When the NBA conducts its annual draft lottery in May, the Knicks will get screwed out of a top-10 for the second time in three years. In 2024 Dallas pissed away a postseason shot to avoid sending the Knicks a lottery pick that year; the basketball gods have since exacted vengeance upon the Mavs. Washington was making some noise earlier this season for the first time in years. If their first-round pick isn’t top-8, it goes to the Knicks. So the Wizards became the first team ever to acquire two All-Stars midseason with zero intention of playing either, and have, according to plan, resumed normal service. That is to say, sucking.
The gods may punish their shenanigans someday. Tonight behind 60/53/95 shooting, the Knicks punished the Beltway bozos 145-113. Not a one of the 14 ’bockers to suit up saw so many as 30 minutes of run. If Tom Thibodeau were the coach the five starters would still be playing five minutes after the final buzzer. New York led wire-to-wire and by as many as 33 in as stress-free an NBA game as you’ll find. Washington was without Alex Sarr, the suspended Justin Champagnie and promising rookie Tre Johnson, though that’s hardly a hardship when you’re selling losing as the roots of winning.
The Knicks outscored the Wizards 64-38 in the paint, by 26 on 2s and nine at the foul line. Second-chance points? 26-11 to the home team. Karl-Anthony Towns put up the quickest 26 and 16 a human being can. Though if you’ve been paying attention, KAT was apt to pad his stats.
One of the fun things about being a sports fan is how often the story you expect to see unfold deviates entirely from the script. Even more fun is when your team is way better than the other one and they really should kick some ass, then they go out and do. We watched the Knicks be the Wizards for a long, long time. Much nicer look on other teams.
Russell Richardson will have your recap. The Knicks are really good. The Wizards? They’re losing, they’re tanking and they ain’t cutting their fans no discount, a joke of a franchise taking the Joker’s words to heart: if you’re good at something, never do it for free.
