The New York Knicks won games against the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets on back-to-back nights. The victories give them a chance to steal the second seed.
The New York Knicks steamrolled the Boston Celtics and survived a surprisingly tough game against the Brooklyn Nets on back-to-back nights. The pair of games showed Jalen Brunson’s importance to success as clearly as any game this season.
The Knicks beat Boston 118-109 in a game far more lopsided than the final score. Jalen Brunson attacked early and often while his supporting cast knocked down shots and fought to every loose ball. Brunson toyed with the Celtics’ defense, pumping New York’s lead to 30 points before sitting for the fourth quarter. Boston shrunk the Knicks’ lead in Brunson’s absence, but the win was already in hand.
Next, New York beat Brooklyn 111-107 in a tougher game than expected. This time, the Knicks started slow, while the Nets got off to a 17-point lead early. Brunson didn’t score until late in the second quarter. But as soon as Brunson started scoring, the Nets’ lead evaporated, and he closed the game with the Knicks’ final eight points.
The Knicks are cruising into the playoffs with steam and plenty of hot hands. Let’s examine the key contributions of each player’s performance.
The Knicks’ starters wear down opponents
Jalen Brunson:
Game One: 39 PTS (15/23 FG, 6/11 3PT, 3/5 FT), 4 AST, 2 REB, 2 TO in 30 mins
Game Two: 30 PTS (10/25 FG, 3/7 3PT, 7/7 FT), 11 AST, 1 REB, 1 STL in 36 mins
Jalen Brunson turned in one of his best performances of the season against Boston.
Joe Mazzulla can downplay the Celtics’ effort, but they threw every defensive coverage possible at New York’s MVP. Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown all took turns trying to stop him in isolation. Sometimes, they doubled him with a blitz, and others tried switching to push him toward help defenders. None of it mattered as he scored throughout his three-quarters of action.
Brunson spent a chunk of the Nets game struggling against their length and athleticism. But once he figured out their defense and found his rhythm, he rolled to another thirty points. While he didn’t score as efficiently, Brunson picked apart their defense with playmaking instead. He came up big in the clutch, knocking down field goals and hitting his free throws to close them out.
The diminutive guard is capping an incredible season on a high note. For a pair of great performances, he gets a 4.5 out of 5.
Donte DiVincenzo:
Game One: 17 PTS (7/15 FG, 3/7 3PT), 4 AST, 4 REB, 1 STL, 1 TO in 41 mins
Game Two: 14 PTS (5/12 FG, 2/8 3PT, 2/2 FT), 3 AST, 6 REB, 2 STL, 1 TO in 44 mins
Donte DiVincenzo’s covered all his bases in both performances. He played a quality all-around game, providing timely shooting and enough playmaking to keep defenders off balance. His effort popped defensively, with good rebounding and active hands on ball-handlers and in passing lanes.
DiVo’s standout moments came in switches against Kristaps Porziņģis. KP tried to post up Divincenzo, but the Big Ragu never backed down, forcing him to miss a couple of contested jumpers.
DiVincenzo let the game come to him, thanks to other starters getting hot at different moments. It allowed him to provide efficient scoring and focus his energy on other areas of the game. He gets a 3.5 out of 5 for complimenting everyone else perfectly.
Josh Hart:
Game One: 16 PTS (7/15 FG, 1/4 3PT, 1/1 FT), 5 AST, 16 REB, 1 STL, 1 TO in 32 mins
Game Two: 16 PTS (6/9 FG, 2/3 3PT, 2/2 FT), 1 AST, 7 REB, 3 STL, 2 TO in 40 mins
Josh Hart’s rebounding set the tone against the Celtics just as much as Brunson’s scoring. He picked up a double-double in the first half, often outworking much bigger players to get rebounds. The more rebounds he grabs, the more transition opportunities he has, and he capitalizes with layups and assists in those scrambles.
Hart wasn’t as visible on the boards or in transition against Brooklyn, but he hit a pair of jumpers and ripped ball handlers for multiple steals instead.
I don’t have much to add, because this has been Hart for most of the second half of the season. He’s an energizer who can contribute in every way possible. Hart gets a 4 out of 5 for his hustle and physicality.
OG Anunoby:
Game One: 12 PTS (5/10 FG, 2/3 3PT), 1 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 1 TO in 26 mins
Game Two: 15 PTS (6/13 FG, 3/5 3PT), 1 REB, 2 STL in 33 mins
The Knicks don’t have a true second option for the offense. Most contenders have at least two stars that can take over a game offensively. OG Anunoby isn’t likely to explode for big points, but he takes games over on the defensive end with similar results.
OG showed his shutdown ability in the third quarter of both games. He stopped KP on switches with Hartenstein in one play, then isolated on Tatum and challenged his jumpers the next. But he was even more dominant against Brooklyn. He started the third against Brooklyn by forcing turnovers and dunking in transition; then, he knocked down corner threes after the Nets kept leaving him open.
Anunoby isn’t in peak form yet, but he’s obviously getting close. He started both games slowly, but gained momentum as they wore on. Even as he shakes off rust, he’s dominating games defensively for long spells. OG gets a 4 out of 5 for his game-changing defense.
Isaiah Hartenstein:
Game One: 11 PTS (5/11 FG, 1/3 FT), 6 AST, 11 REB, 1 STL, 2 BLK, 4 TO in 33 mins
Game Two: DNP
Isaiah Hartenstein broke the 30-minute mark for the first time since February 6th. He earned those minutes by dicing the Celtics with his passing. I-Hart also defended effectively against Boston’s five-out offense and owned the glass.
Hartenstein didn’t play in the second game for injury management. All signs point to him being good to go, but getting some rest before the postseason.
I’ll skip performance scores for the players who only played one of the two games, but I-Hart was great against Boston.
New York’s second unit looks different in each game
Miles McBride:
Game One: 2 PTS (1/6 PTS, 0/4 3PT), 4 AST, 1 STL, 1 TO in 21 mins
Game Two: DNP
Deuce McBride struggled with his jumper against Boston. But he flashed a nice two-man game with Mitchell Robinson on the pick-and-roll. His sole field goal came on a nice give-and-go with Hartenstein, though that pair failed to connect on future attempts.
Deuce didn’t play in game two due to “feeling under the weather,” as Mike Breen put it.
Bojan Bogdanovic:
Game One: 14 PTS (6/10 FG, 2/6 3PT), 3 REB, 1 STL, 1 TO in 25 mins
Game Two: 9 PTS (3/11 FG, 2/4 3PT, 1/2 FT), 1 AST, 1 STL, 1 TO in 19 mins
Bojan Bogdanovic continues to find his offensive flow. He looked particularly strong against Boston, taking advantage of every mismatch the C’s switching created. He seemed to relish opportunities to attack Payton Pritchard with post-ups and face-up drives.
Bogey didn’t get as much off against the Nets, who had more size to counter his interior scoring. But Bojan hit his three-point opportunities and managed some offense whenever he hit the floor.
Precious Achiuwa:
Game One: 2 PTS (1/6 FG, 0/1 3PT), 5 REB, 1 BLK, 1 TO in 16 mins
Game Two: 5 PTS (2/2 FG, 1/1 3PT), 3 REB in 8 mins
Precious Achiuwa played an interesting pair of games. His shot selection against Boston left plenty to be desired. But he made his presence felt on defense, with his size and mobility making a difference against the C’s mobile big bodies.
Achiuwa didn’t force shots against the Nets, though his three-point shooting makes me nervous even when he’s wide open. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the same impact defensively, which meant less playtime.
Precious had one strong defensive game with bad offense, while the next reversed the pattern with good offense and weak defense. He gets a 2.5 for the mixed results.
Mitchell Robinson:
Game One: 5 PTS (2/3 FG, 1/1 FT), 4 REB, 1 STL in 15 mins
Game Two: 15 PTS (5/6 FG, 5/8 FT), 8 REB, 1 BLK in 25 mins
Mitchell Robinson looked lumbering against the Celtics. Their five-out approach forced Mitch to play further from the basket or give up jump shots when he dropped too far. Jayson Tatum froze Robinson with a crossover and continued a trend of smaller players driving past the Block Ness Monster.
But Robinson’s timing and instinctual play showed up for the Brooklyn game. It may have helped that Brooklyn has more traditional bigs. Regardless, Mitch anticipated the movement of players, and he defended them effectively. That allowed him to move with the action and challenge shooters. He got better position for rebounds and ate up the boards.
Brooklyn tried Hack-a-Mitch defense in the final few minutes. Robinson looked visibly frustrated but shot 4/6 during that stretch. That’s not a bad response.
Robinson gave his most promising performance yet. So, I’m giving him a hopeful 2.5 out of 5 for finding his efficiency and starting to show the instincts that made him a force on defense.
Alec Burks:
Game One DNP
Game Two: 5 PTS (1/4 FG, 1/2 3PT, 2/2 FT), 4 AST, 1 REB, 1 STL, 1 TO in 11 mins
Thanks to McBride’s absence, Alec Burks made a brief appearance against Brooklyn. He didn’t shoot well, but he knocked down his first attempt at a time when the Knicks couldn’t get anything going. I may be reaching for optimism, but his four assists are a nice symbol of Burks not forcing shots as badly as when he first arrived.
Jericho Sims:
Game One: DNP
Game Two: 2 PTS (0/1 FG, 2/2 FT), 1 AST, 4 REB, 1 BLK in 23 mins
Jericho Sims started against Brooklyn and wasn’t bad. Sims kept Nic Claxton at bay and did well on the boards except for a few mistimed leaps. His block was a highlight! He timed the denial perfectly, pinning a would-be layup against the backboard.
Tom Thibodeau never stops coaching
Tom Thibodeau called more frustration timeouts in the second half against Boston than I recall in any game. The Knicks went up by 30, and Thibs refused to let them take their feet off the brakes. Even with less than two minutes to go and a fifteen-point lead, Thibodeau demanded that players focus on defense.
That’s the character of Thibodeau. His players have to be prepared and play hard at all times. That mentality paid dividends against a fired-up Nets team. The Knicks could have been caught sleeping, but not with Thibodeau!
Closing Thoughts:
New York has one game left, and if they win and the Bucks lose, they could steal the second seed. With that victory, they’d also complete a 50-win season. It’s as good as Knicks fans could hope for, especially after all the injuries.
But whether New York is second or third, or if they win 49 or 50, the Knicks will roll into the postseason with momentum. There isn’t a first-round matchup that I’d worry about with how this team plays. It’s time for the Knicks to see how far they can go when the lights are brightest and the pressure hits its peak.
We’ll watch a finale against Chicago. I doubt that the game will be much more than an exhibition, considering that Chicago’s play-in spot is set. But we’ll be watching in hopes of making the 50-burger official! I’ll see you next time, Knicks fam!
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