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This New York Knicks They showed they had the depth and mental fortitude to come back from a 10-point deficit to win under pressure. San Antonio Spurs and pick up NBA Cup.
Led essentially by Jaylen Brunson, it was a team made up mostly of reserves — Tyler Kolek, Jordan Clarkson, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson — that propelled the Knicks to an impressive final quarter and 124-113 win.
It not only inspires confidence for the rest of the regular season but shows the Knicks can get the job done when it counts — a useful skill in the postseason.
“During the year, you try to find situations to put pressure on your group,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “It’s a single-elimination tournament when you get to a certain point. Every game counts. Every game is pressure if you expect it to be what you think it will be.
“That pressure is generated without you as a coach, because you’re trying to do it all the time. When you can succeed in doing that, it instills confidence in everyone in the organization.
“It can lead to coming in at the right time when you’re in that environment to be able to handle that pressure because you’ve already been through it.”
Knicks star Brunson praises bench depth
Still, Brunson wasn’t at his best, scoring 25 points and adding eight assists but was quick to point out contributions from the bench.
“OG Anunoby, Tyler Kolek, Jordan Clarkson, Mitchell Robinson, they played their asses off tonight,” said Brunson, named NBA Cup MVP. “Without them, we couldn’t have won this.
“We’re going to find a way. We’re going to fight. We’re not going to quit. We’re going to go out there and do what we have to do. When we fail in those moments, we tip our hats and we respect the other team and we move on.
“But we’re not going to quit, we’re not going to get down. We’re going to find a way. The game could be bad. How are we going to impact the game? Our bench did that tonight, they impacted the game for us.”
Spurs have plenty to take away from Vegas – Coach Johnson
While it ended in disappointment for the Spurs, they will leave Las Vegas with plenty of positives as they continue to grow as a team.
Now with a fully fit roster, coach Mitch Johnson was pleased with the performance of his players.
“(It was our) second game (as a team),” Johnson said, “playing really competitive games against really good teams — seasoned, experienced teams that have been in similar situations.”
“Just some really good experiences. You have to execute and you have to make sure that when there’s a moment when the game seems to be getting away from you, sometimes you need to make a stand. Sometimes it’s a fundamental play that has nothing to do directly with basketball.”
