On Sunday afternoon, the New York Knicks didn't need any luck in order to take down superstar forward LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Instead, all the Knicks needed to seal a rare win was a little bit of defense from swingman Mario Hezonja, who is typically known almost solely as an offensive player.
With Hezonja coming up with a huge block on the aformentioned James as time expired, even the Knicks forward admitted that it was a little “weird” that he helped his team win with a defensive play.
Mario Hezonja, known as an offensive player first, recognized that it was off-script for him to make a game-sealing defensive play.
"Weird, right?," he said. "That's what I was saying too to Scott P. and Steve Mills, 'If you sign me because of this defense you'll be crazy.'" pic.twitter.com/F7DfAwEL7h— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) March 17, 2019
The even crazier part? Thanks to the team's win on Sunday afternoon at the famed Madison Square Garden, New York has managed to sweep the season series over the Lakers. Sunday's win was just the Knicks' 14th victory of the season, with two of the 14 now coming against the struggling Lakers. Now 14-56 on the season, the Knicks remain in the cellar of the Eastern Conference with a pretty solid chance of securing a top three pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
“It’s great,” said Knicks head coach David Fizdale after his team's latest win, via The New York Post. “They were pumped, and they were pumped for Mario.”
Hezonja finished the memorable outing, a 124-123 win for the New York, with 17 points to go along with his eight rebounds, two steals, one assist and of course one block. Playing 36 minutes, Hezonja also knocked down one of his two three-point attempts while shooting 50 percent from the field on four-of-eight shooting. He also hit all eight of his free-throw attempts.
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