Somewhere late in the third quarter of Monday night’s game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the New York Knicks— I think about 1:36 to go, from looking at the ESPN game tracker— The Pip turned to me and said “You know, if they just make four straight three-pointers, the Bucks can tie this up!”
We were in the stands at Madison Square Garden, as you can see from the photo above, down in the lower level diagonally up from the visiting bench. This was a strategic choice when shopping for The Pip’s Christmas present— Giannis Antetokounmpo is his favorite NBA player, but we’re not within easy distance of Milwaukee, so seeing the Bucks in person meant going to a hostile area. I figured this could be minimized by sitting near the visiting team, though, and indeed, the section we were in featured a fair number of Giannis jerseys (including a couple right next to The Pip wearing Greek national team shirts).
Anyway, the Bucks were down twelve late in the third, and that was already a bit of a comeback— a few minutes earlier, the gap was 17, and The Pip was looking bummed enough that I was mentally preparing to leave halfway through the fourth. When he noted that four straight threes would tie it, I took it as just putting the best face on things. “Yeah, that would tie it all right,” I said, humoring him. “Good luck with that.”
And then… they did it. Well, not exactly four in a row, but they got two unanswered threes, then gave up a two, then hit another three, and so on, and in the end went into the break down only five. They kept coming in the fourth, tied it up, and finally took the lead with about two minutes left. Which, as it turned out, was the final lead change: they ended up winning the game 111-107, and the Little Dude was absolutely ecstatic. “I called it!” he kept saying…
This was, as noted above, a Christmas present for him— both of the kids are already well supplied with physical goods, making them hard to shop for, so we went with experiences; an NBA game for our sports-obsessed 11-year-old, and then Kate’s taking SteelyKid to a Broadway show in a month or so. The Pip and I took the train down to NYC on Monday afternoon, checked into a hotel, then hit MSG for a gourmet dinner of hot dogs and popcorn (for him) and BBQ brisket (for me). He absolutely reveled in the pageantry of the live NBA experience— crowd shots on the big screen, courtside celebrity callouts (the only one we recognized was Chris Rock), the T-shirt cannon and on-court games. And happily, we got a pretty good game out of it, with his favorite team pulling it out late, and his favorite player putting up a good line (22 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks).
This was my second time seeing the Knicks in MSG— a few years ago, I was in NYC to tape some talking-head segments for a TV show, and saw them play the Mavericks with Luka Dončić. That was the first game back in MSG for Kristaps Porzingis, who had been traded away after a few bad games, so every time he touched the ball there were absolutely deafening chants of “KP Sucks!” from the crowd. (I also had seats even closer to the floor, just behind the basket, though I think the seats for this trip were actually better because a little bit of elevation makes it easier to see what’s going on.) When the crowd started booing and counting down during Giannis’s free throws, The Pip said “Man, New York has zero chill,” and I had to laugh, because my dude, you have no idea what an un-chill New York crowd looks like.
The train ride home Tuesday morning was uneventful, and got him back in time to flex on his friends at school lunch. All in all, a really good experience, the only issues being the need to do it during the work week (dictated by this being the Bucks’ only remaining game within easy driving distance) and the eye-popping price of beer at the Garden. I don’t anticipate doing this every year, but it was a fun adventure with my favorite Little Dude, and I hope he’ll remember calling the comeback for a good long while.
This is kind of lightweight and The Pip will grumble that it’s sappy, but I’m writing it in large part to attempt to distract myself from the fact that I’m restricted to a “clear liquid diet” ahead of a routine medical test tomorrow. Which means that I am about ready to kill and eat the next person who pisses me off, and thus should avoid heavier topics on the Internet…
Anyway, if you enjoy these occasional bouts of sappiness, or want to see what it’s like around here when I return to solid food and topical issues, here’s a button:
And if you feel so moved, the comments will be open: