Knicks ground Rockets in comeback victory
Neither Delta not Durant can beat the allegations
Have you ever had a carefully constructed plan not go according to plan? A couple of Sundays ago, the Knicks traveled to Boston ahead of their early afternoon game against the Celtics, with tip-off set for 12:30 PM. My wife and I planned to see the game together. The two of us arrived at LaGuardia Airport with an hour to spare before takeoff.
Happy and excited, we boarded the flight from LGA to Logan Airport, which should have gotten us to our seats in TD Garden well before tip-off. When it was time to depart, the pilot’s voice came over the intercom to announce that takeoff would be delayed by half an hour because of a frozen water line under the plane. It was unwelcome news, but not necessarily bad. I had opted for the 10:00 AM flight instead of the 11:00 AM one, just in case we ran into a delay. This particular delay meant we would be cutting it close, but we would still get to the arena in time for the starting lineups.
There is a fine line between happy/excited and upset/anxious, and it was crossed 45 minutes after that announcement. Things would not improve, neither the plane from a mechanical standpoint nor my mood from an emotional one. After sitting at the gate for 90 minutes, the captain announced that the passengers would need to board another plane and that the departure had been rescheduled to 3:00 PM! Really, Delta? Thanks for nothing.
By the time the game versus the Celtics started, I was already back home, watching from my couch, with my flight refunded and my tickets resold1. The Knicks won that game in Boston, but it came on the heels of a blowout loss in Detroit. On a personal level, witnessing that loss in Detroit and being grounded in New York, unable to see the Knicks win in Boston, felt like two losses. The All-Star break gave me a chance to disconnect from the season and even disassociate from writing about it, wondering when and where I would make up that missed game, and what it was all for.
That funk I was in persisted even after the break into Thursday night, as I once again watched from my couch as the Knicks once again embarrassed themselves by losing at home to the Pistons in demoralizing fashion. I walked into Saturday’s game versus the Houston Rockets, unsure of the seriousness of this Knicks team. Could they dominate a good team, as they did against the Boston Celtics after their loss in Detroit? Sure. Could they lose embarrassingly at home to a Houston team that just beat the suddenly unbeatable Hornets in Charlotte the game before? Absolutely. Show me another team that can win fifteen out of eighteen games, then lose nine of their next eleven games, before winning eight more games in a row. This Knick team will turn you from a non-believer into a believer, then into an apostate, and back to a believer, all within the same week. Sometimes, even, in the same game.
Game Night
Prior to this game:
The Knicks (35-21, 3rd place in the Eastern Conference) and the Houston Rockets (34-20, 4th place in the Western Conference) had played 155 regular-season games against one another, with the Knicks holding an all-time record of 79-76.
Miles McBride was unavailable for the Knicks, while the Rockets, who have been without the services of starting point guard Fred Van Vleet all season, were also missing backup center Steven Adams.
Seating Chart
Tickets for this game were more expensive than usual. I'm calling it the KD effect. Kevin Durant has always been a draw, but even more so these days. During the All-Star break, news broke that Durant allegedly posted messages to a private group of friends and close fans criticizing both former and current teammates. The most damning messages targeted his current teammates, Jabari Smith and Alperun Sengun.
He used a slur I won’t repeat to describe Smith’s intelligence, or lack thereof, and said Sengun can’t shoot or defend. Durant is still merely alleged to be the author of these messages, but Durant himself has done little to quell speculation that he was behind them.
For the first time in eight home games, I found a ticket on the Bridge level. I ended up in Section 328, row 1. The Bridge level has only two rows, separated by a flight of stairs, so whether you're in row 1 or row 2, there's no chance of anyone's big head obstructing your view. The seats are on wheels, so they can be easily rolled out of the way. Every seat has a glass table with a built-in TV monitor. Seated to my left were two Frenchmen, one at his first NBA game, both supporting the Rockets. To my right was a group of six Knicks fans in their early twenties. One member of the group gave me his unprompted thoughts on the bridge-level seating: “Aren't these the best seats in the Garden?” He asked rhetorically. “You can stand up and move around the whole game, and no one will complain!”
Game Notes
The Rockets started Amen Thompson at Point Guard. Jalen Brunson must be tired of seeing a Thompson guarding him, having just played Amen’s twin brother, Ausar Thompson, on the Pistons. Brunson managed only two points on three shots in the first quarter. Primarily defended by OG Anunoby, Kevin Durant missed his first six shots until his three from the right corner with three minutes remaining in the quarter cut the Knicks’ lead to five. The Knicks held a 27-21 lead after one quarter of play.
After playing the entire first quarter, Brunson rested, and Jose Alvarado started the second period with the rest of the starters. Alvarado sparked a 7-0 run in the first minute and change of the quarter. The Knicks extended their lead to thirteen, 34-21, but Houston responded behind 11 points and 3 assists from Alperun Sengun, tying the game at 50, and eventually taking a 54-53 lead into the locker room at Halftime.
Brunson was 0 for 4 from the field, with just two points and three assists at the half. In a good sign that he is all the way back from his toe injury, OG Anunoby led the Knicks with 16 points on 7-9 shooting, adding three steals. Durant and Sengun paced the Rockets with 13 apiece, though Sengun needed only seven shots to Durant’s 13 attempts. Jabari Smith Jr. was 4-4 with 11 points. If Smith and Sengun harbor resentment over Durant’s alleged comments, their response has been to send Durant a reply through their play, not their tweets.
Brunson was back in the starting lineup at the start of the third quarter. A Kevin Durant three-pointer off a Sengun assist gave the Rockets a ten-point lead, 65-55, with 8:14 remaining in the period, triggering a Knicks timeout. For the next six minutes, the Rockets maintained that advantage, answering the Knicks every time they cut into the lead. Halfway through the quarter, I decided to stand up, garnering odd looks from my French neighbors. With the lead at 85-75 and less than a minute remaining in the period, the Rockets went on a 6-0 run to go up 91-75 at the end of the third, marking their largest lead of the game. The Frenchies were pumped. The group of Knick fans next to me started to boo. I couldn’t blame them.2
The Knicks used the same lineup to start the fourth quarter as they did to start the second quarter. Alvarado with the starters, and Brunson (12 points, on 2-8 shooting to that point3) resting on the bench. After extending the lead to 18 points early in the period, a Landry Shamet three-pointer cut the Rockets’ lead to 94-83 with 9:12 to play and woke up the crowd.
As the MSG organist prompted, they began to chant, D-E-F-E-N-S-E! — D-E-F-E-N-S-E! The non-developmentally challenged Jabari Smith answered with a three-pointer of his own, temporarily quieting the crowd. On the next two Knicks possessions, Karl Anthony-Towns hit a corner three, followed by Jose Alvarado hitting a three on the next play from the same exact spot, cutting the lead to 97-89. I began jumping up and down. On the next Knicks possession, Jose Alvarado drove to the hoop for a layup off the backboard. The layup would carom off the rim, but Mikal Bridges was there for the putback slam. I slammed my fist on the table in front of me. The Knick fans to my right were high-fiving each other. Houston was still leading 97-91 with 7:05 to go, but the arena was charged. The sleepwalking Knicks were suddenly awake. We were finally back in the game.
With the score 99-93, Knicks Coach Mike Brown inserted Jose Alvarado into the lineup for Mikal Bridges. It was Jose’s third or fourth run of the game, but just the first time that Alvarado and Brunson were on the court together. The substitution paid off right away as Brunson elevated over Jabari Smith for the step-back jumpshot, cutting the lead to 99-95. Alvarado stole the ball on the next possession, on his way to posting five steals just in 20 minutes of play.
The next Rocket possession saw Amen Thompson attack the rim, where he was met by Mitchell Robinson, who drew an offensive foul, giving the ball back to the Knicks, who went to one of the oldest plays in basketball. Landry Shamet found Karl Anthony-Towns on the lower left block, who then backed in and converted a spinning layup over Houston’s Dorian Finney-Smith, cutting the lead to two, 99-97, with 3:32 to play, looking a little reminiscent of Patrick Ewing in the process. The volume of the D-E-F-E-N-S-E! chants reached an ear-splitting level, but the Rockets’ Tari Eason scored over Towns to push the lead back to four, 101-97, with 3:04 remaining, briefly curbing the crowd’s enthusiasm.
A minute later, with the Rockets up by four, 103-99, and the crowd chanting for more D-E-F-E-N-S-E! Jose Alvarado obliged. First, with 1:57 left to play, he stole the ball from Durant and made a layup over Smith to cut the lead to 101-99. The D-E-F-E-N-S-E! chant only stopped for those brief moments with Alvarado racing down the court to score, and was picked up again immediately afterwards. For an encore, on the next defensive possession with 1:35 remaining, Alvarado ignited the most pivotal play of the game. He leapt and intercepted Sengun’s cross-court pass like an NFL safety, then turned in midair and passed ahead to a suddenly hot Jalen Brunson, who ran the length of the court, briefly pausing at the left wing of the three-point arc before attacking the baseline against Tari Eason, keeping the basket between Eason and himself. Brunson converted a reverse layup, tying the game at 103 with 1:26 left to play.
The Rockets turned the ball over again, but Sengun blocked an Alvarado layup attempt. Durant picked up the ball in transition and looked on his way to a layup, but was called for an offensive foul after colliding with Brunson in the lane. Houston challenged the call, but it was upheld, and the challenge was deemed unsuccessful.
With the score tied at 103 and 47.7 seconds to play, Jalen Brunson hit a jumper over Tari Eason to give the Knicks their first lead of the second half, 105-103. OG Anunoby was intentionally fouled and sent to the free-throw line, where he sank both free throws. As the second free throw went through the net, the fans all around me were jumping up and down. The entire south bridge level began to shake from the fan celebration. The Knicks were up 107-103 with 5.4 seconds remaining.
The game was not over. With two seconds to play, Kevin Durant hit a three-pointer over Anunoby to cut the Knicks' lead to one, 107-106, and delay the celebration that was coming. Josh Hart inbounded the ball to Landry Shamet, who was fouled and sent to the line with 1.4 seconds remaining. Shamet made one of two free throws, and Durant missed a half-court heave at the buzzer. The Knicks won the game 108-106.
Final Thoughts
This was one of the most improbable victories of the season, coming back from down 16 to start the fourth quarter. This was the kind of comeback win that can snap a fan out of his funk and ignite a team to go on a winning streak. Look to see if the Knicks can capitalize on this momentum in this upcoming stretch of games against Western powers. San Antonio and Oklahoma City will be visiting MSG in early March.
Odds and ends
The Bridge level at MSG is a great viewing experience. Highly recommend as an alternative to the upper bowl if you don't want to spend for the lower bowl.
I liked seeing Alvarado and Brunson sharing the court, especially as an end-game adjustment. It gives the Knicks another confident ball-handler and someone who can get into passing lanes and create turnovers.
I enjoyed the OG Anunoby-Kevin Durant matchup. Durant shot 10-26 and had 30 points. Sengun and Smith, the bros who were dissed, combined to shoot 14-25 and 37 points.
It looks like one more tweet from the KDF Files has been unearthed. Allegedly.
Up Next
The Knicks visit the Chicago Bulls tomorrow. The teams split their prior two matchups this season. I’m staying home and out of the snowstorm.4 My next road game will be in Cleveland on Tuesday, the 24th5.
My next game at MSG will be when the San Antonio Spurs make their annual Garden visit on Sunday, March 1st.
At a loss.
I may have joined them. Allegedly.
Brunson would go 4 for 4 in the 4th, living up to his Captain Clutch moniker.
Maybe I’ll get to visit Chicago next year.
American Airlines, you’re up! Don’t let me down.
Once again, the train would be the way to go. Kam, not everything has to be a foul line soaring jam. Trains are more reliable and good for relaxing...