Knicks 98, Magic 74: “Never question Precious effort.”

Did the Knicks make history on Friday? No. Were they reasonably close? You can build a case these days.

If you haven’t been living under a rock for the last few years, then you already know the vibe of today’s NBA. The game is more of a bucket than ever, and scoring 120+ points a night is now the norm, no longer the exception. This is actually the 10th consecutive season in which Association teams have scored over 100 points per game.

However, this is the most successful year Never with all 30 teams combining for an average of 115 PPG, a figure unprecedented before this year of our lord 2024. In this bucket economy, your New York Knickerbockers hosted Orlando at Madison Square Garden just before the weekend and squeezed the Magic so hard that all the Florida Bancheros could do was score. 76 points in 48 minutes playing time. Shh…

Again, no history in itself, but Close this. This is the first time since December 2020 that a team has been limited to less than 75 points. This has only happened three times in the last six calendar years.

Anyway, look at this beauty.

I know, I know, it’s “only” the no. 4 seed and it’s just your Knicks sitting 0.5 games above the Magic. Keywords: above, Magic.

Now for the bad news, Orlando holds the tiebreaker against the Knicks as they finish the regular season series against New York with a 3-1 record in such games. That said, these two won’t meet until (if ever) the playoffs, and when (if) that happens, there might be a little fear in the blood of young Magic players knowing the last time that They took on the guys dressed in orange and blue, all they did was, well, put on a stinking game.

Congratulations to Jalen Brunson on his return Friday (“Seven o’clock, that’s when I found out I was playing,” he said). revealed after the game) instead of delaying his return until Sunday in the first of two consecutive games against the Sixers in Manhattan.

Brunson played nearly 28 minutes and people were clamoring for Coach Thibs to put him in late with a 20-point lead… something that, surprisingly, Thomas Joseph Thibodeau Jr. ended up (kinda) doing . Of course, Thibs is Thibs, so he still threw Brunson into the fire for five minutes in the final frame with New York’s lead at 23 points when he finally ended the day.

The point guard led all players with 26 points while shooting 11 of 19 from the floor while adding three low but useful rebounds and two assists to his stat line. Not bad for a quick return!

Was Brunson important to getting the win? Of course he was, and of course we continue to take for granted this sturdy little man sent from basketball heaven (or Texas, whichever you prefer).

But the man of the minute was none other than Precious Achiuwa, born in Nigeria and raised in the Bronx.

Chi-Chi has had his share of ups and downs since becoming a certified Knickerbocker last December. Most (not me, for the record) viewed him as just a touch in the OG Anunoby trade, just a warm body and a salary-matching piece of paper to make the deal work in the eyes of NBA headquarters.

Achiuwa only exceeded 20 minutes once (by eight seconds…) during his first 10 games with the sons of the New York Knicks. He played more than 15 minutes just three times during that span, Jan. 1-18. After that, however, he started playing a bit more over the next four games and he was eventually forced into a starting role due to the injuries suffered by OG and Julius Randle.

Since being named the Knicks’ starter for the first time on January 29, Precious has done so for 17 straight games averaging close to a 13-9-1-1-2 line in 36 minutes of play .

Running the court and looking for 39 clocks on Friday, Achiuwa scored 15 points while grabbing 14 rebounds, dishing out four dimes, committing two steals and blocking more shots than he had never done in a single match before: five Molly’s attempts from the ground were the ones that were crushed by man!

Do you know how many players have blocked more than 5 shots at least once this season? 35. Do you know how many have done it? while score 2+ 3-pointers? 11. And add more than 10 more rebounds? Six. Only two, Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama (in case you’re wondering, yes, the league’s future looks healthy) have done it more times than Achiuwa against the Magic on Friday.

As foie gras style told us in the thread: “Never question valuable efforts. »

Isaiah Hartenstein continues to battle his healing Achilles (20 minutes played) while OG gets closer than ever to his return, which should happen. from next weekpotentially even in the second game against Philly (Tuesday).

Meanwhile, Jericho Sims and Precious were nicely patrolling the paint. No one outside of the latter and Brunson was truly outstanding on Friday, but the collective effort was what decided the match.

Josh Hart, who scored 19 points, added seven rebounds and four assists against the Magic, said it’s better. “We were really, really aggressive, with the ball, without the ball, in the rotations, we were really really in sync today.”

Former Nova teammate Donte DiVincenzo matched Hart’s minutes on the court with 42 apiece, although DiVo found the net only 3 of 13 times for 11 points, compared to Hart’s 8 of 12 accurate shooting .

For a change, Alec Burks had an MVP caliber match. No, that’s it, I’m just checking to see if you were still paying attention. He stank with no points on two shots in five minutes. Shake Milton made his debut as a Knick and Charlie Brown Jr. made a one-minute appearance on the court in part of the same package that saw Milton grace the Garden hardwood for the first time since he became a Knickerbocker.

Do you know what’s funny? Burks put up a 0-0-0-0-0 stat line with a minus-2 plus/minus in five minutes. Milton and Brown combined for a 0-0-0-0-0 in two minutes, each posting a +2 on the +/- column. A B, my man.

His colleague Kento Kato is depressed and he projected an L on Friday’s game. Eat this one, Kento! (I love you, it doesn’t matter). If everything goes according to his predictions, flipping that L for the actual W, then the Knicks will go 15-5 in their last 20 games and 14-5 in their remaining 19 games.

That means the Knicks are potentially looking at a solid 51-31 regular season record. Not bad! Better, ESPN I’m projecting a 99.2% chance of making the playoffs and a 93.2% chance of avoiding the play-ins… which means I’ll be hibernating for the next month. Wake me up when the (normal) season ends, then join me in enjoying the real show.

Philly, we’re coming.