Suns rise, and Knicks set in their ways

The Suns are the best team in the NBA, and the Knicks are the Knicks, so of course Cam Johnson’s buzzer beater went in, lifting Phoenix to a 115-114 victory.

The Suns are the best team in the NBA, so they managed to find a way to win on a night when Devin Booker was in health and safety protocols and Chris Paul missed his fifth straight game, with many more to come, with a broken thumb. Phoenix is 3-2 so far without the future Hall of Famer and current NBA assists leader.

So, Cameron Payne dished out 16 helpers, and Johnson scored 38 points, and Phoenix won its 51st game of the season.

The Knicks are the Knicks, so…

New York led by as many as 14 points early in the fourth quarter. Julius Randle, who led the Knicks with 25 points, got ejected late in the third for taking an extra shot at Johnson in a scuffle. Burks had 16 points, nine rebounds, and six assists, but missed the free throw that set up Johnson’s game-winner. Johnson made seven three-pointers. And in a game dominated by Johnson and Payne, the Knicks’ own Cam, the brutally misused Cam Reddish, was stapled to the bench in crunch time so that Evan Fournier could roleplay as a matador.

Nothing is predetermined in sports. Johnson’s buzzer-beater didn’t have to go in off the glass. But sometimes a game and an ending like that happen, and it does make you wonder a little bit about the universe, and whether that shot does go in less as a matter of physics and more as a matter of the Suns are the best team in the NBA, and the Knicks are the Knicks.