In his previous game, Michael Beasley received a standing ovation from the Garden crowd.
For fouling out in 9:49, which really takes some doing.
But Tuesday, Beasley had the Garden crowd in a frenzy because of what he did when the game mattered most. And that was not just staying on the court.
“I guess it decides on who’s reffing,” Beasley said. “I‘m gonna play the game I’ve been playing. I’m gonna be aggressive on both sides, try to bring energy. Try to do what the team asks, what the team needs and live with the results.”
Well, the Knicks lived because Beasley was aggressive — so much so that he scored 12 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Knicks defeated the Lakers, 113-109, before a raucous Garden crowd of 19,359.
“He was on the attack,” coach Jeff Hornacek said of Beasley, who played the first half as if the memory of fouling out weighed heavily on his mind — or as if his shoelaces were tied together.
“The first half he was just kind of going through it,” Hornacek said, “but then the second half, I told him it was a night ‘we need you to step it up and attack these guys’ and he did that. The guy can put the ball in the hole.”
Beasley made all three of his shots in OT and was 3-of-5 in the fourth quarter.
“A lot of his shots may look like they’re off balance but those are shots he shoots and makes all the time,” Hornacek said. “That’s big when he can come off the bench because all these teams are going small.”
And Beasley showed he can do other things, too. At 2:00 of overtime, he fired a beautiful pass to Doug McDermott underneath for a layup that extended the Knicks’ lead to 107-103. And he had produced the 105-103 edge, a lead the Knicks never relinquished at 2:33 when he tipped in a McDermott misfire. Beasley finished shooting 6-of-13 — not bad after an 0-for-5 start — with five rebounds and two assists.
“I’m at the stage and age in my career and life where recognition is not what I want. Just winning basketball games, having fun with my teammates and going about it that way,” Beasley said.
And that, more than anything, is what Beasley was thinking entering crunch time. And he was asked just that, what was on his mind going into the fourth quarter. Of course, it nearly turned into an Abbott and Costello “Who’s on First?” routine.
“Win”
The fourth quarter?
“Win. Not like W-H-E-N. But W-I-N. Do what the team needs, bring energy, be tenacious I guess. That’s it,” Beasley said.
And that was exactly what he was able to do. Not fouling out sort of helped.