Knicks 101, Wizards 97: ‘I hope we bring back Burke’

The New York Knicks beat the Washington Wizards Sunday, 101-97. The big blow for the Knicks came in the second quarter, when they scored 42 points. Their offense was fairly mediocre in the other three quarters, though they did score just enough down the stretch to pull out the win.

The hero of the evening was Trey Burke, who chipped in a game-high 19 points 8-15 shooting to go along with 3 assists and 3 steals. Burke hit the nail in the Wizards’ coffin when he glided past a defender hoping to foul him on the floor, hung in the air and sank the layup for the and-1 opportunity. As a fan of the tank, I was willing to argue that the foul did indeed happen on the floor and that continuation should not have been allowed. Alas, tank fans don’t always get what they want. The good news is that the Knicks will almost certainly fulfill the wishes of P&T’er Bash8151 and bring back Trey Burke next season.

Notes:

— Burke and Frank Ntilikina started for Emmanuel Mudiay and Courtney Lee, just as we all had hoped to see. And it really worked on both ends—Burke was allowed to shine with the starters, and Mudiay came alive once again with the second unit. It was a tremendous bounce-back game from for the struggling Mudiay, who chipped in 11 points on 4-8 shooting, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. Yes, he had trouble guarding Ramon Sessions, but baby steps, people!

—Frank didn’t have a good game offensively—2 points on 1-6 shooting—but he did play a large part in containing the likes of Otto Porter (13 points on 5-13 shooting) and Bradley Beal (14 points on 5-17 shooting).

—Kyle O’Quinn was apparently out with a hip problem, which meant ample time for young Luke Kornet. And the big Vanderbilt alum responded with some vintage Kornetian moves: 2 three-pointers on his way to 10 points overall, and an eye-catching 4 assists. I told you this dude can pass! Kornet finished a team-high plus-10, even with the Wizards attempting to counter him by going small with Markieff Morris at the center position. Fools...you cannot gameplan for Luke Kornet. Luke Kornet is a force of nature!

—I wanted Frank to come back in at the 5:00 mark in the fourth quarter, but of course Hornacek countered with Courtney Lee. I have to admit, though, that the move paid off, at least from a win-loss perspective. Lee hit a couple of clutch buckets down the stretch. It’s not that I have anything against the vet, of course, but I’d still rather those clutch minutes go to Frank.

—Surprising stat of the night: Eight Knicks finished with at least 10 points. Burke, Mudiay, Lee, Kornet, Michael Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr., Troy Williams and Enes Kanter all pulled off the fete for New York.

The Knicks are just too damn good now that they’re playing the right rotations. They are all but guaranteed the ninth spot in the draft. Oh well.