Knicks 106, 76ers 79: “That felt good. Welcome back, OG!”

Don’t call it history, but call it history.

The New York Knicks (38-27) hosted and mauled the Philadelphia 76ers (36-29) on Tuesday, limiting their foes to exactly a meager 79 points for the second game in a row after doing it for the first time on Sunday.

Manhattan celebrated the Knicks' 106-79 victory inside and outside the walls of the Garden, a win that earned New York a select place in the (at least present-days) club of teams that have not allowed their opponents to score more than 79 points in three consecutive matches.

It’d been more than 12 years since the NBA saw such a tenacious and ferocious defense, with no franchise pulling off the below-80 feat for more than two games in a row since the very own Sixers achieved it back in January 2012.

For the Knicks in particular, this is just the second time they have put together such a long streak since they last did it in November 2000. It’s something that only 51 teams have done after the introduction of the three-point arc in 1980, including the 2024 Knickerbockers.

The thing is that New York will go on the road for the next four games while still keeping the streak alive. That means they have a chance to extend it to four games on Thursday when they will play the Portland Trail Blazers on the West Coast. For context, the Blazers are coming off scoring 99 points against Boston on Monday, although they have been a reasonably good scoring team of late (11th-most PPG leaguewide in March at 113.9).

One of the reasons for yesterday’s victory? Peep above; the Knicks had a robot on the floor.

Tuesday marked the return of OG Anunoby to the court—and the starting lineup, for that matter—since he first missed a game back on Jan. 29.

After a month and a half of rehab following elbow surgery, OG logged a smooth 29 minutes starting at the four in replacement of Precious Achiuwa, and let me tell you, he looked healthier than I’ve been my whole life.

The steals. The spins. The dunks. Oh, my!

Obviously, Anunoby was the man of the minute and the story of the day entering the second of two games played between the Knicks and the Sixers in a span of three evenings.

Josh Hart, however, was the clear man of the match when all was said and done and by the time of the curtain call. Give this man all of his flowers, folks.

“[Getting 20 rebounds] would have been nice, but Thomas Thibodeau wanted to take me out of the game,” Hart said after the game. “Everyone complained about me playing 40 minutes. I could have gotten my 20–20. So, I appreciate that, Thomas.”

You read that right. Hart fell just one board short of pulling off the 20-20. Not only that, but Hart delighted us with 20 points, 19 rebounds, and 10 assists for what ended up being his fourth triple-double of the season.

In doing so, Hart became just the sixth New York Knicks player in the history of the organization to have 4+ triple-double outings in a single season, joining legends Julius Randle, Walt Frazier, Michael Ray Robinson, Jerry Lucas, and Richie Guerin.

Only Randle and Hart, obviously, have achieved the feat after the 1982 season when MRR last did it. That’s 42 years in the making, fellas.

It was a tough day for Hart, mind you. He got benched early (only played 39 minutes instead of his usual 40) and he lost the headband, leading up to a trifecta of Josh Hart Characters including Headband Hart, Off-Band Hart, and Upside-Down-Band Hart.

“I’m more of a headband guy, but I kept getting it slapped,” Hart explained. “Headband was flying, it was coming off... so let me not get fined. I just had to throw it off and get a new one.”

Jokes aside, real recognize real so Hart gave kudos to OG for his all-around presence even in his first game back with the bunch.

“OG was great out there—knocked down shots, big defensive stops... that’s his game,” Hart said. “Great to have him out there; he helps this team go.”

Hart thought New York “played to their strengths, faster,” and “taking care and rebounding the ball.”

Thibodeau said “OG gave us a great lift,” adding that considering the time he’s been out, he should be praised for “the energy, the effort plays, the movement, the shooting added a lot to the team.”

“I thought Josh Hart was incredible. Just his defense, his rebounding, his scoring, his playmaking, everything—just all-around play,” Thibs added. “Jalen was Jalen. Donte gave us good minutes. I thought Precious was really good for us as well. Isiah was protecting the rim, just doing a great job for us.”

Achiuwa, playing off the pine on Tuesday, contributed 13 points, the same as those scored by fellow reserve Deuce McBride. Precious grabbed eight boards and swatted a couple of shots, too.

Jalen Brunson, even on a kinda-subpar outing, still scored 20 points and nine assists. Donte DiVincenzo scored 16 in 34 minutes and Isaiah Hartenstein was limited once more to 20 minutes in which he put up a 6-5-2 line.

With the Knicks leading wire to wire and boasting a 29-point lead, Thibs finally pulled the plug and benched his last on-court starters with 6:29 (Brunson) and 5:55 (Hart) reminding in the final quarter. A sight to behold, coming from Thibodeau.

In the latest results and standings update, Milwaukee dropped its game at Sacramento on Tuesday, Boston won, and so did Indiana. All of that left the Knicks sitting pretty in the no. 4 seed, now one full game above Orlando and three behind no. 3 Cleveland. The Sixers, on the other hand, fell into Play-In territory with the loss.

New York goes on the road for a full week, Thursday through Thursday, before returning to the Garden to host the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday, Mar. 23.

Stupid game times for the next few days and matchups, starting Thursday with a 10 p.m. ET tip-off in Portland. Anyway, don’t miss it.