Spurs 130, Knicks 126 (OT): The game of the year
Other than a Knicks’ win, last night’s tussle with the Spurs featured pretty much any- and everything else
And the nominees for top storyline from the game of the year are:
61
Four games from the 6100st in Knicks history, Jalen Brunson’s 61-point game is sandwiched all-time between Bernard King’s Christmas 60 and Carmelo Anthony’s record 62. Pound-for-pound, inch-for-inch, Brunson’s was arguably the most impressive: both King and Anthony had six inches and some pounds on Rick’s son, and their masterpieces were free-throw heavy – 22 and 10 made for King and Melo, to just six for Brunson. This was Iversonian volume from the field married to Jordanian efficiency, as he scored 11 and 10 in the first two quarters, then 24 and 14 in the third and fourth, draining nearly 60% of his shot attempts. By overtime he was out of gas, missing four of five looks while scoring only two, which was still 40% of the Knicks’ overtime total. You can forgive his exhaustion given the effort he showed all night, and not just with the ball in his hands.
40/20/20
Victor Wembanyama finished with 40 points, 20 rebounds, seven assists and four threes in leading San Antonio to their first three-game winning streak of the season. I checked BAA, NBA and ABA history and found only one instance of a player besting all those numbers in a single game: DeMarcus Cousins had 44/23/10/5 during the brief but torrid time he paired up with Anthony Davis in New Orleans. Take away the 3-point qualifier and you’re looking at names like Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Julius Erving.
This is where I remind you Wemby is not old enough to drink alcohol in this country. As impressive as anything he did last night was something he didn’t, a quality Walt Frazier pointed out late in the broadcast – dude’s unflappable. Here he was, putting up a literally historic effort against one of the league’s top teams, with their best player having his best game ever, with Wemby pushing his team toward their first 3-game winning streak since 2022 . . . and from his demeanor you would’ve sworn it was a preseason game. Dude was as cool as a concombre.
243 . . . 244 . . . 245 . . .
Most nights, someone setting a franchise record would be the lede, but most nights Brunson and Wembanyama are played by understudies. Pour some out for Donte DiVincenzo, then, who is now at 245 threes made and counting, the second consecutive game he’s broken a record held by Evan Fournier, which is also pro’ly some kind of record.
Unfortunately, despite playing the whole third quarter and all of overtime DDV went scoreless in both, part of the Pyrrhic nature of Brunson’s 61, as only two other Knicks (DiVincenzo and Josh Hart) reached double-figures. Did Brunson shoot so much because no one else was feeling it, or were others not feeling it because Brunson took so many shots? I imagine those who watched the game lean toward the former. Still, congratulations to DiVincenzo, one of several Knicks to so drastically exceed their rep this season they need to be fitted for a new one.
A Mitch in time saves nine
That headline doesn’t really make any sense, but needs must. The Knicks can relate: on a night when Isaiah Hartenstein fouled out trying Wembanyama, Robinson saw his minutes jump from 12 Wednesday to 19 last night, more than he’s played since before his ankle injury. Doesn’t seem to make sense, as far as building up his minutes, but needs must, I suppose. I don’t know if that was the original plan, especially after Robinson landed awkwardly on nothing – not someone’s foot or ankle, but literally the ground – and looked to be limping. Hartenstein was +10 in 28 minutes, the most he’s played in seven weeks, but once he was gone it was slim pickings — or rather, Slim’s pickings, with Wemby leaving Mitch a -10 in 20 minutes and Precious Achiuwa -30 in just 15. Mitch gutted his way throughout, but with Chet Holmgren, Bam Adebayo and Damontas Sabonis coming up this week, this would be a good time not to wear out all your bigs. And no, I’m not thinking about Tom Thibodeau’s Cold War ethos of win today and to blazes with the future. Not at all. Just whistling through the graveyard.
Refs
All I’ll say is this: when Mike Breen, the lifelong “good cop” in any refereeing talk that has ever come up in a broadcast, is vociferously aghast at some of the officiating, the rubicon has been crossed.
Clyde’s birthday
We all love Brunson. He’s good, clutch, tough. He’s already the most popular Knick since Patrick Ewing. Imagine the love for Brunson if he were elite defensively, too. And that he played this clutch in, say, Game 7 of the Finals. And that he did it all another eight or nine years. And then became one of two or three most beloved voices in franchise history. And was smooth as silk while doing it all. Then you’d have some sense of the love for Walt Frazier, who celebrated his birthday yesterday with a cake on-air from Breen and the MSG broadcast crew. And if life ever has you down and wondering if there’s any point carrying on, consider Clyde’s on-air birthday gift 11 years ago was a bunch of Snickers. So yeah: it does get better.
The L as big picture
Believe it or not, this was just the Knicks’ second loss of the year to a team that currently has a losing record, the other coming against Utah. I felt an unusual anxiety heading into this one, because Wembanyama, but also because the Knicks have been so exceptionally consistent beating teams they “should” beat and yet these kinds of losses are inevitable over 82 games. They were bound for a slip-up, if that’s what you wanna call this one. I wouldn’t.
This game had a playoff intensity throughout. McBride didn’t struggle for once from deep because “shit happens”; he struggled because the Spurs defenders didn’t allow him that extra beat that most teams do. Half the eight Knicks to play 15+ minutes had a plus-minus of -10 or worse. The first time these teams met early in the season, Wembanyama struggled quite a bit as the Knicks won by 21. The Spurs clearly had this game marked on their calendar. They played like it. It happens.
The loss doesn’t really impact New York much, besides the big dent it made in any hopes of catching Milwaukee for the two-seed. The Bucks’ magic number to clinch is seven; they and the Knicks both have nine games left, so short of a stunning development the 2-spot is theirs. The Knicks fell a half-game behind Cleveland for third, but are tied in the loss column and own the tiebreaker. To clinch a guarantee of homecourt in the first round means finishing ahead of Orlando, who fell to the Los Angeles Nets; the Knicks’ magic number to finish no worse than fourth is now eight.
So big picture: a loss always hurts, but there was so much more to take away from this than that. What storyline stood out the most to you?
