NEW YORK _ Monday, for one night at least, Madison Square Garden rocked a little bit like it hadn't in years, maybe decades. There was a rival, an enemy, in LeBron James, a few local heroes and a game that went to the wire.
So maybe it would have been too much to expect the Knicks to come out with the fire that they displayed even in a loss Monday when they hosted the Utah Jazz on Wednesday. There was no superstar to war with, no sold-out crowd.
And for three quarters they played it just as you'd expect, falling behind by double figures repeatedly and seeming bound for a second straight loss. But in the fourth quarter, as the Cavs had done to them two days earlier, the Knicks woke up, responding to the chants of defense, staging a comeback to escape with a 106-101 win.
And maybe that is as much a sign of growth as playing the three-time defending Eastern Conference champs to the wire was two days earlier. The Knicks hadn't led since the first quarter, but with 4:04 remaining, Tim Hardaway Jr. converted a fast break layup to put the Knicks up 94-93. They stretched the lead to 99-93 with 2:20 left on a 3-point field goal by Kristaps Porzingis and the celebration seemed to be on.
But Joe Ingles hit a corner 3-pointer and after Hardaway Jr. misfired on a 3-pointer, Ricky Rubio scored in the lane over Porzingis' outstretched hand to cut the gap to just one. Hardaway Jr. drove along the baseline, but his shot was swatted by Derrick Favors. After a scramble Hardaway Jr. wound up with the ball again, this time a step outside the 3-point line and he calmly drained a 3-point field goal with 32.5 seconds left to secure the win.
For days the Knicks found themselves defending their rookie point guard, Frank Ntilikina, on and off the court after LeBron James criticized them for passing on Dennis Smith Jr.
James didn't say anything about Donovan Mitchell. For much of the night it seemed like the Jazz rookie was going to steal the attention from both Smith Jr. and Ntilikina.
The Knicks had worked out Mitchell before the draft, but let him slide to Utah five spots later. Mitchell, in his first game at Madison Square Garden, poured in 17 first-half point. Mitchell, who grew up nearby in Connecticut and whose father serves as the Mets director of player operations and community outreach, has been doing this regularly, averaging 14.6 points per game coming into the night with 26 and 25 points in his last two games.
But the Knicks clamped down on him in the second half, limiting him to just two points. And after Utah had converted 14-of-28 from beyond the arc in the first three quarters the Knicks were able to finally slow them down. The Jazz, which had scored 60 points in the first half, scored just 38 the rest of the way.
As has been the case during the Knicks recent success, it was Ntilikina who was on the floor orchestrating down the stretch. He hit an elbow jumper to close the gap to 87-85 and after Donovan drove through traffic for a layup, Ntilikina buried a jumper from the baseline.
The Knicks seemingly had the game secured in the final seconds when Ntilikina stole the ball and headed downcourt for a breakaway layup with less than 10 seconds remaining. But he missed the layup and Rodney Hood banked in a 3-pointer to make it a one-possession game. But Hardaway Jr. added a pair from the line with .9 remaining to put it out of reach.
With the early success confidence has grown, in the system and in themselves. While it can be taken with a bit of caution considering the Knicks entered Wednesday's game with a 7-6 record and were 14-10 last season before it all fell apart, the feeling does seem different.
"A couple of wins helps that," Hornacek said. "You get a couple of wins and the attitude can change pretty quickly. That's what happened. We finally got a win or two. Maybe that win in Cleveland helped."
