Knicks
There they are! The Knicks we all remember!
The Knicks shut down the first-place Detroit Pistons in the second and third quarters yesterday, showing them who really leads the Eastern Conference. The Knicks secured their first win of the season, 111-97. They picked the perfect opponent.
The Pistons swept the Knicks in last year's season series, so they were eager to put that behind them. More importantly, they needed a win. Last night, it wouldn’t have mattered which team they played, but beating a first-place team meant a lot.
The Knicks reminded themselves of how well they can play. They didn’t play perfectly, losing the turnover battle 14-18, but they played well enough defensively. The Knicks outmatched Detroit’s 11 blocks with 10 steals, including five from Josh Hart, whose buzzer-beating three-pointer capped off the Knicks’ best quarter of the season.
Detroit outscored the Knicks 38-25 in the first quarter. But when faced with adversity, these Knicks can reach unimaginable heights. They answered by outscoring the Pistons 63-25 in the second and third quarters, including 37-13 in the third. They trailed by 13 at the end of the first and led by 25 at the end of the third.
“I give our guys credit,” head coach Mike Brown said. “We talked about trying to string a game together, close to 48 minutes, the way we can and like to play. We had some lulls where we weren’t as physical as we should have been, but we had some good moments. We had more good moments in totality than in the first three games.”
When the Knicks find their rhythm, they are unstoppable. The Knicks usually lose when Jalen Brunson shoots 5-for-18 from the field and 0-for-5 from three-point range. However, Brunson doesn’t need to do much when Karl-Anthony Towns breaks loose.
The seven-foot center has a chip on his shoulder. He wants to sign an extension with the Knicks, and he even offered to take a pay cut. With 27 points and 20 rebounds yesterday, Towns recorded his fourth straight double-double. He now has 17 20/20 performances, which ranks third among active players (behind Nikola Jokić and teammate Andre Drummond).
Towns scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half. Brown said he challenged Towns at halftime. “I just told him the truth,” Brown said. “‘KAT, the guy is killing us on the glass, and when he gets a rebound, he’s putting it back. […] If he catches on the perimeter, guard him.’ And he did those things.
“I’ve got to tip my hat to KAT because I thought his shift in his mindset was really big for us in the second half.”
Towns is on pace for 82 double-doubles this season. Leon Rose and James Dolan don’t have a choice. They have to pay up. They would be lucky if Towns takes a pay cut. He is playing like an MVP.
“I thought we did a good job of picking up on our intensity and physicality,” Towns said of his team’s performance yesterday. “We just executed at a high level. I talked before the game about how, for us to win this game, we’ve got to be the best version of ourselves. Don’t worry about everything else that goes on. We’ve just got to worry about the controllables.”
Thanks to Towns, the Knicks operated as one unit, even when Towns was on the bench. Drummond filled in perfectly, posting 10 points and eight rebounds in 14 minutes. The Knicks outscored the Pistons by 16 points during Drummond’s time on the court.
Additionally, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart formed an excellent defensive duo. Along with his four three-pointers, Bridges and Hart each had four assists, and Hart added five steals. He was the Knicks’ best defensive player.
When asked what drives Hart’s mentality and his relentless desire to win, Brunson said, “Popcorn, candy, wine, caffeine. He’s a different person.”
After Sunday’s loss, Brunson said this: “One thing I’ve said during training camp, and to this day, is we’re going to see who we are within the first couple of weeks of the season. We’re seeing adversity. So, how are we going to respond?”
After yesterday’s win, Brunson acknowledged that the Knicks were starting to respond. “We’re the Knicks, actually,” he said on NBC’s broadcast. These aren’t the World Champions. They don’t even want to be called “defending champions.”
This is a new season and a different team, so they only want to be called the plain old “Knicks.”
Which is exactly why the Knicks can win it all again this year. Even after all the fanfare and praise they earned while living like kings this summer, the Knicks aren’t satisfied. They want to do it all over again.
Schedule
8:00 PM (7:00 PM CDT): NYK at CHI; MSG, DAZN
Cover Image Courtesy: New York Knicks
