Nirvana

When you know, you know.

Good morning, and smile: your Knicks are awesome today.

Game 48: Knicks 118, Jazz 103

In a New York minute…

Scuffling a bit out of the gate and down 15-6 against a Utah team that was finishing up a long road trip, the Knicks woke up midway through the first quarter and turned the ballgame on its head. Behind some stifling defense and an offensive explosion from Donte DiVincenzo, New York took control of the game before halftime. An early third quarter flurry from the Jazz closed the gap to one point early in the second half, but more DiVincenzo fireworks and the usual magic from Jalen Brunson spurred a 30-6 run that put the game away before the fourth quarter began.

In holding the Jazz to their second lowest point total in the last seven weeks, New York extended its winning streak to eight straight, and with Philly’s late loss to Golden State, the Knicks took sole possession of 3rd place in the East.

Giddy. The Eff. Up.

Three Things

1. True Love. As I write these words, it’s 10:08 pm on a 35 degree January evening.

Not that there’s ever a great time to jump out the window - a term that kids these days use for falling in love - but I guess this is as good a time as any.

Screw it...You jump, I jump, right?

I mean, seriously…I’m a 40-year-old man with two children, and this team is making me feel like a kid again.

How can you not be head over heals for these Knicks after last night, which featured the latest demolition of an opponent in what might be the best month the franchise has had in more than 50 years?

The reason has less to do with the “what” than the “how.”

Every person reading this is a New Yorker at heart, whether you’ve lived here for your entire life or you’ve merely dreamt of visiting. Imbued within that feeling is a level of perseverance that outsiders simply cannot fathom. There is a reason that you can make it anywhere if you can make it here. Nowhere gives less and demands more.

At this moment, this team is giving us everything they have and then some. Their fight and hustle and lack of quit is at an all-time level - a level that makes you feel like two decades of mostly hopeless basketball was worth it to get to this point.

Hell, this feels earned.

Logic dictates that the good times will end at some point because they always do. This group will face adversity several times before this year is over, and thanks to a league in which the top 10 teams are as stacked as they have ever been, there is no guarantee this season will have a happy ending.

But my goodness, what more can you ask of these guys?

You’ve broken me, fellas.

I’m all in.