A spirited late comeback over last year’s villains keeps the Knicks’ In-Season Tournament hopes very much alive

     Adam Silver and the NBA carefully designed the In-Season Tournament to raise both the stakes and the public’s interest in holiday season basketball. Perhaps they were aware that the Knicks, knocked out of the playoffs last year by the Eastern Conference champions Miami Heat, would be laying their all on the line for a chance at a comfortable $500,000 each. What a way to pull in fans and fervor. 

     The Knicks hosted the Heat in a battle for a wild-card spot in the Las Vegas tournament, and the fight was full of defensive efforts, offensive rebounds and what tends to go missing most of the NBA season: heart. A wild Madison Square Garden roared as the Knicks eventually staved off elimination and lived to play another day after snagging the win, 100-98. In the final seconds of the first half with the Knicks down two, Quentin Grimes drained a buzzer-beating three to give the hosts the edge heading into the second half. Though fans at the World’s Most Famous Arena were at a high when the buzzer sounded, there were many things from the first half that were hard to forget. 

     The hosts took the crowd on a roller coaster ride, opening the game with a 10-1 lead, fueled by Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson threes. However, the Knicks turned the ball over six times in the first quarter, leading to 13 Heat points. Adding to the confusion, RJ Barrett had some standout highlights, like this drive.

 Isaiah Hartenstein had an incredible assist to Josh Hart.

     In the second half, the Knicks slipped again, giving up 19 unanswered points after intermission as the Heat went up as many as 21. Thanks to their biggest comeback this season, a 38-15 run over the final quarter and change, New York came away victorious, keeping their tournament dreams alive. The Knicks and Heat are both 2-1 in Group B, with last night’s win giving the Knicks the tiebreaker via their head-to-head win. Brunson credited single-handedly outscoring the visitors 8-2 the final three minutes to a fan who’d told him the Knicks being down 21 was “embarrassing.” Brunson finished with 24, including a clutch pull-up jumper to push the lead to 99-96 after an RJ three-point play gave them the lead for good.

After the game, Brunson shouted out teammate Immanuel Quickley, calling him “Himmy Choo.” Quickley said that the comeback win “speaks a lot to the toughness, the dog that this team has. We don’t give up, we keep fighting.” He knows of what he speaks: it was a Hartenstein block and an IQ trey that swung a five-point flip late in the third, pulling the Knicks within 18 when they looked all but certain to be down 23.

After gaining a measure of revenge against the Heat, the Knicks prepare to host the Phoenix Suns Sunday at 6:00. Their final group-stage game of the In-Season Tournament is two days after, when they host Charlotte. If the Knicks win then, they have a fair shot of advancing to the IST quarterfinals, since they currently own a better point differential (the first tiebreaker for wild cards) than the other second-place teams in the East groups. The New York Liberty won the WNBA’s Commissioner’s Cup, their first trophy ever, and it helped launch them to the Finals. The Knicks haven’t won any hardware for 50 years. Could an IST trophy catapult them to greater heights? Fingers crossed.