I have never seen anything like that in my entire life. Have you? We could all live a thousand more years on this earth and I’m not sure we’d see anything like that again.

This was over. It was so over. The Knicks were down 27 points at halftime, and down by 20 points in the second half. Everything had gone so, so wrong.

It was done. Done. With 9:33 left in the game, Victor Wembanyama hit two free throws to give the Spurs a 95-75 lead. Their expected winning percentage at that point was 99.6, which means the Knicks had a 1-in-250 chance of winning, and even that seemed high. The Knicks weren’t just losing, they were defeated. They had played terribly all night but, just as bad, they were rattled — frustrated, chippy and utterly lacking in the joy that carried them, and their fans, for 12 consecutive glorious victories. All the vibes were gone. The referees had been inconsistent, erratic and even at times incomprehensible. The owner had reemerged to wreak havoc, like the lurking villain in a jump-scare third-act twist we probably should have all seen coming. Images of spontaneous street parties had been replaced with endless shots of scowling billionaires sitting courtside, in seats that would cost more than you make in a year if Jim Dolan had even dared ask them to pay. Everything lay in ruins.

It started with a 3-pointer from Jose Alvarado, a midseason acquisition who went undrafted out of college but grew up in Brooklyn adoring the team he would eventually be playing for when he began the greatest comeback in NBA history. A Mikal Bridges layup. A Karl-Anthony Towns 3-pointer. An OG Anunoby 3-pointer. And then........

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