Knicks 101, 76ers 91: "I'm holding out for the Bargs quadruple-double"

An Easter miracle! Ben-Hur should be canceled by this yule log of a game. An .mpg of this game should be saved on every thumb drive and dropped in every Easter basket and placed under the tree on Easter morning for all the babies! A nine-game losing streak is plenty. We didn't need another double-digit losing streak, in my firmly biased opinion. Fair's fair. These humble de facto Knicks held pole position through most of a very winnable game and shut the door in the closing moments, eschewing a tank-propelled meltdown. Yup, a real "nor Easter".

Lots of heroes to thank in this game. Andrea Bargnani played his most inspired game of the season. Shane Larkin finally grabbed the keys and drove that Tesla around for a while. Langston Galloway ran around trying to set little fires everywhere. Lou Amundson, ya know, worked hard. Felinequickness nailed it in the game thread saying they'd hold out "for the Bargs quadruple-double." Me too, friend. I wouldn't read too much into this. It was a much needed win for the mental health of the crew. As we round the bend into the final stretch, let's forget this one together, shall we?

Good basketball https://t.co/dbz4KM4WQF

— Taylor Armosino (@tarmosino) April 5, 2015

- The Knicks had 14 blocks! WHAT?! Almost everybody got in on the action. Two-thirds of the guys who played blocked a shot. That's roughly 66% of all participants. Early on Bargs was plotting and swatting and that helped set the tone for a defense that was stopping nearly everything at the rim. The Sixers still managed to traipse their way to 48 points in the paint, but who's counting? What really matters is how no rejection was more ferocious than this Jason Smith spike.

- The Sixers played way over the top of passing lanes and this made them terrific for the old blind pig. And, baby, we stuffed it! Early on the fellas found it a bunch of times and struggled to convert it sometimes, but they knew they could search it out. Then they spent the middle two quarters nosing around for something else to nosh. Come fourth quarter they were able to unleash that puppy piggy to great effect.

- I counted five banked in lay ups. Maybe four. At least two. Probably three.

- I'm not really that impressed by matzo. It's decent. I will happily take some egg matzo for breakfast, if we're doing the whole matzo thing. I don't begrudge matzo at all, especially not when it's egg. Lay it on me, pops. One time I went to some weird matzo factory in Brooklyn. It seemed to be the place that some crust punk refurbishes mopeds out of. Maybe eleven months a year that's what goes on, who knows. Come to think of it I'm sure that place is lousy with crusties.

Anyway, I bought a hat box filled with round matzo. It was very plain. It cost me $30 for what seemed like a lot of artisanal matzo. I felt ripped off, though. Not gonna lie. It was huge like a sombrero.

- John McEnroe accidentally (?) video-bombed Jill Martin's 90-seconds of intrusion. At one point Jill announced it in some obtuse way and Johnny Mac took a step off to the edge of the screen, yet still he remained in plain view. What was he looking for? Never stop, never settle.

Masterful video bomb from John McEnroe during @JillMartin's Celebrity Minute. pic.twitter.com/uTNQBj8SF4

— Jonah Ballow (@jonahballow) April 6, 2015

- Did I mention that this is the best Bargs that Bargs has Barged in a gazillion years? Yea man, 25 points, 8 boards, 4 assists and 4 blocks. He was everywhere but backdoor where he got beat pretty easily. He did a ton early, and little bit late. Which is decidedly more than his typical little bit early and nothing late. Don't be fooled! The guy is a menace to New York basketball! GO AWAY, BANANA!

- Tim Hardaway is trying.

- Shane Larkin took over in the second half. Shane has been aggressive looking to score on mid-range pull-ups the past several games. Some cool stuff like that is starting to click for Shane. I still believe he can be a good player in the league. He just needs a few years of seasoning.

Nearly a triple-double for the Sour Patch Kid. It was really refreshing to see Shane look for early offense. He can get down the court faster than practically everyone in the league, and he's a good rebounder! He needs to grab that pumpkin and get his ass in action! When there was no immediate look, he was able to zip the ball back up to the trailers and then find his way to the un-manned Triangle area. Now he's not initiating the offense! So much better for everybody!

- Quincy Acy continues to be just enough of a maniac to rally the team for those funky stretches when our bench usually gets their ass handed to them. Nine rebounds, including one of the most violent Tyson-tap-backs ever tapped. Ricky Ledo nearly got whiplash running back court to grab it and reset the possession. I think it should be called a "tap blast".

- Lou Amundson got called for a phantom foul after blocking Furkan Aldemir. The play was already going the other way when Joe Crawford, mutant bull-pug, flapped his gums into the whistle and tagged the poor guy. I guess it's the hair.

Whatever. Lou set out to make it difficult for Nerlens Noel, and I'd say he succeeded. Noel had a good game, as you should come to expect, but he didn't run roughshod over them this time.

Ragged game of basketball, when you really think about it. Next game is against Indiana and Paul George is back!