Suns 115, Knicks 114: For want

The Knicks lost their 17th game of their last 20 to the Suns, finding an impressive new way to lose to the top team in the West short their two best players.

For want of a free throw, the game was lost — 115-114, Phoenix over New York. Alec Burks missed a free throw with seven seconds left that would have put the Knicks up three. And what is life without would-haves? Food without flavor.

For want of defense, Burks’ missed free throw had to be. He corralled the defensive rebound of a Cam Payne missed layup that would have put the Suns up one. Mitchell Robinson pressured Payne into missing, as the Knicks had a plus-defensive lineup of Mitch, Burks, RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish, and Immanuel Quickley on the floor. Quickley and Reddish are both 90% foul shooters, but when the Phoenix players swarmed Burks to foul neither was open; Burks, a good free-throw shooter himself, wasn’t going to pass it to Mitch or RJ. So instead of passing and eating some clock, Burks went into a standing fetal position, took the foul, and missed one of two.

For want of Payne, perhaps, the Knicks lost. The Suns’ backup point guard is averaging 18 and seven per 36 minutes. No Knick can say the same. There was talk last offseason about the Knicks maybe making a run at Payne, who had 17 and 16 assists, nearly as many as New York’s starting five (18). One of the most impressive oddities of this Knick season is their ability to have like four point guards on the roster and yet still so often seem to have none.

For want of a better option, the Knick offense in the final minutes was basically missing and counting on Mitch to put it back. A couple of times, he did. This was one of those nights where you want the Knicks to lead Robinson straight from the court to a little desk with a contract extension for him to sign. Phoenix boasts one of next summer’s top restricted free agents in center Deandre Ayton, who’s proven his mettle in the brightest of lights. Mitch dominated their matchup: 17 points on 8-8 shooting, 15 rebounds, four steals, and three blocks. When crunch time came, he was the Knicks’ best player.

For want of Julius Randle, that weight fell on Mitch. Late in the third, Randle got mixed up with Cam Johnson, drawing officials and other players. For whatever reason, Randle felt his rhetoric hadn’t been salient, so he shoved Johnson, in the process ignoring the ref’s bodily autonomy. So what could have a thin beef that quickly misted, or simply double technicals (Johnson was whistled for one, too) was two on Randle and an ejection, another question mark in his bizarre season. To that point, Randle was the best player on either team — scoring efficiently, impacting the glass, and setting up teammates. Besides Barrett, the Knicks as a team shot nearly 60% from the floor and from deep. They were up 10 when Randle was tossed. From then on, they were outscored 39-28.

For want of Derek Harper, the Knicks couldn’t recover. You may recall a certain Eastern conference final Game 5 when a certain Indiana Pacer got into some beef with a certain courtside Knicks fan and exploded with a fourth quarter for the ages. The stakes weren’t quite as high this time — the Suns have been set for a while to finish with the league’s best record, even with Chris Paul out a few months; the Knicks have been set to finish with the league’s eighth- or ninth-worst record for most of this century. But it was the same story: you tug on Clark Kent’s cape, only to see who he is when the glasses come off. Johnson was so bothered by Randle’s physicality he did something unprecedented, as reported by The Athletic’s Fred Katz: “I tried to just hit him. He hit me with the same amount of force,” Johnson said. “And from there, he turned around and kinda came at me… [t]hat was the first technical of my career, but I just couldn’t stand for that.” Stand he did not: Johnson made six 3-pointers in the final frame. In ‘94, Harper helped the Knicks survive an elimination Game 6 in Indianapolis, then Patrick Ewing carried them through Game 7 to the Finals. That was then. This is not.

For want of more money they don’t need, the owners insist on an 82-game schedule, instead of the 72 or 74 that would be better for the players and fans – less is often more. So the Knicks, 25-38 and losers of 17 of 20, have 19 games before we start limbering up lottery muscles we haven’t stretched in a couple years. Next game is tomorrow at the Clippers, one of five remaining games on this road trip and an appetizer for Monday’s New York/Sacramento Seventh-Seed Soiree.