Nuggets 113, Knicks 100: The poverty mindset is broken & the officials are officially a problem
The Knicks are too good for moral victories, and that’s as good a development as any in 2024
The New York Knicks entered last night’s game against the champs in Denver on a four-game winning streak with a chance to sweep their four-game road trip. They didn’t, trailing throughout in a 113-100 defeat. Between the Nuggets, the altitude and more “Why did they legalize sports gambling again?” officiating, the Knicks fought an uphill battle against down-facing winds while on roller skates. It was, at times, that frustrating to watch. Poor Knicks? The opposite, in fact.
I’ve spent most of my adut life as what you’d call working poor and overworked. I’m not complaining – “This is the business we’ve chosen,” Hyman Roth said, and between teaching and writing there are countless non-material (though not immaterial) perks for which I’m grateful. But teaching 135 writing students for four months means certain behaviors became so engrained that even when things turned around and I started making a living wage, I couldn’t shake my poverty mindset.
Leftovers smelling funky? Eat ‘em STAT: they ain’t getting any less moldy, plus eating them saves having to spend money on new food. That crumpled paper you tossed at the garbage and missed? Ignore it – you’ve got grading to do, and that little crumple isn’t an immediate need. Don’t have the money to cover this month’s bills? Get yourself a quarter of weed. If you gotta be broke, at least be chill about it.
Ahh, those rare life oases when money is present! To eat without fear of food poisoning; the ease of making some minute moment matter because you aren’t constantly buried beneath the knowledge that even if you finish everything that’s weighing down on you, you’re still poor; to balance both wants and needs and have enough for both – those may not sound like a big deal to someone who hasn’t been there. Which brings us to the Knicks.
The Knicks were shorthanded as usual against the Nuggets, at the end of a week-long Western swing. That’s a tough road to hoe even when Denver isn’t good, and Denver is more than good. The road trip was already a success. A respectable team would have shown up, competed for a while and then, dignified, bowed out sometime in the second half. The Knicks are more than respectable.
Isaiah Hartenstein scored a career-high 20 points in 26 minutes mostly against the MVP, and that second number is more exciting than the first. Jalen Brunson has ascended to the level where 26 and nine assists isn’t worth mentioning. Alec Burks looked more like 2021 AB than he has since 2021, though the Detroit duo continue to raise blood pressures with their play. Deuce McBride played 44 minutes, which must feel like 34 with how often he’s usually out there. Jamal Murray was undoubtedly and unpleasantly aware of McBride all night.
The second-half was undulant: the Nuggets ahead, seemingly inevitable, like terra firma, the Knicks sneaking up like the tide, time after time, nearer each but never enough to overcome. The champs are the champs for a reason. Several.
At one point late I was struck watching Nikola Jokić, a player I always root for, repeatedly torch the Knicks. Don’t let him shoot that open three! But you can’t close-out too hard; obviously he’ll blow by you and break down the defense. No, don’t double! He’ll kill you wish his passing. But you can’t just let him work one-on-one, obviously. I was reminded of watching Michael Jordan torch the Knicks, the frustrating finality of coming up against the end boss and feeling like the game is rigged, there’s no way to win.
After a quarter century of ragged shit — 23 or 24 of the last 25 Knicks teams we’ve seen would have gotten a pat on the head and a silver sticker just for not quitting despite the opponent, the altitude and the offici–did I mention the officiating? I did? — the 2024 Knicks expected to win. You could see it in their body language. They weren’t playing with house money. They don’t need house money. This is a Knicks team that earns a living wage and then some.
But money isn’t the only pressure in life; there’s also time, and that’s looking both good and ominous for the Knickerbockers as the season winds down. The next four games are home affairs with Brooklyn and Detroit followed by trips to Toronto and San Antonio. If the Knicks could nearly sweep a road trip that featured three Western playoff teams, you’d hope they can clean up against a languid quartet of lottery qualifiers. They don’t exactly have much choice: as well as New York’s been playing, the loss dropped them to fifth in the East behind Orlando, who holds the tiebreaker. Indiana, a few games back in sixth, also holds the tiebreaker against them.
That’s the thing about winning. Same with money – getting some doesn’t mean you can stop and relax. The value of Ws, like $, lies in replication: stack them wins, stack them bills. The Knicks, even in defeat, keep stacking their reputation. That’s the approach you take when you’re climbing up that hill. That’s the only way to get to the summit.
