This time of the year, this time of the calendar, this time of the season, you don’t ask questions. You don’t seek style points. You don’t apologize for letting 20 points’ worth of a 26-point lead vaporize, same as you don’t congratulate yourself for righting the car before it careens off a cliff.
You scratch another day off the calendar.
You add one more win to the total on the left side of the hyphen.
And you move on.
“We gotta scratch ’em out right now,” coach Tom Thibodeau said.
The Knicks scratched this one out. They made the fourth quarter of this 110-96 win at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center a little too interesting than it seemed it could ever be when they flew out to a 67-41 lead with 25 minutes left in the game. There were way too many turnovers, way too many misadventures at the foul line, way too many times when it seemed like Tyrese Maxey might pull off the comeback all by himself.
And as they walked off the floor of an arena that locals had long since surrendered to the invading army of Knicks fans, they’d done exactly the job that was necessary.
A four-game losing streak was halted. Bojan Bogdanovic had made all six of his 3s in his official glad-to-meet-you game as a Knick. Jalen Brunson missed 13 of his 18 shots and committed seven turnovers, but he also had 21 points, 12 assists and two big steals, and he was one of three Knicks to register a double-double — along with Josh Hart (18 points, 12 rebounds) and Precious Achiuwa (18, 11).
“We came out,” Achiuwa said, “and we handled our business.”
They did that. And by doing that they calmed some nerves for a few days, nerves that weren’t necessarily assuaged by the previous two days when Julius Randle and OG Anunoby gave hopeful but vague assessments of when they might return to fortify the Knicks’ lineup — Randle adding the extra bonus of not being able to completely rule out surgery on his damaged right shoulder.
Knicks fans of recent vintage know as well as any fans in the NBA how quickly and how easily a season can turn sideways, how a four-game skid can become eight, 10, more. If we agree that it’s impossible to identify any February game as a must-win, it was fair to look at Thursday’s resumption as a meaningful moment for the Knicks — a game rife with intrigue, as they fight the fight to keep their noses above water while their entire frontcourt heals.
“We know we’ve got to play hard as hell,” Thibodeau said, “and if we do that we’ve got a chance to win.”
They won this game of intrigue, and now they get another one Saturday night at the Garden, prime time, national TV, the mighty Celtics in the house.
A few weeks ago this seemed certain to be one of those games you get once in a while in the dead of winter, one that carries with it the faint yet distinct whiff of spring. The next eight weeks for the Knicks will be devoted to trying to position themselves to potentially meet the C’s in the playoffs — optimally in the Eastern finals out of the No. 2 or 3 seed, with a fallback plan of surviving a 4-5 series and playing them in the conference semis.
The high-beam spotlight shining on the Garden marquee has been necessarily dialed back a little since the Knicks will be playing shorthanded. They will still give an honest night’s work, and they do seem to maximize their opportunities when they’re playing with the house’s money. So even a game like that will be treated like this one in Philly, or the one against hapless Detroit that’ll follow Monday.
“Every game counts the same,” Thibodeau said.
And though the coach voiced his concern about how the Knicks allowed the Sixers to elbow their way back into the game Thursday night, he also recognized the good things he saw. He saw his team rally to pick up Brunson. He saw Hart be his usual two-way self (he’s now plus-59 in his two games against Philly this year), and he was reminded of just what a potential weapon he has now in Bogdanovic, who seems to have already mastered the Thibs lexicon.
“It’s always fun when you and your team play well,” Bogdanovic said after 22 points and three steals in just 24 minutes. “As long as your team is winning, you’ll have fun.”
One more day off the calendar. One more win on the left side of the hyphen. That, for sure, is Thibodeau’s definition of “fun.”