New York-foot in his locker after everything had ended, Karl-Anthony Towns of Knicks had a big smile on his face. It was an expression that could be affected after his team managed to see the Atlanta Hawks 149-148 in extra time to win the game of the highest season of the NBA, and perhaps its wildest, of the season.
“I would have needed a therapist if we had left that with an L; I will not lie to you,” said Towns, who ended with 44 points and 10 rebounds, but also had a turnover at the closing seconds of regulation that could have cost the Knicks .
Jalen Brunson, who scored 36 points, hit a Pull-Up sweater with 11 seconds in extra time that turned out to be the winner.
“There is no established time whose turn is or what. I mean, we really don’t play like that,” Brunson said. “I think we were reading, we are playing and reacting, and whatever is necessary to win.”
But New York thought he had the game in his hand long before; So much so that several fans, with the Knicks leading for six with 18 remaining in the regulation, began to leave Madison Square Garden to start the trip home.
A Georges Niang Tripoer cut the deficit in half with nine seconds, and then Towns launched a wandering pass on the entrance game that the Hawks Dyson Daniels managed to steal under the basket before receiving a foul.
Daniels made his first free kick, to cut the advantage of the Knicks to two, but the second was lost. He grabbed his own rebound, and the Hawks star, brings Young, made a foul before drawing the score at 137-137 in a couple of free shooting with two remaining seconds.
The abrupt shift left the scholarly garden, particularly since the Knicks had led up to 18 points in the high rhythm game, one in which eight players ended with 20 points or more.
The Knicks had invested a considerable advantage to lose to the Hawks at the beginning of the season during the NBA Cup. But playing the second on a consecutive Wednesday, New York cavó deep enough to save a victory.
By default as it could have been, the victory left the Knicks with a 3-18 mark in the star game, their best record through 54 games since 1996-97. “It’s great to enter the break with a victory, no matter how we have achieved it,” said Brunson, who will be a headline at the exhibition this weekend along with Towns. “We fight, regardless of what we did, positive or negative. We went out with a victory.”
New York beat Young, which has become a garden paper, placing a monster game with 38 points and 19 assists. He had the ball in his hands in the final possession, but was covered by Mikal Bridges, who received defensive help when Young asked for a screen.
Young ended up passing Niang for the last shot in the last second, but was hurried and Niang failed.
“I just saw too much crowd. I think if I had to do it again, we would have spacked it to allow me to pass [Bridges] and draw help or something. I think the screen caused too much combustion at the top, “said Young on the design of the work.” We don’t shoot well. “
