In a game of runs — Utah beat the Knicks at Madison Square Garden in an entertaining game until very late in the 3rd quarter. The Jazz then pulled out to a 21-point early-4th-quarter lead but the Knicks didn’t give up — pulling back to within 8 at the end. Unbenownst to most at the Garden and everyone watching on tv — a group of cousins chanted “Sell the Team” at the end of the game, and were approached by security. Media picked up this story and the cousins had their 15 minutes of fame — becoming the most reported on part of the game.
“Sell the Team” Not & Their 15 Minutes
After the game, the cousins got media attention and pictures in the newspaper. Marc Berman of the NY Post amongst others covered the story. We responded to Berman’s tweet of his story and got immediate responses — apparently from the cousins themselves or their friends:
Knicks just beat Houston, had 2-game winning streak.
New VP Leon Rose.
Played 39-22 Utah close til late in 3rd wout Mitch Robinson; fell behind by 21 but never gave up, pulled back to 8 at end.
These cousins are out of phase with what's going on.
They got their 15 minutes— Knicks.City (@knickcity) March 5, 2020
Most Knick fans defended the team on this one — the cousins appeared to be out of phase with what’s been going on and looking for attention, which they got.
From my vantage point at MSG I didn't hear any "sell the team" chants. Those dudes were clout chasing. Fuck em
— Knicks Fan TV 🏀🎥📺🏁 (@KnicksFanTv) March 5, 2020
The Game Itself
Utah jumped out to a quick 25-11 lead in this game fueled by the shooting and play by Bojan Bogdanoic — the Jazz opened it up to 31-15 in the 1st quarter. Utah — which leads the league in 3-pt field goal percentage — were hitting 3’s.
Knicks were down 17 near the end of the 1st quarter, when Bobby Portis took over and scored 9 points in 4 minutes, highlighted by back-to-back 3’s and 15 pts in a 9-minute period.
21 PTS (8-15 FG)@BPortistime brought the energy off the bench 🔋 pic.twitter.com/Hsdu6eOSyw
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 5, 2020
Elfrid Payton was also terrific, and Julius Randle was taking it to Utah center Rudy Gobert — using his quickness to dominate Gobert. Randle finished the game with 32 pts on 12-21 and 11 rebounds.
Game day @TheGarden #NewYorkForever pic.twitter.com/X9PMRhnBGQ
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 6, 2020
Utah was up by 10 at the half and the Knicks closed to within 3 with 7:26 left in the 3rd on an Elfrid Payton drive.
20 PTS | 7 REB | 9 AST
Another solid outing for @elfrid 💨 pic.twitter.com/yxGJBL9888
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 5, 2020
But then Utah went back to Bogdonavic and the 3-pointers, and started to pull back away. Mitchell Robinson was out for the Knicks — and NY missed his inside presence and shot blocking.
Payton finished with 20 pts (on 8-13), 7 rebounds, and 9 assists.
RJ Barrett had 14 pts on 5-12 shooting, 5 assists, but looked gassed late in the 3rd/early 4th. The key was the Knicks did not give up in the 4th against the 39-22 Jazz — NY pushed hard to narrow the deficit — another game where kudos had to be given to the coaching of Mike Miller.
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401161563
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