Wins Coming Easy Now — April 9, 2019: NY 96 Chicago 86

April 10, 2019 Lou V 2018-19 0

The wins are coming easy now. Two in a row. After V-KC day Sunday night (Victory in Knick City) — where Knicks lost to guarantee themselves sole possession of last place and no worse than 5th pick in this June’s draft — the lights are ALL GREEN for Knicks to win, win, win.

And win they have.

The Game

This one, in Chicago against a “who’s that?” team fielded to audition for next season — was a solid win. There was no incentive for Chicago to lose this game — as they are in 4th worst spot — with no chance to move to the 3 spot (3 games back of Cleveland with 2 to play) or fall back to the 5 spot (7 games ahead of 5th place Atlanta).

So it was a legitimate win for the Knicks, who put on a SHOW early and jumped out to a huge 20+ point lead in the first quarter. They led start to finish (although Chicago pulled back to within single digits early in the 4th).

Smith on Display

Oddly Mario Hezonja — superstar point guard of the previous two games — was ‘sick’ and didn’t play. That left 34 minutes of point guard play for Dennis Smith Jr. Knicks management have got to be trying to make a decision on him in one way or another. Rumor has it Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have already made a pact to sign with the Knicks; the only unfinished business is who signs first. So that means Dennis Smith Jr will be the backup or trade bait for Anthony Davis? And of course the Knicks’ position in the draft will affect things, with a couple of top-notch point guards available at the #2 or #3 slot. We’ll see.

Knicks Two-Headed Monster Dominates

The Knicks started their two-headed monster and it dominated again — Mitchell Robinson (3-6, 8 pts, 17 rebounds, 3 blocks) and Luke Kornet (5-14, 12 pts, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 6 blocks).

Kevin Knox (5-16, 4-8 from 3, 17 pts, 10 rebounds) rounded out the big front line and Dennis Smith Jr (10-23, 25 pts, 5 assists) orchestrated. Smith looked GREAT orchestrating. He looked like a good NBA point guard.

Damyean Dotson (5-10, 12 pts) rounded out the starting five and coach Fizdale played reserves Henry Ellenson, Billy Garrett Jr, Isaiah Hicks, and John Jenkins.

Chicago started Robin Lopez, Shaquille Harrison (looked very quick with an ability to cut thru defenses and finish at the rim in a variety of ways), and the unknowns — Ryan Arcidiacono, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, and Wayne Seldon Jr.

The Boxscore

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401071886

Crazy Night

This was a Crazy night in sports — the Knicks win completely overshadowed by other happenings in NY and in the NBA.

  • The Yankees ballpen blew a 3-2 lead and lost in Houston,
  • Jacob DeGrom got BLASTED in his start with the Mets,
  • Ian Begley quit ESPN for SNY,
  • Chris Mullin quit St Johns as head coach, and then
  • Earvin Magic Johnson said ‘hold my beer’, announcing he was quiting the Lakers in an impromptu press conference, without having told owner Jennie Buss yet.

This lit Twitter afire, with tweets such as these:

And a good counter point!

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