New York Knicks vs Golden State Warriors

March 5, 2017

Warriors 112, Knicks 105

 by Eric Weinstein

We almost saw the impossible.

A sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden welcomed in the Golden State Warriors on a cold Sunday afternoon in the City. Most Knick fans, including myself, figured this game would be over quickly, but that wasn’t the case at all. The Knicks rose to the challenge and played some of their best basketball in a long time, albeit in a losing effort. I’m not one for the, “moral victory” but the Knicks should be proud of their effort on both ends of the floor. Granted, they gave up 112 points, but this is the most explosive offensive team in the NBA, so that could’ve been a lot worse. Kristaps Porzingis snapped out of his seemingly endless slump in a big way, going for 24 points and 15 rebounds, along with a couple of blocked shots. Derrick Rose was in vintage form as well, scoring 28 points and getting whatever he wanted on the offensive end. I’m ignoring his defense of course, but Rose was a blur offensively. Those two weren’t enough to stop the two time defending Western Conference Champs, however, as Steph Curry and Klay Thompson proved to be too much. The Splash Brothers (hate that name) combined for 60 points and continued to be the best backcourt in the NBA.

This game started out interesting, since the Knicks decided not to play any music during the first half of the game, or during warmups. They wanted the fans to experience the natural sounds of the game, or something like that. Players were outspoken about their dislike of the lack of music, most notably Draymond Green. Green, the ball kicking baby, thought it was, “trash” that the Knicks had the game start off silent. Most players felt that it was weird without the music, as they couldn’t get into a rhythm, but is this really something that is newsworthy, or something to be angry about? I don’t know, but for some reason it was.

Back to the game, Carmelo Anthony was a real non-factor Sunday, scoring 15 points on 12 shots. Those are the kind of numbers you wouldn’t expect from the Knicks star, but what was most notable was that it felt like he wasn’t even there. Cant say that about Melo too often.

Since this season has gone sour, I always try to find a few bright spots in each game, with some being more difficult than others. In this game, we had a gutsy showing from everyone’s hero, Ron Baker. Baker was completely overmatched on paper by Stephen Curry, but he dug in on defense and did his best to make things difficult for the MVP, and he did just that. Baker’s toughness is something that you can’t teach, and if the entire team played as hard as he did, the Knicks would be a title contender. Way to be Ron.

Like I’ve said before, these are the type of games us tank-enthusiasts can enjoy. The Knicks fight hard, and they still get beat in the end. Everybody wins, except for the team, of course. Knicks in Orlando on Monday night. 25-38.