With 7:27 left in the game, Jose Calderon spotted Derrick Williams steamrolling toward the Knicks’ basket. So Calderon unleashed an alley-oop that Williams stuffed.
So what?
Calderon was at the Bulls’ 3-point line.
Transition defense — actually, any defense — was not on the Bulls’ menu Thursday at the Garden. But defense, aggressive plays, fun plays, were definitely on the Knicks’ side — along with Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis.
Anthony scored 26 points, added seven rebounds and four assists while Porzingis, in a 19-point and 10-rebound effort, notched his 20th double-double of the season and second in two nights as the Knicks topped the Bulls, 106-94, at the Garden. The victory gave the Knicks a home-and-home sweep and consecutive wins for the first time in over two months.
“I thought the level of energy we played with, the way we got off to fast starts and then multiple guys contributed out there,” said Anthony when asked to explain how the Knicks, bordering on official playoff extinction, could come up with successive victories over a team trying for the playoffs.
And those victories left the Bulls, who were without Pau Gasol (knee), searching.
“I have never been so frustrated before. It was disappointing,” said Chicago’s Taj Gibson, who scored 10 points in support of a game-high 30 from Derrick Rose and 19 from Jimmy Butler.
But while the Bulls (36-35) were frustrated and disappointed, the Knicks (30-43) were ecstatic, near giddy. You know, 68-foot alley-oop pass plays can do that. And defense that stopped the Bulls in their 41.6 percent shooting tracks can do that, too.
“We realized what the game plan was. We really focused on defense,” said the 7-foot-3 rookie Porzingis, who shot 7-of-15 from the floor, one night after registering his personal high of 29 points. “We knew that was going to win us the game, and I think we did a better job in the second half. And offensively, the game was going our way.”
A good example was right before halftime. After Calderon nailed a left-corner 3-pointer at 4:43 of the second quarter, the Knicks led 45-36. But Chicago rallied, pulling within 47-45, when Gibson scored at 2:35. So then came the ball movement that interim coach Kurt Rambis extolled.
“Their ability to get to spots on the floor, get organized, allows them to be efficient offensively,” Rambis said.
Enter offensive efficiency — from Williams, who scored 13 points off the bench, from Arron Afflalo, who scored 11 in his fifth turn in six games as a reserve after 56 starts, from Sasha Vujacic, who scored all nine of his points on a triple of 3s in the first quarter and of course from Anthony and Porzingis.
Twice taking feeds from Anthony, Porzingis banged home two 3s 30 seconds apart, and the Knicks waltzed into halftime leading 53-45.
“It was just a matter of taking advantage of what they were doing. We knew they were coming on the dribble in the post, to double-team,” Anthony said. “Somebody was open. A lot of times it was KP. So it was a matter of me making the right decision.
“A lot of times, in his position, he’s trailing and his man is in the paint,” Anthony said. “So it’s a matter of him actually making the shot.”
Said Porzingis, who had been slumping (shooting .333 over nine games before Wednesday), “I’ve been working a lot on my shot.”
Now, as effective as those shots were, the two that got the biggest rise from the crowd were those Calderon-to-Williams feeds.
“It was nice. We have a good connection out there every time we play together. So it was the right play to make,” Calderon said, agreeing the first heave was “your basic 68-foot” alley-oop.
“He’s an amazing passer,” Williams said. “We don’t get to practice that much. The practice is in the game.”