The New York Knicks dropped an aggravating one in double-overtime to Zach LaVine and the Chicago Bulls on Monday night at The Garden.
- New York Knicks 115 (4-7)
- Chicago Bulls 116 (2-9)
- NBA, East, Final, Box Score
- Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
What does an NBA head coach do when a hard-fought game turns from regulation into overtime and then overtime into double-OT? Does he continue to roll with his closing lineup or dare throw in a few fresh legs?
New York Knicks head coach David Fizdale rolled with his closing lineup on Monday night and it almost paid dividends. Instead, Zach LaVine proved to be too much as his drive to the hoop drew an Emmanuel Mudiay foul. One free threw cemented it with under a second to play.
It was a marathon affair at Madison Square Garden, one that saw fresh faces reassert themselves into the good graces of the rotation.
One such face is Enes Kanter who dropped a team-high 23 points on 8-of-14 from the floor. In fact, Kanter had a shot to win the game at the end of the first OT on a long three-point chance.
Big man is ballin' pic.twitter.com/VVlhCe4COK
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 6, 2018
Kanter, whose now cemented in a reserve role, played 41 minutes on the night. He also collected 24 rebounds and a career-high seven assists.
Allonzo Trier made the first start of his young career, in place of the injured Tim Hardaway Jr., and poured in 21.
Ladies and gentleman…ALLONZO TRIER ?️ pic.twitter.com/EHu8vJZLpy
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 6, 2018
This kid @ISO_ZO is big time. pic.twitter.com/GLvGTvqB7M
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 6, 2018
Like for the ✋
RT for the ? pic.twitter.com/5P35jHXIqP— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 6, 2018
The aforementioned Mudiay played his best game as a Knick, helping out with 16 points and six boards in 34 minutes. It was his two-step transition lay-up that tied the game at 115 prior to the Mudiay-LaVine game-winning foul call.
MOOD-IAY. pic.twitter.com/bXp12V2oTq
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 6, 2018
The man of the night, however, couldn’t be out-done. LaVine finished with a game-high 41 points on 13-of-25 from the floor. He killed the Knickerbockers all night long while the New York offense struggled to find something, anything on a routine basis.
The Knicks will now take a 24-hour blow prior to taking on the Hawks in Atlanta on Wednesday night.
