New York Knicks: They have hustle, but what else?

Nobody is picking the New York Knicks to do much of anything this season. And yet, their fans seem highly invested. Why?

Despite a season on the brink of hopelessness, Madison Square Garden was raucous during a recent tilt between the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks. We know the Garden gets loud in a hurry, but this was weird from fans of a last-place team. Even Spike Lee was losing it, though his very large and strange orange sweater may have contributed to his restless mood. Who knows.

Credit where it’s due: Down the stretch it was close and the Knicks showed some fight. I was surprisingly glued to this game because all I’d heard was how dreadful New York is and that coach Dave Fizdale is floundering. Oh yeah, and that James Dolan is still the worst owner in sports. Every NBA podcast out there routinely reminds us of this, so I guess you can’t blame New Yorkers for having a little pent up emotion, right?

Well, on this night against Dallas, the crowd rekindled some of that old 1990s-era Garden fire. You know, when Ew and Oak were growling and stomping around, and a group of athletes never felt more emblematic of their city.

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In 2019, I haven’t seen as much growl as I have hustle from the Knicks. They played with heart against the Mavs, which is really all the locals ever want. Once you have the Gotham crowd in your corner, anything seems possible. Even against a much more talented team like Dallas.

Luka Doncic was excellent, shooting Bird-style 3’s, whipping passes around, and making a triple-double look as sweet as a Slovenian layered cake. Meanwhile, his offsider and former Knick, Kristaps Porzingis, did his job shooting and rebounding. Led by these two, the Mavs outclassed the Knicks, but basketball isn’t always about class.

If the Mavs had a bit more Knickerbocker bite – a little higher energy down the stretch – then they probably would have outlasted New York. Look, on paper, they should have won, especially given the Knicks’ penchant for turnovers and fouls…oh, and clunky sequences of play where too many men the same size take up too much space.

It didn’t go that way for Dallas, however, mostly because the Knicks were diving harder for balls and battling for boards when it mattered, riding a wave of passion the New York faithful unfurled from the bleachers. Boos and chants rolled down the aisles and filled the night, most of it aimed at poor Porzingis.

Apparently, for New Yorkers, he is a terrible traitor, a Fredo type figure who deserves what he gets. The lesson here, gang, is if you ever get a gig in the Big Apple, just be loyal. Put your feet up, steal some stationery, watch YouTube all day. Whatever. Just please, please be loyal.

It’s tough to blame the fans for their outbursts. They’ve had little to get excited about lately. They’re looking for new highs. I imagine seeing the likes of Ben Stiller or Sophie Turner n the beer line would thrill fans in most other venues. Not in MSG. In spite of everything, aspirations remain inflated.

That said, to see a man berated all evening simply because he didn’t like his workplace seems harsh. Porzingis has his faults to be sure, but he just didn’t feel like a Knick, and that’s how it ultimately played out. Listen, he’ll have his successes in the NBA, so we won’t shed a tear just yet. But what might be nice, though unlikely, is to see a little more balance from the MSG crowd. After all, it’s not the actions of any player that has this club mired as it is, popping champagne over small victories.

Perhaps a few more boos could be directed at the New York front office because Porzingis should be the least of the city’s basketball-related worries. There are truly more pressing matters at hand.

In the end, this game will be a blip for Dallas. The Mavs shot just 22 percent from behind the arc, which of course won’t cut it when you launch as many as 36 3’s. By contrast, the Knicks were 13-30 for 43 percent. Play this game 10 times over and I’m fairly sure those stats aren’t repeated. As I say, this was one of those weird nights.