it like a routine affair, some Knicks actually got some fourth quarter garbage time minutes, and New York got its tune-up for the other five difficult games on this road swing.
Know what this is?
LLWLLLLLLLWLLLLLLLLLLLLWLLLLLLLLW
That was the New York Knicks’ record against the Houston Rockets between 2004 and last year. Know what this is?
WW
That’s the Knicks sweeping this year’s season series after last night’s 122-97 thumping. And that’s not even the best buzz in this Soma-soaked season. It’s this team coming so far so fast — remember: the Knicks were a two games below .500 team less than a month ago — that when my DVR flat-out refused to play past Derrick Rose hitting a 3-pointer late in the second quarter to put New York up 18, then jumped all the way to the 4:00 mark in the third, I did not fear the worst. My pulse never quickened. My heart? Steady. My hand didn’t shake.
The Mets played last night, too, and were up 8-4 entering the ninth. I flipped from them to the Knicks knowing the Mets would at best make things interesting and could very well blow it. They nearly did, and I mean nearly. When my DVR returned to action, Julius Randle was hitting from deep and the lead was 17. My faith was rewarded. What a season! What a team.
The Knicks are 20.5 games ahead of the Rockets, a brave new world whose mandate came courtesy of a 16-1 first quarter run after Randle nailed a corner 3-pointer, then did unto Reggie Bullock what he himself had done.
Immanuel Quickley’s effervescence renaissance kept on keeping on.
Hindsight is not, no matter what they tell you, 20/20. Hindsight can lead you astray. Hindsight’s all “duh” when the box score shows the Knicks held Houston under 100 on just 8-35 shooting from distance (23%; by contrast, Elfrid Payton is 29% from deep). But millions of Knick fans came into this game with their Spidey Senses all a-tingling, and not just because of the Knicks coming up short-handed so often in this matchup. Christian Wood is a walking bucket who, in a universe where Randle doesn’t exist, would be on the short list for Most Improved Player. Kevin Porter Jr. had a 50-point, 11-assist game three days ago. Volcanoes are quiet 99% of the time, but the 1% they’re not, they change history.
So credit is due to one of New York’s core strengths this season: consistency. This team is a defensive buzzsaw that came into a lousy team’s arena and never gave them a sniff of a shot at winning this game. The Knicks didn’t just win; they played well enough for Randle to rest the whole fourth quarter. Given what the rest of the road trip looks like, starting tonight in Memphis, that was big.
The Knicks built the lead throughout the first half and pulled away in the third behind their leading man, who scored 15 in the frame, more than one a right pretty sight.
The Knick bench outclassed their counterparts. Rose was in a wonderful rhythm to watch all game long, making 4-6 2-pointers, 4-5 3-pointers and 4-4 free throws. Immanuel Quickley dropped in three 3-balls of his own. In a better world, this one would be worth four.
In this world, the Knicks are winners of 11 of 12, two up in the loss column in the race for home court in the first round, and pretty persistently pleasantly surprising us. There are worse worlds than ours.
Notes
Calling all oldheads: lend your insight to this matter if you have any. I cannot remember a Knick ever taking a single-season leap the way Randle has this year. David Lee comes to mind as someone who grew immensely over his career and always improved year after year, but with Lee it was a gradual accumulation of skills. Randle’s leap this year is evolutionary.
I’ve also never seen a Knick leader so willing to share the wealth by looking for others when they’ve got the shot lined up themselves. More than once in this game Randle passed on makeable midrange looks or pull-ups in the paint to find Bullock or Barrett behind the arc for a clean look. Carmelo Anthony is perhaps unfairly remembered as a ball hog, but go check the footage of every late-and-close ‘90s Knick playoff game. Any time anyone besides No. 33 puts up a last-second shot — be it a lowly serf like Hubert Davis or a fellow top-shelf scorer like Allan Houston — you’ll see Ewing’s arms raised, calling for the ball. I don’t fault the Big Fella. Atlas didn’t carry the weight Ewing did with the Knicks. Just saying: Randle brings a dimension to his greatness I’ve never seen with any of the Knicks GOATs of my lifetime.
Courtesy MSG: Randle made 168 career 3-pointers before this season; 143 and counting after another four tonight. Does it still surprise you how commonplace it’s become for Julius Randle to be hitting four 3-pointers?
How much better does Taj Gibson look on a good team than a bad one? I don’t see him doing much all that differently from last year. But this year his value is just so big and blatant and meaningful. Malik Rose was a valued bench player on two championship teams in San Antonio, a guy who did a lot of the little things that can make a big difference for a team navigating the narrow margins of title contention. On the Isiah Thomas Knicks, Rose was a hood ornament on piece of shit car that didn’t run.
Nerlens Noel sprained his left ankle in the first half and did not return.
Some nice shot attempts by Kevin Knox in garbage time. Didn’t finish any of them, but they were fun tries. To be clear, I say “fun” as a fan who seeks pleasure in the visual consumption of the greatest basketball players on Earth playing basketball. I don’t know how good Knox can be, but I enjoy watching him play.
A game in Houston and the Rockets are wearing all blue. The other day against Chicago there was virtually no Knick blue or Chicago red.
Obi Toppin’s shot-blocking and shot-altering has been a welcome development during the season. I’m intrigued by what kind of player he could look like after a Summer League and training camp. I was going to say the playoffs could give him some valuable insights, too, but then I remembered the only time Toppin will see in the playoffs is the 28 seconds Randle is out with either foul trouble or being ejected after double-technicals in a frustrating late-and-close loss.
Kevin Porter Jr. can play and he’s still only 20. He put Elfrid Payton in quick foul trouble, then immediately drew a shooting foul on Elf’s replacement in Rose. MSG trivia: his 50-piece the other night made him the fourth-youngest NBA player to score that many. Who was the youngest?
KPJ did turn me off when he took an inbounds with a little over two seconds left in the first and dribbled the clock out. We know you’re 16-49, but you don’t have to look like you’re 16-49.
There was talk around the trade deadline of Kelly Olynyk possibly coming to the Knicks. I have secretly always wanted him to spend some time here, just because over his entire career I’ve imagined the tabloid back pages doing something with his last name ending in NYK and now it’s all built up and I just wanna see it.
Trivia answer: OAKAAKUYOAK Brandon Jennings.
Quoth Randle: “...had to get off on the right start.” That they did. The degree of difficulty takes a quantum leap tonight in Memphis. The overtime win over the Grizzlies in New York was the wind beneath the wings of New York’s ascent. Hopefully there’s no turbulence this time either.
