A Game of Inches

The Knicks lose a heartbreaker.

Good morning.

Let’s talk about it.

Game 79: Boston 119, Knicks 117 (OT)

• The Knicks got off to their second straight strong start against one of the beasts of the East as Karl-Anthony Towns dominated every defender Boston threw at him

• The Celtics made a big third quarter push behind some unreal shooting from Kristaps Porzingis, but New York countered to tie it up late in the third.

• Just when it looked like Boston would run away, the Knicks went on a 12-2 run in the final five minutes to take a three point lead with 10 seconds to go.

• New York didn’t foul, and Jayson Tatum hit a three over OG Anunoby to send the game to overtime.

• After a 30-footer by KP put Boston up three with 40 seconds to go, Mikal Bridges fumbled a pass out of bounds and the Knicks were never able to generate a game-tying attempt.

If you’re reading this newsletter, you’re probably a sports nut to some degree.

I know I am. Have been since I started watching the Knicks when I was 10.

I’ve thought often about why this is the case, and what is it about sports that stands out from every other aspect of our lives. I’ve kicked around a few theories, but the best one I have came to fruition last night.

It isn’t just that sports is the only thing capable of producing the unique brand of elation that comes with a victory-sealing touchdown, home run, goal, putt, ace, or in our case, a basket. It’s that so often, in the best games against the toughest teams, the difference between making or missing that shot is the difference between euphoria or despondence, with absolutely no middle ground.

Sometimes, this reality is obvious. When a season is literally on the line in an elimination situation, where the winner advances and the loser goes home, a moral victory and three bucks will get you a cup of coffee. Heck, I’m still not over the finger roll and its been 30 years. Ask me when I’m 70 and I doubt I’ll feel different.

At other times though, you wouldn’t think the disparity between victory and defeat could be so stark. Last night was a perfect example.

On paper, the result of this game meant very little. With all due respect to New York’s magic number for the third seed remaining at one, the most important thing going into last night wasn’t who won or lost, but about whether the Knicks could finally show they deserved to be on the same court as the mighty Boston Celtics. If you had asked me beforehand whether I’d sign for an overtime loss where both teams played well and the C’s made a few more plays, I’d have asked you to show me the dotted line. I wouldn’t have thought twice.

All the stuff in my head that would have led me to make that compromise is as present now as it was then. Unfortunately, part of the magic of sports is that even the most analytical mind can be helpless when the heart gets involved.

Last night, the soul of every fan was on the line, fully exposed with no buffer to guard against whatever inevitable fate was in store. Speaking for myself, with the Knicks up 107-104 with under 10 seconds remaining, I wanted to win this more than almost any other game this season. In that moment, the X’s & O’s that got us to that point were wiped away like a whiteboard game of tic-tac-toe. There was the moment and only the moment. Nothing else mattered.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the defining moment of the game came with controversy, as OG Anunoby had the opportunity to foul Jayson Tatum before he ever got off his game-tying 3-point field goal attempt.

That non-foul, predictably, overshadowed everything and anything else about the 47 minutes and 50 seconds that came before it.

Would the convo be quite so hyper-focused on that one play if the situation were different - say, if Tatum nailed a mid-ranger with New York up two? Maybe not, but even if that were the case, I’m betting the result of that final possession would still have swayed the reactions from 80/20 in one direction to 80/20 in the other, if not more. Win the game, and it’s gumdrops and candy canes. Lose, and its run off of a bar mat at 4 am. Those are just the breaks.

Only in sports is this remotely possible. Logically, a few seconds should never mean more than the previous two and a half hours…and yet it does. More than that, those few seconds will completely change the tenor of the conversation, not only about the play itself or even the result of the game, but about the big picture, and what is and isn’t worthy of our focus.

Of course there’s so much to dive into from this one. Karl-Anthony Towns had far more #meaningfully productive offensive possessions in this game than in the other three Boston games combined. They tried some different stuff defensively for the first time against the Celtics, and some of it actually worked. The pick & pops remain an issue, but not an unsolvable one if this was any indication. The math battle remained in Boston’s favor, but New York evened the scales with offensive rebounds and forced turnovers. Brunson looked - for the most part - like Brunson, in only his second game back from injury Even Mikal Bridges, who bore the brunt of many frustrations, both for his overall play and the game-sealing gaffe in overtime, came away with some positives to point to.

I’ll get into all that tomorrow, but not right now. Right now, I’m wiped. Logic be damned, but one moment was all that it took to turn a cornucopia of positives into the backdrop of heartbreak.

That’s sports at its finest.

Or its worst.

With nothing in between.

💫 Stars of the Game 💫

⭐️ Josh Hart: Even aside from not fouling before the Tatum three, there was some additional criticism of the coach for playing Josh Hart the entirety of the second half and overtime when his 3-pointer remains as elusive as Bigfoot.

I get it, and it isn’t misguided. But even with an 0-for-4 night from behind the arc, Hart found himself in the middle of a lot of winning plays on both sides of the court. Seven assists, four offensive boards, three steals, and several instances of making Boston pay for ignoring him on defense, including on what should have been the game-sealing basket. One way or another, he’s going to need to be a big part of the formula for beating Boston if they face off in a few weeks.

⭐️ ⭐️ Jalen Brunson: An exponential leap from where he was just two days ago. Brunson unleashed many of his patented moves, ultimately finishing with 27 points on 21 shots, including a trigger-happy 5-for-12 from deep. He has to fire away when Boston’s defense doesn’t pay him proper respect behind the arc, otherwise New York becomes too easy to guard. He’ll catch criticism for a few missed shots in OT that came at the expense of better ball-movement, but Brunson also assisted on four shots in the final 4:18 of regulation while making 1-of-2 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line. For a guy still recalibrating, this was a mighty encouraging sign.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Karl-Anthony Towns: Maybe the biggest development in any single game this season is Karl-Anthony Towns deciding to do everything in his power to make Boston rethink their strategy of guarding him with non-bigs. Better late than never.

Towns was unstoppable, scoring 34 points on 14-of-21 shooting, including 13-of-18 from inside the arc. He also got to the line seven times, making five. He was the very best version of himself on offense: patient, powerful, aware, and decisive. Defensively, it was far more of a mixed bag, but KAT wasn’t deployed solely in drop coverage, which has to count as progress. His foul on a Tatum 3-point attempt with 35 second remaining in the fourth was unfortunate, but I love that he took on the challenge of the switch and didn’t concede a good look. I’ll take my chances in the same situation if these teams play again.

More on KAT’s exceptional effort tomorrow.

Final Thought

I’ll say it again: one day we’re gonna get those guys.

🏀

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”