Knicks find new level of toughness for tantalizing statement win over one of NBA’s elite
NY Post
Once in a while across the endless basketball winter, you get one you need to circle, the better to remind yourself later on. So circle this one. Use your brightest red pen. Circle it again. Put it away in a drawer somewhere.
And maybe come back to it in a couple of months, when it’s 30 degrees warmer outside, when it’ll feel 80 degrees hotter inside Madison Square Garden, when maybe there’s a dire moment that somehow turns delirious, a vexing setback that morphs into an invigorating success.
“We were in a funk,” said Karl-Anthony Towns, “and then we found a way to fight, fight, fight. And found a way to win.”
The Knicks were 0-8 at home when losing at the half, and then found themselves down 11 after three to the electric, elastic Rockets. The Garden was disconsolate. The Knicks had gotten relatively good news about OG Anunoby’s foot a few hours before, but the fact is he was still absent, and likely will be for a bit. The Rockets were short, too. But after a foggy no-show by the Knicks Saturday against the Lakers on national TV, this looked like a bookend buzzkill of a night at the big gym on top of Penn Station.
The Rangers hit the mark with their on-ice ceremony honoring Mika Zibanejad ahead of his 1,000th NHL game Monday night.
PORT ST. LUCIE — For now, Craig Kimbrel is choosing Mets purgatory.
‘Freak of nature: Zion Williamson’s resurgence could pose a Knicks problem versus motivated Pelicans
Zion Williamson is slimmer and healthier for his trip to MSG.
Don’t blame Mikal Bridges for his paltry stats. Blame the role.
Almost a year to the day after a goaltender interference call against Kyle Palmieri lost the Islanders a game against the Blue Jackets that started their season’s death spiral, they were on the wrong end of another controversial call against those same Blue Jackets that might have had the same effect.
On the Queens side of town, the reno began in earnest almost as soon as Francisco Lindor grounded into the 4-6-3 double play. That ended a 4-0 loss before a rare sizable crowd at Miami’s loanDepot Park last Sept. 27, all of them there to witness the final death rattles of an epic baseball calamity.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is being paid handsomely for his breakout season.
Next comes the harder part. Mostly because it can’t get any easier.
It was Kids Day at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, but for the Rangers, it’s been All About The Kids for months.
PORT ST. LUCIE — From the moment he was told he needed surgery on his left hamate bone, Francisco Lindor fixated on the recovery time. Trainers provided the Mets shortstop a six-week pathway to return to play, and Lindor was determined to hit every marker.
Dylan Garand knew the number off the top of his head. He knew that, between the regular season and playoffs, he’d logged over 160 games with AHL Hartford, and he was right. Before the Rangers recalled him Friday, Garand had served as the Wolf Pack’s goaltender 165 times.
SAN DIEGO — As you may have seen elsewhere in this newspaper (and also if you haven’t deleted me yet from your social media), I have a book coming out Tuesday called “The Bosses of The Bronx.” Much of it details the 37 years’ worth of antics, winning, losing, winning again and overall mania of George Steinbrenner’s time with the Yankees.
Don’t close the curtain on “Mean” Joe Greene.