Don't Call it a Comeback

The Knicks overcame a double digit halftime deficit in Milwaukee, but at this point, nothing they do should surprise us anymore.

GOOOOOOOD Morning! Was that an eclipse we saw last night? Or just a Knicks team that means business heading into the playoffs? Who can tell the difference.

Game 78: Knicks 122, Bucks 109

In a New York minute…

With the possibility of five losses in six games staring them in the face, the Knicks were tested early, battling back to tie the score at 25 after initially falling behind by nine. Things remained tight throughout most of the second quarter until an 8-0 run by the Bucks put them up by 11 at the half.

Like a boxer getting his second wind, New York came roaring out of the gate in the second half, taking the lead five minutes into the third and never relinquishing it. Milwaukee stayed close, but a 10-0 run early in the fourth with Jalen Brunson on the bench gave the Knicks some separation, and after a brief Bucks push midway through the final period, a 6-0 spurt pushed the lead back to double digits, which is where it remained for the rest of the game.

Play of the Year

It isn’t often you can boil an entire game down to one play, let alone an entire season.

And yet, if there is a single moment that perfectly encapsulates the ethos of the 2023-24 New York Knickerbockers, it is the one that played out (or sprawled out, as it were) with just under five minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

Not that you’d know it from reading the play-by-play.

It didn’t take place in the closing seconds, the score wasn’t within two possessions, and the guy who pulled it off only appears in a parenthetical - one of four names involved in a sequence that began and ended in a span of six seconds:

But just like the team as a whole, the effort, will, toughness, and complete lack of self-regard shown by Isaiah Hartenstein had to be seen to be believed:

I don’t regularly watch Milwuakee, nor do I spend much time perusing Bucks Twitter, but I have to imagine that their fan base is filled with more questions than answers this morning.

No. 1 among them: how is it that a team coming off of three consecutive losses to lottery teams, and which should be pushing the boundaries of desperation, could watch a double digit halftime lead evaporate into thin air like it never even existed?

Finding the answer doesn’t require a deep dive into data or a thorough examination of any X’s or O’s. This clip is all you need.

One team that played last night was willing to leave everything - blood, sweat, heart and soul - on the court.

The other, well…wasn’t.

Not that the Bucks should be ashamed. Few teams in the NBA have this in them, let alone are willing to bring it out in Game 78 of a grueling 82-game regular season.

These Knicks have it - whatever “it” is - in spades. It is why, as many of us have become fond of theorizing, no team wants any part of a playoff matchup against them. Who needs a bloodbath against a group of guys who play every possession like it is their last?

And that is why they have endeared themselves into the hearts and minds of Knicks fans forever.

What a team. What a season. What…a…play.

Three Things

1. Total turnaround. Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern.

Well, we’re now at six straight times of the Knicks going into halftime on the wrong end of the scoreboard. As I wrote on Saturday, there’s ample reason to believe this isn’t a matter of grave concern. Unfavorable shooting splits were the culprit for most of their recent early holes, and last night, Milwaukee outshot New York in the first half 52.6 percent to 37.3 percent.

The 11-point halftime deficit set the sort of stage that no team wants to take at this point in the season: potentially five losses in six games, and after a brief dalliance with the second overall seed in the conference, a real possibility of needing to win games on the final weekend of the regular season just to avoid the play-in.

But high stakes don’s always equal positive results. Recent valiant comeback attempts against the Spurs, Thunder, Heat and Bulls all fell short. In Milwaukee, against a Bucks team in dire need of a victory, this was arguably the steepest climb of the lot.

And as should surprise no one who has watched the Knicks this year, they found a way to scale the mountaintop.

Over the final 24 minutes of action, New York outscored Milwaukee 72-48. By any metric, they dominated. They outshot the home team from the field, 63.4 percent to 40.5 percent, and 66.6 percent to 40.0 percent from deep. They had 17 second half assists to the Bucks’ 10, and had 26 points in the paint to Milwaukee’s 11.

Most significantly, while their defense forced seven turnovers after halftime, New York’s offense committed just one: a shot clock violation when they mercifully held onto the ball with 4.1 seconds remaining in the game.

It was as flawless a half as the Knicks have played all season, and a supposed championship contender on their home floor was helpless to stop it.

2. Playoff rotation? Don’t look now, but we may have just gotten a preview of Tom Thibodeau’s preferred groupings for the postseason.

Starting five, as usual: JB, Donte, Hart, OG and Hartenstein.

Non-Brunson minutes: Deuce, Bogey, DiVincenzo, Anunoby, and one of the centers (it was Hartenstein in the first half and Robinson in the second half - unsurprising as Mitch played his best post-injury ball in the third quarter).

First half only: Precious Achiuwa as the backup four while OG got a breather for five minutes at the end of the first quarter (Hart and Bogdanovic manned the forward spots while Anunoby briefly rested in the second half, with Hart sitting upon OG’s re-entry).

Not invited to the party: Alec Burks.

All in all, it worked pretty darn well. Every Knick finished with a positive in the plus/minus column, which is rare for a game with a final score this close.

The biggest development was how competent the bench looked, spurred by perhaps Bogey’s best game as a Knick. Unsurprisingly, OG’s presence unlocked a lot for the non-Brunson group, who seemed like a fully functional two-way unit in both of their stints.

3. D’ing UP. For as much as Milwaukee may slowly be turning into a punchline, they still sport a top-five offense, putting up 118.0 points per 100 possessions. The first half showed just how scary they can be, scoring 61 points despite making just 4-of-14 looks from behind the arc. The Knicks played hard, but the Bucks were undoubtedly the aggressors.

That wasn’t the case after halftime though, when New York ratcheted up its defensive intensity to levels we’ve rarely seen, holding Milwaukee to 24 points in each of the final two quarters. Everyone pulled their weight, but it was the trio of Deuce McBride, Mitchell Robinson, and most of all, OG Anunoby who really tilted the scales.

Those three shared the court for a glorious two minutes and 44 seconds in the fourth quarter and allowed a lone two-point basket in that time. For the game, they combined for seven steals and five blocks, and achieved a permanent residency in Milwaukee’s nightmares for the foreseeable future.

💫 Stars of the Game 💫

⭐️ Isaiah Hartenstein: Bah-ROO-tahl decision on the last star today.

Here’s how tough it was: neither Mitchell Robinson (three blocks in 19 minutes; outstanding second half defense) nor Deuce McBride (three steals in 18 minutes; hit two baskets in perhaps the pivotal stretch of the game at the start of fourth) got genuine consideration. Josh Hart (nine boards and nine dimes; hit a massive three late in the third) finishes in a distant eighth place.

Instead, this came down to Bojan Bogdanovic, OG Anunoby and Isaiah Hartenstein.

On paper, OG is the easiest exclusion after he shot just 2-for-10 from the field and missed all five of his attempts from deep, but that fails to appreciate his second half defense, which arguably changed the game more than any other single contribution from an individual player.

If we’re grading on a curve, it’s Bogey, who had probably his best game as a Knick with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting. He effectively carried their offense in the non-Brunson first half minutes and then came through with two consecutive hoops before JB checked back in in the fourth. Were it not for the spotlight play above, he’d probably get it.

But when you combine his Greg Louganis impersonation with an 8-for-9 shooting line, an 18 & 10 double double, and outstanding defense over the course of 29 minutes, I-Hart takes home the prize. His floater was a game-changing weapon in the second half, never more so than on the biggest bucket of the game, which put the Knicks back up eight after the Bucks closed the gap to six:

But that dive, man…

Does he know he’s playing for generational wealth on his next contract? Does he care? This guy is about all of the right things and none of the wrong ones.

Please keep him a Knick for as long as he wants to be one.

⭐️ ⭐️ Donte DiVincenzo: On Sunday night, for the 29th time in franchise history, a Knick hit at least eight 3-pointers in a single game.

To the surprise of no one, it was DiVincenzo, who earlier this year set the single game team record, and who continues to lay waste to Evan Fournier’s former record of 241 made triples in a season.

Up to 270 bombs after eight more last night, Donte is currently tied with Dame and Duncan Robinson (who both hit 270 in the 2019-20 campaign) for the 20th most prolific 3-point shooting season in league history. He has a real shot at the all time top 10, with Buddy Hield (288 threes last season) currently occupying 10th place.

But volume alone isn’t what made last night so special. DiVincenzo made his eight triples on just 11 attempts. That included going a perfect 6-for-6 after halftime - a total that included a top-of-the-arc, end-of-the-clock backbreaker to put New York up 114-103 with 3:03 to go, and then another less than 30 seconds later to expand the lead to 14.

In Knicks history, only 11 players have made at least eight threes while shooting as high a percentage as DiVo did last night. Here’s the list he adds his name to:

Speaking of the guy at the top of said list…

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Jalen Brunson: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Jalen Brunson is pretty good at this whole basketball thing.

The league’s fourth leading scorer among qualified players notched his 9th 40-point game of the season, finishing with 43 to go with eight assists and just one turnover. It is his fourth time as a Knick topping 40 & 8 with two or fewer turnovers, which equals every other player in franchise history put together¹.

At this point, anything other than a 5th place MVP finish would be a mild surprise.

Tip-Ins…

🏀 If you need a pick-me-up on this fine Monday morning, listen to Doc Rivers lament about being unable to stop Jalen Brunson. More effective than coffee.

Brunson scored 17 of New York’s first 25 points and was the only thing keeping them alive as the Bucks roared out of the gates.

And he only got better from there.

🏀 Josh Hart was again very hesitant to shoot in the first half, and his shot looked off when he did put it up. Making matters worse, he appeared to injure his left hand with five minutes to go in the second quarter.

Then, a funny thing happened going into halftime:

Hart attempted two 3-pointers halftime, making one. Whatever works, I suppose.

🏀 After dishing only eight assists in the first half, the Knicks had seven dimes during their 20-6 run over the opening six minutes of the third quarter. The ball movement was much improved after halftime.

🏀 Also helpful after halftime: Khris Middleton left the game with an injured mouth after inadvertent contact under the hoop late in the second quarter.

Standings Check In

Giddy up for what promises to be a wild final week in the National Basketball Association.

Here’s where we stand after:

• The Cavs blew a 26-point lead to the Clippers in LA

• The Magic stomped out the Bulls

• The Sixers won a double-OT thriller in San Antonio without Joel Embiid, and

• The Heat couldn’t quite complete a 20-point comeback against the Pacers in Indy

Here’s how jumbled things are: the Knicks are still very much alive for the two seed, but also haven’t officially clinched a playoff spot just yet. Their magic number to do so is one.

More thoughts on the playoff race tomorrow.

Up Next…

Back to Chicago to face the Bulls on Tuesday.

Final Thought

I was asked on the postgame about whether this ranks among the top five wins of the season, and I think it has to, without question.

Stakes, circumstances, opponent, location, and manner of victory…all of them point to this being, if not the best win of the season, squarely among the top three.

Leave it to the Knicks to save the best for last.

🏀

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

1. Marbury, Trey Burke, Kemba and IQ each have one such game on their ledger.