Spurs 119, Knicks 93: “Vintage knicks from the third quarter”

Do you know what is significant about the sentence below?

“Dennis, Nell, Edna, Leon, Nedra, Anita, Rolf, Nora, Alice, Carol, Leo, Jane, Reed, Dena, Dale, Basil, Rae, Penny, Lana, Dave, Denny, Lena, Ida, Bernadette, Ben , Ray, Lila, Nina, Jo, Ira, Mara, Sara, Mario, Jan, Ina, Lily, Arne, Bette, Dan, Reba, Diane, Lynn, Ed, Eva, Dana, Lynne, Pearl, Isabel, Ada, Ned , Dee, Rena, Joel, Lora, Cecil, Aaron, Flora, Tina, Arden, Noel and Ellen have sinned. “

Turn with your eyes. Let your mind dwell on it. Any idea? To give up? It is a palindrome. The same back and forth. So, what is the biggest connection between that and the Knicks’ 119-93 defeat in San Antonio last night? There is none. If anything, what it was the theme of the game – it was just a stinking loss. It didn’t seem significant in any broader sense. The Knicks lost a road game against the Spurs. I knew it was possible. I could have lived without the reminder, but that’s okay.

Here is another palindrome: “Are we not drawn forward, the few of us, into a new era?” With Elfrid Payton (hamstring) and Derrick Rose (Covid protocol) excluded, Frank Ntilikina had his first start in over a year. This season of tasty stories would have earned a Michelin star if it had delivered Ntilikina starring in a victory in New York; a new era, in fact. And although Frank shot well, he and RJ Barrett were the only Knicks to hit more than half. The elevator pitch of that loss: the Knicks could not fire; the Spurs reached 18 of 42 in depth.

Tom’s Terrific Thibodites seemed flat and nervous at first, needing almost eight minutes to register an assist. Towards the end of the first, with New York below 10, we saw the Julius Randle / Obi Toppin / Kevin Knox attack court – very strange to live, very rare to die. This lineup overcame the Spurs by 9-1 thanks to the opposite corner 3s from Obi and Knox. Toppin’s trey triggered a 7-0 streak that put the Knicks in the lead.

An 8-0 streak in the second had the same effect: regaining the lead, but not for long. After losing their first six points out of 3, the ‘bockers made a good six out of nine, but they also continued to turn the ball. San Antonio advanced by one at the end of the first half and that seemed to be the margin in the middle, except that the referees correctly placed 0.7 seconds on the clock and Patty Wills correctly made the Knicks call.

A 9-0 run with Spurs bridging the gap between the two was all the hosts would need. The Knicks, without Payton and Rose, were offensively limited, while Trey Lyles of San Antonio looked like Kevin Knox’s future.

Winning a battle, losing the war: Ntilikina made all three attempts at 3 points in the third, with each set up by Randle. But it was the Spurs’ perimeter game as a team – specifically their 7-of-14 kicks beyond the hoop in the third – that transformed this into an explosion and impressive recovery from San Antonio, who lost a game from the wild overtime to Brooklyn 24 hours before. I hope the Knicks, with 48 hours until the next game, can recover as well.

Grades:

• Leaving aside the 6 of 16 shots from last night, Randle has increasingly reminded me of Patrick Ewing in one specific aspect: his ability to get the shots he wants, over and over again, while making them consistently.
• I used to play against a guy who just couldn’t lay up. He was always very strong outside the glass and he made a mistake. It took a while, but eventually we let him take them. It was counterintuitive, but its weakness was too obvious to go unnoticed. I’m starting to think that when a Knick goes to the edge and pulls the center of the other team, instead of instinctively passing the ball to Nerlens Scissorhands, who is destined to deflect, they should just kick it. No matter how difficult it is, there is at least a chance that Noel will take the rebound and put it inside, while passing the ball to him is … maybe not.
• 26 for IQ. If at any time Quickley was throwing 100% of the free-throw line after, like, 60 games … do you think people would go crazy with that? Like, following him as a streak or a home run chase?
• I feel that every time RJ tries to bury someone, they stop him. Maybe the occasional finger movement is cool?
• Obi with some buried in the fourth room:

• Half of the following list of names are Spurs who played last night. The other half are football players. Do you think you can tell the difference? Give it a try!

Luka Šamanić. Luka Modrić. Drew Eubanks. Max Kilman. Keita Bates-Diop. Callum Hudson-Odoi.

• An obviously frustrated Randle pulled Eubanks off the floor and hit a seated Allan Houston.
• Trey Lyles of P&T KTP with four points of 3 and 18 points as the team leader.
• From 1999 to 2017, Spurs won more than 50 games every year. This is direct 18. The Knicks have 13 seasons of 50 wins in their entire history.
• Samanić sports an absolutely stunning tattoo on his left arm.
• Jakob Poeltl recorded two blocks, but his defensive presence was comprehensive. Did you know that Poeltl’s numbers put you at the level of Rudy Gobert and Joel Embiid as a rim protector? You can hear this rumor and more on the Jacobin Sports Show. This week, our guest was Dan Devine, who covers the NBA for The Ringer. Spoiler: Dan may have become a fan of the Knicks and we can spend a few minutes talking about this year’s team.

Quoth Ewing Finger Roll of Doom: “Vintage third-quarter Knicks.” This year’s Knicks mostly avoided the worst features of recent teams. We started talking about palindromes, so let’s end with that too: New York opened the first half of the season with consecutive defeats. They hope to avoid the ending just as they started when they hosted Detroit tomorrow. It is the last game before the All-Star break. Will the Knicks return to the second half of the season as a winning team? Find out Thursday.