Knicks had looked bad, but big win over Bucks shows how good they can be
Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Knicks drives to the hoop in the first half against Brook Lopez #11 of the Milwaukee Bucks at Madison Square Garden on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Admit it, you were worried.
Until Friday night, the Knicks had not been playing like the contenders everyone thought they would be when they retooled their roster in the offseason. From the embarrassing blowout in Boston in the season opener to back-to-back late-game collapses in Houston and Atlanta, this Knicks team had been nowhere as good or as likable as the team you cheered all the way through the first two rounds of the playoffs last season.
With their dominating 116-94 victory over the troubled Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, however, the Knicks gave their fans a preview of the kind of elite team they have the potential to grow into.
It was an important win in that it featured key performances from the Knicks’ two new starters.
Karl-Anthony Towns torched the Bucks for 32 points and 11 rebounds in 32 minutes, setting the tone of the game by scoring 27 points and hitting four three-pointers in the first half.
Mikal Bridges, the other player the Knicks added to their roster during the summer, scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half and helped lead the Knicks’ defensive effort by guarding the Bucks’ primary ballhandler.
“I like how we played. I like how we played as a team,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “ . . . I thought we played with a really good pace. I thought guys were looking for each other and they saw the floor really well.”
It was the type of teamwork that Knicks fans saw from their team on a regular basis last season.
What made last season’s team must-see TV is the way they all seemed to be willing to run through a wall for one another. That group wasn’t as talented as the team the Knicks have on the floor now, but they had a feeling for one another, an understanding of everyone’s strengths and weaknesses.
It was that familiarity and understanding of mission that made it possible for them to survive injury after injury. It’s what made it possible for them to move within one victory of reaching the Eastern Conference finals despite the fact that their starting lineup in the final game of the playoffs included only one player — Jalen Brunson — who had been in their starting lineup at the start of the season.
Before Friday night’s game, there was a lot of teeth-gnashing about how the Knicks might have upset their team chemistry by trading away Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo for Towns, not to mention mortgaging their future by giving so much away to the Nets to obtain Bridges.
Doc Rivers, whose Bucks team has had plenty of problems of its own, was hearing none of it before the game. Rivers had Thibodeau on his staff when they won a championship in Boston, and he said he has faith that he soon will get the Knicks on the right track.
“I know the Knicks’ coach and I know that he’s going to get it all together,” Rivers said. “I’m sure of that. Tom’s a phenomenal coach. And they made changes. They made changes to their core guys.
“Chemistry is an amazing thing. They had it last year and they’ll get it back. You don’t just wake up and have it. It takes time. It will come for them, I guarantee it.”
It certainly came Friday night as almost everyone on the team did something to contribute. Brunson scored only 15 points but had a season high-tying nine assists — with zero turnovers — in just under 32 minutes. OG Anunoby and Josh Hart gave big defensive performances and Miles McBride added 14 points off the bench for the Knicks, who led by as many as 30 points (113-83).
The Knicks (4-4) now will hit the road to face Indiana and Philadelphia, the two teams they met in the playoffs last season. But it’s not just their record that improved Friday night. They showed something new, something that says they are starting to become more and more familiar.
“It’s going to take time to be cohesive, like how we were at the end of the year last year,” Brunson said. “It’s kind of a different team. So for us, we have to continue to jell every single day and keep learning.”
It’s a step in the right direction.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.