Garden would have been ‘rocked’ for Knicks win

It didn’t take a lot of imagination to conjure up what those last two minutes of the third quarter would have been, looked like, looked like, looked like. If you remember what becomes of Madison Square Garden when the Knicks aren’t just playing well, but fans think they better see them playing well …

Yeah. You know. Do you remember. Intellectually you knew the garden was empty Wednesday night, but when the Knicks went from 73-68 to 78-75, as they were polishing a 10-2 run that looked like it had been taken from the ’90s records, you could almost hear the calls raining down from the cheap seats, all the way to the courthouse.

“WEEEEE- FENSE! WEEEEE- FENSE!”

As Kevin Knox blocked a shot, as Austin Rivers did a steal, as RJ Barrett slammed a house to punctuate it all with 8.1 seconds left in the quarter, you could summon the swarming, swirling, and echoing din that would try to drive out Jazz. the courtyard, to the bus. Those times at the Garden, the best times, you swear you can see the momentum of the home team.

“It’s so unfortunate that our fans can’t be a part of this,” Julius Randle will say later, after the Knicks break through Utah, 112-100 – overtaking the Jazz by 30 points after spotting them a lead from 52-34. at the end of the second trimester.

Randle reportedly gave customers something good and hoarseness, transforming what becomes his routine nightly stats line: 30 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists, plus-25. Later, of course, it would be Rivers, who became a fourth-quarter phenomenon, who scored 14 straight points to help turn a 96-96 draw into a 110-100 lead, knocking down four consecutive 3s.

By then, the garden would have felt like it was on the verge of collapsing onto its foundation. You get that several times a year when you get a team like this, a team that captures the attention of the faithful like this one did in those first eight games. Watching the Knicks bench go crazy – Immanuel Quickley and Barrett happily watching and clapping in their warm-ups – hinted at what it would have been like.

“I know the garden would be rocking,” Randle said. “That’s what we all signed up for.”

What Knicks fans signed up for – what they aspire to – is a team that looks so much like this one. Every night something else happens to enjoy. In the last two games, the Knicks have fallen in big holes – 15 in Atlanta on Monday, 18 against Jazz on Wednesday – and both times they’ve not only figured out how to turn a blowout into a nail, they’ve figured out how to win. both. Games.

“The NBA is a long game,” said coach Tom Thibodeau. “You can catch up quickly. No path is safe and no deficit is impossible to overcome. “

Said Rivers: “The guys had a sense of urgency. They started talking to each other saying, “Let’s track them point by point”. We knew we didn’t need a home run, just play basketball, and then everyone started having fun, competing, one thing led to another, then it was to again a ball game.

It was a ball game again, and then it was a stick and move fourth quarter, the Jazz trying to keep their legs on the second half of a back-to-back (after being smoked in Brooklyn on Tuesday night), the Knicks hoping their own legs would survive the eight-man rotation that early-season injuries forced.

And that’s what’s amazing about this team: You could almost understand it if, so early in the season, players relied on enthusiastic and begging crowds to get them through. But while you might want to imagine all of this as a fan, the gamers’ truth is this: it’s like playing in an open gym in high school, no one looking at each other except the others and a few scattered people walking through. the gym. the cafeteria in the organic laboratory.

You know what you are missing.

But they also know what they are missing.

“I keep trying to imagine it,” said Rivers, who finished with 23 points in 32 minutes. “I can imagine what it was like when I played against them. The fans here have so much energy, I can’t wait. It will happen. Hopefully we’ll get the people back here. It is the best place to play basketball and everyone knows it.

He shook his head.

“These lights coming down, the darkness rises …

“There is nothing like it.”

Yeah. You know. Do you remember.