January 28, 2023, was a day when Yuta Watanabe scored 9 points, Joe Harris was playing basketball and Nic Claxton still felt like a somewhat promising prospect. It was a day when Julius Randle, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley were still donning the orange and blue Knicks jersey, Jericho Sims practiced for the dunk contest before the game and Evan Fournier, for some incomprehensible reason, got a DNP.
The day also marked the last time the Brooklyn Nets beat the New York Knickerbockers.
Advertisement
Obviously, a lot of things have happened between the game almost four years ago and today. Kyrie Irving's career path has considerably flattened since falsely inspiring the 27 fans of his former team, and the Knicks have changed almost their entire roster (luckily not the guy wearing number 11) and now have a shiny little ring to show for it. It's hard to put the distance between the two franchises into words, but if you needed a reminder of it, last night's game was a good illustration.
Sloppy Knicks still too much for naughty Nets
For long stretches, New York did not really deserve to win this game. They settled for three after three, sleepwalked through one pick and roll after another and were constantly late to the orange leather ball. They didn't think it was necessary to feature Karl-Anthony Towns against a team that had no answer for him in the past; they didn't think the opponent was dangerous enough to punish the experiments with their own lineup. And you know what? It all didn't matter because the New York Knicks are a good basketball team and the Nets are not.
What they are, though, is a scrappy young bunch (actually the youngest there is in the league) with some decent players and an inspiring coach, a team that is hellbent on trying to get the most out of their limited resources—be it on the court or later at the trade deadline. For three quarters, that was plenty enough to give the Knicks some headaches, as Brooklyn actually led the contest going into the fourth quarter. But then the New York bench happened.
Just like a few nights ago in Chicago, Mike Brown found the right mix of guys from the pine, and Tyler Kolek, Landry Shamet and Jordan Clarkson completely turned around a game that never felt like it was in danger yet still needed to be taken care of late. The bench boys did that and then some. Even Andre Drummond got into the mix and played some smart, efficient basketball while in there. For all the might New York's starting lineup supposedly has, you could argue that they would have to answer a bunch of uncomfortable questions if it weren't for their reserves early in the year.
Advertisement
No matter who you take, they all have shown the ability to completely change the dynamic of a game in an instant, which truly is one of the most important qualities a reserve has to possess. The Knicks' offense is flowing visibly faster with Tyler Kolek at the point right now, Landry Shamet's motor seems to be running longer and more reliably than Haile Gebrselassie ever did, and Clarkson is playing every game like an Olympic berth for the Philippines is on the line.
Bockers bench is brave and brilliant again
Now, make no mistake about it: they all need serious talent next to them to actually thrive, but that, in the end, is the epitome of a team—a group of individuals that all bring different strengths to the table. For the early part of the season, most of the Knicks' reserves, more often than not, have held up their part of the equation and reminded us all that depth was a key component in New York's championship run last year. The same can be said for the uncanny ability to have someone else step up on any given night.
The bench was also a big reason why TomRogerAstro's seemingly simple headline from the Postgame Thread rang true. The Knicks have been a bit up and mostly down with their three-point shooting so far this season, and it was a welcome sight to see them find their range, especially late in the game. Brooklyn had no answer once the shots fell, the crowd got ignited and the already pretty solid defense completely locked in to secure the victory.
Advertisement
One Knick who is still waiting for things to turn around, though, is Mikal Bridges. Once again, he only "played" 16 minutes, in which he actually drove all the way to the rim once. If anything can tell you that he feels a little desperate right now, it should be that he actually did not settle for a midrange shot but tried to finish inside. That's what 30 strong minutes from Landry Shamet time and again can do to you. It's not a controversy yet; we've been there before. But as more and more people stream about it, this can get pretty dicey soon.
If games against the Nets will ever get dicey again, you ask? Well, they might, but not without a lot of things happening. And don't worry, we haven't heard about the Knicks giving Evan Fournier a call recently.
