Dude.
Some words about Miley Cyrus, Jalen Brunson, Sisyphus, Karl-Anthony Towns and fandom...
Final Score: Knicks 94 - Pistons 93
Series: 3-1
My buddy texted me after New York blew Game 2 in frustrating fashion and asked, "Why do fans put up with this bulls*t!?!?"
After waiting most of the century for the Knicks to finally field a legit contender, were they gonna bow out in the first round to an annoying upstart??
The "Why do I do this to myself?" question is a fair one. We all have asked ourselves this question at one time or another. Sports demand loyalty from fans yet promise nothing in return.
Diehards dedicate weeks/months/years/decades to a franchise without any guarantee of experiencing the ultimate enjoyment a championship brings. Countless fans of countless teams have sacrificed countless hours on a Sisyphean struggle without ever witnessing the joyous view from the mountaintop.
But what if ALL THIS is about more than just one shining, fleeting moment that may never arrive?
Yes, it's true that you'll never need to survive the sting of a heartbreaking defeat if you never give your heart and soul to something outside yourself.
Yet, on the flip side, imagine someone never being able to encounter the unimaginable highs and lows that Knicks fans welcomed Sunday afternoon. Imagine not feeling your blood pressure rise as Brunson was going bananas or undergoing heart palpitations after KAT sunk two impossible shots.
Who knows where or when this rollercoaster ride of a season will end, but even if New York fails to capture the ultimate prize, I'm pretty sure Knicks fans won't forget Game 4 vs. Detroit anytime soon. And if what Miley Cyrus and many others tell us is true, that the journey is more meaningful/important than the destination, then we should all be thankful that we witnessed that fourth quarter for the ages…
As a reminder, things looked beyond bleak for the Knicks.
With 11 minutes remaining in regulation, Cade Cunningham hit a floater to put the Pistons up by nine. And that nine-point lead may have as well been 90, considering the confidence Detroit was playing with and the avalanche of momentum on thier side. The Pistons were in the midst of a 15-4 run (causing the home crowd to reach raucous levels), and the last time we'd seen Jalen Brunson, he collapsed to the court in excruciating pain after re-injuring his right ankle.
ESPN and other outlets have those mid-game charts that predict the probability of each team winning. I don't know what those graphs read at that moment, but it felt like New York had zero chance of getting back in that game, let alone winning it. It was assumed that Brunson, agonizingly unable to stand a few minutes earlier, was done for the day, if not the series. Mikal Bridges couldn't buy a bucket. Malik Beasley had finally caught fire for Detroit. Tobias Harris was putting up points. Cade Cunningham was closing in on a dominant triple-double. New York looked dead in the water.
Then, to the surprise of everyone in the arena, Brunson reemerged from the visitors' locker room and ambled over to the scorer's table. The Captain wasn't going to try and play on a taped-up ankle, was he?!?
Well, Brunson checked in, but he would only be used as a decoy; there's no way he'd be able to move well enough to score, right?
For mere mortals, that would have been a safe assumption. But Jalen Brunson ain't human.
On his first offensive possession, The Captain drilled a runner in the lane. On New York's next trip, he spun past Tim Hardaway for a right-handed layup. However, just when it seemed the Knicks might have life, Beasley knocked down two three-pointers on consecutive possessions. The second triple gave Detroit a seemingly insurmountable 11-point lead with just eight minutes remaining in regulation.
Yet, Mikal Bridges, who struggled mightily over the first three quarters of the contest, sank a contested fadeaway from downtown with the shot clock running down. After another JB layup, Bridges banged in another three-pointer from the same corner, pulling New York within three.
The Pistons tried to pull away, converting several big buckets of their own and building the lead back to five with less than five minutes left.
But Brunson would not be denied. He banked in a runner off the wrong foot from 12 feet away and then swished a step-back 3PT over Schroder.
However, JB wasn't the only Knicks All-Star to author some unforgettable moments in crunch time of Game 4.
New York was down four when Brunson found Karl-Anthony Towns for a massive three-pointer. After Brunson hit a floater, KAT hit an incredible fadeaway on the baseline as the shot clock expired.
But the big man wasn't done. With the Knicks down two, Towns hit the biggest shot of the Knicks' season thus far, a contested step-back three-pointer over Jalen Duren. It would be the final made field goal of the game. Josh Hart knocked the ball off of Cunningham's leg on Detroit's next possession. Cade would miss a jumper on their final trip, and the Knicks got some help from the officials as the buzzer sounded (more on that in a bit) to seal the deal.
If you are reading this, you know how often we've praised Brunson and detailed his ability to come through in the clutch. We (unfairly) expect him to do the impossible. Yet even the most zealous Brunson believer could not have predicted what we witnessed inside Little Caesars Arena Sunday afternoon.
It looked like he was down for the count late in the third. He couldn't put the slightest bit of pressure on his injured ankle and had to be helped off the floor.
Yet, somehow, Brunson made his way back to the locker room. He put on his cape. And the rest is history. The type of history that gets passed down from generation to generation. The type of mythical lore that forges a bond of fandom that can't be broken.
And that's why we watch.
3 down. 13 to go.
Other Takeaways and Knicks Notes:
🏀 Simply saying, "Brunson sure seems to do good/cool stuff late in games," doesn't quite contextualize how incredible this man has been since arriving in New York.
Here are some numbers to help put Brunson's brilliance into proper perspective.
Most points scored in the fourth quarter this postseason:
1. Jalen Brunson: 53 points2. Kawhi Leonard: 35 points
3. Paolo Banchero: 27 points
4. Davion Mitchell: 26 points
5. Giannis Antetokounmpo: 24 points
🏀 Points scored in the fourth quarter this postseason:
Jalen Brunson:
53 points on 31 FG attempts (65%)
Nikola Jokic and LeBron James COMBINED:
42 points on 39 FG attempts (36%)
🏀 Most points scored in the clutch this postseason:
1. Jalen Brunson: 21
2. Karl-Anthony Towns: 12
3. James Harden: 11
3. Aaron Gordon: 11
5. Anthony Edwards: 10
🏀 Most points scored in the 4th quarter in the playoffs since Jalen Brunson signed with the Knicks:
1. Jalen Brunson: 248 points (in 26 games)
2. Nikola Jokic: 241 points (in 36 games)
3. Jayson Tatum: 233 points (in 38 games)
🏀 Per NBA tracking data, which dates back to 1996, the only players to average more than 8 points in the 4th quarter in back-to-back postseasons are Kobe Bryant (2002 & 2003) and Michael Jordan (1996 & 1997).
Brunson averaged 10.1 points in the 4th quarter of last year's playoffs and is now averaging 13.3 points in the 4th quarter this postseason. In the 26 playoff games he has played as a Knick, Brunson has scored 248 points on 168 FG attempts. That's not normal.
🏀 Oh, and for all the folks who proclaimed, "Cunningham is the best player in the series" two weeks ago, here are each player's stats in the 4th quarter of this series:
Brunson:
53 points on 65% shooting
8 assists vs. 1 turnover
+25 plus/minus
Cunningham:
26 points on 35% shooting
10 assists vs. 8 turnovers
-15 plus/minus
🏀 Here is the complete list of all players to average more than 33 points, eight assists and four rebounds while shooting above 45% from the floor and 80% from the FT line over the first four playoff games in any postseason in NBA history:
Michael Jordan
and
Jalen Brunson
-- end of list --
Jalen Brunson is the player/closer Knicks fans have been waiting a lifetime for.
Here are all seven of his made FGs in the final ten minutes of the final frame:
🏀 Again, let's make sure we overlook KAT’s late-game heroics. He finished Game 4 with 27 points (10-of-22 FGs, 2-of-2 FTs), nine rebounds, an assist, a block, and five three-pointers.
As noted above, over the final three minutes of the contest, Towns was 3-for-3 from the floor. Each attempt came with the Knicks trailing by at least two points, and each shot came with less than 5 seconds left on the shot clock. Each bucket tougher than the previous one.
Incredible shot-making:
In the 12 clutch minutes played thus far in the Knicks-Pistons series, Towns is 4-of-4 from the floor, 2-of-2 from 3PT range and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe.
Seems pretty good for a guy they said was "soft" and didn't have the DNA needed to step up in big spots.
🏀 Shame on me for waiting this long to shout out Josh Hart. He set the tone early by not only playing with his usual unmatched level of effort and grit, but he also knocked down his first two three-point attempts.
He finished the contest with 14 points, 10 boards, five assists, three triples and four steals. Per Basketball-Reference, Hart is just the second player in NBA history to tally 10+ boards, 5+ dimes, 4+ steals and 3+ three-pointers in a road playoff win.
Yet, as is often the case with Hart, although his counting stats were impressive, they didn't capture his impact. In a series defined by toughness and determination, New York has needed everything he brings to the table.
Game 4 was a pure, unadulterated "Josh Hart Game."
🏀 This season has been a wild ride for the Knicks and Mikal Bridges. And that was certainly the case Sunday afternoon. Bridges was ice-cold early on. He missed his first four three-point attempts and was just 1-for-10 from the floor entering the final five minutes. Some of the wide-open three-pointers he missed in the first half while the Knicks were surging might have put the game out of reach.
So, does Bridges shy away from tough shots with the game on the line? Nope. Instead, he splashes the two biggest shots of his season thus far, a pair of 3PTs that were crucial in New York's epic comeback.
"My teammates just told me to keep shooting it," Bridges told reporters after the game. "They keep giving me confidence. Just trying to be aggressive, trying to make the right play, make the shot since I was playing pretty sh*tty the first three quarters."
Also, once again, Bridges did a solid job on Cunningham throughout the contest.
OG was just 3-of-13 from the floor and did allow Cade to shoot 6-of-12 when matched up with him, but Anunoby did a good job contesting Cunningham's final FG attempt without fouling.
🏀 The bench continues to provide little to no help to the New York cause. Miles McBride hit his first three-pointer but missed his final four attempts. Mitch Rob had three rebounds and nothing else in nine minutes. Cam Payne went scoreless once again in his seven minutes off the pine.
Thus far in the series, Detroit's reserves have outscored New York 127-44.
🏀 So, on that controversial final sequence, yeah, I think Hardaway Jr. probably got fouled. Pistons players and fans certainly believe so. If that was a regular-season game in February, and the refs went under the hood to review the call, I think THJ (although he did lean into Hart to initiate contact) probably earns a trip the line.
Speaking with a pool reporter after the game, Crew Chief David Guthrie was asked about the call on Hardaway.
"During live play, it was judged that Josh Hart made a legal defensive play," said Guthrie. "After post-game review, we observed that Hart makes body contact that is more than marginal to Hardaway Jr. and a foul should have been called."
Do I understand Detroit fans being furious? Of course. But, as I've written time and again, when the Knicks feel they have received the short end of the stick from the refs, an official rarely decides any NBA game. The calls (good and bad) tend to even out over 48 minutes. In fact, in that final sequence, it looked as if Tobias Harris may have shoved Hart to get at the rebound and maybe had his foot on the line when he touched the ball.
Either way, the Pistons had plenty of opportunities to salt the game away. Detroit committed 19 turnovers yesterday. And JB Bickerstaff (who has had a terrible series) used his challenge five minutes into the first quarter when the score was 10-8.
Lastly, I can't help but note the irony that Pistons fans spent the first 3+ games complaining about Brunson being a foul merchant and an unethical grifter (unlike the Detroit tough guys) - yet are now complaining about a questionable foul call.
All this after blowing an 11-point lead with eight minutes remaining because Brunson scored 15 points on a bum ankle in the 4Q without taking a single free throw.
🏀 Prayers and hugs to the family of Dick Barnett, who passed away on Sunday.
"Throughout his illustrious career, Dick Barnett embodied everything it meant to be a New York Knick, both on and off the court," the Knicks said in a statement. "He left a positive impact on everyone he encountered and this organization is incredibly fortunate to have him be such an integral part of its history. His jersey will forever hang in the rafters of Madison Square Garden, and his play throughout his career will forever be a part of Knicks fans memories."
Barnett arrived in New York in October of 1965 via a trade that sent forward Bob Boozer to the Lakers. He averaged 23.1 points per game that first season as a Knick, his career-high, and was named to the All-Star team that year. Barnett averaged at least 12 points per game in each of his first 12 seasons. Although he was 33 years old by 1970, Barnett was a key contributor to New York's first title team. Starting in the backcourt beside Frazier, Barnett averaged 14.9 points per game in the regular season and bumped that up to 16.9 points in the playoffs. He scored 21 points in Game 7 vs. the Lakers. Barnett remained the Knicks' starting shooting guard until they acquired Earl Monroe. Dr. Dick Barnett would later earn a Doctor of Education from Fordham University.
🏀 Next Up:
Knicks host the Pistons for Game 5 Tuesday night (7:30 tip)
New York has an opportunity to close out a playoff series at home for the first time this century.
Brunson's Knicks won Game 6 in Philly last year and beat the Cavs in Cleveland in 2023.
In 2013, Melo and the "We Here" Knicks beat the Celtics in Game 6 in Boston.
The last time New York won a series-clincher at MSG was June 11th, 1999 (that's 9453 days ago), when Sprewell, Houston, Camby and company smacked the Pacers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
By the way, Reggie Miller (the great "Knicks Killer") was 3-for-18 in that loss.
In that deciding Game 6
Allan Houston scored:
32 points on 17 FG attempts
Reggie Miller (Mr. Winning Time) scored:
8 points on 17 FG attempts
