Stairway to Seven

The Knicks refuse to lose

Good morning! The Knicks keep rolling, winning their sixth and seventh consecutive games over the weekend to cap off a three-game sweep of the midwest. How we got here, a mere two weeks after it seemed like wholesale changes were in store, remains difficult to wrap my head around. But alas, #WeBack. Let’s enjoy.

Game Recap: Knicks 109, Pacers 106

⌚️30 Seconds or Less: The game of the year, full stop, and the best win the Knicks have had all season. Maybe there was more at stake in the Utah game, arguably making that victory more meaningful, but there was something about the way New York snatched this one from Indiana’s steely grasp even though they had no intention of letting it go.

On a night when no team ever gained a double digit advantage, the Knicks and Pacers alternated one-point leads after each of the first three quarters. Within those seemingly even results, however, was a very uneven game. New York gave up a 17-4 run int the second quarter, and then watched as Indy hit seven of their first dozen 3-point attempts in the second half. The road team never wilted, although it seemed like their luck finally ran out when they went down by six with under two minutes to go.

Five straight Jalen Brunson points and six clutch Julius Randle free throws later, the Knicks escaped with their seven straight win, tying the franchise’s fifth longest streak since 1995.

📸 📸 📸 (So Many) Plays of the Game: There were enough standout moments over the first 45 minutes to fill out an entire newsletter, but we’ll focus here on the last four minutes, which alone contained a multitude of heroics. There was a Mitchell Robinson put back with 3:40 to go and the Knicks down six. There was Quentin Grimes’ only made field goal of the night, a 3-pointer to cut the lead from four to one with three minutes left. And of course, there was Julius Randle going 6-for-6 from the line in the final 45 seconds.

But the two plays I’m going to highlight with clips are just a notch above the rest:

At the moment the Knicks came up the court here, it felt like the streak was over. They had made their push a minute earlier, cutting a six-point lead to one, but then gave up a Buddy Hield 3-pointer and an Aaron Nesmith fast break dunk in back to back possessions that put them right back where they started. The momentum was gone.

Gone, that is, until Brunson single-handedly got it back with this shot and a steal / breakaway layup combo 24 seconds later. What followed was a wild sequence - one that had Randle getting fouled, an unsuccessful Pacers challenge on the foul call, two made freebies, a great defensive stand that ended up with Grimes holding the rock, only to get tied up and for the Knicks to lose possession on a jump ball - all in 27 seconds.

The defensive stand in that mix, however, featured Julius Randle switching onto Tyrese Haliburton and forcing him into a pass. On the ensuing Pacers possession, Randle again got switched onto Hali, and again held his ground:

Here’s what Randle told Fred Katz of the Athletic going into this weekend:

“I’ve always felt that [switching] was the best way for me defensively with our team. There are different things I have to do, and I can adjust. But me using my God-given athletic ability, my feet, my quickness, my strength, all those different things — I feel like it’s best more times than not to switch on guards and keeping the ball in front of me. But whatever coach asks, I’ll do it.”

Randle’s defense was perhaps the singular sore spot for this team through the first month or so of the season. That their rotation adjustments have allowed him to switch more, and thus, become a far more effective defender is as encouraging a development for these Knicks as anything else.

📈Standings check in: This section just keeps getting more and more fun to include:

That’s right…the Knicks are nearly as close to first place in the East as they are to the last spot in the play-in tournament. The peripheral numbers on their rise up the standings are even more impressive:

• On the season, the Knicks are now in a tie with the Brooklyn Nets for the 9th best net rating in the league.

• Over their seven game winning streak, New York is giving up 99.0 points per 100 possessions. The Grizzlies, who are first in the West, are second during that stretch at 101.0, and then the Clippers are in third at 105.5. The difference between the Knicks and Clips in this stretch is larger than the difference between LA and the 11th place Thunder.

• Over the last 13 games, which is when the Knicks debuted their current starting lineup, they’re second in overall net rating at plus-8.3, again trailing only the Grizzlies at plus-9.3. Only the Nets have a better record in that span at 11-2.

Can this level of play continue? If the defense is for real and continues to raise the floor for this team on a nightly basis, there’s no reason to believe it can’t.

About Friday Night… Knicks 114, Bulls 91

⌚️30 Seconds or Less: Don’t let the final score fool you; this one was tense for well over a half.

The Knicks came out with a sound approach at both ends but were down seven late in the first half thanks to some quality Bulls shot-making and a lot of clanks by the road team. It would have been more had it not been for Quentin Grimes and Jalen Brunson, who had five first quarter triples between them. Their hot shooting continued to close out the half, with three Brunson threes and a capper by Grimes that sent the Knicks into halftime up five.

New York was much cleaner to start the second half, RJ Barrett came alive with 11 in the third, and the road team ended up pulling away well before the midway point of the fourth thanks to excellent defense from everyone who touched the court.

😃Surreal Scene: Late in the fourth quarter of a blowout, the home fans began chanting for the one man who could put a smile on their face as they left the arena. And then, with three and a half minutes to go, Tom Thibodeau obliged, sending the man he once coached to an MVP award to the scorer’s table. The ovation was raucous to begin with, but about a minute later, Chicago’s native son lined up for his first shot in weeks:

Of course Derrick Rose drained it. As if there could be any other result.

A beautiful moment for a man who has had to endure a lot.

🔢 Numbers Game: Three numbers really tell the story of New York’s dominance in this game.

• 13 steals - This tied a season high and was well above their average of 7.2 a night. They were aggressive and in passing lanes all game long.

• 15 offensive rebounds - Only two above their season average, but there were stretches when it felt like the Bulls couldn’t get a defensive rebound to save their life.

• 36:13 - That’s how much game time passed before Chicago got their first offensive rebound. New York, atrocious on the defensive glass earlier this season, was dominant on the glass on Friday.

As Julius Randle said after the Pacers win, the Knicks are the aggressors whenever they take the court now now. The numbers are there to back that up.

🔑 Key Moment: After the Knicks had gone up by 15 with four minutes to go in the third, the Bulls rattled off seven straight points in under a minute to cut the lead to eight and induce a few beads of sweat for any Knick fan watching. But it was - who else? - Jalen Brunson to the rescue with a timely three from the top of the arc:

The lead would never dip below double digits again. This was also Brunson’s sixth three of the night, which set a new career high for the fifth-year guard. It raised his season average to 4.8 attempted threes per 36 minutes, which is a 33 percent jump over last season - especially impressive given his increased creation responsibilities away from Luka.

🛑 Key Stretch: The LaVine three that preceded Brunson’s bucket came at the 3:10 mark of the third. Over the next 11:24 of game time - nearly an entire quarter - the Knicks held the Bulls to just seven points. It was the most impressive stretch of defense in arguably the best defensive performance of the season for the Knicks.

📸 Play of the Game: Speaking of outstanding defense:

The most impressive part about this switch by Sims is that he hugs the perimeter so Caruso - who finished one attempt shy of his season high in threes taken - can’t even think of firing one off. For a guy this big to make this sort of stand is yet another indication that last year’s 58th pick deserves rotation minutes, regardless of who is or isn’t healthy.

The anticipation and finish through contact by Deuce is the icing on the cake.

💫 Stars of the Weekend 💫

Lots of honorable mentions here, including Quentin Grimes, whose shot-making on Friday and defense last night were both essential, as well as Mitchell Robinson, who leads the NBA in offensive rebounds since returning to the starting five 13 games ago. Deuce remains a revelation, even playing a dozen minutes a night. But for (I’m fairly certain) the first time all season, New York’s big three gets the honors on the same day.

⭐️ RJ Barrett: Barrett was a point away from tying Jalen Brunson for the weekend scoring lead, 52 to 51, and only took four more shots, which is not the sort of efficiency differential we’re used to seeing between these two players. His defense has taken a noticeable step up even if he does still give too much room to outside shooters - something that nearly bit the Knicks big time with Buddy Hield’s late triple in Indiana. Overall though, he has improved. On offense, the ever-essential rim finishing continues to show signs of major encouragement.

I’d still like to see more consistency from RJ within games - he had some ghastly turnovers among his five last night, and eases into games at both ends too much for my liking - but considering the conversations we were having a month ago, it’s hard to be upset with where Barrett is at the moment.

⭐️ ⭐️ Julius Randle: Boy, if you can go find any of the idiots who were saying over the summer that the Knicks should try and trade Julius Randle at all costs, do yourself a favor and stop reading anything they write. Amateur hour without the half-priced drinks is all that was.

Fast forward to now. Over this winning streak, Julius Randle’s approach at both ends has been about as close to perfection as anyone could reasonably expect. The results aren’t always there - he was 4-of-16 from deep in these two games combined, and several of Aaron Nesmith’s career high 23 points came at Ju’s expense - but he is playing like the guy we all begged for coming into this season.

He’s been dominating the defensive glass during this streak, with 70 defensive rebounds in total, a number that trails only Nikola Jokic and Domantas Sabonis in the same time frame. There is a contagious energy to his play that his teammates seem to feed off of.

Knicks Videos @sny_knicks

JULIUS WITH A POSTER 🔥 (via @nyknicks)

As is always the case with this player when he is going good, the question remains “will it continue?” Perhaps this time the answer is different, thanks in large part to…

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Jalen Brunson: Remember when Jalen Brunson was going to miss a whole bunch of time because his ankle got rolled? That was fun.

Oh, and the whole thing about how his one weakness on offense - the lack of a consistent pull up game from deep - was going to be a death knell because all the starters wanted to operate inside the arc? All he did was go 9-for-12 from three this weekend, including a bunch of self-generated looks. He’s up to 37.3 percent on 3-point field goals, and while his overall field goal percentage has fallen to 46.9 percent thanks to (for him) a couple of down weeks inside the arc, it’s not hard to see him flirting with a 50/40/90 season when all is said and done. I mean…

…what the hell do you even do with this? Beats me.

He’s one of 11 players this season to play at least 15 games and average over 20 & 6, and the other 10 have all made at least one All-Star team. If the Knicks remain in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race, with the number of massive shots he’s hit (up to 4th in “clutch” points with 60, and with a higher field goal percentage than the three guys above him), I’d think he has to be New York’s representative in the game.

KnicksMuse @KnicksMuse

“If I can walk, I can play” -Jalen Brunson

As the Knicks keep streaking, Brunson would be the first to tell you that it is a team-wide effort. But every team needs a leader. Look no further than the 2021-22 Knicks for proof of that. In that sense, it’s like Brunson was created in a lab to cure all of New York’s ills. All walk, no talk, and all about the team. Can we say this version of Julius is due in large part to Brunson’s presence? We can’t not say that, that’s for sure.

With him at the helm, even if the Knicks bend - and they will lose again at some point, I promise - he will not let them break.

That’s the value of a point guard.

That’s what a leader does.

And that’s who Jalen Brunson is.

🏀

That’s it for today! If you enjoy this newsletter and like the Mets, don’t forget to subscribe to JB’s Metropolitan, or his hockey newsletter, Isles Fix. See y’all soon! #BlackLivesMatter