We all gathered that morning, knowing something was coming — but when Coach finally said the words “Jayson tore his Achilles,” it felt like every single one of us got hit in the chest. You could hear a pin drop in that room. Nobody knew what to say. Nobody wanted to believe it. And yet… here we were, standing on the edge of the season without the guy we’ve leaned on all year.
Honestly? My first thought was “Damn, not like this.” I mean, let’s be real—nobody would’ve blamed us if we folded right then and there. We had every excuse in the world ready to go. But something inside me snapped. I looked around that locker room and I knew… not today.
I stood up — Al did too. We told the team straight-up: “No excuses. We’re not laying down. We’re not giving this series to them. Not without a fight.”
And man, did we fight.
Jayson texted us later — said he was alright, said he was proud of us already. That fired me up even more. I knew the only way to honor him was to go out there and give every damn thing we had left.
So we flipped the script. We leaned into defense. We said screw the odds, screw the media predictions, screw the noise. We locked in.
The Garden was electric that night. I swear you could feel the shift as soon as we started clamping down. We held the Knicks to 36% shooting. Twenty-six points in the paint. You know how crazy that is? That’s the lowest they’ve had all year. That’s the lowest we’ve given up all season.
And you know what made me smile the most? It wasn’t me. It wasn’t even D-White. It was Luke Kornet — the big man everyone forgets about until nights like these.
Porzi tried, but he just couldn’t catch his breath out there. So Coach pulled him, and Luke? That dude showed up like his life depended on it. Five blocks in the third quarter alone. Five boards. He changed the whole damn game. We outscored them by 15 in that quarter.
I could see it on their faces — the Knicks were rattled. And for the first time in this series, we were the ones making the statement.
We moved the ball like our lives depended on it. No iso-ball. No hero shots. Just team basketball. I had 12 assists — a career high — and every single one felt like sticking it to every doubter who thought we were finished.
And D-White? Man was a flamethrower. Seven threes. Thirty-four points. Dude was unconscious.
We took 40 trips to the line, 18 in the third alone. You could hear their bench whining to the refs, but we weren’t listening. We had a job to do.
We walked off that floor 127-102. Message sent. Series not over.
Look, I’ve always said I’ll do whatever it takes to push this team forward. Doesn’t matter if I’m scoring, passing, or playing defense till I can’t breathe. Tonight was about all of us stepping up.
We’re still alive.
We’re still standing.
And we’re going back to New York.
Let ’em know we’re coming.
Ever had a moment when you knew no one believed in you, but you went all-in anyway?