Last night’s game felt like it was going to be a loss, based off recent history. It had to be, right? But then the Knicks won, behind a huge night for the bench and a huge stretch run for RJ Barrett.

If you’re familiar with Charlie Brown forever failing to kicking a football, odds are you first encountered the circumferential Sisyphus as a child. 

You grew past adolescence and into your teen years, knowing all the while Chuck was still trying, still believing and self-deceiving. Maybe you stopped paying attention and went off to college, where you learned your heart was a softer, darker muscle than you cared to admit. Maybe you skipped school and took a gap year, or leapt into the workforce. Maybe you had no choice in what came next. Neither did Charles. He never stopped. He kept running and failing and aaugh!-ing over and over and over again. Then one day you’re adulting in a pandemic, gaining weight in places you didn’t think could get fat and ignoring all the evidence of your species barrelling toward self-extinction, when your phone buzzes and you see the news. Charlie Brown did it. That sonofabitch kicked the football. What now? That’s a question for later. Today we celebrate. ¡Viva la revólucion!

The Knicks entered last night having lost five of six games and eight of 10 decided by three points or less, including four heartbreakers in recent weeks. They exited with a 133-129 overtime victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. To continue the allusions to other sports, this was a night the Knicks did not have their best fastball and fell behind early. They had to mix up off-speed junk and hope for some late-inning magic from their bullpen and pinch-hitters. They found some, and in so doing won inter-conference eighth-seed bragging rights and, more importantly, held their ground in the East standings, where every seed between fourth and ninth is on a winning streak.

Elfrid Payton picked up two fouls in the opening three minutes, forced to the bench with the Knicks down 11-3. Derrick Rose checked in and dumbed out, sparking a 7-0 run and scoring nine in the opening frame.

But there were worrying signs from the start. Maybe teams have seen enough film of Julius Randle’s success this year that they’re attacking him in new ways. Maybe he’s exhausted — Randle’s on pace to set a career-high for minutes in a season in about two weeks, after which there are still 10 games left. For a while now, he’s been throwing a lot of jump-passes, which is problematic because even when they don’t become turnovers, they’re more frequently off the mark just enough to turn an open shot or a catch-and-shoot into someone just trying to retain possession. It’s commendable that he’s not just chucking bricks and making his teammates watch. He’s still looking to get others involved. Maybe that’s a less-sexy step in his growth: a star who knows when he doesn’t have it in him, so he does all he can to get his teammates going. But I do hope he stays aggressive as a scorer. If he’s not dishing and swishing, the Knicks are left fishing and wishing.

The Grizzlies got up double-digits early and spent most of the night cruising at that altitude, their defense hounding the Knicks into a casserole of 1-on-1 nonsense. Rookie Desmond Bane looks like a sweet shooter. 

Memphis is loaded with young talent, including Xavier Tillman. 

Derrick Rose was New York’s Phial of Galadriel, the only light during some dark stretches, including this connection with Obi Toppin.

Barrett didn’t make his first basket until the last 20 seconds of the half, and Randle didn’t score his until late in the third. Wanna know what turned things around? The Memphis starters outscored New York’s 94-61. That’s another way of saying the Knick bench owned the night. Late in the third, Immanuel Quickley connected with Toppin, then IQ hit a triple off a busted set sprung from the loins of Rose blocking a Ja Morant pull-up 3-pointer. Then up in the sky — look! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s...

Still, the Knicks weren’t going to catch up if their stars didn’t start aligning. Barrett entered the fourth having scored just five points, but him hitting from deep midway through the fourth and Randle hitting a pull-up as the shot clock expired felt like the spinning wheel finally gaining some traction.

In the Knick universe, you know who else is a star? Alec Burks. Is that weird to hear? It’s a little weird to say. But it’s true. His free throws late helped pull the Knicks within four. A Randle and-one out of a timeout made it three. He then found RJ in the corner, who drew a foul on Dillon Brooks on a corner three and made all three free throws, tying the game. Morant drew a foul on Taj Gibson and made one at the line. Randle spun and spun and spun and spun and missed. Jonas Valanciunas, who I feel like has been killing the Knicks since the Lord of the Rings movies came out, hit one of two. The one he missed led to these two from Barrett, which tied the game with eight seconds left. 

Memphis had the last shot and it was a good look: Morant took the inbounds 93 feet from the hoop, went the length of the court, stopped on a dime and put up a pull-up that was perfect in every way, except the one where it goes in. The shot popped in and out and Valanciunas’ follow was a tad askew. 

In overtime, the Knicks took the lead for the first time since the opening minute on a Randle 3-pointer when Memphis had, for some reason, decided to defend him with Grayson Allen. Burks and RJ had a Larry and Curly moment (not) defending an inbounds under their basket. Burks responded by hitting a 3-pointer. He’d restore the lead to three a short while later with a baby hook. Morant free throws and a Brooks drive tied things at 124, but Randle found Barrett behind the arc for the three that would prove decisive.     

A Burks lefty lay-in put the Knicks up five with under a half-minute left. With five seconds left, for reasons the late Stephen Hawking could not fathom, Nerlens Noel fouled Kyle Anderson on a 3-point attempt. Slo-Mo made the first two foul shots, then missed the third, maybe on purpose, but Valanciunas was whistled for a lane violation. Brooks hit from deep with a second left to make it 131-129, after which Quickley hit two free throws to ice it.

The Knicks’ win kicks off a stretch of nine of 11 games at home, five of them against the 4-11 seeds in the East. This team has come so far. How far the season goes may come down to how well they do over the next 10 games.

Notes

• Only three lead changes in 53 minutes. That’s almost literally impossible.

• The Knicks won despite giving up 129 points. That’s the most they’ve allowed in a win since last year’s Covid-abbreviated season finale in Atlanta. 

• Randle now has five triple-doubles in his last 14 games. Your Knicks all-time single-season leaders: eight by Clyde, seven (twice) by Micheal Ray Richardson and six (twice) by Richie Guerin.

• Quickley with his first 20-piece in nearly a month. The Knicks need Randle and RJ to flourish, but on nights when those two are off, if IQ, Rose, and Burks are all scoring, the team can at least hang in until one or both of them turn things around.   

• Obi with another nice night in a small sample size. He has these sweet little truffle games. Tasty, but tiny. 

• A nice bounce-back game on the offensive glass after getting pummeled more than once of late.

• Feelings aren’t facts. Having said that, I feel like Noel always struggles against big burly centers. Valanciunas had 20 and 14. Did that all come against Noel? No. But didn’t it not? Also no. 

• Memphis hopes to have Jaren Jackson Jr. by the end of the month. I hope so. I honestly don’t really remember what his game looks like. I know what he’s supposed to be able to do now, and what people think he could grow into. I don’t watch Memphis much other than when they play the Knicks, so I don’t see him play a lot. I did note his “Your Boyfriend Sucks” t-shirt last night. 

• The crowd was loud in this one. Are they letting in more people than before? It sounded the loudest it has all year. 

To misquote Junot Díaz: “This is how you win her.” The Knicks ground this one out to kick off the meat of their schedule, and it’s only going to get meatier. Next game is Sunday, when they host a Toronto team only 2.5 games out of the last play-in spot. Figures to be a hard-fought game.