The Knicks returned to regular season action after winning the NBA Cup when they traveled to Indiana to take on the rival Pacers on Thursday night.
Despite the Pacers’ tough start to the season thanks to injuries to key players, it was not a cakewalk for New York, which was missing five rotation pieces, including two starters. The Knicks’ bench needed to step up, and it did. Although Jalen Brunson‘s heroics are the headline for the team’s 114-113 win, it was the play of young Tyler Kolek that the Knicks captain had to focus on.
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“I was garbage,” Brunson told the MSG broadcast on the court after the win. “To start the game, and then in the second half was garbage as well. I want to thank the lord for Tyler Kolek, for playing the way he’s playing… and saving me. We found a way to win this one.”
Brunson still scored 25 points — on an inefficient 10 of 23 shooting — and came up clutch when it mattered for his team. Kolek, however, was the lynchpin for the Knicks when they were down double-digits in the third quarter. In just three minutes, Kolek scored three points but dished four assists, for a team-high plus-eight on the court. That play carried over into the fourth quarter, where he scored four points and posted three rebounds and three assists.
In total, Kolek scored a career-high 16 points and had a career-high 11 assists for the first double-double of his NBA career.
“Our guys had plenty of opportunities to say, ‘Hey, we gave the good old College try, and we’ll wrap it up…figure it out tomorrow, especially being in Vegas,” head coach Mike Brown said of his team’s resilience. “As long as we were and going through what we went through out there and then, having so many guys out…nobody would have been mad at them. On a couple of different occasions. If they just threw the towel in. It’s not our group.
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“We have a standard, and no matter who’s on the floor, we expect everybody to hold each other accountable to what our standard is.”
“They’re willing to give me the ball and I want to give them the ball, too,” Kolek said of his play after the win. “Just having the trust of my guys and with my coaches.”
“Tyler was fabulous,” Brown said of Kolek. “He was fabulous on both ends of the floor, but you’re talking about a guy that played 26 minutes and had 11 assists, so he impacted the game on both ends of the floor.”
It’s been a coming-out party for Kolek of late. The Marquette product gave the Knicks solid minutes in their semifinal game against the Magic, being a plus-18 in 16 minutes on the court. He then scored 14 points in 20 minutes in the NBA Cup Finals against the Spurs on Tuesday, closing out the game alongside Brunson. (Though that game technically doesn’t count toward the team’s record or the player’s individual stats)
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With Miles McBride and Landry Shamet still hurt, Brown will lean on Kolek more down this stretch of games. And if the guard continues to perform, he’ll continue to see important minutes.
“He works as hard as anyone. This dude’s always in the gym…He works so hard,” Brunson said of Kolek. “He has that ability to stay ready because of his work ethic. The world may be surprised to it, but we knew this was what he was capable of.”
“Work always pays off,” Kolek says of his preparation. “It’s undefeated. What you put in, you’re gonna get out. I firmly believe in that, and I put in a lot of time.”
Kolek and the Knicks will now head home to host the 76ers on Friday night.
