It is not often the Knicks win a game these days.
What is even more rare is for owner James Dolan to be there for a road game, sitting courtside and celebrating with the team in the locker room afterwards.
But that is exactly what happened when the Knicks snapped an eight-game losing streak against a LeBron James-less Lakers team with a 119-112 victory on Friday night.
"When we win, we celebrate like it's a Super Bowl," head coach David Fizdale said after the game. "Why not?"
Dolan, who watched the game at the Staples Center next to the Lakers' bench, joined that celebration with the players.
"He came in here and gave everybody 'dab' like the coaching staff would do after a game," Tim Hardaway Jr., who scored a team-high 22 points said, per Marc Berman of The Post. "He brought it in with us. He was just happy how we competed on both ends of the floor and said, 'get the next one.'"
The Knicks entered the game losing 13 of their last 14 and throughout the week a disgruntled Enes Kanter voiced his frustration with the constant losing and his reduction to a bench role in favor of younger players.
The 26-year-old center played 27 minutes off the bench on Friday, though, finishing with 16 points and 15 rebounds as the Knicks improved to 10-29 -- still the third-worst record in the league and a 14 percent chance at getting the first overall pick in the NBA Draft.
Yet Kanter is not the only one who is tired of the losing. Hardaway also expressed some of his frustration prior to the win over the Lakers.
"I understand where the fans are coming from but did they play the game of basketball, do they know like what we go through as an athlete, as a professional athlete," Hardaway said, per Stefan Bondy of the Daily News. "It doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good to us but we understand off the court where they're coming from when it comes to record and when it comes to percentage-wise (in the draft lottery) and what you can get and what you can't get. We understand that. But that's for the front office to figure out. We're basketball players."
The Knicks did catch a break on Friday night as James missed his fifth straight game with a groin strain that he sustained on Christmas against the Warriors.
"I don't know if I'm moaning and groaining about it," Fizdale said before the game. "He's a beast ... even a guy like that needs a few days off."