The New York Knicks almost came away with the biggest win of the 2017-18 NBA season after 104-101 loss to the high-powered Cleveland Cavaliers. Despite giving up a 23-point lead, the young Knicks team showed plenty of promise by going toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the league.

Not only did they manage to exploit Cleveland early on, New York made it clear they were not going to back down from the reigning Eastern Conference champs after a scuffle with superstar LeBron James. Head coach Jeff Hornacek said he was pleased with rookie guard Frank Ntilikina and center Enes Kanter standing their ground against the three-time champs on MSG's latest edition of “The Jeff Hornacek Experience”:

“I thought it was great,’’ Hornacek said. “When we played back in the day, there was a lot of that. So you don’t see as much now in today’s game.

“But, you know, whether the comments from LeBron were aimed at Frank or the Knicks or Phil [Jackson] or whatever it was, I was happy that Frank gave him a little shove and then when LeBron stood in front of him and Enes jumped in there. That’s kind of the chemistry that gets developed when guys are playing for each other. You saw Enes jump right in the middle of this and said, ‘Nah you’re not gonna do this to my young guy.’ So that’s a great sign to see the togetherness of our guys.”

The minor spat between the three was undoubtedly the highlight of the night after the events that led up to the game. Many felt James had called Ntilikina out by saying the Knicks ‘messed up' by passing on Dallas Mavericks rookie phenom Dennis Smith Jr. with the eighth overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

The Knicks have been one of the more surprising teams in the league after getting off to a solid 8-6 start. Although the altercation inevitably woke up a sleeping giant, these experiences early on are going to pay huge dividends down the road.