Bulls Defeat Knicks in Crazy Double-Overtime Game at Garden
Madison Square Garden was the site of some crazy games between the Bulls and New York Knicks in the ’90s. While not the most storied rivalry in NBA history, there’s always a sense that bragging rights are on the line whenever these teams meet, especially in Manhattan. Such was the case Wednesday. Though Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing were nowhere to be found, the battle was just as intense in a 122–119 win for the Bulls in double overtime.
After the teams took turns holding somewhat sizable leads throughout, the real course of the game took hold after the Bulls held a 105–101 lead with 2:12 left in regulation. The Knicks scored five points in 49 seconds to tie it, but no one scored after that, forcing overtime. The Bulls appeared to have won in overtime, but a Kristaps Porzingis dunk at the buzzer sent the game to a second extra session. Finally, Kris Dunn made his most important contribution on a 4-for-18 night from the field by banking home a shot to give the Bulls a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, though free throws by Justin Holiday and Lauri Markkanen helped.
Let’s talk about Markkanen. He led everybody with a career-high 33 points, including eight 3-pointers to tie Dirk Nowitzki’s NBA record for most in a game by a 7-footer, and completed a double-double with 10 rebounds. His defense made life more difficult for Porzingis than it otherwise would have been. Oh, and he did this (WARNING: Readers with weak constitutions might want to click away):
Moment of silence for Enes Kanter, please.
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Thank you.
Robin Lopez and Denzel Valentine scored 20 points apiece. Holiday had 16, and David Nwaba showed the heart of a champion again, scoring 13 and making all five of his free throws. Despite Dunn’s poor shooting, he contributed in other ways up until his double-overtime bucket, dishing out eight assists and recording five steals. Nikola Mirotic did nothing because he missed his second game with a stomach virus (or so the Bulls would have us believe).
I know many of you are thinking this win was a negative because it keeps the Bulls seventh in the tank standings at 15–27. But here’s the thing: a young team has to learn how to win close games so it can do so when the time it has to win comes. It’s not in the best interest of the players’ development to tell them to pull up in games like this. If you really want to derail a rebuild, focus on that instead of decreasing the number of ping pong balls you have.
The young talent the Bulls have invested in long-term is producing results. If you can’t get excited about that because the team is winning when it’s not supposed to, I don’t know what to tell you except some of the rotation players like Mirotic and Lopez could be traded soon (hope that makes you feel a little better). Though this might be an extreme way of looking at it, maybe the Bulls don’t need one of those top-six players in the draft because they have quality talent already. And before you say you need two superstars to win a championship, how do you know Markkanen and Zach LaVine won’t develop into them?
Speaking of LaVine, he’ll make his Bulls debut in the team’s next game Saturday against the Detroit Pistons. The United Center will really get to see how far along the Bulls are then. Might they reach 30 wins with him in the lineup? Or will he merely have a minor impact to the point where they’ll fall short of that anyway?
It’s an interesting time to be a Bulls fan. Maybe we’re conflicted on how we feel, or maybe we’re unquestionably in the tanking camp. Whatever we are, we can’t deny we’re getting a glimpse into what could be. That’s always a good thing.
