New York ended its losing streak in the Knick of time

The New York Knicks won a game Thursday, which makes Thursday rather exceptional. The Knicks had lost 18 straight games, winless since beating the Lakers on January 4, which is hella long ago. But they beat the Hawks 106-91 Thursday as Atlanta shot 36 percent from the floor and left the door wide open for Luke Kornet, Kadeem Allen, and the gang.

This is perfect timing. The Knicks’ historic losing streak — longest in franchise history — was just getting some notoriety outside of New York. A 19th-straight loss would have sent New York into the All-Star break — a long, often news-less NBA All-Star break — with an enormous active streak and as the worst team in the league according to the standings. They would have been easy fodder for the TNT and ESPN crews all weekend. Instead, thanks to the win, the Knicks are technically the second-worst team in the league at 11-47 (the Suns are 11-48, having lost 15 straight themselves) and the worst team in the East. You can still make fun of the Knicks, but it’s not quite as easy to single them out when Phoenix is right there for the clowning.

The Knicks do intend to be this bad with Zion Williamson as the prize, but there’s no substantial benefit to being the absolute worst team vs. the second or third worst team. There is a consequence to being the go-to butt of the basketball-watching public’s jokes, though, especially when the team’s strategy relies on convincing a superstar or two to sign as free agents this summer. No one likes being embarrassed, and joining a team this bad would be unprecedented. The less everyone pays attention to the Knicks now, the better for the Knicks tomorrow.

Hornets 89, Magic 127
Knicks 106, Hawks 91
Thunder 122, Pelicans 131

Here’s the all-star schedule for the weekend. The highlights:

Friday:
Celebrity game, 7 ET, ESPN
Rising stars game, 9 ET, TNT

Saturday:
Team LeBron tampering walkthrough, 1 ET, NBA TV
Adam Silver gets asked uncomfortable questions about Anthony Davis sesh, 7 ET, NBA TV
All-Star Saturday events, 8 ET, TNT

Sunday:
All-Star game, 8 ET, TNT

The six best moments from Steve Kerr’s clipboard-smashing meltdown vs. the Blazers.

It does not appear the Clippers are punting the rest of the season just because they traded Tobias Harris.

Really, really cool piece by the talented David Dennis, Jr. with old college friend Steph Curry on achieving close-held dreams.

Kawhi Leonard has a new sneaker ad with New Balance and it is boring and takes shots at Kevin Durant and James Harden. You’d think those two things couldn’t be simultaneously true but then you don’t know Leonard.

Ricky O’Donnell on Zion Williamson’s elite defense.

I can’t believe a single experienced basketball reporter would share David Stern’s quote on how Colin Kaepernick would be gainfully employed if he were in the NBA instead of the NFL without saying the names “Craig Hodges,” “Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf,” and “Donald Sterling.” Spare me the sanctimony from powerful people who had opportunities to do right in this regard and sometimes did but often didn’t.

What a Euroleague team in Paris would mean for basketball.

Not basketball, but I really loved Eduardo Cepeda’s big Bad Bunny profile.

Pretty amazing project by the Washington Post team on tracking LeBron James’ scoring. He’s probably going to pass MJ on the all-time scoring list by the end of February.

Someone keeps leaking that various NFL franchisees keep offering Adam Silver their commissioner job and he keeps getting to go on record to say he’s not interested. Nice racket.

And finally: Kareem Abdul-Jabar calls James a hero. From one GOAT candidate to another.

The thrill of watching Ja Morant.

Stay hydrated and be excellent to each other.