Such a big game for so many reasons — including the Knicks seeking a historic win

This season’s New York Knicks walk, talk and quack more like the real deal than any Knick side in a while. Tonight’s tilt with the Oklahoma City Thunder at Madison Square Garden presents the hosts the opportunity to earn a pretty sweet merit badge for something they haven’t done in a long, looong time.

For 10 years – 2015-2024 – the Knicks played 29 games against teams who won 60 or more games or won at that pace in sub-82 game seasons. They went 4-25, and even that pig of a record is covered in lipstick, with half those wins coming late in seasons against teams with nothing to play for: in last year’s penultimate penultimate game, they beat a Boston team who played Svi Mykhailiuk and Jaden Springer more in the second half than Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (Donte DiVincenzo played all 24 minutes. I’d say “Never change, Thibs,” but that’s tautology). And in an interesting twist of fate, in 2015’s penultimate contest, the Knicks went into Atlanta needing only to lose their last two games to finish with the league’s worst record and therefore the best odds at winning the rights to draft Kentucky big man Karl-Anthony Towns. Alas . . .

Here’s where the tea starts getting real trippy: when was the last time a title-aspiring Knick team beat a 60-win team? For that you have to go alllll the way back to 2013. You may remember a late April matchup in Miami where Carmelo Anthony gave the Heatles a 50-piece.

But wait, there’s more! Because while that was a Knick contender beating a team that’d win 66 games, the answer to my question actually came five days later, when the Knicks won a Sunday national game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Honoring that day with a win tonight would not only put an end to a weird trend, it’d stamp some cred on a team that’s blown a lotta people’s minds with all they’ve done this year but has yet to claim a signature victory.

Now there’s (at least) two ways of viewing that statement. One is that it’s undeniably true. 64% of the Knicks wins this year came against losing teams, including three beatdowns of both Washington and Toronto plus a pair over Brooklyn, Charlotte and New Orleans each. Even the winning teams they’ve bested are hardly a Murderer’s Row: Orlando thrice, but Paolo Banchero missed all those meetings, along with the last two sans Franz Wagner; beyond that we’re talking Denver, Milwaukee, Miami, Minnesota, Indiana. I doubt your pulse quickened any reading that.

On the other hand, corporate hand puppet Adam Silver the owners insist the fans want parity – something they never have – and while fans like to imagine sports as some escape from the evils of the real world, the same metastasizing, monied class that infests and infects everything that brings joy to our lives is everywhere, like microplastics. So how many teams this year are even on a 60-win pace? Oklahoma City, Cleveland and Boston. An unanticipated consequence of moving on up in the world is feeling more isolated after trading the hoi polloi for a haute penthouse (not to be confused with a hot Penthouse, which was but is no longer a thing).

The new-look Knicks played two of their first three games this year against the Celtics and Cavs, a sadistic scheduling similar to Obi-Wan Kenobi mentioning the force to Luke Skywalker for the first time and then tossing him right into the ring with Darth Vader. The Celts and Cavs got continuity coming out the wazoo. The Knicks? They’re more like a dormitory for freshmen and sophomores: Towns arrived after training camp started; Mikal Bridges only just reached the six-month mark of his time as a Manhattanite; OG Anunoby’s played fewer games as a Knick than Noah Vonleh. Hell, Josh Hart hasn’t even been here two years despite seeming like a lifetime Knick from the moment he arrived. 

All of which is to say you can view tonight however you like, however it ends. If the Knicks win, they’d avenge their loss earlier this month to the Thunder, a game they led most of they way but couldn’t finish off. A win tonight would be their most impressive regular-season success since back when Roy Hibbert was merely a man instead of a flashpoint. It’d add credibility to their biggest strength – the offense – by succeeding against a defense that leads the league by a country mile, even after hemorrhaging 132 in their loss last night to the Cavs. It’d stamp the Knicks with a respect you don’t get no matter how many times you whup the Wizards and Pelicans of the world.

A loss? It wouldn’t be the end of the world. After all, this team wasn’t built to win it all in January; if they were, they pro’ly would’ve last January, good as they looked, and DiVincenzo and Julius Randle would still be here. It’s May and June that matter. There are still three games left with Boston and three with Cleveland (that last Cavs game is the penultimate regular-season game, if symmetry does anything for you . . .). The Knicks have plenty of chances to declare themselves legit, and – fingers crossed – I don’t see them going 0-6 against their conference rivals. In all likelihood, at some point this year, the Knicks will beat a 60-win team that was trying to win a game that matters. And that will be newsworthy. No better time than the present.

Even if we narrow the scope of tonight’s significance to just the opponent, it’s still significant. Defend your home court. Don’t let anyone feel like they got the edge over you. Try not to get outscored 18-0 on threes in the fourth quarter. Maybe Aaron Wiggins at some point, ANY point, misses a shot (I watched the Thunder’s games against the Knicks, Celtics and Cavs, and I’m fairly certain Wiggins shot 45-of-45 from the field in them). Most significant about this game is that this game is significant. Full stop.

There’s a heavyweight title fight tonight at Madison Square Garden. Been a while since there was. Enjoy it, Knicks fans. You never know when the NBA will start telling you you don’t .