It was eight minutes and eight seconds into the game - and really 34 games into the season - when Reggie Bullock got to finally step onto the Madison Square Garden floor as a member of the Knicks.
A strange path brought him to this moment, having agreed to a two-year, $21 million deal on the first day of free agency this summer before a physical revealed a cervical disc herniation which would require surgery. He reworked a deal with one year guaranteed at $4 million and underwent the surgical procedure, starting a long rehabilitation process.
Even during that lonely time, Bullock’s life was upended by the murder of his sister, the second time that this happened to his family.