And just like that the Knicks have won 2 of 3 and are one of the hottest teams in the NBA, loaded with young talent. And in jeopardy of losing their top-3 draft lottery positioning.
The Knicks HAMMERED San Antonio at Madison Square Garden. They won easily — San Antonio’s fourth quarter run only got them to within 8 before the Knicks pushed back with a Lance Thomas 3 to ice it, and then to cap it off — a Dennis Smith steal and breakaway Slam Dunk Contest … pass off the backboard to Mitchell Robinson for the SLAM!!!
Dennis Smith Jr. throws the assist off the glass to find Mitchell Robinson for the alley-oop slam 💥 pic.twitter.com/4vK0SpFFYQ
— NBA UK (@NBAUK) February 25, 2019
Finally, after 3/4 of a season — 60 games — and the addition of Dennis Smith Jr to lead the team in the closing quarter — the Knicks are looking like they are arriving. Kevin Knox with his 3’s and aggressive if sometimes awkward drives to the hoop; the floaters; the slams. Damyean Dotson with the 3’s — raining from everywhere. Mitchell Robinson with the block shots and alley oop SLAMS and overall electrifying performances. Allonzo Trier with his hot-knife-thru-butter drives to the basket. Emmanuel Mudiay with his aggressive play.
So now the hard part — the Knicks must LOSE LOSE LOSE at least 16 of their last 22 games to maintain their top-3 worst positioning. This game vs San Antonio was up against the Oscar’s on a night when there were only 3 NBA games being played. That probably caused a lot of NBA fans to watch this game, even though it was not a nationally broadcast game. And one of those people was probably Skip Bayless, who had this to say:
Knicks fans, beware: You now have so many nice young players (DSmith, Knox, Mudiay, Dotson, Robinson, Trier, to name a few) that they just might win you right out of the Zion lottery.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) February 25, 2019
That’s the bad news. The good news — Knicks are on the way UP. And on a night when everyone on twitter was saying how horrible the Oscars are to watch with the bloviated egos — those of us watching the Knicks game had a BALL — a Fun, Fun, Fun game to watch.
The Smith-Robinson-off-the-backboard slam was the final caper; but there was an earlier Smith-to-Robinson slam:
FLIGHT VIEWS ✈ pic.twitter.com/4trCnLAee8
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 25, 2019
And a Kevin Knox to Robinson to Kevin Knox SLAM:
Aaaand @23savage____ with the assist this time 🔨 pic.twitter.com/Aog8KRVUPh
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 25, 2019
Emmanuel Mudiay was red hot in the first half. Smith took over down the stretch. Damyean Dotson was headband Dotson — and red hot all night. So far this season, Dotson plays great when he wears his headband which Knicks fans on twitter have noticed.
#WHOLETEAMWONTSTOP 💦 pic.twitter.com/r1pUfuBwqo
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 25, 2019
For San Antonio
For San Antonio, DeMar DeRozan gave Smith fits trying to defend him in the 4th — as DeRozan is about 4 inches taller — he finished with 32 pts on 12-22. LaMarcus Aldridge had 18 pts but only 3 rebounds in 21 minutes due to 4 fouls trying to contend with Mitchell Robinson. Bryan Forbes hit some big 3’s but was only 3-12 (2-8 from 3) for 15 pts. Rudy Gay had 10 pts, and Davis Bertans — San Antonio’s other starter — had 4 points. Pao Gasol came off the bench for 6 rusty minutes. You walked away from this game feeling the Knicks had a lot more talent than San Antonio.
The Boxscore:
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