This is an anemone escaping from a starfish.
The Knicks 114-96 loss to the Wizards last night was the same. There was tension for a while, the outcome uncertain...and then anything resembling competitive NBA basketball up and hopped away, slowly but surely, and the Knicks, like the starfish, had come up empty. I imagine that starfish may have struggled with doubt and insecurity after blowing the hunt. I don’t presume to imagine what the home team felt after dropping closer to the league’s worst record than the playoffs.
This was both teams’ last game before the All-Star break, and with neither fielding an honoree the energy was last-day-of-school-before-a-week-off from the jump.