In the end, 2,000 voices were coming with the Knicks to end this shutdown, pleading with them to resolve the Phoenix Suns and add a 10th straight win to the pile. The Knicks had produced a pair of 15 points, but still felt like a fool’s gold, feeling like it would be a 48-minute struggle.
And here they were heading towards the 48th minute.
Here they were within 3 minutes to go within four points. Derrick Rose had the idea to cut the ball and that lead in half, he was just one of the Nucks’ front line players who brought his A game to the Garden. The Knicks had forced just one shot-clock violation. There was a sound of destiny in the air.
But Rose could not change the driving layout to drive the best acquisition of Leon Rose’s tenure, which was driving the Knicks. A little wind blew from the balloon.
And then some players who might very well have been able to close the door on the game at night, on a winning streak. Mikael Bridge knocked on 3, then made a driving sting. Chris Paul then took over the rest: a 21-foot move. 18-foot prayer in the shot-clock buzzer. And a 25 foot 3.
Bridge and Paul turn off the lights in the garden, ejecting the plug from the wall, the Suns running away with a 118–110 win makes the Knucks realize that not only the upcoming six-game Western but they The wait awaits the trip – which will include a return date in Phoenix – but they can craft it for themselves in whatever version of the postseason.
“He made all the right decisions in the end,” said Derrick Rose. “We were close, but it was not good enough.”
The fact that it was Pul and Paul who scored the Sun’s final 12 points only added to Agita. The Knicks, under his former rule, passed on the bridges out of Villanova in the 2018 draft, which favors Kevin Knox. Knox never left the bench on Monday night. The bridge ended with 21 points. He hunts choice, and it will be a haunt for years to come.
Paul, of course, was represented for many years by Leon Rose and Nux gave him in the offseason. At the time it seemed like a boastful game, a win-win point guard was about to be added for a team that was sacrificing for what is today. The season has played differently than this. And Derrick Rose has done a terrific job filling that same Paul.
But it was Paul who finally gave in on Monday.
“You don’t have the type of record without having a high-quality team,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodo said. “You won’t play them well for 12 minutes.”
8. The Knicks led 30–15 after the minute. They made it back 44–29 two minutes into the second quarter. The Garden was loud and the Knicks were flying, and for a minute it really looked like the sun – Brooklyn playing back-to-back after going back on Sunday afternoon – really suffered easily at No. 11 Can roll.
But winning the lottery did not give the Sun a 43–18 record. They have Paul. They have Devin Booker, who tortured the Knucks for a long time throughout the game (and not just because he was that type of high-end Kentucky player, as the Knucks supposedly were when they met. Were taken to the bridge). Monty Williams, a good bet for Coach of the Year, has played them at a great level since they were 8–0 in the Florida bubble last summer.
“A good team,” said Derrick Rose. “They are not joking.”
And so the streak ends before homestanding, and for the first time in a few weeks we can re-examine the Knicks’ season-long ability to bounce back, a flexibility that has been best served to them over the year . They get the Bulls on Wednesday, then have a winning game at Houston Sunday before starting the trip a few days ago.
“We need to see the film,” Thibodo said, “and fix things.”
Streak? it was fun while it lasted. This turned Madison Square Garden into a festive site again, and brought the city back to Naxa. It was not going to last forever. It always mattered what happened after pulling the streak. And now we hurry to find out what waits on that side of the line.
Leave a Reply