Next Man Up

Say it with me now: in the face of adversity, the Knicks came up with (yet another) season-defining victory.

Good morning friends. I can’t blame you if, upon hearing the news about OG Anunoby, you decided to get a good night’s rest and bypass what would probably be a loss to Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors.

Thankfully, these Knickerbockers don’t seem to know when they’re supposed to be a footnote in another team’s story.

Let’s talk about as good of a win as New York has had all season. But first, some news…

News & Notes

OG Anunoby is back on the shelf.

A little more than a month after surgery and just three games after returning to the lineup, the defensive maestro’s elbow has “flared up,” requiring him to be sent home from the road trip to receive an MRI. The good news, according to Thibs, is that the MRI came back clean. The bad news, obviously, is that is was required in the first place - a sign that Anunoby’s discomfort was severe enough to check out what exactly was going on.

In terms of a time frame, while Thibs wouldn’t completely rule out the possibility that OG would play on Thursday in Denver, Woj said that this injury would keep the forward out multiple games.

At this point, I count four different competing interests where this injury is concerned:

• The short term: How many games can the Knicks afford for Anunoby to miss and still a) make a run at the third seed, b) stay in the 4/5 or c) avoid the play-in?

• The medium term: Will OG be fully healthy for the playoffs, or will this be something that lingers into the offseason?

• The long term: The Knicks traded their best young player(s) for the right to pay Anunoby the largest contract in franchise history this summer - one that they hope will last through a window of contention that hasn’t even opened yet. Other than Jalen Brunson, they have more riding on OG’s long term health than anyone on the roster.

• OG’s money: Speaking of that contract, Anunoby’s next deal will likely be three times that of his entire career earnings thus far. There is arguably no player in the league with more at stake from a health standpoint between now and July 1. For as much as we are used to players playing on crutches in the Thibs era, OG deserves a pass for exercising caution.

On that last point, for as much as the Knicks are surely frustrated by all of this, they have every bit as much interest in getting Anunoby right as he does himself. Any issues that last beyond this season would be exponentially more harmful than what’s happening right now.

In the short term, losses by Indiana and Miami mean the Knicks are 3.5 games up on the seventh seeded Pacers and 3.0 up on the sixth seeded Sixers, but with the tiebreaker on Philly. On the downside, a win by the Cavs means that Cleveland remains 2.0 games up on the three-seed.

Depending on how long OG is out, the aggravation could vanquish any hopes of catching the Cavs, which would mean a path that leads to Boston in the second round as opposed to the conference finals…unless, of course, New York falls to sixth, which would likely mean a rematch of last year’s first round.

We shall see. In a season that has never featured long periods of stability, this feels right in line with what we should expect at this point.

Our fingers remain perpetually crossed.

Game 68: Knicks 119, Warriors 112

In a New York minute…

Not knowing it’s a damn show and thinking it’s a damn fight, the Knicks got off to an 18-4 lead behind exceptional defense and pinpoint passing, flipping the script from the Warriors game in MSG last month. Golden State woke up and started to fight back, eventually going on a 10-0 run late in the second, but New York never lost control, eventually taking an 11-point lead late in the third. From there, New York’s defense took over, holding the Warriors without a point for nearly five minutes early in the fourth while scoring just enough to secure their fourth straight win.

One Thing (Yup, Just One)

1. Next Man Up. I’m stealing the title of our first (and only) thing today from one of my favorite sports book, authored by John Feinstein about the 2004 Baltimore Ravens.

“Next Man Up” is not a phrase typically used outside the NFL, but it is utterly necessary in football, where injuries are a way of life, and excuses are the for the weak (and eventually, the unemployed).

Basketball is different. When a key player or players go down for a significant period of time, the entire organization often gets a do over (see: this year’s Memphis Grizzlies as the latest example). That’s because unlike football, where every member of the 53-man roster will play a vital role at some point before the end of a season, basketball largely comes down to the first few guys on the totem pole. Those sorts of players aren’t easily replaceable, and if they are, then you probably aren’t a very good team to begin with.

That’s what makes last night’s win as impressive as any the Knicks have had this season. OG Anunoby or no OG Anunoby, with two wins on the first two games of a west coast swing, the team had already done it’s job. The news that Anunoby would miss the next few games only solidified how little was expected of them as they closed out the road trip. If ever a team had an excuse to mail one in, it was this one.

Except like their coach, they’re too stubborn to know any better.