Shorthanded Sensation

Without their captain, the Knicks put the clamps down on Utah and secured their ninth straight win.

Good morning! The streak continues. Let’s discuss.

Game 34: Knicks 119, Jazz 103

• A slow start from the field had the Knicks down 10 early on, but their defense quickly got them back on track.

• Without Jalen Brunson (calf) and Deuce McBride (hammy), Cam Payne got the start and did a nice enough job directing the offense.

• All four normal Knick starters had outstanding efforts, leading to New York eventually pulling away in the fourth quarter despite only nine made threes for the game.

• This was as good a game as we’ve seen from the Knicks’ transition offense.

• Tyler Kolek got the backup point guard minutes and was quite good.

Yeah…but.

Arguably the two most powerful words in the English language.

The greatest Mad Men quote of them all (“What is happiness? It's a moment before you need more happiness.”) is steeped in the essence of Yeah…but.

Yeah, I just won the lottery…but now I have to pay taxes on it.

Yeah, I’m dating Sydney Sweeney…but I have to share her with the rest of the world.

Yeah, the Knicks are a top-five team…but do they really have what it takes to win a game with defense if they need to?

Through the first 33 games of the season, we hadn’t really gotten an answer to that last question.

Usually, New York’s offense has been such a load for opposing teams to handle that their defense hasn’t needed to be great, and when it has been great, it usually comes against some pretty dreadful competition.

The 2024-25 Utah Jazz aren’t going to be confused with the Steph & KD Warriors anytime soon, but they did manage to hang 121 on the Knicks the last time these two teams faced off. That loss in Utah was a game that could have gone New York’s way if they showed even a modicum of defensive mettle down the stretch. Instead, the Jazz scored 34 points in the fourth quarter and had one of their best shooting games of the season, thanks in large part to a noticeable lack of tenacity by the road team.

That brought us to last night, and a game where New York was not only missing their MVP Jalen Brunson due to a right calf injury, but their sixth man Deuce McBride as well, thanks to a tight left hamstring that acted up just before tip off. Not only would they need to be on their game defensively, but this would require a total team effort to secure the win.

Did they pull it off?

Hell yeah they did, with no buts in sight.