Barbara Barker: Knicks fall short to Thunder but send message around league
Knicks forward OG Anunoby reacts after missing his last second shot against the Oklahoma City Thunder in an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
So close. Tantalizingly close.
The Knicks came within inches of possibly beating the best team in the NBA Wednesday night as first Jalen Brunson and then OG Anunoby missed three-pointers in the final four seconds allowing Oklahoma City to hang on for a 103-100 victory at the Garden.
I’m not a big believer in moral victories, but the way the Knicks played Wednesday night was as close as you are going to get to one. By being in a position to send the best team in the league to overtime in the final seconds, the Knicks have sent a message about the makeup of their team and where they are determined to go.
“I’m proud of our guys. We fought,” said Karl-Anthony Towns, who had 17 points and 17 rebounds before fouling out. “Obviously, you want to win, but I’m extremely proud of everyone in this locker room getting good looks at the end like that against the championship team.”
The Knicks are not just a pretty collection of really good players; they are a pretty good team. After frustrating their fans with months and months of up- and-down play, the Knicks are looking like a team that can make some noise in the playoffs.
In the span of four days, the Knicks have beaten a very good San Antonio team at home, beaten a decent Toronto team on the road and now come within inches of taking the defending NBA champions to overtime.
It was clear from the beginning that this was no ordinary game for the Knicks.
Tempers flared early when Mike Brown got his first technical of the season late in the first quarter protesting a non-call against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. As technical fouls go, this is what you would call a good one. The non-foul was against Brunson, Brown’s superstar, and the foul would have been the third of the game on Gilgeous-Alexander, putting the OKC star in some pretty serious foul trouble.
The non-call still wasn’t sitting right with Brown, who made it clear after the game that he felt Gilgeous-Alexander got some favorable treatment from officials.
“Tonight, you guys saw it, SGA had two fouls. Jalen was there and he ran him over,” Brown said. “I don’t understand why that was a no-call. That should have been his third, the bucket shouldn’t have counted
.”
With wins over San Antonio and Toronto and a close loss to OKC, the Knicks are now 2-1 in what is their toughest stretch of the season. They finish that stretch when they hit the road to play Denver Friday and then the Lakers on Sunday.
There’s little doubt that beating Oklahoma City and their top-rated defense was the toughest assignment. With the win, the Thunder extended their league best record to 49-15 and have won nine of their last 11 games.
The Thunder were in control the majority of the game. The Knicks fought back from a 15-point deficit when they erupted for 40 points in the third quarter. Then, they were able to make it close enough to have two good shots at tying the game at the end.
One reason there was so much attention paid to Wednesday’s game is that it was their first meeting of the season, even though it’s five months into the schedule. At the start of the season, many thought this night could be a potential Finals preview.
While Oklahoma City has played like a potential champion all season, the Knicks have had significant struggles. Beginning with a loss to San Antonio on New Year’s Eve, they went through a 2-9 stretch. The Knicks have also struggled against the best teams in the East.
The Knicks are 0-3 against Detroit, having lost by an average of 28 points. Though they won their first two games against Cleveland before the team picked up James Harden, the Knicks were dominated by them in their most recent matchup, losing 109-94 in late February. The Knicks are also 2-1 against a surprisingly strong Boston Celtics squad that could get Jayson Tatum back for the playoffs.
Still, there are enough flaws with the top teams in the East that many NBA observers believe they have an opportunity to get further in the playoffs than any Knicks team since the 1999 team went to the NBA Finals.
“The Knicks are a team you have to label a contender,” ESPN analyst Tim Legler told Newsday. “The Pistons have earned the right to be called the best team, but at the same time they have not won a series together. They don’t know what it’s like to win four games in a playoff series. Because of that and the issues Cleveland has had in the playoffs the last couple of years and the fact that Boston has overachieved and they don’t know if they will get [Jayson] Tatum back.
“Because of that, when you look at the top four teams, you have to look at the Knicks and see that the path is there.”
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.
