The Knicks’ best overall player since Patrick Ewing was too hot to handle, too cold to hold

Last night the New York Knicks ascended a mile high visiting Denver. What better place than heaven’s doorstep for an apotheosis, a.k.a. a 145-118 miracle over the Nuggets. Usually we think of basketball miracles as staggering comebacks or crazy game-winners.

But for a franchise whose uniforms could just as well have had “New Yuck” across their chest most of this century, what’s miraculous isn’t a short run of excellence, like the oasis of 2013 or Larry Brown’s 2006 desperados somehow winning six straight, culminating with hs 1000th career win and the Garden crowd chanting “La-rry, La-rry” (the last time the Knicks scored more than last night’s 145 was LB’s team putting up 151 in a triple-overtime win). Today’s Knicks are good, have been and look to be for a good while.

No, last night’s wonder was watching them win comfortably in the best player alive’s building (where they never, ever win) after they put on an all-time offensive performance – one fueled by the resurrection of their defensive intensity after a blasphemous effort last time out. In the decisive first half, the Nuggets shot poorly while putting up as many turnovers as threes.

Blessed is Jalen Brunson, for he hath maintained his scoring and shooting while averaging a career-high in assists even as his turnovers have dropped slightly; 17 dimes last night only burgeons that rep more. Blessed is Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored 30 on half as many shots and had as many steals as misses (3). Blessed are those who share, for they shall be shared with: the Knicks tied a franchise-high with 45 assists, a figure that grows even more Goliathan measured against their mere nine turnovers. 

(Blessed is whatever it is Russell Westbrook pulls off that people mistake for competitive passion, i.e. scoring 24 in the fourth quarter of a blowout while repeatedly letting Brunson roll the inbounds 30-40 feet up the floor time after time, killing the clock and any chance the Nuggets had of actually getting closer. The man isn’t looking to pad his defensive stats.)  

But the most miraculous storyline last night, like most true miracles, will go mostly unseen after an initial burst of “How many did he score?” Maybe that’s how miracles work; maybe a world where more people believe in them would be a worse world, one where people expected more, were disappointed more and thus lashed out more. Ogugua Anunoby signed the biggest contract in Knick history last summer. The season is only 20% in, when we’re all susceptible to false prophets. But to this point, this is true: Anunoby is the best two-way star the Knicks have had since Patrick Ewing.

Latrell Sprewell wasn’t the defensive force OG is. The Chandlers weren’t as impactful, certainly on one end (Tyson on offense) if not both (Wilson). Kristaps Porziņģis never played a game here that mattered. Combine KP’s shot-blocking and Spree’s breakaway threat and you get a bit of what Anunoby can do – even to the best of them.  

Man is like Travis Hunter in open space.

For real.

The first thing I learned from the person who got me into the recap game was avoid numbers whenever possible. It’s an occupational hazard: you consult box scores and stats to crystallize an idea that stood out from the action, but the numbers often work like amber, trapping something that caught hold of your heart in the first place because of its liveliness. I once saw a meteorite break up. The flames, the shapes of them, the awe it struck – would knowing how fast it was going or how far it had traveled convey any of its majesty to someone who didn’t see it die in the summer night sky?

Reducing OG’s offensive majesty to “He scored a career-high 40” or “Another terrific night from deep, 5-of-7” would be like explaining how good what I just ate was by burping in your face. All Anunoby’s ingredients were there last night: the man-to-man D; the off-ball stunts, stabs and steals; the post-ups; the pull-ups; the dunks; the middies; the threes. A black hole on defense, shrinking the volume of space available to the offense. A supernova on offense, one whose brilliance creates space for others. Haven’t seen a Knick do all that since Ewing. Unlike Ewing, OG gets to play with the best Knick since Ewing in Brunson and the most significant Knick big since Ewing in Towns. Next game is tomorrow in Dallas; a win there makes a 4-1 road trip a definite possibly maybe. OG makes more than just that maybe, too.