Barbara Barker: Rest or rust for Knicks? Doesn't matter after instant classic

The Knicks could have just quit.

They could have just looked up at the scoreboard, figured why bother with the near impossible and just mentally packed their game up for another day. They could have conserved their energy for Game 2 and blamed the rust that comes from a long layoff for their disappointing play through three quarters and change.

Yes, they could have done all that but instead decided to write yet another chapter in what has already been one heck of a postseason.

By digging themselves out of a 22-point fourth-quarter hole to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 115-104, in overtime, the Knicks took a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals and turned what had been a dog of a game into an instant classic.

“We have a group that didn’t flinch at that deficit and just went out there and made something happen,” said Landry Shamet, who barely played in the first three quarters but then played shutdown defense on Donovan Mitchel and hit two big three pointers in the fourth quarter.

Led by Jalen Brunson’s 15 fourth-quarter points, the Knicks ticked off a 30-8 run in the final 7:38 of regulation to send the game into overtime. The Knicks then opened the final period with a 9-0 run as a crowd which had been boing early in the fourth quarter practically started dancing in their seats.

“The guys fought. The team is relentless,” Miles McBride said. “It’s tough when you’ve had nine days off. At the end of the day, it was our job to get wins out there. What Jalen did, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen something like that.”

Brunson, who finished with 38 points, said there was no thought of giving up. He could be seen animatedly talking to his teammates in the huddle during a timeout in the fourth.

“He’s a leader. He’s our guy,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “And he felt we needed to play faster. He felt we needed to be better defensively. There were a couple things that he felt, and he made sure that we knew and our guys responded to him.”

What was Brunson saying?

“It was just keep fighting, just keep chipping away,” Brunson said. “Most importantly, it was sticking together. No matter how that game finished, habits translate. They can translate into the next game. So finishing that game strong regardless of whatever is going on, making sure we have the right habits. . . . We’re not just giving up. We don’t want to give up ever. Just having faith in each other.”

Until the Knicks exploded in the final minutes, it was a shockingly uninspired performance considering that the Knicks had basically been unstoppable since falling behind Atlanta, 2-1, in the first round. In the wake of that loss, the Knicks had reconfigured their offense and whipped off seven straight playoff wins where they beat their opponents by a total of 185 points.

Their second-round sweep of the 76ers earned them a nine-day rest. The Cavaliers, meanwhile, took seven games to beat first the Toronto Raptors and then the Detroit Pistons. Beginning with their April 29 win over Toronto, Cleveland has played a basketball game every other day. That’s 11 games in 21 days.

In the same time period, the Knicks played just five games, ending with nine straight days off. While that rest may have been exactly what the doctor ordered for OG Anunoby, who played his first game Tuesday since injuring his hamstring in Game 2 of the last series, the Knicks did not open the game with the same fire they had shown in their previous seven games.

“It has more to do with having an edge, keeping a competitive edge,” Brown said. “Games obviously help you with that because your body and your mind are constantly on when you are playing games. When they are off, you tend to relax. That is just human nature.”

In Cleveland, it appears, they have found a challenge more formidable than the Hawks and the Philadelphia 76ers, whom the Knicks swept in the second round. Still, the Knicks cannot continue to mess around for three and a half quarters before relying on some incredible heroics to pull things out.

This is dangerous under any circumstances, but it is magnified by what we saw go on Monday night in the Western Conference Finals. This may be the last year of this decade that Victor Wembanyama does not win the MVP trophy. After what he did to lead San Antonio to a double-overtime victory over Oklahoma City in Game 1 on Monday, he will be the dominant player of the next generation.

But he’s only 22 right now and not as battle-tested as the Knicks veterans. Should San Antonio beat Oklahoma City, the Knicks would have a chance to win that championship that they have been chasing since 1973.

For eight minutes and an overtime last night, the Knicks looked like a team that might have a chance to get there.

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.