Knicks end their Bucks futility with dominant Christmas performance
NY Post
Tom Thibodeau and his players don’t need any Christmas presents this year.
They gave themselves and their fans the best gift of all Monday.
A victory over the title-contending Bucks.
The Knicks saved their finest performance of the season for this holiday showcase, snapping their nine-game losing streak to Milwaukee at a sold-out Garden.
Two days after Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and the Bucks torched the Knicks at MSG, the home team returned the favor in an impressive 129-122 victory in which the big four of Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley were all at the top of their game and the Knicks’ defense limited one of the league’s premier offenses.
“We played with extra energy, extra effort, obviously we made a lot more shots than we did last game. I did,” said Barrett, who had 21 points on 8 of 14 shooting after just 13 points on 5 of 17 Saturday. “Just the energy and fight. We lost to them three times already, so to come in today on Christmas to get this one feels extra sweet.”
SALT LAKE CITY — The Knicks could not fully salvage a two-way clunker Saturday night, and their longest winning streak of the season is history.
If Brian Daboll will be fighting to keep his job across these next seven weeks, it is not lost on Tommy DeVito that he is the one who has been entrusted to help his coach save it.
Kevin Shattenkirk is 35, a Stanley Cup champion and now a father of three with his wife, Deanna, after having a second daughter in September.
SALT LAKE CITY — An encouraging upgrade in his availability status didn’t result in Miles McBride’s return to the Knicks lineup.
This is pretty much the deal.
Uncertainty has followed Zion Williamson off the court.
SALT LAKE CITY — The “Dimes” nickname is open in New York now that quarterback Daniel Jones has been released by the Giants, and perhaps it can be a fitting team-wide moniker in another sport.
General Curtis LeMay: “You’re in a pretty big fix, Mr. President.”
Last spring’s ultimate defeat, coming on top of a quite similar one 24 months earlier, should have proved once and for all that the Rangers’ skill game, impressive at it at may be in spurts, does not overcome their physicality deficiency at the final-four level.
Jon Berti, who started three postseason games at first base for the Yankees when Anthony Rizzo was out with fractured fingers, was non-tendered by the team prior to Friday’s deadline, as was left-hander Tim Mayza.
CALGARY, Alberta — The Rangers needed just 16 seconds to get back into a game they had no business being in over halfway through.