MINNEAPOLIS — Knicks brass celebrated in the War Room in June 2008, when the Timberwolves tabbed UCLA’s Kevin Love with the fifth overall pick in the NBA Draft.
That meant Danilo Gallinari was theirs at No. 6. Payback took almost two-and-a-half years, but it finally came last night in a shell-shocking loss.
Love posted an historic 30-30 night — brutalizing the Knicks with 31 points and 31 rebounds. Lovely for the Wolves, devastating for the Knicks, who blew a 21-point, third-quarter lead and wound up on the short end of a 112-103 defeat, in what stands as one of the worst losses in the Mike D’Antoni Era, considering the cap purge is over.
After crushing the mediocre Timberwolves for two-and-a-half quarters and taking a 78-57 advantage, the Knicks collapsed amidst a ridiculous performance by Love and a stupendous effort by Heat castoff Michael Beasley. The Knicks’ losing streak stretched to four, and their record fell to 3-6.
Foul-plagued co-captain Amar’e Stoudemire felt compelled to take the blame for the defeat.
“I take this loss on me,” Stoudemire said. “I got in foul trouble and they took advantage. Obviously they got momentum. So it’s on me. Once I got into foul trouble, that’s when they got their confidence. If I was out there, it wouldn’t have been that way. [Love] got comfortable once I got in foul trouble.”
Even LeBron James tweeted late last night, “KL went ham tonight. Shoutout to him. Historical night.”
Love had the first 30-rebound game in the NBA since Hall of Famer Charles Barkley grabbed 33 on Nov. 2, 1996, and the first 30-30 game since Moses Malone recorded 32 points and 38 rebounds on Feb. 11, 1982.
“You name it, we did it ,” D’Antoni said. “This one was tough to swallow. Tough to stomach.”
Beasley added more damage by racking up 35 points. The last 30-30 game against the Knicks was by Golden State’s Robert Parish in 1979.
Ironically, exactly 40 years ago last night, on Nov. 12, 1970, Willis Reed had a 30-30 night with 34 points and 30 rebounds.
The Knicks are so far from a championship it hurts.
“I was telling the bench I was going for 35 rebounds,” Love said. “It was just something within. We just didn’t want to lose.”
Minnesota put together a 49-19 run across the third and fourth quarters to take control of the game.
The Knicks play host to the Rockets tomorrow before a rough four-game West Coast trip beckons.
Stoudemire scored 14 points on 6 of 15 shooting, but after he went to the bench in the opening minute of the third quarter with his fourth foul, the Knicks grew a 14-point lead to 21.
Then the floodgates opened and the Knicks collapsed, as Minnesota outscored them 54-25 to close out the contest. Love had 25 points and 22 rebounds in the second half alone, but Stoudemire played the whole fourth quarter.
“It’s not easy getting back into rhythm when sitting out so long,” Stoudemire said.
The Knicks missed the board work of Ronny Turiaf, who missed his second straight game with a sprained knee. Love had 12 offensive rebounds, 19 defensive and scored on several putbacks.
Love dominated the boards on both ends as he scored on putbacks and scored on 3s. Love had 11 rebounds in the third quarter alone and set the Minnesota franchise record for rebounds early in the fourth quarter, breaking the old mark of 26 set by Al Jefferson.
Asked about the Knicks’ record, Stoudemire said, “I’m not used to this at all, but we have to stay positive and stick together.”
Beasley, traded from the Heat to make room for the Dream Team, flew to the hole for dunks much of the first half and finished with 19 points at halftime, then dominated Chandler in the second half. Beasley had scored 42 points in his prior outing.
The Knicks dominated the half and took a 65-51 bulge into intermission. Gallinari was shooting daggers and finished with 18 first-half points — but just seven in the second half. Raymond Felton also cooled off, scoring five of his 22 points in the second half. The Knicks shot 28 percent in the second half — 4 of 14 on 3s.
“It’s tough,” said Wilson Chandler, who couldn’t defend Beasley. “We had them. We should’ve closed them out and we didn’t.”
At one point in the second half, the Knicks missed 23 of 26 shots, missed nine straight 3-pointers and were outscored 32-16 in the fourth quarter — with Stoudemire in the game.