My word, that was perfect. That was everything. Like CARMP said in the game thread, it could not have been any other way. Each miserable facet of the Knicks' pre-All-Star-break schedule came to the stage Wednesday night, as if to take a bow arm-in-arm.
The Knicks started wonderfully against the Kings. Raymond Felton and Tyson Chandler connected on numerous pick-and-rolls against a sleepy Kings defense. Carmelo Anthony got jab-steppily hot after a couple early misses. Iman Shumpert, Pablo Prigioni, and company got their hands in every cookie jar and forced all kinds of turnovers. The vibe of a carefree blowout set in, Breen and Clyde talking about open-face sandwiches and the like.
And then uhhhhhh...not so much. The Knicks went Chinua Achebe, as they do. The bench in particular struggled. Amar'e Stoudemire played a monstrous offensive game, dropping in a few decoy finishes and pick-and-pop jumpers from Felton that looked straight out of 2010. But the rest of the second-unit offense faltered in all the familiar ways, then the starters followed suit. Shooters went cold even when open, Tim Hardaway Jr. most of all from outside, then Raymond Felton on floaters and easy lay-ins. Chandler suddenly couldn't finish around the basket. Melo's soup dried up. The Knicks could have survived their own misdeeds, but Mike Woodson's play for Melo out of a timeout with 6 seconds left to go and the game tied was:
ehhh just shoot it
...which was perfect. And at the other end, things were perfectly Knicks. FARTDOG slacked in every defensive fast break and sagged off every screen to lift Jimmer Fredette to a career-high 24 points. That was perfect. So was Woodson going with bigger and bigger lineups-- even playing Melo at shooting guard for a split second in OT-- as the game progressed. J.R. Smith was hurt and Iman Shumpert hurt himself, which was perfect. I'm watching post-game now and Tina Cervasio just asked Isaiah Thomas about Fredette's career-high and he said "they were backing off of him." And now Mike Woodson is shrugging off any blame and "and again"-ing reporters as if they're stupid for questioning him. Perfect.
Good on the Knicks for so aptly summarizing their whole way in a single game. They know there's going to be a break before the next stretch of their season, so they put together a clip episode for new viewers. And it was perfect. It could not have been any other way.
Y'all fucking suck, Knicks. I hope this show gets canceled.