It's not just the Julius Randle & Jalen Brunson Show for the Knicks
New York Knicks guard Immanuel Quickley reacts as the clock runs out against the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden on Monday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
So many times this season the Knicks have been carried to team achievements by the individual heroics of All-Star Julius Randle and should’ve-been-an-All-Star Jalen Brunson.
But Monday, as they pulled off one of the most impressive wins of their season, dominating the Boston Celtics for their sixth straight victory, Brunson and Randle were, well, ordinary — solid, but kept by the Boston defense from dominating.
And that made the win more reflective of just what the Knicks have become. While the teams with the best records in the league all rely on a superstar in contention for MVP honors the Knicks can find a hero among any of the nine players in the rotation, all of whom have one thing in common: playing with a throwback intensity.
“Yeah, that’s what makes us who we are,” Immanuel Quickley said. “Julius can go get 45, 50 any night, JB can go get 45, 50 on any night. And then on any night I feel like I can help out a little bit with the scoring as well, too. As well as other guys. It’s not just any select person. That’s what makes us special. We have a lot of guys that can do a lot of things. The selflessness of this team is really starting to show with that.”
“I actually talked about it with someone before the game,” Brunson said. “We’re going to win on nights when we’re hitting shots. That’s just how it is. But can we win on nights when guys aren’t making shots, can we win when things aren’t going when we want it to? How can we adapt to that? How can we be efficient that way? How can we find a way to win? I think tonight was a good step for us but we can be better."
On this night, it was Quickley who provided the offensive boost, but he has become a far better defensive force than he was in his first two seasons. Mitchell Robinson set the tone early with a smothering block of a Jayson Tatum dunk attempt and carried that over almost to the final buzzer. And Josh Hart, who arrived at the trade deadline and has helped the Knicks to a 6-0 record since then with a combination of hustle and skill, has seemed to be the glue holding it together.
“The system, the coaching, I think has been the biggest thing,” Hart said. “We are extremely prepared on both sides of the ball. Everyone has that confidence and that green light to play and when we’re doing that, that’s when you’re the toughest team. We don’t have guys that are nervous or on eggshells or anything like that . . . We have guys that are playing extremely hard and within themselves."
The win pushed the Knicks a half-game ahead of the Brooklyn Nets into fifth place, and Brooklyn arrives at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night with the streak and the standings on the line. The Nets were one of those teams built on star power, but now they very much resemble the Knicks, a team without a superstar and instead hoping to hang on with depth and effort.
Right now, the Knicks would face the Cleveland Cavaliers — yes, led by Donovan Mitchell — in the first round of the playoffs. Do these recent wins, the long run of success (26-14 over the last 40 games), show that the Knicks might climb higher? Or at least does it show that they belong with these teams?
“It’s where we are in the season,” coach Tom Thibodeau said Monday night. “We start off with the idea of, let’s get better every day. And then you begin the season with the end in mind, knowing that you want to be playing your best at the end. So, you’re trying to make deposits each and every day, all the way through. But it’s easy to get sidetracked in this league, because of all the distractions, the length of the schedule.
“So, you want to establish your routines and build your habits, do the right things and understand this game tonight, feel good tonight, and then tomorrow we got to get ready for Brooklyn. Tonight’s win will have nothing to do with the Brooklyn game. So, the Brooklyn game, we know we have to be ready for that, and that’s the challenge you face in the league and that’s the beauty of this league.”
Notes & quotes: The Knicks signed guard Duane Washington Jr. to a two-way contract. He was released by Phoenix Feb. 1 after averaging 7.9 points over 31 games. He played with Indiana last season after being undrafted out of Ohio State.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
