Hart Attack

After a Jalen Brunson injury scare left them without their starting PG, the Knicks emerged from Cleveland with a win behind the do-everything wing who refuses to lose.

Good MORNING!!!!!!

Yes, perhaps foolishly, I’m choosing to be optimistic today even thought we’re awaiting final word on the severity of Jalen’s injury. As I’ll discuss extensively below, all indications are pointing in the right direction.

Besides, it’s hard to be anything but ecstatic after what might be the best win of New York’s season - one which exemplified everything this team is all about.

Game 61: Knicks 107, Cavs 98

In a New York minute…

Actually, it didn’t even take a minute.

About 30 seconds after tip off, disaster appeared to strike as Jalen Brunson rose for a jumper and fell to the floor in obvious pain, needing to be assisted off the court and back to the locker room. The game suddenly seemed inconsequential as uncertainty over Brunson’s injury loomed, but the Knicks didn’t get the memo, scrapping their way to multiple double digit leads before a late run gave Cleveland a two-point halftime lead. After a third quarter of runs, New York grabbed an 11-point advantage early in the fourth, but watched as a barrage of Cavs threes dwindled the lead down to three. With their backs firmly against the wall, it was Josh Hart to the rescue, nailing a game-saving 3-pointer and grabbing steal in the final minutes to secure the win.

Two Things

1. Brunson hurt (but maybe not too bad). “Non-contact injury.”

Quite possibly the three scariest words in sports.

They have become so synonymous with a player’s season ending that when announcers use the term on a live broadcast, it is invariably accompanied by an unmistakably somber tone with only one implication:

Even if we don’t know the specifics, you know your guy is done.

That was the instant reaction after Jalen Brunson crumpled to the court just 30 seconds into Sunday night’s game:

At first glance, it looked like a non-contact injury, which immediately brought to mind the very worst fears - fears of consequences that would impact not only this season, but Brunson’s future beyond this year. Needless to say, he left the game and did not return.

However, upon closer examination, replays showed that this wasn’t actually a non-contact injury, and that Brunson’s left leg made contact on this play not once, but twice. The first time came when he curled around an Isaiah Hartenstein screen and seemed to graze his leg against I-Hart’s hip. That contact may have caused some instability and set up what came next, which was contact by JB’s knee with Isaac Okoro’s body on the way up for the shot attempts. Rewatches confirm that the injury occurred before Brunson ever landed.

So what could this be? This helpful video by Brian Sutterer, MD explains why the likeliest explanation is that Jalen Brunson suffered an injury to a nerve in his knee, which can take anywhere from a few days to a week to recover from.

We go some additional positive news after the game, when Tom Thibodeau reported back that X-rays were negative and that Jalen had suffered a knee contusion. He sounded pretty encouraged. His teammate also seemed to calm everyone’s worst fears based on what Brunson himself told DiVo afterwards:

So while we won’t know anything for sure until we get another update on Brunson’s condition, all of the news has been as good as can be expected considering how bad things looked in that opening minute.

Looking equally as bad in that opening minute were the Knicks’ chances of winning this game. Even without having to face an injured Donovan Mitchell, the Knicks were now brutally outmanned, on the road, against a team that had run roughshod over the league for two months.

It would take a miracle to stay in this game…

2. No guts, no glory. …or, in lieu of a miracle, the guttiest, grittiest, most inspiring performance we’ve seen from an NBA team all season.

Usually, when one team is as undermanned as the Knicks were last night, you’ll have to count on some sort of outlier event to come up with a win - say, a particularly hot (or cold) shooting performance, or some other gaffe by the favored team that keeps the underdogs in the game.

Nope. Not last night. Cleveland shot a respectable 38.6 percent from deep on 44 total attempts - tied for their eighth highest total of the season. The Cavs also took care of the ball (just 11 turnovers) and kept the rock moving to go from good shots to better ones (31 assists on 39 made field goals). Four of five starters, including their three stars, shot at least 50 percent from the field, and they even got a lightning-in-a-bottle shooting performance from Sam Merrill, who nailed 7-of-13 from deep off the bench.

On paper, the Cavs did more than enough to win.

But this wasn’t a game that was going to be won on paper.

One of literally dozens of defensive highlights.

You can say it about the entire game, but it really came into focus over the final quarter, when Cleveland scored only 20 points, including just two in the final four and a half minutes:

The Knicks defended like their life depended on it.

That’s the only way to describe their mettle, which somehow kept ratcheting up in intensity, notch by notch, with each additional grueling minute.

Yes, they checked a lot of the typical boxes that come with their best wins. 47 rebounds to Cleveland’s 39. Only seven fast break points allowed. Disciplined defense, sending the Cavs to the line just seven times. A manageable 12 turnovers.

Amidst all those numbers though, there were a few that mattered even more…

39:18 for Donte DiVincenzo, who became New York’s top offensive option after Brunson left.

45:22 for Josh Hart, one game after playing over 47 in a loss to Golden State.

Finally - and this is not a typo - 47 minutes and 13 seconds for Deuce McBride, who never sat after replacing the injured Jalen Brunson.

That’s doing whatever it takes, except unlike the Avengers, New York’s Captain America was back in the locker room.

Rising to the occasion when you least expect it is the DNA of this group. The longer the odds, the bigger the effort.

Knicks culture, in a nutshell.

Play of the Day

I wrote after the Detroit game that Josh Hart’s contested, go-ahead bucket with two seconds remaining was in contention for the play of the year.

Well, less than a week later, he’s already one-upped himself:

Forget Play of the Day; this was a Play in three acts.

Act One: With the Knicks having gone scoreless for nearly three minutes and making just five field goals since the start of the period, Josh Hart inherited a pass from Bojan Bogdanovic with just over four seconds on the shot clock. Guarded by All-World defender Evan Mobley, Hart sidesteped into a contested fadeaway…and drained it.

Act Two: With the intention of trash talking the Cleveland bench after his big shot, Hart was instead distracted by Donovan Mitchell’s chain, and thus calmly placed it back in his t-shirt for him.

Act Three: Needing a bucket to keep pace, Darius Garland is walled off by three Knick defenders, one of whom is Josh Hart providing help. As Darius spins to pass, Hart immediately retreats to Garland’s outlet, and snatches the ball to essentially close the door on the win.

Give the man his Tony.

💫 Stars of the Game 💫

⭐️ Deuce McBride: Even though this was one of those “they needed everyone” games, picking a top three was a fairly easy task. That being said, prior to the big Hart triple, the Knicks had scored 14 points in the period; 11 of them were courtesy of Bojan Bogdanovic (six) and Alec Burks (five). For all the (justifiable) criticism they’ve gotten recently, both ex-Pistons had their moments, with Bogey in particular carrying New York’s offense for a key stretch in the second quarter.

But with all due respect to them, Precious Achiuwa (awesome in just 22 minutes because they needed all the spacing they could get with Brunson out), Isaiah Hartenstein (several big contests late) and Jericho Sims (plus-17 in just 21 minutes), the top three were a cut above.

That starts with Deuce, who’d have been a 3-star guy on most nights given this performance. He finished only 6-of-15 from the field, but was 4-of-9 from deep for 16 points to go with five dimes. Two of those threes came in the fourth quarter - one to shift momentum back in New York’s favor after a Merrill three with 6:21 remaining, and one to put the nail in the coffin and give the Knicks a nine-point lead with 33 seconds left.

But also: forty seven effing minutes and thirteen freaking seconds. Said Deuce after the game when asked about how much he played, “That was a lot of trust coach put in me and I just wanted to give it my all.”

Perfect attitude for a guy who is just beginning to scratch the surface.

⭐️ ⭐️ Donte DiVincenzo: Tough call between him an McBride, but I gave DiVo the nod because half a minute into this game, he became the No. 1 offensive option, on the road, against a top-three defense.

His response? A very Brunson-esque 28 & 4, with six made threes on 14 attempts and several drives into the teeth of Cleveland’s defense that were the closest thing to advantage creation we saw all night. His 16-point third quarter gave New York a jolt of adrenaline it desperately needed to bridge the gap from halftime to the fourth.

On top of all that, he gave the Knicks top notch defense with three steals, a block, and several hounding possessions that didn’t show up in the box score.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Josh Hart: Hart went the first six and a half years of his NBA career without ever having a triple double. The last time he’d notched one, he was a senior at Villanova, but that was when he was a Wooden Award Finalist and consensus 1st Team All-American. In the pros, Hart has career averages of 9.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists - not exactly Luka or Jokic territory.

But after last night’s 13-point, 19-rebound, 10-assist, two-steal, two-block masterpiece of grunge art, Hart now has three triple doubles in the last 35 days. In that time, he’s one of five players averaging 10 boards and five dimes (joining Jokic, Giannis, Luka and Domantas Sabonis) while being the only guy in the league averaging more than 40 minutes a game.

As Cavs head coach JB Bickerstaff said after he’d seen the human tornado destroy his crops yet agian, “Josh Hart is a winner. He's willing to do whatever it takes to win basketball games."

“Winner” should just be Hart’s designated position on the Knicks at this point. The Knicks are 52-33 since trading for Hart last February, and while his lack of shooting prowess will always be a concern, it is one you happily live with because of games like this.

Brash. Ballsy. Stubborn. Imperfect. Relentless. Cold-blooded. Underdog.

If there’s a more “New York” player on the Knicks roster, I certainly can’t find him.

Tip-Ins…

🏀 I-Hart took a shiner under his right eye with just under five minutes to go in the game, as Max Strus drove to the rim and brought his arm down hard on Isaiah’s face. The call was originally ruled a foul on Hartenstein but was overturned following a replay challenge.

🏀 If anyone sees Evan Mobley’s soul flying around in the ether…

…please ship back to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse at your earliest convenience.

🏀 Per Andrew Claudio, Deuce became the five player in the last 50 years to play at least 47 minutes in a regulation game he didn’t start.

🏀 Fun / interesting stat courtesy of DJ Zullo:

🏀 From Saturday: New York will sign Shake Milton after he clears waivers following his release from Detroit. Milton started the season with Minnesota after spending the first five years of his career in Philly, where he was a valuable rotation piece in the backcourt. As Ian Begley reported after the signing, Milton’s signing is “moreso about adding depth amid injuries and not necessarily about Milton immediately taking over someone’s spot in the rotation.” He will be eligible to play in the playoffs.

Standings Check

Philly had an impressive win in Dallas yesterday to hang onto 5th place over Orlando, who blew out Detroit. Meanwhile, Indiana dropped a game to the lowly Spurs as Tyrese Haliburton struggled yet again.

Tonight: the Clippers travel to Milwaukee to face the Bucks, who are four games up on New York and own the tiebreaker.

Up Next…

The Knicks begin a four-game home stand when they host the Hawks on Tuesday

Final Thought

Line of the night came courtesy of Harry Dohnert in the KFS Postgame show:

In the first quarter, I said to myself “I don’t know why I watch sports.” In the fourth quarter, I said to myself, “This is why I watch sports.”

🏀

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”