Nets 117, Knicks 112: “I called a foul but that’s not a foul”
The New York Knicks almost outlasted the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night, but ultimately fell just short of an upset win, by a score of 117-112.
I remember watching Rocky for the first time as a 10-year-old kid and just being flat out shocked. Anyone who’s seen the movie knows that Rocky Balboa won that first fight against Apollo Creed, but he lost by way of a controversial final decision in his opponent’s favor.
Fast forward 14 years, and for the first time since, I’m experiencing those same feelings again.
Make no mistake, friends — the New York Knicks won their bout with the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night. The final score will never reflect such, but in our collective heart of hearts, we will always know.
A controversial travel call on Julius Randle sealed the loss for the Knicks in Brooklyn. Despite the replay showing that Kyrie Irving very clearly made contact with the basketball as New York’s MVP was shooting, a review was never made, and the Knicks lost, 117-112.
But dammit if it doesn’t feel great to be so angry about well-played, hard-fought, close-knit New York Knicks basketball. The final minutes of this one had me on my feet: hooting, hollering, and flat-out cheering 237 miles away with only my girlfriend and dog Bella as an audience.
Ironically, the game started off just as exciting. It’s the in-between where things got murky.
New York got off to a rock and roll start on Monday, in what was rookie guard Immanuel Quickley’s first career start. Reggie Bullock got things started with a 3-pointer:
It would prove the first of many for Bullock (five, to be exact), with the second one just a minute and change away:
Bullock set the tone for New York early. A scoop shot from Quickley gave the Knicks an 18-11 lead with just over seven minutes to go in the first quarter.
But — and not that it was unexpected — Brooklyn responded. Largely by way of some Kyrie Irving wizardry, along with a rare dominant performance from journeyman Jeff Green.
The Nets took a lead, quickly, and began turning the tables of momentum on New York.
It took an improvised, last-second shot from Quickley to pull the Knicks within five after one.
All of the Nets’ momentum fueled them into back-to-back 30-plus point quarters, and they took a 67-55 lead going into halftime. Brooklyn finished the first half shooting 62% from the field.
It was up to Tom Thibodeau and his staff to make the proper adjustments after the break. And to his credit and theirs, they did. The New York Knicks started switching on pick-and-rolls (I miss you Mitchell) and got a strong footing in containing the Nets offense.
The Knicks came out shooting to open things up in the third quarter, and this 3-pointer from Quickley brought the Nets’ lead down to 10.
Then he hit one from much, much deeper than the previous one.
Seriously, look at this.
New York battled hard in the third quarter, but couldn’t ever get over that double-digit deficit hump. We got nice moments from all of Julius, RJ, and Quickley though.
The Knicks held the Nets to just 29 points in the third quarter (hey, that’s an improvement!), and scored 29 points of their own to keep the Brooklyn lead at 12 points.
That’s when things got interesting.
New York came out determined once again, and had the lead cut down to seven two-and-a-half minutes into the fourth quarter.
Randle continually went at James Harden in post-up sets, and it continually paid off.
In the final leg of this one, the Knicks and Nets were, against all odds, engaged in a close game.
Who else to stand up on the defensive end than swingman Alec Burks?
He had back-to-back contaminants on Kyrie Irving and James Harden, and then proceeded to run down the court and connect on this 3-pointer to bring New York within six.
Julius Randle took over soon after that, going full All-Star and keeping the Knicks alive.
There were 46 seconds to go, and New York was down just five.
Brooklyn got an easy bucket and then allowed RJ Barrett an even easier one.
The 20-year old brought the Knicks back within five with 22 seconds left.
New York got a defensive stop on the other end,
And then Julius Randle did this.
For those of you counting at home, this walked us into a 3-point game, Nets basketball.
Naturally, Thibodeau advised his defense to “deny, deny!”
They did. Joe Harris had to call a timeout, unable to find a target to inbound the ball.
And on the next possession, Alec Burks and RJ Barrett forced him into a jump ball.
With a shot to tie it and head to overtime, Randle failed to get a shot off and was instead called for a travel despite Irving’s very apparent and clear run-in with the basketball.
I’m a firm non-believer. Like, I’m on record as saying that there is no such thing as moral victories.
But if (and it’s a big if) there were, Monday night’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets is as close as it gets.
Notes
Fans were wondering how coach Thibodeau would delegate defensive assignment in this one. For what it’s worth, he went with Reggie Bullock on James Harden, RJ Barrett on Joe Harris, and Immanuel Quickley on Kyrie Irving.
RJ Barrett rebounded well from a first quarter where made just one field goal. Our favorite second-year player finished this one with 23 points, six rebounds, four assists, a steal, and a block. As much as he’s been on fire lately, it was nice to see him not give in to a poor first-half performance.
Kyrie Irving is really fucking good at basketball. Thibodeau gave Immanuel Quickley one of the worst defensive assignments in the NBA, and despite the rookie’s top-marks effort, the Nets point guard racked up 34 points on 13-18 shooting.
When Mitchell Robinson returns, all the stories and hype will be centered around New York getting their starting center back. But let’s show some love to Taj Gibson before then. He’s answered the call since Mitch went down, and is playing some quality defense for a guy in his 12th season and approaching his 36th birthday.
When’s the last time the New York Knicks played on national television? I can’t remember off the top of my head (Ed. note: Fairly certain it was the last game against the Nets, don’t care enough to look it up), but damn did they represent tonight. This is probably the best the team has played on an ESPN broadcast in years. I’d be willing to put some money down on that bet.
Obi Toppin played all of three minutes and 45 seconds, and it was really bad. At one point he air-balled a 3-pointer and then subsequently fouled James Harden from the 3-point line. His development has officially been pushed to the back burner for this season if it’s still on the docket at all.
Julius Randle continues to surprise and impress us, somehow. The 26-year-old finished Monday night’s loss with 33 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, three steals, and one huge flare-up temper tantrum. Speaking of gambling, I’d put my mortgage on the line to bet on Julius in a matchup between him and Scott Foster.
The New York Knicks score just 105.3 points per game, which ranks 28th in the entire NBA. For the 14th time this season, they scored 115-plus points. But the loss drops their record in those situations to 11-3 this season. Still, not bad.
There wasn’t a more telling sign of Monday’s loss than Scott Foster visibly saying “I called a foul, but that’s not a foul” during a review of the Knicks’ second forced jump ball late in the fourth quarter on national television.
But as was the case with Rocky, the New York Knicks will get a rematch of their own in the sequel to this newfound saga on April 5. The only question now is if they can muster the same effort put forth by the Italian Stallion and right the wrongs of tonight’s loss.
