Knicks 90, Wizards 88: Scenes from a bench barnburner

That was fun! Both teams played hard, and the deep bench boyz got themselves a W at the end because Lance Thomas drew a garbage foul at the buzzer, thus escaping overtime. Let’s look at some things.

Look what a Melo/Kristaps pick and slip can get you on the weak side:

Look at what a pick and slip can get you when Melo/Kristaps are on the weak side:

Courtney Lee moves his feet so well, man. He beat Bradley Beal to his spot several times, and fought over screens, and just looked nimble and smart overall on defense:

Hey cool Justin Holiday!

Of the Guys Whose Jumpers Never Went in, Holiday outperformed Lance Thomas in other realms, like occasionally helping on defense. And doing that. (Lance did so much pump faking! Get those threes warm, Lance! No pull-up twos! Just a nightmarish evening of shooting, even when the takes were good. I was, however, pleased to see Jeff Hornacek leave him out there in the fourth to shake off the rust, even at the expense of Mindaugas Kuzminskas’s minutes.)

Brandon Jennings remains very fun, and very eager to please the Garden:

Jennnings, who has already proven himself to be an unrepentant bully of fringe youngsters, did this to Casper Ware:

... then buried a heinous four-point play in his face.

Jennings is a vigorous asshole and he’s ours and I love it.

Willy’s got things, you guys.

Even defended for a moment or two, which is an improvement. Some of those passes went to nobody.

You know that crossover Kristaps worked on all summer?

That? He tried it thrice in the first half alone. Got stripped once, slipped once, missed the jumper once. It’ll come, but he’s overthinking it a bit, such that he ends up either telegraphing the move or shooting the jumper off-balance because he’s so psyched to be dribbling. A little flimsy on his post-ups, too. Still 7’3, though:

Oh, the crossover. Here you go:

Here’s an opinion of mine: ... Ron.

Good night!