Knicks 100 Jazz 102: Burke’d

“Always laugh when you can; it is cheap medicine”- Lord Byron

Lord Byron was right about the Knicks, but there’s more excruciating pain than laughter and jolliness.

There are just times where you need to crack open that bottle of Hennessy, Jack, or any form of alcohol to understand what it’s like being a Knick fan. I mean, I’m sure every Knick fan can attest, but tonight was a prime example of how exasperating this season can and will be in the future to come.

It was a sluggish start for the Knicks. They were down 13 at the end of the first, but behind this guy named Carmelo Anthony, who’s apparently really talented in the area of basketball, his 16 first half points and the Jazz’s deluge of offensive miscues, committing 14 first half turnovers, helped the Knicks cruise to a one point margin at half. The confidence was probably flowing through everyone’s cranium in the locker room, but with one caveat, the third quarter of doom.

The recurring third quarter of doom was, miraculously, nice to the Knicks overall. People would’ve thought a score line of (random numbers) 37-14 would happen, but that ended up 27-25 Jazz. Of course, per usual, the Knicks didn’t win the third quarter, as they have only won it once this season, but at least it wasn’t a landslide of epic proportions like it usually is in the lion’s share of games.

Where the meltdown happened was the fourth quarter. A mini-run ensued, in which Pablo Prigioni of all guys (still, Prigs!) went berserk and then negated all of his awesomeness (for this game only, not forever) with silly, careless fouls and ill-advised shot selections. Melo hero ball mode engaged, as virtually everyone passed to Melo in the post and on every other possession. For those of you that don’t think that Melo doesn’t get superstar calls, (well, he does in general) he certainly got a copious amount of them tonight in crucial moments, particularly near and during crunch time.

For all of the astounding offense Melo provided, Gordon Hayward connected his Twitch account to every SportVU camera in MSG, went on a scoring barrage, scoring 33 points, dishing 6 assists and snagged 4 steals. And speaking of steals and defense in general, despite Melo’s awe-inspiring 46 point outburst (more on that soon), Hayward played hampering defense on him. Yes, Melo got past him on some post possessions, because Melo is brawny (not the paper towels) and scary to go up against, but Hayward was on point on the defensive end. Also, Derrick Favors put up a double-double (21-12), including 5 offensive boards and swatted 3 shots. And, the most agonizing of them all, Trey Burke.

Prior to this game, Burke was shooting 30% from the field, 21% from three point land and posted a true shooting percentage of 39%. He shot 5-9 from the field, 3-5 from the perimeter, dropping 13 points, to go along with 8 assists and a buzzer-beater. Burke figured he’d channel his inner Gordon Hayward against the Cavs a few games ago and his Michigan form, particularly against Kansas, in which he unleashed that epic 30 foot game-tying shot. J.R Smith had him cornered with his hands up contesting Burke, but, oh well. Things happen.

Highlights:

• For the lack of a better cliche, Melo was a one man wrecking crew, guardian angel, savior, saint, biblical figure, you name it. 46 points, 16 in the first half, 16 off of free throws, 17 in the fourth (hey, I guess he read the preview for this game…), his enthralling banked three, the master was at work.  There were times where Gordon Hayward smothered the heck out of him, but Melo still drained the shot despite Hayward being all over his grill and took advantage of the Jazz not double-teaming him on the majority of possessions. And guess why the Knicks were on that fourth quarter run? Melo at the 4! Thank you, Saint Melo of Madison Square.
• Pablo Prigioni aka Prigs aka Priggy Smalls went into full, unpredictable, heart attack-inducing mode, scoring 13 (should be 14) points on 5-8 shooting in the fourth quarter alone, amassing a +16 to go along 4 Grand Theft Prigs steals. Who would’ve thought Prigs would be the second leading scorer? And the refs in Secaucus took away a three from him, those fools.

Lowlights: 

• What was thought to be a knee injury (thank goodness it wasn’t), Iman Shumpert hurt his hip through one minute in the first quarter, after snagging a rebound off of a missed layup attempt from Shane Larkin, something nobody wants to hear. Outside of Carmelo Anthony, Shump has been the absolute best player as the secondary scoring option. Such great timing as well, in the middle of a seven game slide.
• Despite seeing the “good J.R” on offense, J.R Smith got into foul trouble, committing his fourth foul in the third quarter, causing him to sit out most of the game and faded into obscurity, until his name finally popped up again, when Trey Burke threw up the dagger.
• Tim Hardaway’ Jr.’s lack of minutes has been a colossal talking point within the past week or so, but he didn’t do any justice. He shot 1-6 in 15 minutes and was non-existent like he has been when he never played, unfortunately.
• Amare Stoudemire sat out. Amare is the third best player on the team in my eyes, only behind Shump and Melo. Indeed, he sat out for precautionary measures, resting up the joints, but boy, he was sorely missed by the offense.
• It’s almost as if Tim Donaghy is secretly wiring up the Knicks defense in the office of an overseas betting shop. It’s perfectly clear that the Knicks defense throughout games, especially down the stretch, is flat-out atrocious. This is what I mean by this:

If you bet that the starting fourth quarter lineup was Larkin-Prigioni-Early-Wear-Smith, then you’re not just any liar, you’re a pathological liar. Derek Fisher changed the rotations shortly afterwards, but that’s a pretty sick rotation…in the worst way possible. The Knicks at one point allowed an 11-0 run to the Jazz in the fourth quarter and Travis Wear was playing significant minutes…IN THE FOURTH QUARTER, NEAR CRUNCH TIME. WHY? I was hoping Fisher’s seasonal rotations would suffice, but they certainly haven’t been doing that whatsoever. In fact, they’re Exorcist-esque projectile vomit worthy. Travis Wear shouldn’t be playing 5, 10 or any minutes in important moments that is not garbage time.

Yes, this is a transition season. Yes, there are going to be games like this that slip away in the final moments. But Derek Fisher is off to a horrific start, mostly due to his rotation strategies. All I have to say is, it’s going to be a loooooooooooong season. What I mean by that is the Charli XCX and Taylor Swift promos…