Lou Amundson sensed the moment. The Garden crowd, suffering an emotional toothache all season, was ready to explode as the Knicks were about to ice a victory against the Atlantic Division-leading Raptors.
All that stood between Amundson and a resounding dunk was air.
Oh, and the front of the rim.
Yup, ball and rim met. Who was hardest on Amundson?
“Probably myself. It was such a prime time in the game,” Amundson said of his botched slam with 1:04 left in the eventual 103-98 win Saturday over Toronto, the Knicks’ second victory in 24 hours.
“I wanted to dunk it so badly. I knew the crowd was going to erupt and I took my focus off it just a split second,” Amundson said. “I’m just happy we were able to get out of it and that play didn’t affect the outcome.”
The Knicks won and coach Derek Fisher had a rare laugh about Amundson’s dunk. It’s the type of thing that’s forgiven — especially given how the 6-foot-9 Amundson, with his 10th NBA team in his eighth season, plays his butt off.
“I appreciate and respect it very much having played against Lou for a long time and now having an opportunity to coach him,” Fisher said of Amundson’s style, which is to finesse what toddlers’ finger-painting is to the old masters. “There’s a level of humility and integrity that makes everybody want to pull for Lou and want him to succeed, to be on as many teams as he’s been on and to continue not to accept no for an answer.
“Every time he gets a chance to put on a jersey, just goes all-in and he’s willing to go through a brick wall for himself and for his team. Things changed a lot since he’s been here. It’s great to have guys like that.”
Amundson’s energetic style is how he always has played. He hopes maybe this stop can be somewhat permanent, but he is grateful for any minutes.
“That’s all you can ask for as a basketball player in this situation, just to be given that opportunity and to know you’re going to play,” said Amundson, who has started 17 of his 18 Knicks games, averaging 7.3 points and 5.8 rebounds.
“I really try to approach the game the right way and play the right way. A lot of the things I do don’t necessarily show up on the stat sheet. I’m not a stat stuffer,” Amundson said. “I play the game to win. I’m competitive as hell. It’s a hard way to play and I just try to bring that everywhere I go. Some teams value it and some teams don’t. Some teams see that, some teams don’t.”
Andrea Bargnani insists his recent surge is all about being aggressive — and shedding rust. He has scored double-figure points in six straight games (15.7 ppg) and has scored 61 (20.3) in his last three, including 19 against the Raptors.
“Just be aggressive, do what I do,” Bargnani said, noting the rust is coming off after his long inactivity — plus the games Friday and Saturday were his first back-to-backs since Jan. 16 and 17 of last year.
“I feel good, pretty good. This is the first back-to-back in 13 months for me,” said Bargnani, who has shot 21-of-45 (47 percent) in those last three games. “I’m happy we won both games so that’s pretty good.”
For the second straight game Saturday, Langston Galloway hit a vital 3-pointer. On Friday, he forced OT with a 3. Saturday, he put the game away with 13 seconds left with his only basket since the first quarter.
“I’m just blessed to be able to step up in these positions,” Galloway said. “I’m always going to stay confident with myself, regardless of if I’m hitting shots or not.” … The Knicks won on consecutive nights for the first time. They won back-to-back in Games 2 and 3 of the season and then had a three-game streak Jan. 19-23. … They are home for the Kings on Tuesday and then play an away-home set with Indiana.