This is what it could all feel like one day.
On one side, complete euphoria, adulation, celebration and relief. The feeling of a job, at long last, well done. On the other, disappointment, anguish, embarrassment and resentment. The feeling that a lot more was left on the table than was taken home at the end of the day.
The Knicks just got their first taste of what it’s like to be at the mountaintop. They had better get used to this feeling, and fast. Because they were tested in more ways than one in the NBA Cup Final, the league’s closest simulation to the NBA playoffs and NBA Finals.
And the Knicks won. The New York Knicks are NBA Champions.
NBA Cup champions, that is, but NBA champions nonetheless. The Knicks are the last team standing after defeating the San Antonio Spurs, 124-113, on Tuesday night.
The game came with its consequences: A Knicks team already down Miles McBride (ankle) and Landry Shamet (shoulder) nearly lost Karl-Anthony Towns to a calf injury, only for Towns to hobble onto the court in the waning possessions of the fourth qaurter. Sore limbs are a Wednesday problem. On Tuesday, the Knicks became immortalized in NBA Cup history. Their victory over the Spurs won’t count in the win-loss column at the end of the season, but it means the world for the confidence of this team angling to compete for the real NBA championship come mid-June.
And it’s the very addition the front office made during the offseason that paid dividends in the biggest game of the season: NBA Cup MVP Jalen Brunson scored 25 points in 40 minutes, and OG Anunoby added a game-high 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field — but Jordan Clarkson scored 15 points off the bench, and Tyler Kolek added 14 points, five rebounds and five assists to just one turnover.
The Knicks held Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama to just 18 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the field, as the former Rookie of the Year played on a minutes restriction recovering from a hamstring strain.
“You’re not gonna be able to guard a guy like that one on one. So you try to put length, size, physicality at the point of attack when out comes to him, but it’s gotta be five guys guarding the basketball at all times,” head coach Mike Brown said after practice on Monday. “We do that no matter who we’re playing but especially with a guy like Wemby and his skill set, 9 times out of 10 he’s gonna miss because he misses. But we have some pretty good defenders with length and hopefully they can at the point of attack make it as difficult as possible with him knowing that they have help behind him.”
The Knicks won, and it was an ugly win — until it became beautiful when New York pulled away in the fourth quarter. They had their issues with San Antonio’s physicality, specifically former Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle, who was glued to Brunson’s hip on defense and came up with 15 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds on the night. The Spurs led by as many as 11 points in the third quarter and led the NBA Cup Final for 59% of the game.
The Knicks went on to outscore the Spurs, 35-19, in the fourth quarter.
And then comes the harsh reality: The Knicks can celebrate in Vegas for a night, but there is no offseason layoff. They have one day off to prepare for the Indiana Pacers on Thursday. The Pacers game is the first leg of a back-to-back before the Knicks host the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.
The Knicks will get their opportunity to celebrate, to hang the banner, to relish in the victory that is winning the third-ever NBA Cup. They have bigger fish, however, to fry. After all, the NBA Cup isn’t the championship the Knicks set out to win this season—but they’ll take every win along the way.
