For three quarters Monday night, the Knicks looked like they might actually lose to the Nets. The Nets? The last place Nets? While we might get apoplectic, the champs seemed unconcerned about falling behind. When they finally flipped the switch, they turned a 79–75 deficit into a 103–90 win, outscoring Brooklyn 28–11 in the fourth at the Garden. That’s 15 straight wins against the neighbors. Landry Shamet did a lot of the work to make it so.
Landry Shamet: A
22 points (6–8 FG, 4–6 3PT, 6–6 FT), 1 rebound, 1 assist in 30 minutes
On a night when the starters happily hurled threes like pre-teens playing Pop Shot, Shamet sank a steady four of six, plus every free throw he took. His season-high 22 kept the Knicks in it long enough for the rest of them to wake up.
While the Knicks spun their wheels in third-quarter mud, Josh Hart collected his fourth foul with a lotta game remaining. Shamet replaced him at 8:44 and scored six points on perfect shooting from downtown. The first, at 2:26, cut Brooklyn’s lead to a single point; the second, with a minute left, made it 77-75. According to Basketball Reference, he had a team-high game score of 19.4. Pretty good for a sub.
Josh Hart: A−
8 points (3–6 FG, 2–5 3PT), 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals in 27 minutes (+22)
Hart had a crooked finger in just about everything that made the fourth quarter exciting. In that final frame, he hit a Kolek-assisted three to pull the Knicks within one, then assisted on back-to-back Anunoby threes and a Kolek layup (everybody seems to enjoy playing with Tyler, don’t they?). Josh intercepted a Julius Randle pass and took it the other way for a layup. His grade suffers for taking just six shots and collecting six fouls, but maybe he deserves a little more love for being a team high +22?
OG Anunoby — B+
18 points (4–10 FG, 3–7 3PT, 7–8 FT), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals in 38 minutes
OG played 38 minutes, got to the line eight times, and hit back-to-back threes in the fourth when the Knicks finally started to put Brooklyn away. Seven free throws will do a lot for a night when only four shots fall from the floor. Give credit to his stamina: after bumping bodies with that bull Julius Randle all night, he still had gas in the tank to help his team in the fourth. He hit the go-ahead three at 10:29 and another bomb 28 seconds later to make it 84–79. He also set up Clarkson’s transition three. Loses points for still struggling to finish at the rim.
Karl-Anthony Towns — B
11 points (4–11 FG, 1–4 3PT), 16 rebounds, 5 assists in 35 minutes
A weird game for Karl-Anthony. He had double-digit rebounds in the first half, but zero points. After intermission, he scraped together 11 points with much more aggressive drives to the rim. As New York rallied in the fourth, he banked in a short fadeaway, grabbed three defensive boards, and found Landry Shamet for the Knicks’ final basket. His back up, Andre Drummond, grabbed nine boards in his 13 minutes, but dividing the workload between the pair is unsustainable. James Wiseman is glued to the bench. Leon, what’s your move?
Jalen Brunson: B−
19 points (6–16 FG, 4–11 3PT, 3–6 FT), 2 rebounds, 6 assists in 33.5 minutes
Four threes and six assists are dandy, but missing half his free-throws and ten field goal attempts had us a little worried. He’s been mostly automatic since coming to New York, so forgive us for jumping to conclusions like: maybe he should spend less time doing extracurricular activities and more in the gym? He started off the game great, making 3-of-4 from deep, but then disappeared for a while.
Jordan Clarkson: B
7 points (3–5 FG, 1–2 3PT) in 11 minutes (+17)
Some guys can do a lot in 11 minutes. Clarkson squeezed seven points into his sliver of time (entirely in the second half) and was still a +17. As the fourth quarter started, a game that had been a nuisance all night was finally starting to break open. Jordan blocked Nolan Traoré’s layup and hit a transition three seven seconds later to push the lead to 10. He added a floater at 4:00 to keep the momentum going. He loses a point for collecting two fouls and a technical foul in the span of a minute during the third period, which didn’t help matters while the team was flailing.
After the game, coach Mike Brown offered high praise for the vet. “I’ve been around some good teammates when it comes to players. He’s gotta be the best. He’s the definition of ultimate pro,” he said. “You have a veteran that’s been there, done that, and he’s willing to accept the role that most guys wouldn’t accept […]. And he’s willing to accept it… and still try to uplift everybody and connect everybody while he’s going through what he’s going through. That’s the ultimate team player.”
Miles McBride: C+
6 points (2–4 FG, 2–4 3PT), 1 rebound, 2 assists in 16.5 minutes
Deuce hit two of four from deep and added a couple of assists. A decent shift on a night when the Knicks could’ve used a few more of those. Two steals is great. Four shots in almost 17 minutes seems insufficient, however.
Mikal Bridges: D
6 points (1–7 FG, 0–2 3PT, 4–4 FT), 2 rebounds in 16 minutes (−11)
Hoo boy. Bridges made one shot from the floor and did little on defense to make up for it. The Knicks lost his 16 minutes by 11 points, the worst mark in the rotation. At least he got to the foul line for the first time after six games.
It’s perhaps too soon to sound the panic alarm, but he has shot 16 of 52 for the season. Mike Brown has taken notice. He ended Kal’s night after just a few minutes into the third quarter, and when he sent the starters back at the end of the game, Shamet took Bridges’ spot.
Overall
The Knicks got away with three quarters of sleepwalking because Shamet kept them close and Hart, OG, and the bench gave them life in the fourth. Next up are the Bulls on Wednesday. In their first meeting of the season, last week, the Knicks won but needed 48 points from the bench to bail them out. Do we see a trend emerging?
Go Knicks.
