Dude, where do I start? My eyes are still a little blurred as I type this. Our beloved New York Knicks have now won as many games as they have lost this season. The record of 0.500, which has become the Knicks’ white whale in recent decades, has been reached. It took 48 minutes to punish basketball against his former enemy, the Indiana Pacers. It wasn’t pretty, but the Knicks came out with a 110-107 win.
The game looked like a quick Pacers victory, with the Knicks looking sloppy as hell and Indy hitting three. But these fighters Thibodeaus do not stop. They reduced the handicap from 16 points to one and took the first advantage in the interval, courtesy of a buzzer-beater by Derrick Rose (17 points, 11 assists).
The Pacers took the lead again in the fourth half, and the Knicks’ attack looked quite stagnant. That was when the young gunslinger RJ Barrett took over.
RJ putting Indiana in the torture chamber two consecutive moves … the second could be strangely one of my favorite drives of his career? pic.twitter.com/lgcPe8P3NX
– The Halfcourt Press (@THalfCourtPress) February 28, 2021
Unfortunately, RJ felt the pressure on the free throw line late, losing two with the Knicks having a 108-106 advantage. The Knicks needed one more stop to finally claim 0.500. And the longest-running Knick, Frank Ntilikina, emerged.
Credit from Rose for deflecting TJ McConnell’s pass, and Frank for closely tracking the theft. Frank hit a pair on the line to freeze the game.
Julius Randle once again got the better of his All-Star counterpart, Domantas Sabonis, with 28 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals.
Nerlens Noel was forced to play 41 minutes because Taj Gibson injured his ankle in the first half. He did the defense work and landed a couple of clutch free throws late. Tremendous things.
Recap to come. 0.500!