Warriors 125, Knicks 114: Dirty deeds done dirt cheap
The Knicks walked into the lion’s den and walked out with their heads held high, their centers the victims of low blows and their series lead halved
The New York Knicks lost an intense and mutually meaningful Game 3 to the Golden State Warriors last night, 125-114. The Knicks will hope this was the night Jalen Brunson returned to form, while also hoping Steph Curry and Draymond Green don’t have too many more nights like this again – if they do, the series is over.
What else can you do, really, when Curry goes nuclear? In the decisive third quarter, a classic Warriors 43-point meltdown of the usually reliable Knick defense, he made all four of his threes, each one lifting his teammates and the entire arena to new heights. Curry’s heat warmed things up for his teammates, with the Warriors making 80% of their twos and 75% on threes in the third. As a final, elegant “F*** you” to the Knicks, that was the one quarter Golden State didn’t attempt a free throw.
If ever the Knicks could have been forgiven for losing it and going full-out Draymond Green, it was last night. For even by Green’s standards he was in rare form, deserving an early ejection for his body of so-called “work”: thinking Isaiah Hartenstein played center for the New York Giants instead of the Knicks and swan-diving him, yanking Mitchell Robinson down by his ankle – the same one that cost him months of injury and rehab this year – and deliberately kicking him in the groin.
By halftime Robinson was ruled out with a left ankle sprain; he left the arena in a walking boot with his status for Game 4 unclear. The Knicks were a little more than pissed. Donte DiVincenzo called Green’s play “dirty.” Tom Thibodeau pointed to multiple fouls that should have been flagrants and led to Green’s ejection. But anyone who heard the pity party Nick Nurse threw after Game 2 knew how the league would respond: give the home team all the calls and the win and juice up the ratings. If you don’t think believe a multi-billion dollar industry that operates as a legal monopoly would “encourage” outcomes that benefit its bottom line, you’re either Adam Silver’s spokesperson or not from this planet.
Nick Nurse? Wait a minute. Steve Kerr coaches the Warriors. Why did I mention – oh yeah. The Knicks played the 76ers, not the Warriors. Forgive my confusion. It’s just with Joel Embiid performing a Best of Draymond’s Dirtiest Hits in the first half before cosplaying Steph after the entr’acte – you could watch another 50 years of NBA playoffs and never see someone put up 33 points in a half on 60/100/92 shooting — I got a little lost. I saw Michael Jordan hang 40+ on the Knicks in the playoffs seven times, including a 54-point masterpiece. I have never seen anybody shoot the way Embiid did last night. Mike’s were infuriating because there was nothing you could do about it. Embiid’s was infuriating because there was something that obviously could and should have been: his dirty-ass should have been sent to the locker room early.
Maybe it’s the copium talking, but after last night I feel mostly encouraged. I’m no prophet; I don’t know what I’m having for lunch today. I do know Jalen Brunson figured out something before last night, because even with a sputtering fourth quarter he scored 39, made half his shots and dished 13 assists. The playoffs are about adjustments. The 76ers now must re-adjust to the Knicks’ best player playing like it. The better Brunson plays, the more likely other Knicks are to step their games up too.
The 76ers also have to re-create the same energy Sunday that they did last night, a tall order. There’s a reason teams tend to hire disciplinarian coaches after laid-back types, and vice versa – same reason a country can follow an Obama with a Trump. Anger, bitterness, a sense of injustice: these are catalysts. Nobody storms the voting booth to support the status quo. Fear and paranoia drive resistance and the Sixers showed signs of both after Game 2. Now Philadelphia’s the team that’s satisfied while New York feels aggrieved. Last night the Knicks walked into a hornets’ nest, and to their credit didn’t stop fighting them off until the 48th minute. The Sixers won, but the Knicks never gave them the win. That can carry over. The growing darkness between the teams undoubtedly will.
Embiid seems unlikely to shoot like Steph again, but as long as he can be Draymond it doesn’t matter. Both Hartenstein and Mitch have been nursing injuries for weeks and yet in the face of violence visible via replay access, the referees swallowed their whistles. All credit to Philadelphia for the legwork they put in, but I can’t be bothered when every possession they either hit a three or went to the line.. The Knicks have been voicing their beefs since yesterday’s game ended. We’ll see what the league wants from the refs Sunday at 1:00.
