The NBA trade deadline came and went on Thursday afternoon and when the dust settled the Knicks were hailed by many as winners of the day. The day though was not over and by evening the Knicks were losers on the court, but it was to be expected. Down several players due to injury and trades the Knicks took the court against Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, two all-time greats, and lost 122-108 to the Dallas Mavericks. With just eight men in uniform, one of whom went down in the first half leaving the Knicks with seven active bodies, they put up a valiant fight but they never had the lead in the game for just the second time this season. The other time on January 11th , also against the Mavericks.
The Knicks are now 16-4 since the turn of the year and two of those losses have come against the Mavericks. On Thursday night the Knicks were without their two All-Stars Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle, along with OG Anunoby who arrived to the team on New Year’s Day. Earlier in the day the Knicks sent Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn, and Ryan Arcidiacono, and two second round picks to the Detroit Pistons for Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic to sure up their bench scoring. Burks and Bogdanovic both are shooting right at the 40% mark from three-point range this season. Those two were not available for the Knicks against Dallas however and New York was left to playing some names who most have never heard of. Including Charlie Brown Jr. who scored 3 points in 23 minutes. Former Knick Obi Toppin’s little brother Jacob Toppin scored his first NBA points on a putback dunk and finished with two points in 11 minutes, and soon to be 39-year-old Taj Gibson played 22 minutes and scored zero points. Those three are what the Knicks bench consisted of, and three starters played over forty minutes and a fourth, Josh Hart, had a triple double in 38 minutes. Shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo made seven three-point shots and scored 36 points on 50% shooting.
It was not nearly enough, as Luka Doncic, who scored 73 points in a game two weeks ago, the fourth largest single game scoring effort in NBA history, dropped 39 points, 11 assists, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals in his lone Madison Square Garden appearance of the year Thursday night. Luka missed the January 11th meeting but in that game Kyrie Irving sent a message scoring 44 points and 10 assists on Jalen Brunson and the Knicks, after months of hearing about how Dallas screwed up royally by allowing Brunson to leave for the Knicks in free agency in 2022. With no Brunson and the Knicks depleted Kyrie played it cool this time around scoring 16 points in 36 minutes. Former Knick Tim Hardaway Jr who blitzed the Knicks for 28 points in the first meeting had 19 points on 50% shooting in this one.
Before the game the Knicks announced that OG Anunoby had a procedure done on his elbow to replace loose bone fragments and he should be out at least another three weeks on top of the two weeks he has already missed. Julius Randle will still be out for several more weeks, and center Isiah Hartenstein suffered a setback to his Achilles injury in the second quarter. Jalen Brunson twisted his ankle in Tuesday’s win against Memphis. With three games left until the All-Star break, the Knicks want to finish strong. A lot of that may depend on Brunson’s availability.
In the meantime the Knicks need the two new additions to help keep them afloat. “We’re excited to have those guys,” Knicks Head Coach Tom Thibodeau said about the trade acquisitions. “We’re looking forward to Alec and Bojan coming in. Alec we’re familiar with because he’s been here, we know what a great fit he is for us. Bojan, we’ve gone against him for quite a bit. I think it gives us added depth, the shooting piece is very important for us. We think they complement our players very well, so we are looking forward to them joining our team.” Burks was on the 2020-21 Knicks team that finished with the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference and ended an eight-year playoff drought for the franchise. He was on the team the following season as well. On Saturday night against Indiana the Knicks will finish a stretch in which 13 of 14 games were in New York. Thus far the Knicks have gone 10-3 in those games.
