The Knicks went toe-to-toe with the champs on Wednesday night, and looked like they could do the same thing in June, if they can make it to June, that is. If there is ever any such thing as a good loss, the Knicks had one against the Thunder, all the way until they had a couple of balls in the air at the end to push the thing to overtime.
Jalen Brunson had as bad a shooting night as he could have. Karl-Anthony Towns fouled out after a 17-point and 17-rebound performance. On top of all that, the Knicks didn’t shoot well from the field, didn’t get much of a whistle all game long even at home, and — oh by the way — were playing the back end of a back-to-back after the way they’d pulled away from the Raptors on the road the night before.
They still gave the Thunder — the team they were convinced they were on their way to meeting in the Finals last June — all they wanted, all the way to when OG Anunoby missed what would have been a tying 3-pointer right after Brunson had done the exact same thing. You know the deal. When No. 11 misses one of this, you want to have your eyes checked.
Of course it doesn’t get an easier for the Knicks before they get such a soft place in the schedule to land between March 11 and March 24: Jazz, Pacers, Warriors, Pacers, Nets, Wizards, Pelicans. For now, the Knicks are in Denver Friday night and then Los Angeles, first against the Lakers and then against the Clippers. It’s a chance to make the 8-day stretch that began with the Spurs and ends with the Clips into even more of a defining moment for their season than it has been so far.
All we know for sure at this point is that the theme-park ride that this Knicks season has been is going to continue through the end of the regular season. Knicks fans have to be buckle up and prepare for a crazy ride like that, all the way through a month of April that will include a trip to Charlotte — whose Hornets are suddenly on a heater — and OKC and Houston.
In an odd way, considering everything that has happened since Game 6 last spring against the Pacers, the Knicks are once again doing something they have been doing for a while: Chasing the Celtics. Not for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, something the Pistons seem to have locked up. No, for the second seed, which would mean the Knicks wouldn’t have to play the Pistons in the second round if they can get out of the first.
Once the Celtics were without Jayson Tatum because of the Achilles injury he suffered last spring at the Garden, the Knicks were supposed to be the top, hungry dogs in the conference. Only that is what the young Pistons have become. Somehow, though, the Celtics are still ahead of the Knicks in the standings, if barely, as we keep hearing that Tatum might be back on the court sometime soon. So there is much for the Knicks to do over their last 19 regular-season games, starting in Denver Friday night. For now, their goal is to not drop back into the middle of the pack in the East, stay ahead of a vastly improved Cavaliers team, and pass the Celtics if they can.
We all can see how they have looked at their best, especially over this last stretch of games. They came back big against the Rockets at the Garden. They survived falling behind the Spurs 19-7 last Sunday afternoon, and beat them for the second time this season. Even in Toronto after most of a game-long lead was gone and the Raptors back in it in the fourth quarter, the Knicks came off the ropes swinging. Toughness and effort have never been an issue for this team, not from the jump.
We saw it with the way they were grinding to the end against the Thunder. Really, it was like watching an ace pitcher figuring it out without his fastball, and refusing to give in to a single hitter. And there it was for them in the final seconds, right there, before Brunson missed the kind of shot he so often makes and then OG did the same.
Now the Knicks get Jokic and them, before LeBron and Luka and them, before they have to face Kawhi Leonard on his homecourt. After that comes a schedule that does look softer than soft ice cream before they face the Hornets on the 26th. There is a tremendous chance between now and then to put some big points on the board, and pass the Celtics.
This has turned into a maddening and unpredictable and immensely likeable team. Again: If they can play like they did on Wednesday against the champs without Brunson making shots, if they could put it on a hot Spurs team the way they did a few days before after a bad start, they can play with anybody.
Towns, in particular, was terrific in this game before fouling out, especially with those 17 rebounds, nine of them on offense. If you can’t see how hard he plays, and how much he’s trying to be a good teammate at this point, you’re watching the wrong movie.
Towns said this afterward about fouling out:
“You want to win the game and you want to be out there with your teammates. It’s unfortunate. It’s unfortunate that it was called.”
Unfortunate that the Knicks lost even after playing hard again. After a 40-point third quarter, it was the Thunder who punched back on them this time (literally, as Brunson came away with a black eye). The Knicks still showed up big in this game. They continue to show up. Yeah. Fasten your seatbelts the rest of the way.
