With 9:04 left in the fourth quarter at Madison Square Garden, the energy in the building turned from anxious to electric. The Knicks were hanging on by a thread against the Phoenix Suns, and the crowd - a mix of diehard fans and franchise legends like Carmelo Anthony and Steve Novak - tried to will their team forward.
“Let’s go, Knicks,” echoed through the Garden, a familiar chant with a desperate edge. This wasn’t just another regular-season game. It was a gut-check moment for a team that’s been stumbling since the NBA Cup.
Down by one at that point, the Knicks were battling without two of their key cogs - Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, both sidelined with right ankle injuries. But as the minutes ticked away, the wheels began to come off.
Phoenix pushed the lead to double digits with just over three minutes remaining, and the Knicks couldn’t claw their way back, falling 106-99. It was their eighth loss in the last 10 games - a stretch that’s dragged them from Eastern Conference contenders to a team searching for answers.
The game had its chances. With under a minute to go, New York had an opportunity to trim the deficit to four.
The ball found Karl-Anthony Towns wide open at the top of the key - a shot he’s more than capable of hitting. But instead of finding the bottom of the net, the ball sailed harmlessly over the rim.
Airball. The same crowd that had been rallying moments earlier turned on their All-Star center, booing him on his home floor.
It was a harsh moment, but one that captured the current state of the Knicks. A team built with postseason aspirations, now visibly shaken. The presence of former Knicks stars watching from the stands only underscored the contrast - the past watching a present that’s teetering.
New York has now slid to the No. 3 seed in the East. Since New Year’s Eve, they’re just 2-8.
And in the nine games Josh Hart has missed, they’ve gone 3-6. The injuries have taken a toll, but so has the inconsistency.
“I like that [our alumni] are in the building. It’s pretty neat to have them here,” head coach Mike Brown said before the game.
“But as a coach, you hope we don’t need extra motivation. You hope we come out and do what we need to do to get a win.”
The Knicks did some of that. Brown rolled out a starting five of Miles McBride, rookie Mohamed Diawara, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Towns.
McBride stepped up, knocking down five threes and finishing with 23 points. Anunoby added 21, though it came on 6-of-17 shooting.
Towns posted a double-double - 23 points and 11 boards - but picked up five fouls for the third straight game and couldn’t impose his will when it mattered most.
That missed three in the final minute? It wasn’t just a shot - it felt like a snapshot of where this team is right now: talented, but out of sync.
On the other side, the Suns played with the kind of edge the Knicks are trying to recapture. Devin Booker, returning from an ankle injury, led Phoenix with 27 points.
But it was the Suns’ defense - and their bench - that made the difference. Grayson Allen and Jordan Goodwin combined for 29 points off the bench, outscoring the entire Knicks second unit, which managed just 14.
It’s a tough pill to swallow for a team that looked like it had turned a corner during a 3-1 West Coast road trip. But since then, the injuries have piled up, and so have the losses.
“I thought we played well in Portland, everybody was healthy,” Brown reflected. “We did a really good job on both sides of the ball.
Then we got to Sacramento and didn’t play well. Jalen getting hurt early - I don’t know if that took some mojo out of us or what.
In Golden State, the guys responded well. We just didn’t have enough to close.
That game could’ve gone either way.”
There were flashes of solid play, but flashes aren’t enough in a conference race that’s tightening by the day. The Knicks are still in the mix, but the margin for error is shrinking.
Next up: a Monday matchup at home against the Dallas Mavericks. It’s a 5 p.m. tipoff, and on paper, it’s a favorable matchup - Dallas is struggling, especially with Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving out.
But if the Knicks can’t find a way to get back on track against a depleted Mavs squad, the front office may have to take a hard look at the roster before the February 5 trade deadline. The clock is ticking, and the rope the fans were begging them to grab? It’s slipping.