There have been a few times, even if you weren’t lucky enough to be inside the building, even if you were watching a TV screen, when this finally felt like an honest-to-goodness Madison Square Garden basketball, which is no joke. game, and it was like listening to an old tone you hadn’t heard in years. The lyrics came back to you quickly.
There was a sequence, at the beginning of the game, when Nerlens Noel finished an alley; the crowd screams. There was another quarter, at the beginning of the second quarter, when Obi Toppin stole the ball from Draymond Green, sprinted to the other end, and collected food from Alec Burks; thunder crowd, real thunder, real noise, not out of a box.
There were a few moments there in the fourth, as the Knicks tried to make an unlikely comeback from 13 down and the Warriors suddenly failed to hit the water from a boat that the 2,000 men turned into until 1994. , all the way back in 1973 and shouted an old chestnut:
“DEEEEE-GARD!
DEEEEE-GARD!
DEEEEE-GARD! ”
That was the good thing. This was part A of the night, along with Julius Randle’s pre-game preamble for the crowd, the crowd trying to drown him with chants of “M! V! P !! M! V! P !! “Along with that fourth quarter, when the Knicks managed to go back to 97-97, when it looked like he would really tie a bow tonight.
But there was also a B-side. There was the final score – Golden State 114, Knicks 106, Steph Curry eventually tearing down the festivities, as he will, with a few late-dead dead-end shots. It was the beginning of the game and the beginning of the third quarter, when the Knicks seemed to be playing with the wrong sneakers.
“We didn’t always match the intensity of the game,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau.
There may have been some uneven offices – at least the Knicks thought so, which led to Randle winning a second technical foul and ejecting late on a night that was supposed to belong to him, starting with the end, starting with its inclusion in the All-Star Game. Finishing with him walking through the tunnel to the locker room, the first unprintable chants of the year falling from the garden chairs.
“Undeserved,” Randle said of the thumb.
So the 2,000 who made the familiar pilgrimage to the old gym at the top of Penn Station left as they have done so often in recent years, muttering and muttering, wondering where Immanuel’s phenomenal version is. Quickley (shooting 1 for 5), I wonder where the extremely improved version of RJ Barrett is (1-for-9, although he caught 10 rebounds). But also: energized by a typical Knicks game from this 2020-21 season, especially when they started the defense late. There is no denying that he is trying. Trying is enough on some nights.
Just not tonight.
In the end, they failed in a second consecutive attempt to equal their record at .500 for the season, on a night when they would have done so would have felt so appropriate given the setting and given disposition.
“We have to be a 48-minute team,” Thibodeau said. “Sometimes, if you lose focus against a team like that, you will find problems. You have to be prepared. The way I started the game proved it. ”
So did the way they ended it. And look, this was the unspoken contract that Knicks fans signed with this team a few months ago, before any of them could witness it. They understand that there will be nights like this. They seem at peace with the emotional glove that this imperfect team will offer so many nights.
“That was all you could dream of,” said Randle, whose wife and son were at home, whose mother sent a video message from her home in Dallas, which had its typical 25-point stellar game, 10 rebounds. and seven assists.
“Everything materialized. It was amazing, honestly. Everything I scored, all the goals I scored when I came to the Knicks, it all happened. It was an amazing time for me and my family. ”
On Thursday, the high-scoring kings come to the garden, and the Knicks will try to make another swing as they climb back to .500. Two thousand fans will be there again, certainly taking every opportunity to strengthen their vocal tapes in the middle of the season. Maybe the Knicks can be a 48-minute team on Thursday. That would be a great way to thank you.