Knicks 105, Nets 93: “Deuce is blossoming”

In the final minutes of MSG Network’s broadcast of the New York Knicks 105-93 win over the visiting Brooklyn Nets, a little graphic highlighting two of the best performers on the day made it onto the screen.

Those two men were, of course, Deuce McBride and Donte DiVincenzo. The former played the full 48 minutes and finished with 26 points as well as three assists and two rebounds). The latter bagged a team-high 31 points (shooting 50% from the floor) dishing out five dimes and pulling down six rebounds.

As foiegrastyle ackonwledged: “Deuce is blossoming, bro.”

No Jalen Brunson in sight, right? That’s because he decided to take Saturday (relatively) off against the hapless Nets by shooting a paltry 7-of-24 on his way to getting 17 points (no freebies) and 8 assists.

Of course, no Julius Randle, OG Anunoby, or Mitchell Robinson either as they’re getting closer to playing nightly—not quite there yet—with none of them gracing Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Josh Hart was fantastic and did a little bit of everything through 44 minutes, including scoring 6 points, grabbing 13 rebounds, and stealing/blocking a rock apiece.

Poor Isaiah Hartenstein fell just one rebound short of dub-dubbing but he still put on a solid 17-9-2-4-2 packed-full-of-goodies stat line.

The bench sucked.

Anyway, what that little graphic shown above made me think about was how ridiculous this franchise has been for the past two seasons when it comes to building a championship-contending roster.

So much so, in fact, that I don’t think it’s crazy to say the Knicks have completed the best transaction in back-to-back-to-back-to-back windows starting in July 2022 and ending last February.

Brunson is by far the best free agent to ever land in New York and there’s no arguing that.

With JB in tow, the Knicks pulled off a steal in landing Josh Hart from Portland via trade a few months later and right before that season’s deadline, a little over a year ago.

Then, Leon Rose & Co. went to work and figured out a way to sign former NBA champ Donte DiVincenzo last July, making it three wins in a row.

To put the cherry on top, the Knicks brass decided to cut ties with two beloved players in homegrown talents RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley last December, flipping them for OG Anunoby and another solid contributor in Precious Achiuwa. No, it can’t be said (yet) that OG’s trade marked another capital win, but hell, New York is a freaking 15-2 when OG has played!

That’s it, that’s my story here. Thanks for reading. (If you want to know more about the game—it’s the Nets, so who cares—peep Russell’s Scenes, great as always.)

To think this team still has three starters (two, if you don’t want to count Mitch Rob) sitting on the shelf and approaching their return in time for the playoffs is bananas.

To think (as some folks did a few weeks ago) that the Cavs were not going to regress as the season advanced always felt bonkers to me, and it’s slowly but surely turned into a reality (see what I was saying, fellas?)

To think the Bucks would change coaches mid-season and put on some 20-0 run was ridiculous, to say the least. And that’s why they haven’t separated from the pack.

So here we are, with the Knicks trailing Cleveland by just one game entering Sunday and a mere two games behind Milwaukee in the standings. Yes, the young Magic are going to make it hella tough for New York to easily climb up the ladder, but with just 12 games left to play it’s fair to say that the Knicks are all but guaranteed to avoid the scary Play-In.. and with that, I can live.

Up next, the lowly Pistons at MSG come Monday. Tip-off at 7:30 ET. Don’t miss it.