Just add it to the ever-growing list. Tack it on near the top. Another mind-numbing loss at the Garden, the Knicks’ 10th by single-digits already this season.
This was one of the worst ones yet, because of what a feel-good win it would’ve been for the Knicks, who were down 17 to the Clippers in the fourth quarter, but rallied to take a three-point lead in the final seconds of regulation.
All that was needed was a defensive rebound or using the foul they still had to give. But the Knicks couldn’t execute either, Nicolas Batum sank a 3-pointer at the horn and the Clippers predictably overpowered them in overtime for a 134-128 victory at the Garden.
“It sucks, point-blank,” Jalen Brunson said.
Said coach Tom Thibodeau: “We should’ve been aware [to foul]. … It’s a shame to lose the game because of the fight. The comeback was great, we were in position to win. You’re one rebound away from the win. We’ve got to come up with that. We’ve got to put our bodies on people.”
The Knicks wasted a brilliant 41-point, seven-assist, one-turnover performance from Brunson, two days after his All-Star snub. They also squandered a fantastic fourth quarter, in which they outscored the Clippers 34-19. But they didn’t have much left in the extra session. They committed four turnovers in the final five minutes and didn’t make a field goal over the first four minutes.
Paul George and Kawhi Leonard combined for 65 points for the Clippers, underscoring just how badly the Knicks (28-26) need wing help at the trade deadline. The Clippers (30-26) also went 16-for-37 from 3-point range, with the last one of regulation the crusher.
After Brunson scored to give the Knicks a three-point lead with 18.2 seconds to go, the Clippers didn’t call a timeout. George missed a 3-pointer and Ivica Zubac retrieved the carom with 3.1 seconds left. He found Leonard along the left wing, close to the sideline. Brunson felt the Knicks had him trapped, but Leonard quickly moved the ball to the top of the key, and George found an open Batum on the right wing.
“I just thought that he had nowhere to go, and then he found a way to make a pass, and then obviously they skipped it across the court and then made a 3,” Brunson said. “It crossed my mind [to foul] but I mean, it happened so fast that sometimes you just go off instinct.”
Julius Randle finished with 28 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for the Knicks and RJ Barrett had 14 points in a dreadful 6-for-21 shooting performance.
The Knicks trailed by 17 at one point early in the fourth quarter, before the second unit sparked momentum. They reeled off a 13-2 run early in the stanza, slicing the lead to six.
With 1:50 left, they cut the Clippers’ lead to four after an Isaiah Hartenstein slam, and then went ahead on Quentin Grimes’ 3-pointer with 52 seconds left. When George missed a 3-pointer on the other end, it looked like the game was over. But Zubac’s offensive rebound enabled Batum to force overtime with his buzzer-beating 3-pointer that stunned the once-delirious crowd.
Before the game, Thibodeau said he felt his offense was in a good place, but his team had to tighten up on the other end of the floor. The first 36 minutes illustrated exactly that. The comeback nearly camouflaged the defensive issues, but had the Knicks been better defensively over the first three quarters, maybe they would have prevailed in regulation.
“It’s on us,” Brunson said. “If we don’t start the game the way we did in the first quarter as a team and we play Knicks basketball, sound basketball, [from the beginning] we aren’t in this position.”
