As the second quarter started last night between the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden, Josh Giddey was bringing the ball up for the team from the Windy City. He tried to maneuver through a high pick-and-roll when all of a sudden a large human named OG Anunoby appeared in his path. The Australian must have thought he’d run into a boxing kangaroo, as he was so freaked out that he immediately lost his dribble. As the ball was bouncing away from him, Anunoby lunged after it but couldn’t quite grab it. So Mikal Bridges joined the scene as well for the orange and blue, also diving on the floor to ultimately force the refs to call a foul on poor Mr. Giddey.
Just for the record, the Knicks were leading 43-21 at that point.
The game was essentially over long before both of New York’s high-priced wings draped themselves across the shiny Garden floor, but this is exactly what makes the symbolism of the aforementioned play so much more distinct. The Knicks decided to show up last night. They decided to put it together and be the hard-nosed, all-out championship team we all love so much. Not only for the layup lines or the press conference but for the entire game. They not only cut up the Bulls into sirloins, briskets and ribs, they surely also took their hearts. And announced, if not to the league, then to their fan base, what Keef so aptly commented in Russell’s Postgame Thread: “We are so back…”
Knicks play complete game against Chicago
A critical comrade might point out that it had more to do with Chicago being gone than with New York being back, but this isn’t the day for such rationality. It’s a day of basking in the glory of being a good basketball team and showing it for 47 minutes and 58 seconds, maybe even longer. It’s exactly what this Knicks team needed after sluggish weeks to start their championship defense, and some of us fans might have needed it even a bit more. We all knew they were good enough to win it all, we all knew that there’s a level to their quality that might be unrivaled across the Association. At some point you have to see it, though, and we sure did last night.
From Jalen Brunson to Landry Shamet, from OG Anunoby to Mohamed Diawara, even from James Wiseman to Dalton Knecht, there basically was no Knick who didn’t look like his very best last night, at least not if we ignore garbage time and a rusty Jose Alvarado being dealt the thankless job of driving the party boat into the harbor. Maybe our Finals hero was a bit tired from all the clapping and cheering he did for a seemingly gazillion beautiful basketball plays from his teammates—even if SGA Anunoby gave him plenty of breaks standing at the charity stripe. All in all, the Knicks definitely played at a completely different speed than the Bulls, who only a week ago had raced out to a 19-point lead against New York. Watching this game, you wonder how that ever happened.
No matter what conclusion you might come to answering that question, last night proved that it’s a lot more fun to bring your A-game and best effort from the get-go than midway through the fourth, fueled by desperation. Jalen Brunson danced through the Bulls D like he was Barry Sanders playing a high school team early on and also had no mercy shooting the ball. As so often in the past, it inspired his team to follow him. The Knicks did it all the way to the highest-scoring half in their history, tying a 38-year-old franchise record. It’s nice to be back doing historical things just as they routinely did last season. And just like your starters and stars diving on the floor in a lopsided game, it is a reminder that these Knicks are still those Knicks.
Young Knicks make a good impression
Whether they might be even a bit more here or there could start to show itself in games like last night’s laugher. It is here where younger, unproven bench players like Mo Diawara, Dalton Knecht or James Wiseman will get their chances to make an impression on Mike Brown and the coaching staff. All of them have a ways to go, but watching last night, you at least feel a little intrigued by Mo’s and Wiseman’s physical profiles. Their length could give New York a different defensive dimension (5 blocks between them), and Diawara once again looked like the promising role player he teased last season. The herky-jerky is still there, yet he also flashed strong playmaking ability (tied for the team lead with 4 assists) and defensive awareness against supposedly strong wings like Caleb Wilson or Matas Buzelis. Maybe he can be a specialist for matchups like that, who knows? We’ve got 74 games to see more of it and figure out if it can really be a factor in important games.
We’re not going out on a limb saying that it will take some time before the Bulls get to experience such games again. This doesn’t diminish what our Knickerbockers did last night, playing as complete a basketball game as you dare to imagine. As beautiful as some of the passes, shots or dunks were, in the end, the foundation was the little things, many of which are exactly what a large part of the team’s identity is built upon. Things like boxing out your opponent, making the right rotation or flying hard around a screen. Things like making the pass that leads to an assist or pushing the ball when it truly makes sense.
Or diving on the floor after a loose ball, for that matter.
