Knicks center Tyson Chandler was sure yesterday’s electrifying 100-99 overtime victory over the Bulls would end with a block of Derrick Rose.
“I don’t even know how he got the shot off, honestly,” Chandler said. “I thought I was going to come over and get a block.”
No block for Chandler, but also no basket for Rose. Chandler’s contesting defense helped force Rose to miss the floater that clinched the Knicks’ win at Madison Square Garden — a win that saw Chandler deliver another outstanding performance.
Logging a season-high 44 minutes, Chandler scored just eight points on on four shots, but hauled in 16 rebounds and blocked three shots. Bulls center Joakim Noah had five boards in 27 minutes.
“I thought Tyson was huge [yesterday] defensively in terms of plugging up the middle and making plays, keeping balls alive,” interim coach Mike Woodson said.
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said, “Chandler kept batting the ball out.”
Chandler shook off an elbow contusion in the first half. And he shook off a silly foul in the fourth quarter.
The Knicks were down 91-88 when Chandler committed a foul on Luol Deng with 34.1 seconds left. It was an unnecessary foul since the Knicks had enough time to get a stop and have the chance to tie.
Chandler admitted he messed up, but Deng fortuitously missed both free throws.
“I thought that we were under the 24-second clock,” Chandler explained. “Luol was who I wanted to foul. … I didn’t want it to get back to [Kyle] Korver. So I fouled Luol, and I looked up and realized it was a seven-second difference.
“That was a dumb play.”
It ended up not hurting the Knicks, and thanks to Chandler neither did Rose’s final attempt in overtime.
“Somehow he still got it up, and I was just very excited to see it didn’t go in,” Chandler said. “He was part of the reason why.”