Game Knotes: Knicks 106 — Wolves 104

Phew!

/wipes flop sweat off brow

That was a CLOSE one! Sometimes close ones feel good, but this one did not feel good. In fact, it felt awful! The Knicks built a 17-point lead with 7:30 to go before completely shutting down on offense and defense, allowing the Wolves to rip off a preposterous 20–3 run to tie things up with a minute and change.

If I were on the court I would have literally died of embarrassment (please scatter my ashes in a bowl of creamy mushroom hummus), but professional athletes have short memories and the Knicks refused to roll all the way over. Melo shook off another ghastly shooting night by burying the go-ahead jumper from the elbow with 2.3 on the clock. On the next possession he deflected Zach Lavine’s inbounds pass to seal the victory.

It wasn’t pretty — in fact, it was uglier than Sam Cassell — but the Knicks, who bore witness to Karl-Anthony Towns’ career-high 47 points, were able to sneak out of Minnesota with a victory.

Let’s get to recappin’!

Pregame

• In what’s becoming a fairly common occurrence, Kyle O’Quinn got the nod at center for the oft-injured Joakim Noah. Hornacek continues to avoid putting Kristaps at center to start games, but hey, who wants to watch the 2 most dynamic young big men in the league go head to head? Not me!
• Good omen: Kyle O’Quinn brushed Clyde’s shoulder off while he was previewing the game in front of the Knicks’ layup line. I have proof!

Kyle O’Quinn is kinda sillie!

• Breen could not contain his delight. I have proof of this too!

Look how delighted Mike Breen is!

• Bad omen: this was the Garden of Dreams fundraiser night, when Clyde and Breen employ viewers to call a toll-free number so they can give money to the Knicks’ primary charity. That’s great! But in years past the Knicks have gone down by 20+ in the first quarter on Garden of Dreams night, which is bad, both for the Knicks’ record and for the Garden of Dreams. People aren’t in a giving mood when their squad is getting shellacked.
• The Wolves announced the Knicks’ lineup in reverse order of excitement: Melo, Kristaps, KOQ, Rose, Lee. I thought it was a clever ploy to suck the life out of the opposition until they announced their own lineup in the following order: Rubio, LaVine, KAT, Dieng, Wiggins. I don’t see the logic here (CLEARLY Towns should be last), but you do you, Minnesota.
• Game Opps Note: The Wolves play the opening wolf howls from Kanye’s “Wolves” before the game, which is cool, but it’s also kinda cowardly because they don’t play the part where Kanye goes “the fuckin’ Wolves,” which would be fuckin’ awesome. If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a million times: make the NBA less kid-friendly!
• I’d like to give a quick shoutout to whoever runs my illegal streaming service of choice. The national anthem is always at about half the volume of the game feed. I love my country and all (although lately…), but most national anthem singers stink, and I’d rather not hear them. Nice work, my friends!

1st Quarter

• The first quarter was all about Karl-Anthony Towns, which of course it was, because I tweeted this before the game:

Whoops…

• My bad! Towns went off for 22 1st-quarter points.
• I wrote “no crowd” in my 1st quarter notes because HOLY SHIT THIS CROWD IS EVEN DEADER THAN ATLANTA’S. I did a little digging and it turns out Minnesota’s had some attendance problems lately, which is shameful. They have a roster stacked with young talent and super cheap tickets. I don’t care what their record is, these jerks have a chance to watch a future Hall of Famer do something remarkable every night and they still can’t pack the place? You listen to me and you listen to me good, Minnesota. If you don’t start showing up to these games you should do the right thing and give the franchise to Seattle. Quit being a bunch of babies! You guys are going to be sick in a few years. Enjoy the climb up the ladder!
• Random Clyde Highlight: He said “defense, we talkin about defense!?” in his best Allen Iverson impression while discussing the Knicks’ inability to deal with Towns.
• Weird first quarter from Melo, who didn’t attempt a shot until there were 2 minutes left. Was he trying to get his teammates involved? Was he pulling a Kobe and refusing to shoot in an awkward attempt to silence the haters? Unclear! It was nice to see him move the ball, but a shot or two in rhythm would’ve been nice, too. I know it’s KP’s team now and all, but we still need you, big guy!
• 2 of the Knicks’ first 3 made field goals were bank shots. Tre retro!
• Game Opps Highlight: The Wolves played “Return of the Mack” while firing a t-shirt cannon into the crowd during a commercial break. I approve of this with every fiber of my being.
• Hernangomez had a super slick backdoor pass and a couple of nice shimmies and jukes on offense. I like him!
• Despite Towns’ dominance, solid ball movement and hot shooting from the Knicks helped them keep pace. They trailed just 31–28 after one.

2nd Quarter

• If the first quarter was all about Towns, the second was all about a bizarre yet scrappy bench unit consisting of Jennings, Holiday, Kuzminskas, MARSHALL PLUMLEE, and Kristaps. I wrote down the score when Plumlee came in (31–31) because I was sure Minnesota would go on a 14–0 run, but I was wrong! I was very wrong! Turns out Plumlee’s scrappiness was sorely needed in the wake of the Knicks’ brutal sonning at the hands of Oklahoma City’s big men. He shoved guys around, hustled for rebounds, and flailed awkwardly while getting fouled right underneath the basket. All good things (minus the flailing).
• It didn’t hurt that Brandon Jennings came in with his ass literally on fire (there was smoke and everything). He got to the rim with ease, canned a bunch of jumpers, and played feisty, feisty defense (not to be confused with hungry, hungry hippos). He even earned a “weaving and achieving” from Clyde! I still have no idea how any of his shots go in, but I like his moxie.
• Kuzminskas started off shaaaaaaaaky, airballing a corner 3 before getting called for a loose ball foul on the next possession. But he redeemed himself with 2 made 3’s later on in the quarter, punctuating the first of those with a fist pump. THEORY: given his rookie stature he comes into games very nervous, but once he settles down he does a lot of good stuff (mostly draining 3s and finishing in transition). Hornacek just needs to give him a little bit of a leash (which he mostly does), and he’ll be fine.
• Speaking of Kuzminskas, he has one of the most satisfying swishes in the league. Every time he makes a shot the ball ever-so-gently kisses the net. He’s got to have one of the highest “no rim” percentages in the game. It makes me tingle all over!
• Clyde pronounced Kuzminskas “Kuminskas”. Almost there, Clyde!
• Holiday had an off night, missing 2 fairly open layups in the second quarter before getting the hook for Rose. But you know who wasn’t replaced in this lineup?
• MARSHALL PLUMLEE. He played almost the entire 2nd quarter. Weirdly, it felt like the Knicks couldn’t afford to take him out. He was doing all the “little things” that players must do when they lack any semblance of offensive skill. He even played decent D on Towns, at one point forcing him into an awkward travel. Nice job, you penis-headed psycho!
• This was a pretty good quarter for KP. He had a nasty and-1 spin move to start the period and closed it out by getting into position on defense and forcing Towns into sonning himself to death with a humiliating dunk attempt that was stonewalled by the front of the rim. I wonder what would happen if Hornacek let him go at KAT the entire game. Maybe we’ll find out tomorrow!
• Once A Knick Always A Knick Alert: Cole Aldrich made a brief appearance and canned one of his patented soft-touch semi-hooks. Miss you, Cole!
• Midway through the 2nd quarter we learned that Courtney Lee twisted his ankle and would not return. X-rays came back negative, thankfully. Lee frustrates me sometimes, but he’s a steady presence and I’m pretty sure he would’ve helped make that 20–3 Wolves run to end the fourth a little less putrid. Get well soon, dewd!
• Shabazz Muhammad is kind of a dick, isn’t he? Every time the Knicks play the Wolves he does something decidedly dickish. This time he karate kicked KP on a layup attempt then elbowed Kuzminskas on the next play. KP had the last laugh by two-handed blocking one of his weak-ass dunks, tho. Bite me, Shabazz!
• Melo came in for KP toward the end of the quarter and Towns, no longer held in check by an effective Unicorn/Plumlee double team, immediately went off, tightening up a game the Knicks had started to take control of thanks to the Jennings-lead second unit. KP came back in after a short rest, howeva, and the Knicks were able to build their lead back up to 58–49 at the break.

Halftime

• The Wolves lost this game at halftime when they entertained the crowd with a game of Simon Says lead by a very sassy Simon. Here he is:

• But seriously, that’s it. There was no twist. Just Simon Says. Look:

• If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a million times: MAKE THE NBA LESS KID-FRIENDLY!

3rd Quarter

• The Wolves are, by the numbers, the worst second half offense in the league. So of course they opened the second half with a 7–0 run.
• HOWEVA, this tidy lil’ stretch by the Knicks followed the run and gave the ‘bockers some momentum: Melo 3, Holiday forces LaVine out of bounds with suffocating defense, Porzingis 3, offensive foul on Towns drawn by KP. Nice way to deal with adversity, guys!
• The Knicks ran a neat play where Melo and KP screened for each other a couple of times at the top of the arc until the defense was forced to help off of Rose, who promptly drained a wide open corner 3. Can we do this a little more, please? Maybe with Lee in the Rose roll? It was fun! And effective!
• The Garden of Dreams Foundation fundraiser lead to a few moments of comedy, the best of which was Breen saying his favorite donation reward (think PBS tote bag) was dinner for 2 at Clyde’s restaurant Clyde’s Wine and Dine. Breen asked if dessert was included, to which Clyde enthusiastically shout-replied, “OH YEAH… CHOCOLATE!”
• I wrote down “feels like every possession is a foul” a moment before Breen announced that the Knicks were in the penalty. With 7:33 left. That’s not good! In general this was a weirdly/poorly officiated game. Even Clyde and Breen, who are 2 of the least-homerific announcers in the game, commented multiple times about bad calls going against the Knicks. BUT STILL. They’re not all bad, and this seems to happen every game. The Knicks are going to have to reaaaaaaaally tighten this up if they have any notion of being a halfway decent playoff team.
• I’d like to see someone keep track of how many times per game a team boots a rebound out of bounds or to the other team after fighting with each other over a loose ball. It feels like the Knicks do this more than anyone else, but that’s probably because I watch the Knicks more than any other team. Help me, basketball community! I need data to back up my observations!
• Holiday missed a couple more wide open shots and at one point was 1–7 from the field. He never stopped hustling, but this was decidedly not his night.
• Sasha Vujacic got a bunch of run in the second half. He didn’t seem to immediately throw the Knicks into a death spiral with his mere presence on the court, but it still gave me heartburn. I like you as a person, Sasha, but I’d much rather someone like Ron Baker get all your minutes. No hard feelings!
• The Knicks had a call reversed that gave the Wolves possession of the ball. It was the correct call, but I don’t think I’ve seen a call reversed in the Knicks’ favor all season. Does anyone keep track of this kind of thing?
• Things tightened up down the stretch of the 3rd before Jennings started making things happen. I even wrote down “Jennings makes things happen” a split-second before Mike Breen shouted “JENNINGS MAKING THINGS HAPPEN!” Can anyone doubt at this point that Jennings does, in fact, make things happen? Thanks to a couple of made 3s and some feisty defense, the Knicks built the lead back up to 81–74 to end the quarter.

4th Quarter

• Hornacek sent out Jennings, Vujacic, Kuz, MARSHALL PLUMLEE, and KP to start the fourth. And you know what? It kinda worked! Vujacic hit a 3. Plumlee snaggled an offensive rebound that lead to a Kuzminskas 3. Jennings hit KP for a corner 3 and Kuz canned another 3, his fourth, as the Knicks went up 99–82. Nice!
• Breen, feeling giddy, continued to crow about Clyde’s Wine and Dine, “there are so many different things on the menu!”
• Good: the Knicks bench, up to this point, outscored the Wolves’ bench 43–5.
• Bad: the Wolves reeled off an 8–0 run in what felt like 12 seconds, but was closer to just over a minute. Still, not great!
• KP came down awkwardly while being fouled by Towns on a layup attempt. He limped around for a few minutes before finally shaking it off. Phew! I don’t know what I would do if KP were to suffer a serious injury this season (or ever), but it would most likely involve consuming even more alcohol than I already irresponsibly do.
• Some lowlights from the Wolves’ 20–3 run to close the quarter: Knicks in the penalty with 4:59 left. Melo airballing a 3. Knicks missing 8 consecutive shots.
• One highlight from the Wolves’ 20–3 run to close the quarter: Holiday grabbed a bunch of defensive rebounds. They lead to jack shit, but still! Nice to see him working extra hard on that end when his shot’s not falling.
• KP belly bumped Gorgui Dieng TO DEATH on an offensive rebound then finished him off with a vicious 2-handed slam. All that lower body work is paying off, big guy!
• LaVine tied the game with a 3, at which point I wrote “lol Knicks are traaaaaaaaaaaaaaash.” Melo, of course, would swoop in to save the day, even as I shouted “NO, MELO, NOOOOOO!!!!!”. It was, quite simply, one of those games.

And that’s it! The Knicks survived a career night from Towns and a poor shooting performance from Melo with a little gumption and a lot of KP, who scored 29 points of his own, going 11–20 from the field, 3–7 from downtown (a couple of those were wide open looks that he usually makes), while racking up 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks.

Let’s see if Hornacek does anything different to slow down Towns Friday night at the Garden. Might I suggest a little more KP action? Please?

BONUS CONTENT

This was a weird thing that happened during a commercial break. I’ll let you guys decide what’s going on here.