Bojan Bogdanovic had been waiting for this moment. Waiting for his grand return to playoff basketball after two seasons toiling away on the league-worst Detroit Pistons.
With 10:03 left in the fourth quarter of Game 2 against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday, and with the Knicks leading by just one Bogdanovic hit a three to put his team up by four.
Two possessions later, he made another to give the Knicks an 85-78 lead.
The Madison Square Garden crowd erupted. Bogdanovic’s shots briefly swung the momentum in the Knicks’ favor.
“From the beginning, from the first minute to last, it was electric,” Bogdanovic said after the game. “It was wild and we really needed it.”
Bogdanovic isn’t new to electric basketball atmospheres.
He faithfully plays for the Croatian national team and spent the final years of his EuroLeague career playing for Turkish club Fenerbahce.
Does the rowdy Garden crowd stack up to what Bogdanovic has experienced playing overseas?
“I mean kind of. It’s wild also over there,” he said with a laugh. “It’s different. It’s another story, but it’s pretty wild in here as well.”
The Knicks went on to win, 104-101, to take a 2-0 series lead over the Sixers.
Bogdanovic finished with six points on two-of-seven shooting from the field. His two shots couldn’t have come at a better time, and The Garden crowd let him know it.
“As a basketball player, I think every single player wanna be part this environment, be part of playoffs, especially this kind of game,” he said after the game. “Especially with all the time that we hadn’t won the game [were trailing]. It’s big time.”
Asked about the importance of his back-to-back shots down the stretch, the Knicks’ bench scorer deferred to his teammates.
“We were tied and then I think the momentum change was also Deuce [Miles McBride] getting that strip from someone and getting that layup,” said Bogdanovic. “In the playoffs, every single play and every single turnover, offensive board is big and it’s crucial for us.”
