Garden blossoms with more stellar play on both ends

THIS is the kind of play that brings a basketball court to life, that makes it hum with enough electricity to power 40 city blocks. It can be Madison Square Garden, sure, but it can also be the playgrounds at Rucker Park or West Fourth Street. It can be Rose Hill or Draddy Gym or Alumni Hall. It can be a CYO gym with a short ceiling and auditorium flooring. But yes: this one happened to be at the Garden.

This one happened to be Wednesday night, in front of 19,439 fans, 5 ½ minutes to go in the game. The Knicks already had a comfortable lead, 93-81, but as is their wont they were still playing some snarling defense.

In the NBA, in 2024, that stands out. The Nuggets and 76ers scored 156 first-half points the night before. The Knicks had 11 games all of last year when they held a foe under 100; they would soon make this year’s total 12, already, at the season’s exact midway point.

Now Isaiah Hartenstein rose to block a layup from Houston’s Jalen

Green. Josh Hart snared the carom away from Green, dribbled twice, looked up, spotted Julius Randle streaking up the left side of the floor. Hart passed to Randle. And with a quick touch pass that would’ve fit right in at Rucker, or at West Fourth, he fed OG Anunoby. Anunoby dunked. The Garden detonated.

“I think the Garden liked that,” Randle said, “for sure.”

Oh yes. They liked it. There was a lot to like as the Knicks ran away from the Rockets 109-94, a fine way to celebrate both the 30th anniversary season since these teams warred for the NBA Championship and Tom Thibodeau’s 66th birthday. It wasn’t always pretty and it took 2 ½ quarters for the Knicks to hit their stride.

But they did eventually hit their stride.

And when they did, they reminded you why in the second half of this season, with a reasonable amount of luck and a reasonable amount of health, there might be even more to enjoy than the first, which the Knicks ended at 24-17, winners of seven of their nine games since Anunoby arrived from Toronto.

“And if we get maybe two rebounds,” Thibodeau helpfully reminded us, “maybe we’re on [a nine-] game winning streak.”

Those games — at Dallas last week, against Orlando Monday afternoon — are over and gone, and Thibodeau wasn’t lamenting missed opportunities so much as emphasizing his larger point: “In the month of January, we’re playing very good basketball.”

They are. And they are lined up to keep that going at least through the end of the month, with a stack of home games beginning with Thursday night against the 7-32 Wizards. The play at the top that we described was just one of a number of crisp moments that delighted the Garden. Earlier, Donte DiVincenzo had finished off a beautiful steal and fast break by no-looking to Randle for a dunk.

And on the other end there is the defense, which has now become a habit. The Knicks still have their spasms, like all teams, still surrender 60- and 65point halves occasionally. In 2024, every team can have a night like the Raptors had against the Heat Wednesday, hitting 20 out of 38 3s. Most nights, though, the Knicks bring their lunch pails.

And for a coach who cut his NBA teeth in the ’90s, back when defense was the grim, grimy order of the day, it’s a better birthday gift to Thibodeau than a whole cheesecake from Junior’s with 66 candles on it.

“As we go along, we emphasize improvement,” he said. “It was a little choppy but we kept moving forward. We have a lot of work to do and we don’t have it all figured out. We have to keep working yet.”

But they’re working with a wonderful chemistry set right now, both ends of the floor. It doesn’t take a lot to recalibrate this badly, as the Knicks found out the two games prior when they barely escaped the Memphis junior varsity before gagging away a 10point fourth-quarter lead to the Magic with Brunson looking on in civvies.

But the Knicks were whole again Wednesday, which helps, Brunson returning with 30 points to join Randle’s 31 in bookending five Knicks in double figures. Randle was speaking for himself but could’ve been talking on behalf of the entirety of the Knicks’ universe when he recalled what he said to Brunson after his two-game sabbatical.

“I told him,” Randle said, beaming, “to get his ass back out there.”