Knicks 112, Jazz 100: “Are we all dreaming?”
Knicks-Jazz turned into the Austin Rivers Show on Wednesday night, with Rivers pouring in 14 straight points to seal the game for the Knicks down the stretch. Matthew Miranda relives the night, and grapples with the notion that… the Knicks might actually be good?
I haven’t had cable since last season, so this year I’ve been using streams. But streams are no more reliable than American government, so this week I sucked it up and signed up for cable. It’s more expensive and our cable company is a monopoly. But at least I no longer have to worry about streams not working, or freezing, or forever having to find new ones because they only work once. And yet on at least three different occasions during the game, the cable froze, then re-started 5-10 minutes ahead of where it’d stopped. Weird. But also not.
The Knicks rode yet another late comeback to yet another win, 112-100 over the Utah Jazz. Like Monday in Atlanta, New York trailed by double-digits in the second half to a projected playoff team (Atlanta is at least a good bet for the play-in games). The Knicks’ leading shot takers, Julius Randle and RJ Barrett, were a deplorable 38% and 29% from the field. Immanuel Quickley was -13 in six scoreless first-half minutes, then didn’t play the rest of the night, leaving the already-shorthanded Knicks with just a seven-man rotation.
They went out and outscored the Jazz 68-44 in a tsunami of a second half. Weird. But also not. This team punches above its weight. The Jazz dropped their hands the last 24 minutes and the Knicks caught ‘em square in the jaw.
The opening minutes were like going back in time and watching dinosaurs struggle to escape the tar pits. The scoring resembled something out of the pre-shot clock primordial ooze; midway through the first, neither team had reached 10 points. The dinosaurs/tar pits vibe were New York’s offense resembling an animal hopelessly out of its element trying to solve a problem it had no answer for, that being the Utah defense, which denied penetration, denied corner three opportunities, and denied any crumbs off the offensive glass. The offense boiled down to Randle launching threes and long twos the Jazz were clearly cool with him taking. Maybe out of frustration, the Knicks committed three moving screens in the opening quarter. A 19-6 Jazz run put them in control, though a late flurry from Austin Rivers scoring New York’s final seven points kept the deficit in single digits. Briefly.
The second quarter opened with back-to-back Utah threes. After a Joe Ingles barrage from beyond the arc and Jordan Clarkson converting a 4-on-1, they led by 18 and it looked like this was the night Cinderella’s carriage turned back into a pumpkin. The visitors were the ones enjoying a fairy tale evening: every single one of Utah’s first-half field goals came in the paint or from deep. Maybe James Harden will consider a trade to The Beehive State.
The second half was a different animal altogether. Most Knicks teams in recent memory would have gone down and stayed down. But this squad has earned at least some benefit of the doubt. They turned up the defense, which degreased their transition game. The gap was back to single digits after Reggie Bullock collected a turnover and took it the other way for two. It was seven after Randle hit a technical foul shot; Donovan Mitchell, frustrated after not getting a whistle, punched a dead ball and sent it sky high, earning the T. After a 3-for-11 start, Randle began heating up, helped by the stifling stylings of Mitchell Robinson.
Robinson wasn’t the only one tightening up the D.
Comebacks are messy, complicated affairs — fractal, not linear. There will be letdowns. For whatever reason, the Knicks reasoned that going under screens against Ingles repeatedly was bound to pay off, which it did not — at least not for them. But on the whole, the defensive intensity’s intensification did pay off. Kevin Knox’s block of a Mike Conley attempt led to an Elfrid Payton breakaway and New York’s first lead since the first quarter.
Rivers and RJ put their own spin on the defense-to-offense dance.
Randle, RJ, and Payton combined for 30 of the Knicks’ 34 third-quarter points, turning a double-digit deficit into a three-point lead entering the fourth. Gobert was still on the bench when Mitch checked back in, and Mitch took advantage.
Before the game I jotted a couple notes of things to watch for. Top of my list: “Mitch has to stay outta foul trouble; has to play 30-plus minutes and step up vs. Gobert.” All he did was play a career-high 41 minutes while grabbing 13 rebounds and impacting the offensive glass and the defensive end. Even after the Eiffel/Stifle Tower returned, Robinson’s arc was the one to triumph.
The midpoint of the fourth saw a first for each team: the Knicks committed their first turnover of the half, while a Donovan Mitchell basket was the Jazz’s first midrange basket all night. All of this was just the overture before the big finale. Once again, as was the case in Indiana and Atlanta, the role of Rudy/Roy Hobbs/Michael Jordan/Mariano Rivera was played by Austin Rivers.
If you skipped the clips or just can’t get enough of hearing good news (and these days who can?), Son of Glenn poured in the Knicks’ last 14 points, many of them late in the shot clock. Rivers said plenty with his game, and was as uplifting with his words after.
Word!
Notes
New York has won five of its last six. The last time they did that was December of 2017. Their leading scorer that night was Michael Beasley with 30, who was out of the league a year later. Their leading scorer last night with 30 was Randle, who a year from now will not be. He could be a very very rich man, maybe even with the Knicks. Thirty points, 16 rebounds, seven assists and 12 free-throw attempts for NYC’s best Julius outta dodge since Hodge.
For a while it felt like Utah wanted Payton to look for shots and that Payton was indulging them, either missing or passing up on Conley/Randle mismatches and open teammates, especially Bullock. Then the game ends and the box score says he shots 10-of-15 and had 22 points to go with eight assists. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to wrap my head around Payton’s game.
The Knicks are 5-3 after an early schedule featuring six of eight games against playoff teams from last season. There’s an excellent chance they could still win the NFC East.
Rrrrrreally wouldn’t mind someone on the Knicks at some point not allowing opposing teams to save time by rolling the ball 50 feet up the floor before they touch it. It’s going to cost them at some point.
The Knicks committed a backcourt violation in the fourth. As someone who has spent 30 years obsessively worrying about this happening with every single inbounds ever, I felt a perturbed and exhilarated vindication.
The Knicks have a winning record at home and on the road. Last time that was true after eight games? 2012-13.
May all your kismets lead you to the combination of immediate gratification and profound spiritual fulfillment Jordan Clarkson must feel every day of his life as an unrepentant gunner.
One nice trend in this year’s games: the refs have been great. Feels like they’re letting both teams play in almost every game I’ve seen.
I miss seeing Quin Snyder in a suit. He always looks like a cross between Mr. DeMartino from Daria and an anime version of the Joker.
Joe Ingles looks like this dude I hated in grad school who once invited me to his place late at night to de-bone a deer he’d killed. I always imagined he’d had darker ideas in mind. You know how no matter how many friends you have, the number of people you’d enjoy driving cross-country with is inevitably much smaller? There are less than a handful of people I’d wanna do that with. The number I want to de-bone a deer with? Even smaller.
Kenny Albert told the story of Donovan Mitchell donating $12 million to Greenwich Country Day School, where he went as a kid. Albert mentioned that Mitchell’s mother was a teacher there during Mitchell’s years at the school. “She’s probably the principal now,” Clyde Frazier quipped.
Quoth Zach DiLuzio: “Are we collectively dreaming?” If so, God bless the snooze button. The next chance to be pinched and woken is Friday when New York hosts Oklahoma City. The Thunder are 3-1 on the road, so take nothing for granted. Case in point: the Knicks are winning. What if they keep winning? How long is it weird? When is it not?
