All you had to do was look around Madison Square Garden and it was clear your ears were lying to you, it had to be. On a good night, in normal times, they can squeeze 19,812 in here, and if you give them a good reason, they can turn your eardrums to dust.
About 17,812 of those seats were unoccupied when the last seconds ran off the clock on Tuesday evening. After all, we’re still a few full-court swells here from full-on normalcy, even though there’s the promise of reinforcements, meaning the capacity is closer to 5,000 for the postseason.
But still, while Derrick Rose dribbled out of the clock …
Damn if it didn’t sound like the garden in here. Damn if it didn’t sound like a big spring night should sound here. Damn if the collective timbre of just under 2,000 people didn’t sound like a gathering … well, ten times that.
The Knicks completed a 109-97 beating of the Hornets, the first half of a show-me back-to-back date with the Hawks on Wednesday.
For the first time all year, the Knicks played what felt like a playoff game, because essentially it was. There’s a crowd of teams of 4-10 in the east, and the Knicks are one of them, and so are the Hornets. The teams in the top six when the music ends on May 16 will avoid the play-in. It’s an excellent goal.
And this was an excellent test.
“Whoever we’re playing against is the most important game because it’s next,” said Rose, who hopped on the carpet on this happy ride, but who has made sure to enjoy the journey as much as possible.
“I saw a winning mentality here,” he said. “Any team that plays against us knows it’s going to be a difficult game, a hard-won match, and you have to do your best. Seeing that from afar, I wanted to be a part of it. “
And this is what he is now a part of: a team with a record of 32-27, a team that has won seven consecutive games, a team that snuck past the Celtics and into fifth place with victory Tuesday night, a team that won on Wednesday will have the chance to take No. 4 away from the Hawks – both teams play back-to-back, both teams compete for the title of Biggest Surprises in the NBA this year.
Tuesday, you could see all that. You could hear all that. The Knicks scuffed for the first 24 minutes, nearly allowing the Hornets to bury them with 69 percent firing from outside the 3-point line. But the Knicks were not going to be buried. They came back. RJ Barrett, who couldn’t buy a shot early, couldn’t miss late. His 24 points in 40 minutes included six 3’s.
His improvement, by the week – sometimes through the game – remains pleasing to the eye.
“It’s hard work,” said Barrett.
It reflects the team. There wasn’t a reasonable forecast indicator that saw them play a game in what officially qualifies as the end of April for a top four seed, and yet here we are. There was no way to believe that, after years of neglect, the garden would be a place where joy and hope and genuine optimism would take root.
And yet it was here: the last seconds of another home win fading from the clock, fans on their feet, fans making enough noise that you could almost believe the lie if you closed your eyes. Because it sure sounded like a full house. This is how important basketball is supposed to sound. And feel that way.
“It’s important for us not to get lost,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who did his best to temper the current dizzying story. ‘If you start thinking about the future, about winning streaks, you can forget about Atlanta. It’s easy to get knocked off the track.
“Focus and concentration are all that gives you your intensity. We need to stay focused on what lies ahead. “
You don’t have to worry about that. Rose and Julius Randle have Thibodeau’s back on the ground and don’t let their teammates daydream. Even Barrett, all 20 years old, has an old-fashioned, old-fashioned mindset that belies his birth certificate. They know that the good times are not guaranteed. But they also know them when they see them.
Or, as was the case on Tuesday night, when they hear them.