Serious People

The Knicks passed another test. Did they really need to?

Good morning! To quote the late, great Freddie Mercury, “Is this the real life?”

Knicks 108, Sixers 94

Shame on us.

After seeing five consecutive playoff wins by a combined 141 points, fans had no right to view last night’s game as anything close to a test. Tests measure aptitude for a given subject area. Passing or failing a test determines mastery or lack thereof.

Over the previous five games, the Knicks had done more than enough to show their aptitude as a championship contender. Through their gaudy margins of victory, they had displayed mastery at a level previously unseen, in New York or anywhere else for that matter. Without the guy who has arguably been their best player during this postseason, last night was more of a pop quiz that doesn’t count towards your grade than a test. Do poorly, and it’s no harm, no foul.

The Knicks absolutely could have viewed the game in such a fashion. They would have been well within their right. Down 9-0 right out of the gate, we’d seen this movie before. The gentleman’s sweep where the underdog takes the third game, boosted by the home crowd (excuse me…“home” crowd) and the favorite loses when they don’t put forth the same level of desperation.

And yet, had New York gone down meekly, you better believe we would have cast judgment. All the old fears would have started to poke their little zombie heads right up out of the graveyard, inciting suspicions that their former, unserious selves were still lurking amidst this newfound dominance.

Even if their was no test, in our minds, they would have failed.

What a comical thought that sounds like now.