Knicks 108, 76ers 97: The weird turn pro
After falling into an early, enormous deficit, something unexpected had to happen for the Knicks to win. Some things did.
For every Guerin and Braun, a Dave Budd and a Dick Garmaker; for ever Frazier and Reed, a Luther Rackley and an Eddie Mast; for every Ewing and Oak, a Chris Dudley and a Willie Anderson; for every STAT and Melo, a Josh Harrellson and a Jeremy Tyler. And for every Julius and Jalen, a Deuce, a Hart and an Evan to chart a path to heaven, i.e. an astonishing win.
Now’s the only time we have, so Miles McBride, Isaiah Hartenstein and Evan Fournier’s heroics in a 108-97 New York Knicks come-from-waaaaay-behind win over the Philadelphia 76ers were especially timely, an unlikely table d'hôte that both delighted and surprised. On a night RJ Barrett was a late scratch, Randle and Brunson both struggled with their shot, Joel Embiid shook off a sore foot to suit up and Mitchell Robinson remained weeks away, a Knicks win would mean that the going got weird and the weird turned pro. They did.
Fournier’s Knick kismet would dizzy many a player. Last year he’s the big offseason acquisition, armed with a three-year deal at almost $20M per, then he went out and set the franchise record for threes in a season at a 39% clip. Sure, he had his foibles, but he did what you hire him for. Then this year he lost his spot in the starting five and, soon after, in the rotation. That could feel weird. But Fournier’s a pro. Just because he isn’t playing doesn’t mean he isn’t ready to. With RJ out and the league’s sixth-rated offense needing a boost against the sixth-rated defense, 3van scored 17 efficient points off the bench, including 5 of 8 from deep.
On the other end of the floor, we find Deuce and Hartenstein. That’s a good place to start with them, as it’s offense that tends to draw the brighter spotlight of analysis. Yet these are two players whose most meaningful contributions don’t always show up in the boxscores, which lean toward offensive numbers. That’s not to dismiss the counting numbers they did produce: Deuce made three threes and got to the line six times, making five free throws; Hart has been all over the glass the past four games, hauling in double-digits in each and four to seven offensive rebounds, too, approximating Mitch’s production. In Hart’s prior 51 games he had 10+ rebounds five times total. Still, when you’re playing Philadelphia – a team with four players who can get 30 any night – you need stops. You need to make them uncomfortable. McBridenstein did.
Plus/minus is a limited marker of impact, but we’re all limited in our own ways, so in this case let’s roll with it. The Knicks fell behind 33-12 in the first quarter. I’ve no idea how often they’ve trailed by 20+ in the first frame, but I imagine their record in those games is poor. They were back in the game by the second quarter. In the fourth the bench gave them the lead for good, thanks to an Obi Toppin three and a free throw; Obi was +17 in 14 minutes. With 3:30 left and the Knicks up five, they had Randle, Brunson and our three musketeers out there together. When Brunson missed a free throw (it really does feel sometimes like he started the year 95% from the stripe and is gonna end up below 80%), Hartenstein’s grit on the glass, Fournier’s creativity off the dribble and McBride’s salience from deep delivered the knockout punch. That trio was +19, +28 and +34 in 26, 24 and 23 minutes.
With the trade deadline, the All-Star break and 27 games still to go, New York is a just a half-game behind Miami for the last playoff spot yet only two up on Washington in the loss column for the last play-in spot. With how good they’ve been on the road and how much they’ve struggled at home, the 10th seed is not the daunting identity it normally is. But the Knicks should have higher goals for themselves, goals achievable if they take care of the basics, like winning at home; they have beaten three teams ahead of them in the Eastern standings at MSG the past few weeks, in Cleveland, Miami and now Philadelphia. After a Tuesday tilt at Orlando, the Knicks and 76ers will meet again Friday, in a city firmly in the grip of Super Bowl fever. They’ll need everybody contributing to do it again. The stars and the subs. The nobles and the no-names. The Jalens, the Juliuses, the Evans, the Deuces and the Harts.
