A Knicks home game finally felt normal again

There were a few times, even if you weren’t lucky enough to live inside the building, even if you’re watching through a television screen when it finally felt like a sincere good, no-kidding Madison Square Garden basketball Sports, and it was like listening to an old tune you haven’t heard in years. Lyrics come quickly to all of you.

There was a sequence at the start of the game, when Nerlens Noel finished a street fight; The crowd roared. The second, early second quarter, when Obi Toppin stole the ball from Draymond Green, sprinted to the other end, and roasted in an alley-oop feed from Alec Burke; Crowd thunder, real thunder, real noise, not out of a can.

In the fourth there were a few moments while the Knicks 13 were trying to make an impossible comeback from the bottom and the Warriors could not suddenly be hit by a boat that 2,000 people turned it all the way back to 1994, all 1973 Way back in, and an old chestnut:

“DEEEEE-FENCE!

DEEEEE-FENCE!

DEEEEE-FENCE! “

That was a good thing. That was the A-side of the night, along with Julius Randall’s pregame crowd, trying to get him out with the chants of “M! V! P !! M! V! P !!” With the fourth quarter, when the Nucks made it back to 97–97, it looked like they would actually tie the bow on this night.

But there was also a B-side. The final score was – Golden State 114, Knicks 106, Steph Curry finally clouded the celebration, as he would, with a pair of clutch dead-eye shots. It was the start of the game and the start of the third quarter, when the Knicks looked like they were playing with ill-fitting sneakers.

“We don’t always match the intensity of the game,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodo said.

Something disproportionately may be happening – at least the Knicks thought so, and that caused Randall to earn a second technical dishonesty and ejection late in the evening that he was supposedly starting to eliminate. , Which began with the inclusion of Star Sports. The first unexpected mantra of the year with him going from tunnel to locker room, tumbling with garden seats.

There were 2,000 Knicks fans in attendance on Tuesday night.
There were 2,000 Knicks fans in attendance on Tuesday night.
AP

“Non-stop,” Randall said of the thumbs up.

So the 2,000 who left the familiar pilgrimage to the old gym at the top of Penn Station as they trembled and murmured frequently, over the years, wondering where the phenom version of Emmanuel Quickley (shooting 1-for-5) was, was this Thinking it was RJ Barrett (vastly improved version of 1-for-9, though he had 10 rebounds). But also: buoyed by a typical Knicks game from this 2020-21 season, especially when they cranked the defense late. There is no denying that they try. Trying for a few nights is enough.

Just not this night.

In the end, they missed out on a second straight attempt, even raising their record to 500 for the season, one night when it felt appropriate to do so given the setting and the mood.

“We’ve become a 48-minute team,” Thibodo said. “Sometimes if you lose your focus against a team, then you will have trouble. You have to be ready. The way we started the game proved to be. “

So the way they finished it. And look: He was a fan of the Knicks contracted with this team a few months ago, before either of them could see it. They think there will be nights like this. They feel at peace with the emotional feat this incomplete team will provide so many nights.

“It was everything you can dream of,” said Randall, whose wife and son were in the house, whose mother delivered a video-board message from her home in Dallas that featured 25 points, 10 rebounds, and seven. Were his typical stellar games. Assists.

“All this is so-and-so.” It was amazing, honestly. All the goals I signed, I wrote when the Knicks came in, it was all happening. It was a wonderful moment for me and my family. “

On Thursday, the high-scoring Kings arrive at the Garden and will try to take another swing when the Knicks climb back towards the 500. There will be two-thousand fans again, surely seizing every opportunity to make their sound box stronger. Nok may have been a 48-minute team on Thursday. This would be a good way to say thanks.

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