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It hadn’t been part of the story, and it didn’t seem likely that it would be Wednesday night. The Knicks led the hapless Timberwolves by 18, although Minnesota nearly wiped out that lead by the half. The Knicks led by 11 after three quarters. The Timberwolves were 11-36. They know how to lose. The Knicks just had to finish them.
The Knicks didn’t finish them.
The Knicks collapsed in every way in the most brutal fourth quarter of the season, allowing Wolves to stick around long enough for Malik Beasley to drain a 3 punch with 37.8 seconds left, giving Wolves a 102-101 lead. , their first since 7-6.
It ended this way, in the midst of a few late brutal possessions. It ended that way and the Knicks came back to 0.500 at 24-24 and it felt a lot more ruinous than that. The Knicks have mostly gotten into the habit of beating the teams they’re supposed to beat. They’ve mostly avoided disasters like this, averting one of those ominous endings against those Wolves in the Garden on February 21 when they lost 21 points but recovered.
There was no recovery this time.
This one hurts. This one stings. This one leaves a mark, and might be worth remembering at that point next month, when the Knicks are officially in the home stretch for a spot in the expanded postseason. The Knicks may be better than expected, but they’re still not good enough to waste opportunities like a game against the worst in the NBA, especially up to 18.
They should keep as much as possible.
“If you let your guard down even a little,” said obviously annoyed Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, “you’re going to be in trouble.
Perhaps this is a sign of all the good that happened before a game played on the last day of March could actually cause such anguish and anger among the devotees. When the schedule moves to April, Knicks fans recently turned the page to summer, to draft, to free agency, to next year. So, in a mean way, maybe the agony of a terrible loss is a good thing.
Or maybe not. It’s just hard to feel that if you’re the Knicks right now, not with a week ahead that includes games against the Mavericks, Nets and Celtics, not with a long western swing watching them in a month, not when they have asked all year not to be noted on a curve. The Knicks want us to believe the way they believe it. Above all, it happened.
But not this time. But not after Timberwolves 102, Knicks 101. There’s no way to explain it. There is no way to rationalize this. And there’s no escaping this harsh nugget of truth: Despite all the progress the Knicks have made, all the steps forward to shake off the chains of defeat and failure, they still are. capable of a game like this.
Still capable of losing to anyone in the league.
“It’s disappointing, we had a big lead in the first half and we didn’t deal with it and we repeated it,” said Thibodeau. “I am disappointed because of the turnover. We had a fight.
Even though the Knicks opened up the fourth looking a bit ragged, it still looked like the cushion they had given themselves could hold. They were still leading 90-77 with just under nine minutes to go. This calculation should work against a team playing tug of war.
Only for the rest of the game, it was hard to tell who is playing the chord and who is fighting for a slot machine in the top 10 in the East. As often as we say the Knicks’ margin is very thin, it really hits home when you see what a razor blade really looks like up close. A few turnovers, a few sloppy minutes and the cruise control became damage control.
And by then, too much damage had already been done. RJ Barrett had been formidable most of the night (23 points) but had two horrific late turnovers, had a brain cramp while allowing a key three-point play to Anthony Edwards, stupidly fouling Edwards when he had a layup easy, a game that cut the Knicks 10-7 lead and seemed to galvanize the Wolves.
Then he missed the potential winner on the buzzer. And the Knicks walked off the field with an “L” that should have been emblazoned in scarlet on their blue plains.
“We allowed them to stay in the game,” Barrett said, “and you can’t allow that.”
“We have to take care of business,” said Julius Randle, who also fought late after spending a day of work with 26 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. The things were left on the table at Target Center on Wednesday night. This one will leave a mark.
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