New York Knicks at Brooklyn Nets
Game 51: February 1, 2017
Knicks 95, Nets 90

Written by Eric Weinstein – @ericcweinsteinn
flagrant2blog.blogspot.com

Man, I really can’t stomach this anymore.

We’ve all seen a lot of bad Knicks basketball over the last decade and a half, but the New York Knicks Podcast was going to need to find a new recap writer if they dropped this one to the Brooklyn Nets. Had the result been different, I would’ve quit on the season and stopped watching, cold turkey. By the way, I am writing this after a Knicks road win.

So after the Knicks didn’t show up against the Wizards on Tuesday, they stroll into the Barclays Center and immediately fall behind to the dumpster fire known as the Brooklyn Nets. Aside from Brook Lopez and Bojan Bogdanovich, I’ve barely heard of any of these guys. Well, there’s Quincy Acy, the apparent savior of the Brooklyn Nets and former tank-tastic Knick. Everyone looked slow and sluggish, and Kristaps Porzingis was quickly in foul trouble, of course. Carmelo Anthony was struggling, Derrick Rose missed another game with a sprained ankle, and Joakim Noah continues to be a non-factor. Who was going to save the day?

If you say that you guessed Sasha Vujacic would save the Knicks, you’re a liar.

I’ve been incredibly critical of Vujacic since he came to the Knicks a season and a half ago, but he proved to be the spark the Knicks needed. Let’s not get carried away, he only had twelve points on 4-10 shooting, but he came in and brought energy off the bench with his three point shooting. On the two shots that connected from downtown, he was fouled on both and converted on the four point play. Shoutout to Sasha for being ready to come into the game, even though he hasn’t seen a lot of action all season. #SashSanity.

The biggest story from this game was that Coach Hornacek sat Carmelo Anthony, Joakim Noah, and Courtney Lee in the fourth quarter and brought back the Euro-Knicks lineup he used earlier in the season, with Brandon Jennings, Justin Holiday, Porzingis, Vujacic, and Willy Hernangomez. WHG in particular had another strong game, finishing with 16 points and 16 rebounds, as well as a couple of assists. There is no reason that Willy should not be the starting center in the next game, as he continues to outplay the 72 million dollar man again and again. His rebounding and scoring has been excellent, but he has been much better on defense than advertised. He’s continued to hold his own against NBA big men, and deserves a chance to start for this team. Willy and Sasha saved the Knicks up until the fourth quarter, where KP took over.

Kristaps finished the game with 19 points, and 12 of them were in the fourth quarter.

The play of the Euro-Knicks led them to a much needed victory in the borough of  Brook.

Saturday may be a different story, with the King returning to Madison Square Garden.

LeBron James, Kyire Irving, and Kevin Love come to New York for the Saturday night primetime game on ABC. I don’t know about you, but I’m not feeling so great about this one, since the Knicks could barely beat Brooklyn on Wednesday. Let’s hope for a miracle. 22-29.