Knicks 139, Raptors 125: Another one bites the dust
On Christmas Eve eve, the Knicks were Santa and all the Raptors got was coal
On October 16, 1973, the president of CBS television defended his network shifting to “mature” programming, Edward T. Williams passed away and the New York Knicks blew out the Buffalo Braves.
Robert Wood, the CBS head honcho, said toward more real-world content was an attempt at de-stigmatizing television, which to to that point was considered a “vast wasteland” of culture. So his network featured Maude doing a two-part abortion episode, Sticks and Bones (directed by Iron Man/Dr. Doom’s dad!) adapting a play about a blind soldier returning stateside from Vietnam and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – well, let’s just say if the cast of Gilligan’s Island ever got off the island and back stateside, that film probably wouldn’t be the one friends and family shared to give them a warm and fuzzy “Welcome back!”
Williams was George Patton’s chief artillery officer, commanding the famed Third Army’s artillery in their charge across occupied France and Nazi Germany the last year of World War Two. Patton gets most of the hype for his army’s impossibly fast and far-reaching knifing through butter, but it’s not like he was doing it all himself. If the post-D Day American military were the dynastic Golden State Warriors, Patton might’ve been Steve Kerr or Steph Curry, with Williams his Klay/Draymond.
The night the Knicks beat the Braves, something happened that had never happened before in their history and would never happen again – until last night. Dave DeBusschere and Dean Meminger both shot 12-of-15 from the field. In last night’s 139-125 win over the Toronto Raptors, Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby became the first Knick teammates since Dave and Dream to make at least 11 shots on no more than 15 attempts, part of a balanced attack that saw New York pile on 111 points through the first three quarters.
The Scrooges among you may have rebuttals. It’s only the rebuilding Raptors, after all. We know these Knicks generally obliterate the Association’s weaker sisters. MSG’s only currently good team is fattening up on the rich, home-and-cupcake heavy portion of the schedule; things get much harder after the All-Star break. Even if the Knicks win 55 games, even 60, and set every offensive record in franchise history there is to set, they’ve advanced to that delightful point in their process were a sizable chunk of the fan base doesn’t give a whit about anything they accomplish from now through mid-April – all that really matters is games 83 and beyond. So who cares about KAT and OG running riot against some team looking up at Brooklyn and Charlotte in the standings?
Consider Ebenzer’s words early in A Christmas Carol, after he’s asked to donate to those in need:
“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.
“Plenty of prisons" said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
"And the Union workhouses?" demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"
"They are. Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were not."
"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" said Scrooge.
"Both very busy, sir."
"Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course," said Scrooge. "I am very glad to hear it."
"Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude," returned the gentleman, "a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?"
"Nothing!" Scrooge replied.
"You wish to be anonymous?"
”I wish to be left alone," said Scrooge. "Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned – they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there."
"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."
"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides – excuse me – I don't know that."
"But you might know it," observed the gentleman.
"It's not my business," Scrooge returned. "It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen!"
Scrooge is overreacting, obviously. “I can’t afford to make idle people merry” is judgemental, stereotypical and a bald-faced lie, since by the end of the story it’s quite evident Scrooge can easily afford to make hundreds of people’s lives merrier. So why does he do it? Why do the rich so often pretend what’s within their sphere of influence is light years away? Or act like someone else getting any kind of hand up is an existential threat to themselves?
My first girlfriend, in high school, had a stepmom, a doctor. She was married to another doctor. They lived in a house on the water; you could literally walk from their backyard right down to the bay. These people had more money than any family I’d ever known. One day a few months into the relationship, a brutal late midwinter afternoon, I rode my bike there, about a half-hour. When it was time to go home, dark and colder, my girlfriend gave me a pair of gloves to wear home. After I left and her stepmom found out, she erupted. Called her a slut. Told her I was taking advantage of her. What could I do when she called me later, in tears? I gave her a version of what Wood said regarding television decades prior.
When the CBS president revealed those Maude episodes received nearly 25,000 letters of complaint, it seemed like he was teeing up the haters. 25,000 is a lotta people. But perspective matters, always. How many people saw Bea Arthur debating whether or not have a baby? 65 million – of which 24K is a pittance. When you re-consider the scale, the complaints become a drop in the sea. Same with one stepmother’s opinion versus what the rest of one’s friends and family think of them. Same with this year’s Knicks.
No, crushing the Raptors doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t know about these Knicks a day/a week/a month ago. Yes, most of us are waiting for the playoffs to discover our true feelings about their true selves. That’s the thing, though: a pretty new team can’t give you as many reasons to believe in them a third of the way into a season as it can reasons not to. If the Knicks were 10-19, we’d know the trade was a mistake. That they’re 19-10 doesn’t make the KAT deal a DeBusschere-level swindle just yet, but at least that’s the direction it’s pointing. And if you think adding one star to another automatically takes a team up a notch, may I introduce you to Messieurs Anthony and Stoudemire.
Without Edward Williams, maybe there’s no George Patton. With these Knicks, it’s getting to where all of them feel essential. Last night Towns and Anunoby played the starring roles; the game before that it was Jalen Brunson; Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart have had their moments. Cam Payne may have had his best game as a Knick last night. Miles McBride has become a Steve Novak-level 3-point shooter, at least in terms of crowd excitement; go back in time a year or two, tell that to yourself and see what kind of reaction you get. Regardless, the point is these Knicks feel like the first Knicks in 30 years, if not 50, who present more answers than questions. That’s a good feeling.
Winning a championship comes after rep after rep after rep. The Knicks are getting championship-level reps in now. No, they haven’t beaten the Celtics or Thunder in June; they haven’t even played in June this century. But beating those teams then begins with building the muscle strength and memory now. Building strength and memory means having and achieving goals. Having and achieving goals requires stability and ambition. The Knicks do.
Madison Square Garden is not the vast wasteland it used to be, at least not for the home fans. The Knicks are led by a voracious, relentless general, and to this point his army seems to match his appetite and his ethos. The last time New York won a title, two starters put up historic shooting numbers in a home win over a team in Buffalo. One year later, a corrupt and disgusting president was forced out of office. Last night, two Knick starters put up historic shooting numbers in a home win over the league’s closest team to Buffalo. Fingers crossed for symmetry – as fans and Americans.
