Doing Enough to Win

Was it perfect? Heck no. But the Knicks made plenty of big plays down the stretch to bring home a badly needed victory.

Good morning! My goodness, did I need that one…

Game 24: Knicks 113, Raptors 108

• Rep it, Karl.

• The Knicks played solid two-way ball for a quarter and a half before a 13-0 Raps run in under three minutes gave Toronto the lead.

• From there on in it was a dogfight, with New York’s defensive shortcomings rearing their ugly head at several inopportune moments.

• Thankfully, the Knicks made several massive plays down the stretch, culminating in an OG block and a KAT triple to seal the deal.

They swapped cities and countries like two ships passing in the night, so of course, it came down to them.

A better script, you could not write.

Here was RJ Barrett, with the ball in his hands and the game on the line, ready to close out a win in which he had been the best player on the court for most of the preceding 47 minutes. He had already delivered proof of concept for what New York no longer had the patience to wait out. This was his time, his moment, and his dagger to stab into the hearts of the skeptics.

Waiting for him was the man who pushed the front office to end its four and a half year experiment with the highest draft pick since Patrick Ewing. Once the face of the franchise, Barrett was a necessary piece to send out in furtherance of a larger goal. Attaining that goal - to win the organization’s first title since long before any of these guys were born - would require a specific sort of piece who could play off of New York’s stars at one end of the court and insulate their shortcomings at the other.

It would require OG Anunoby.

And on Monday night, he showed you why.