If there’s a lasting sequence from Game 5, it’s the run.
The Knicks trailed by 10 after the first quarter at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, and then exploded on an 18-2 burst across the opening 2:54 of the second frame to save their season.
We’re not talking about the Knicks’ season in the present tense on Thursday morning otherwise.
But if there’s a lasting image from Game 5, a microcosm for these Knicks who sent the series back to Miami with a 112-103 victory, it’s the steal.
It’s Quentin Grimes — who played all 48 minutes — limping after he appeared to jam his knee navigating a Bam Adebayo screen, defending Jimmy Butler 1-on-1 that same possession and poking the ball away from the Heat star.
The Knicks’ season isn’t alive Thursday morning without Grimes’ performance, either.
“You need those hustle plays,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game when asked about Grimes’ steal against Butler. “And so he’s gonna give maximum effort on every play, and we need our whole team to do that.”
In a season when the Knicks kept finding ways to exceed expectations — from “this will be a transition season following Jalen Brunson’s arrival” to “but they’re too streaky to avoid the play-in” to “OK, they’ll lose in the first round” — that happened one more time when they trailed the Heat, 24-14, after the first quarter and their demise appeared all but certain.
A Julius Randle 3-pointer had just bounced off the rim. Josh Hart had picked up three fouls, the final one becoming a Flagrant 1 and prompting him to take his headband off and walk toward the tunnel.
But Grimes connected on a 3-pointer to start the second quarter. Brunson had five points and three assists during the run. Obi Toppin flew up and down the court.
With Hart in foul trouble, Brunson and Grimes went on to become the first Knicks teammates to each play all 48 minutes in a postseason game since Walt “Clyde” Frazier and Jerry Lucas in 1972.
They also provided a bit of hope, a replicable blueprint, that they could do it again.
For the final 36 minutes, the Knicks looked like themselves for the first time since perhaps Game 2.
It doesn’t mean they’ll erase the 3-1 deficit, or that they’ll play another game in the Garden this season, but they provided some reasons for optimism going into Friday’s Game 6 in Miami:
Brunson’s vintage performance: Can he go the distance two more times? He might need to. The Knicks needed every bit of their star point guard’s 38 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Randle’s 3s: The Knicks star, named to the All-NBA Third-Team Wednesday, had struggled from beyond the arc in Games 3 and 4, connecting on just 1 of 9 attempts. In Game 5, he went 4-for-7 from 3-point range and finished with 24 points.
Everybody’s 3s: The Knicks hit a combined 13 3s in Game 5, and their 38.2 percent shooting was a welcomed, dramatic improvement from 20.0 percent and 32.1 percent marks in the past two losses.
Grimes’ impact: This one will have to be monitored after the second-year guard played all 48 minutes and tweaked his leg down the stretch. His return to the starting lineup has made a difference.
The rebounds — again: The Knicks out-rebounded the Heat by 16 (50-34) with Mitchell Robinson, who also made some key free throws when Miami started intentionally fouling him, grabbing 11.
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This, in preseason observations and labels, was supposed to be a co-ace setup. And finally, there’d actually be two of them.
The Mets had Justin Verlander. They also had Max Scherzer. Between the pair, there were six Cy Young Awards, a lengthy list of other MLB honors and more reliable records of health. Jacob deGrom and his injuries had departed for Texas.
And even with Verlander and Scherzer following each other at the top of the Mets’ rotation, the vision was that the two aging starters wouldn’t have to shoulder the bulk of the rotation expectations alone. Each start wouldn’t need to have that much of a long-term impact anymore, at least in the regular season.
But Verlander dealt with a teres major strain, which landed him on the injured list in the hours leading up to the Mets’ season opener.
Scherzer was suspended 10 games following his sticky-stuff ejection, wobbled in his return, and Tuesday, he was scratched from his start due to neck spasms — though he continues to try to avoid an IL stint.
So for now, with the co-ace setup still mostly a theory, every Verlander start matters more.
And on Wednesday night, he delivered seven innings of sorely needed two-hit, one-run ball in a 2-1 victory over the Reds in Cincinnati.
Kodai Senga (4-1, 3.38 ERA) and his ghost forkball have helped stabilize the rotation. Tylor Megill and Joey Lucchesi are necessary stopgaps at the back end. David Peterson got demoted. Carlos Carrasco and Jose Quintana are mostly MIA.
The Mets need Verlander and Scherzer to shoulder the load, to recover from lingering injuries and settle back into a rhythm.
Verlander did his part, and helped the Mets improve to 18-19.
They’re still waiting for the co-ace dream to materialize into a reality. Again.
If the Jets and the Giants are looking for any validation entering the 2023 season — any affirmation that the league and its schedule creators recognize the palpable buzz surrounding them, too — perhaps they can find some when the NFL schedule is officially released at 8 p.m. on Thursday night.
The locals are expected to accumulate prime-time spots, with players from Aaron Rodgers and Sauce Gardner to Daniel Jones and (probably?) Saquon Barkley influencing those decisions. For the Jets, it would mark their first Sunday night and “Monday Night Football” appearances since 2011 and 2020, respectively.
Given Rodgers’ presence, the Jets likely will garner more prime-time attention than the Giants, but no matter how many games each club gets under the lights, both are nearly certain to enjoy the different status that follows NFL teams in the conversation for national games.
Last year, when the NFL released its schedule for 2022, 13 teams were awarded at least five prime-time games. Of those teams, eight ended up making the postseason.
So maybe the chance to appear — and keep appearing — in prime-time and holiday games this season will translate to the first playoff berth since 2010 for the Jets. Maybe it’ll translate to the Giants’ first set of back-to-back postseason appearances since the 2007 and 2008 seasons.
Part of the annual NFL schedule release includes the leak of games through a variety of methods. The international games were revealed, too. Here are five scheduling nuggets that are known ahead of the release date:
- The Jets and the Dolphins will meet in the NFL’s first-ever Black Friday game at MetLife Stadium, with Amazon broadcasting the game the day after Thanksgiving.
- Jaguars in London (x2): For the first time in NFL history, a team will play two international games in a season, with the Jaguars facing the Falcons in Week 4 at Wembley Stadium and the Bills in Week 5 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
- The Giants will play on Christmas Day for the first time in franchise history, traveling to Lincoln Financial Field for a rematch of last year’s NFC divisional round.
- Did Donna Kelce give away the date for a rematch of Super Bowl LVII between her sons? According to Sports Illustrated, Kelce wrote in a Facebook comment that Travis’s Chiefs and Jason’s Eagles will meet at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 2.
- The Chiefs will continue the tradition of hosting the opening Thursday Night Football game of the season as Super Bowl champions. Their opponent for Sept. 7? The up-and-coming Lions, according to theScore, who will have a chance to make an early statement against Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid.