I now understand a comment that was made in the book/documentary "When the Garden Was Eden:" one of the things about the championship era Knicks that made them great was the array of weapons that they had at their disposal. Clyde having an off night? Fall Back Baby (1970) or let Black Jesus be the Truth (1973). Willis hurting? DeBusschere will hold the fort, or Jerry Lucas will double-double. Dollar Bill not hitting from deep? Jazzie Cazzie has your back, and then there's the Dean Meminger game, in a game 7 in Boston. It's not just that any of the starters could drop 30 in any given evening, it's that if you shut down one, another would spring up to give you a separate set of problems.
The Ewing era Knicks never had anything like this; that team was sunk if #33 wasn't feeling it, and the team had some moments, but to my mind, never had a serious shot against the Duncan/Robinson Spurs or Hakeem's Rockets or MJ+4.
This team doesn't need all five players to be firiing on all cylinders. The other guys will hold the line, or Shamet or Deuce or Mitch or Clarkson will give you nightmares. And if OG AND KAT AND Jalen AND Mikal AND Deuce AND Shamet are all hitting their threes? You're losing by 50.
I now have belief that this team won't play with their food or take their feet off the Cavs' necks. I also believe they will come at us with everything they have, and they might pull off a win. But as much as I couldn't believe seeing a 44-11 comeback, even less could I believe watching that play where Brunson slow-walked to the rim near the game's end.
We all think they're rattled. Excellent work with 10 wins in a row. Now go boys, and get us five more. #65Wins5ToGo #70Wins #LFGK
One other thing: I have been listening to Katz and Shoot, and there has been a batch of really good analysis on what's gong on (during the Philly series, he described what he saw in terms team communication on the court, some of it wordless and happening before anybody said anything; after game 2, he had Chris Fedor on to talk at great length about how the Cavs' achievements have a batch of smoke and mirrors to them.
But I think one of the other things about the Knicks-for-Clicks-Industrial-Complex puffing up the opposition before the series, then talking about how they weren't serious competition after the series, is that this Knicks team has so many ways to win, and so much flexibility to adjust on the fly that they'll pick at you, probe you, figure out where the weakness is, and then be relentless in exposing it in a way that other teams (Celtics, Raptors, Pistons) were not able to do.
And I have been nervous about this team coming in without seriousness and playing with their food. Then they opened a 9-1 lead last night, at which point I stopped worrying. Still nervous for game 4. #65Wins5ToGo #RespectTheCup #70Wins #LFGK
Luckily I was around for 70 and 73 and you hit it on the head. Everyone picked up on any given night which is why all those jerseys are hanging on the rafters. unfortunately I don't think DEAN the dreams is but I'm not positive
Dean the Dream didn’t have the extended periods of sustained excellence that got #19, #10, #22, #24, #12, and #15 up into the rafters. He had one memorable game, as I understand it (but what a game!).
Unfortunately, I only started following the Knicks when the decline had already started. I only knew of Dean the Dream when he came back for 1976-77, his last season in the league, and when he couldn’t get playing time behind Clyde and the Pearl. I didn’t know about the 1973 ECF, and he didn’t register much of an impression.
Just read his NYT obit, and saw this quote:
Al McGuire, Meminger’s coach at Marquette, once said he was “quicker than 11:15 Mass at a seaside resort.”
There were two minutes left when Brunson got that layup. I can't think of any good Knicks team I've ever watched who would have done that.
There's two minutes left. You can't literally stop playing with two minutes left. That clip should be the death knell for this Cavs roster. Maybe it should be for Atkinson too.
I get it, the game is over. But that doesn't mean you stop having any pride at all. That was a terrible sign for the future of this iteration of the Cavs.
I don't remember 73, but I do remember the years after it - the frustration my dad felt and often expressed. I remember Reed being the coach, and the promise of getting McAdoo and Spencer Haywood as the Knicks tried to extend their Frazier / Monroe window.
But I did hear my dad and others talking about it. And I did read all the books about it, by all the teammates and by Red Holzman, all of which my dad read and kept on his bookshelf. One thing shone through - the experience of being a part of that team was life-changing for everyone involved. Maybe the experience of reading and hearing about that colored my perception of basketball both as a fan as a (casual) player.
The problem with that run is that when it started, Reed had already started to break down. The team was not on the same timeline, and their success (game 7 1970 notwithstanding) seemed to fall short of ultimate greatness when Reed was not able to participate.
I came of age during the wilderness years between the championship team and the Ewing run. I disagree that you can see greatness coming.... You sort of can see the potential but when it clicks it can be very sudden.
I felt something special with the Knicks when Oakley and McDaniel joined Ewing and Mark Jackson. They were all playoff risers too. They hit some bumps but when Riley took over as coach, they really started to click.
They ran into the Bulls that year, and I'll always think Riley and Checketts panicked when they made the Mark Jackson for Charles Smith trade. With the addition of Starks and Mason the following year, I think that team would have had a shot against the Bulls. As it was, they were really elite on the defensive end, and on the boards. They never quite had that offensive chemistry and they never had a guy like Clyde to run the show. Each season was a different heartbreak. When Jordan retired they had a shot and were up 3-2 in the finals. After that, the brawl, and Ewing's wrist injury, and then the return of Jordan to the Bulls.
In '99, Ewing was nearing the end, but Camby and Sprewell and LJ revitalized the team and they had a shot. And I think they could have done it if Ewing hadn't gotten injured against Indiana.
But really, what we're seeing now is on another level. The only time I've seen this type of dominance as a fan is the 86 mets - sort of - but as they reached the finish line of the 86 postseason, the car was already in flames.
It's similar to the Jeter Yankees run. As a Met fan, in the 2000 series, it just felt like everything fell their way. Everything Torre (who had been a pretty ineffective manager for the Mets) tried worked. I think that's the way it looks.
The 90s Knicks gave it to those Bulls with everything they had. But they never got past them, except when Jordan was retired, and only just barely. I so wanted the Knicks to prove that collective will and togetherness could beat the star power of the great Michael Jordan. But alas, it never happened.
And Jordan's success with the Bulls and photogenic offensive prowess ushered in an age of starfucking in the NBA where every success was ascribed to individuals and every team building plan involved overpaying as many flashy highlight producers as possible. The best teams that won it all still had all the pieces and togetherness, but somehow the starfucking continued.
To me, to see Leon build this, this way - saying no to gutting the team for Donovan Mitchell - instead trading Quickley and Barrett for OG.... trading a bunch of picks, not for an aging Paul George but for a 2 way swiss army knife guy like Mikal - giving up a draft pick and an overrated Cam Reddish to get Josh Hart... and of course, taking a shot on Jalen Brunson, who the likes of Mark Cuban tried to lowball despite the fact that he won playoff games with Luka hurt, because he didn't look anything like Michael Jordan, I guess.
I thought that the Randle and Donte for Kat trade poisoned this... but... Damn. I often say that great teams make great players more than the other way around. After losing iHart and dealing with the health uncertainty of Mitch, the Knicks took a big swing. After last year I was 100% sure that Kat could never defend well enough to play the 5, and that they needed to play him at the 4, which meant they had a logjam at the 3 with Mikal, OG, and Hart, and no real 2.
But holy shit, god dammit - the Knicks culture, and / or coach Mike Brown, have done to Karl Anthony Towns what Thibs and every other coach could never quite seem to do - play really good defense.
The improved defense from Kat has been there all year. His offense was a bit spotty and I think he really wanted to stay with the team and was nervous that he would get traded. Mikal too, probably. But after that 2-9 stretch, I feel like the team just got together and everyone on the team decided to not accept their limitations and work on the parts of their game they needed to work on. I remember a Roomates show where Brunson seemed to accept that he was a bad defender, and Josh seemed to accept he wasn't a great shooter. I feel like they, and Mikal, and Kat, and OG, and Clarkson, and everybody - just decided that they weren't going to accept that.
I feel like the closest basketball analogy is the Curry Warriors. There are a lot of parallels.
In any case, a great team is capable of going on crazy runs because they can turn up the D and turn up the O. And, they have guys that can make plays that break other teams' runs. They have a lot of arrows in the quiver. Options upon options. 2 way bench guys that can slot right in.
Bunch of great guys. Enjoying the hell out of this, but I still feel like something's going to ruin it!
Love this team and love this post capturing our Knicks of the past few decades.
I do have a “what if” for Ewing era Knicks. Our best shot may have been the year of the suspensions after the PJ Brown flip of Charlie Ward. We were rolling and the draconian league rules forced us to play without Ewing in Game 6. We were up 3-1 before the fight. Could that have been our year to best MJ in 1997?
Would be interesting to look at the Curry Warriors and the Knicks playoff plus minus I just posted in their best year. Not sure anything can ruin this dominant run assuming a sweep tonight. Will be disappointing if we don't win it all but ruin this run? No...it is very historic. Has been overshadowed a bit by Wemby for the League but not for us.
Stars all around last night. Bridges probably gets 3 and Brunson 2 but no argument here. Two best players of the series. Cavs never have had a Brunson answer and that will continue to get exposed in game 4. The Knicks shot 82.6% from the field last night going at Mitchell and Harden. We will keep that going tomorrow night as well. Stat of the night for me may have been 0 turnovers for KAT. Truly amazing how his game has transformed on a nightly basis to fit exactly what the offense needs on any given night. I have been on his defense since December but it still feels shocking to see it in action.
Watching the Knicks on D is also incredibly enjoyable. The discipline of the close outs while still getting hands in the air to try and alter shots has been outstanding. No one is sagging with hands down. A truly connected group.
Let’s close this out tomorrow night and sit back + watch OKC/SA. Silver already called in the Extender for the game tonight.
13 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals (not sure if it includes the jumpball) 1 block (plus 1 barely reversed for goal-tending) and as Jon noted a team high +23 in 36 min
The turnaround since January is just remarkable. If you said to any of us four months ago That Kat and BRIDGES should be secure we would've sent you to a psychiatrist.
Not to mention if you had said KAT was going to be a defensive stopper (Rit did do a Gradebook in which he posed the theory that KAT could be all-defense, and I thought it was ludicrous) and Jordan Clarkson would be the energy guy, racking up O-rebs and 50-50 balls, I'd be wondering which edible you had been consuming.
It's those two transformations that remain the most remarkable thing to me.
JAMES I am so astonished by the turnaround on defense and him fighting for the ball it's just astonishing. As to which edible what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas. It's just that everyone drank the defensive Kool-Aid which one of my mantras was defense and drive to the basket. Call me silly
God. That 2004 ALCS is probably the only thing worse than Game 1 last year that I've experienced as a sports fan. I felt physically ill watching the 2004 episode of the Jeter doc a few years back.
I'm sure this has been said elsewhere, but the really cool thing about this run is that the Knicks are the only New York team that can unite all New York fans like this. When the Giants go to the Super Bowl, Jets fans are left out. If the Yankees win the pennant, Mets fans are left out. If the Rangers win the Stanley Cup. Islanders fans are left out. It just feels different when it's the Knicks doing something like this. If you're a New York sports fan and you like basketball, the Knicks are your team (unless you're one of the 87 people who care about the Nets).
I watched the video of the Game 1 comeback with the proper MSG crowd noise and started tearing up. You felt the might of the entire city willing the team to win. All of those people in that crowd, and all of the people here at KFS, have different allegiances in the other sports. But the Knicks bring everyone together. They're truly one of one. I want these last 5 wins so bad.
It will be interesting to see how the Knicks maneuver their roster this offseason to free up enough money to give Shamet a max-contract. Any chance we get a home town discount and he'll take a little less than $60m/yr?
Josh should have been included in the "unsung heroes" group. He started the fast breaks that were really important, especially after made field goals. And he had a couple of touchdown passes that were great. His flagrant foul at the end was a big negative,, but overall it was a very positive game.
Josh was wonderful. I was a really good game from him. But I also thought the game was won when Brown removed him in the 4th and went 5-out, if I'm being honest.
And this is coming from me, who dies on hills daily with my Hart standom.
First, can we all agree on something? If the Nets’ grand return for Mikal Bridges turns into Egot Demin, Nolan Traore, and three other “intriguing young assets,” then the Knicks won this trade by a mile. Unless one of those picks becomes Magic Johnson with a jumper, this thing is over.
Because Mikal Bridges has become some beautiful basketball science experiment where Andre Iguodala, a shutdown cornerback, and a marathon runner got merged into one player. He does everything. Scoring. Defense. Cutting. Calm. Chaos control. Winning plays that don’t show up until you rewatch the game at 1:30 in the morning because sleep is now optional.
Now, can we talk about Cleveland for a minute?
Max Strus is completely untethered right now. Playing like a kid whose toys got taken away at recess.
Sam Merrill looks as comfortable as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
Donovan Mitchell has the look of a man wondering whether that Upper East Side condo opportunity may have deserved a second meeting. Beautiful Lake Erie views and all.
Mike Breen saying Jarrett Allen is “satisfied in Cleveland” made me laugh. I’m sure he is. Satisfied is wonderful. Satisfied also doesn’t hang banners.
Kenny Atkinson is furious at everything except the thing he should actually be furious about: his staff has not adjusted once this series when the pressure rises.
Dean Wade is out there doing advanced cardio.
And Harden… look, Harden is what he has always been. You keep waiting for a different movie and somehow keep getting the remake.
As for their front office, there’s a little bit of the “smartest guys in the room” energy happening there. The endless belief that they’re seeing angles nobody else can see. Sometimes intelligence turns into overthinking. Sometimes toughness, chemistry, and stars who refuse to blink matter more.
Meanwhile the Knicks just keep showing up with lunch pails, defensive rotations, and Jalen Brunson calmly ruining everyone’s evening.
Thanks, Jonathan. I first heard it from Vin Scully, but he said he heard it from Red Barber who said he heard it growing up in the South. Sounds a bit like Mark Twain, eh?
The Atkinson, "well weve won 2 out of 3 analytically" quote is hilarious and telling about him, his staff and probably the front office. Just the hyper reliance on Harden to get you to the finals screams incompetence imo. This idea that vía expected fg % they should have won is silly. Lots of those 3s from merrill and strus may have been "open" but I wouldnt call them "good."
Knicks, to your point, are hungrier and have a stronger spirit and sense of pride and will. Given their talent, its not really that shocking theyre up 3-0 to the Cavs.
I think he means if his team wasn’t exhausted those shots go in and it’s a different series. All a coach can do is design a system that gets guys wide open shots, which Cle has done. The players still have to make the shots. His counters all worked, the offense should have been more competitive; guys just missed shots. It’d be as if Landry missed all the wide open threes our offense generated for him. Got to be hard on a coach.
I mean yeah, what else is he going to say. But to me, thats a cop out. Being down 0-3 is due to a lot more than that. Still think its a matter of being too reliant on the 3 ball. Not to mention just head scratching execution and coaching. Mobley and Allen had low shot attempts in the 2nd half in game 2. Atkinson left harden on an island in the 4th in game 1 and didnt call a timeout, and they essentially stopped attacking brunson in game 1. Those are all things that cost them two losses. Its easier to chalk it up to "missed shots" than just recognizing your game plan and in game coaching isnt that great; or that the other team is hungrier.
Frazier was the best player on the 1969-70 Knicks by quite a bit all of the Reed MVP awards notwithstanding. Remember Reed was the finals MVP but really only played in five of the games and lost two of them. Just remember 36, 19 and 7. Maybe the single greatest NBA playoff performance next to Magic Johnson’s 42 in 1980.
This is not really the time for this but worth noting. People are treating this like run like a one time miracle thing. The Knicks core is all signed for at least the next two years if KAT exercises his $61M player option after next season. I expect a potential extension will be a major talking point after this season. Everyone is right around 30 or younger, in their prime. Barring serious injury they will be together for a while. It’s really all in how much Dolan wants to spend. Aller is a genius so I kind of expect this to work its way out somehow.
KAT had a very underrated game, his first quarter was borderline dominant especially with Brunson off to a slow start.
My wife who has a pretty good gage on how long it’s been since the Knicks last won and what it means (her family are Rangers season ticket holder for 50+ years) said “why aren’t you more excited” I don’t want to say the season would be a failure if they don’t win the championship but we know how hard it is to get there. this is obviously their best chance and maybe only chance. I was a high school sophomore the last time the Knicks were in the finals I’ll probably be dead if history repeats itself. I think that holds me back from being super excited. 5 more wins I don’t want to hear this 1 more win bullshit
Knicks Cognitive Dissonance is leaving me confused. Are our Knicks really this good? Are all 3 teams they’ve played bad enough that the Knicks have mostly dominated for 10 straight games or are these teams compromised somehow and therefore not able to compete at their expected level? I guess we just aren’t used to this.
I still can’t believe any of this. I’m so scared. All the comments i left all year about them not profiling as a contender with some of the dog shit games, the losses, disappearance acts, questions about the coach and offense what an odd culmination. I love it and am nervous as heck. Great job to the NYK. Let’s go team. Apologize for ever doubting.
I just read Atkinson's comments that the Cavs have actually "analytically" won 2 out of 3 games in the series. What an insane thing to say when you're down 3-0 in the ECF...
I hope we destroy the Cavs tonight. If we take it to them early and often and build a lead, I don't think they're all that far from wilting. LFG!!!!
I now understand a comment that was made in the book/documentary "When the Garden Was Eden:" one of the things about the championship era Knicks that made them great was the array of weapons that they had at their disposal. Clyde having an off night? Fall Back Baby (1970) or let Black Jesus be the Truth (1973). Willis hurting? DeBusschere will hold the fort, or Jerry Lucas will double-double. Dollar Bill not hitting from deep? Jazzie Cazzie has your back, and then there's the Dean Meminger game, in a game 7 in Boston. It's not just that any of the starters could drop 30 in any given evening, it's that if you shut down one, another would spring up to give you a separate set of problems.
The Ewing era Knicks never had anything like this; that team was sunk if #33 wasn't feeling it, and the team had some moments, but to my mind, never had a serious shot against the Duncan/Robinson Spurs or Hakeem's Rockets or MJ+4.
This team doesn't need all five players to be firiing on all cylinders. The other guys will hold the line, or Shamet or Deuce or Mitch or Clarkson will give you nightmares. And if OG AND KAT AND Jalen AND Mikal AND Deuce AND Shamet are all hitting their threes? You're losing by 50.
I now have belief that this team won't play with their food or take their feet off the Cavs' necks. I also believe they will come at us with everything they have, and they might pull off a win. But as much as I couldn't believe seeing a 44-11 comeback, even less could I believe watching that play where Brunson slow-walked to the rim near the game's end.
We all think they're rattled. Excellent work with 10 wins in a row. Now go boys, and get us five more. #65Wins5ToGo #70Wins #LFGK
One other thing: I have been listening to Katz and Shoot, and there has been a batch of really good analysis on what's gong on (during the Philly series, he described what he saw in terms team communication on the court, some of it wordless and happening before anybody said anything; after game 2, he had Chris Fedor on to talk at great length about how the Cavs' achievements have a batch of smoke and mirrors to them.
But I think one of the other things about the Knicks-for-Clicks-Industrial-Complex puffing up the opposition before the series, then talking about how they weren't serious competition after the series, is that this Knicks team has so many ways to win, and so much flexibility to adjust on the fly that they'll pick at you, probe you, figure out where the weakness is, and then be relentless in exposing it in a way that other teams (Celtics, Raptors, Pistons) were not able to do.
And I have been nervous about this team coming in without seriousness and playing with their food. Then they opened a 9-1 lead last night, at which point I stopped worrying. Still nervous for game 4. #65Wins5ToGo #RespectTheCup #70Wins #LFGK
Luckily I was around for 70 and 73 and you hit it on the head. Everyone picked up on any given night which is why all those jerseys are hanging on the rafters. unfortunately I don't think DEAN the dreams is but I'm not positive
Dean the Dream didn’t have the extended periods of sustained excellence that got #19, #10, #22, #24, #12, and #15 up into the rafters. He had one memorable game, as I understand it (but what a game!).
You sound like Melamed. Great at Marquette and still a great Nick but not on the rafters as I remembered it also.
Unfortunately, I only started following the Knicks when the decline had already started. I only knew of Dean the Dream when he came back for 1976-77, his last season in the league, and when he couldn’t get playing time behind Clyde and the Pearl. I didn’t know about the 1973 ECF, and he didn’t register much of an impression.
Just read his NYT obit, and saw this quote:
Al McGuire, Meminger’s coach at Marquette, once said he was “quicker than 11:15 Mass at a seaside resort.”
Rest in power, Dean the Dream.
He was fun to watch but the stats and production aren't rafter worthy.
Great comment. Dare I say the league in 1994 was nowhere near as good as it is now.
There were two minutes left when Brunson got that layup. I can't think of any good Knicks team I've ever watched who would have done that.
There's two minutes left. You can't literally stop playing with two minutes left. That clip should be the death knell for this Cavs roster. Maybe it should be for Atkinson too.
I get it, the game is over. But that doesn't mean you stop having any pride at all. That was a terrible sign for the future of this iteration of the Cavs.
I don't remember 73, but I do remember the years after it - the frustration my dad felt and often expressed. I remember Reed being the coach, and the promise of getting McAdoo and Spencer Haywood as the Knicks tried to extend their Frazier / Monroe window.
But I did hear my dad and others talking about it. And I did read all the books about it, by all the teammates and by Red Holzman, all of which my dad read and kept on his bookshelf. One thing shone through - the experience of being a part of that team was life-changing for everyone involved. Maybe the experience of reading and hearing about that colored my perception of basketball both as a fan as a (casual) player.
The problem with that run is that when it started, Reed had already started to break down. The team was not on the same timeline, and their success (game 7 1970 notwithstanding) seemed to fall short of ultimate greatness when Reed was not able to participate.
I came of age during the wilderness years between the championship team and the Ewing run. I disagree that you can see greatness coming.... You sort of can see the potential but when it clicks it can be very sudden.
I felt something special with the Knicks when Oakley and McDaniel joined Ewing and Mark Jackson. They were all playoff risers too. They hit some bumps but when Riley took over as coach, they really started to click.
They ran into the Bulls that year, and I'll always think Riley and Checketts panicked when they made the Mark Jackson for Charles Smith trade. With the addition of Starks and Mason the following year, I think that team would have had a shot against the Bulls. As it was, they were really elite on the defensive end, and on the boards. They never quite had that offensive chemistry and they never had a guy like Clyde to run the show. Each season was a different heartbreak. When Jordan retired they had a shot and were up 3-2 in the finals. After that, the brawl, and Ewing's wrist injury, and then the return of Jordan to the Bulls.
In '99, Ewing was nearing the end, but Camby and Sprewell and LJ revitalized the team and they had a shot. And I think they could have done it if Ewing hadn't gotten injured against Indiana.
But really, what we're seeing now is on another level. The only time I've seen this type of dominance as a fan is the 86 mets - sort of - but as they reached the finish line of the 86 postseason, the car was already in flames.
It's similar to the Jeter Yankees run. As a Met fan, in the 2000 series, it just felt like everything fell their way. Everything Torre (who had been a pretty ineffective manager for the Mets) tried worked. I think that's the way it looks.
The 90s Knicks gave it to those Bulls with everything they had. But they never got past them, except when Jordan was retired, and only just barely. I so wanted the Knicks to prove that collective will and togetherness could beat the star power of the great Michael Jordan. But alas, it never happened.
And Jordan's success with the Bulls and photogenic offensive prowess ushered in an age of starfucking in the NBA where every success was ascribed to individuals and every team building plan involved overpaying as many flashy highlight producers as possible. The best teams that won it all still had all the pieces and togetherness, but somehow the starfucking continued.
To me, to see Leon build this, this way - saying no to gutting the team for Donovan Mitchell - instead trading Quickley and Barrett for OG.... trading a bunch of picks, not for an aging Paul George but for a 2 way swiss army knife guy like Mikal - giving up a draft pick and an overrated Cam Reddish to get Josh Hart... and of course, taking a shot on Jalen Brunson, who the likes of Mark Cuban tried to lowball despite the fact that he won playoff games with Luka hurt, because he didn't look anything like Michael Jordan, I guess.
I thought that the Randle and Donte for Kat trade poisoned this... but... Damn. I often say that great teams make great players more than the other way around. After losing iHart and dealing with the health uncertainty of Mitch, the Knicks took a big swing. After last year I was 100% sure that Kat could never defend well enough to play the 5, and that they needed to play him at the 4, which meant they had a logjam at the 3 with Mikal, OG, and Hart, and no real 2.
But holy shit, god dammit - the Knicks culture, and / or coach Mike Brown, have done to Karl Anthony Towns what Thibs and every other coach could never quite seem to do - play really good defense.
The improved defense from Kat has been there all year. His offense was a bit spotty and I think he really wanted to stay with the team and was nervous that he would get traded. Mikal too, probably. But after that 2-9 stretch, I feel like the team just got together and everyone on the team decided to not accept their limitations and work on the parts of their game they needed to work on. I remember a Roomates show where Brunson seemed to accept that he was a bad defender, and Josh seemed to accept he wasn't a great shooter. I feel like they, and Mikal, and Kat, and OG, and Clarkson, and everybody - just decided that they weren't going to accept that.
I feel like the closest basketball analogy is the Curry Warriors. There are a lot of parallels.
In any case, a great team is capable of going on crazy runs because they can turn up the D and turn up the O. And, they have guys that can make plays that break other teams' runs. They have a lot of arrows in the quiver. Options upon options. 2 way bench guys that can slot right in.
Bunch of great guys. Enjoying the hell out of this, but I still feel like something's going to ruin it!
Peter, just wanted to say that I read every word of this comment. Perfect encapsulation of the journey.
Love this team and love this post capturing our Knicks of the past few decades.
I do have a “what if” for Ewing era Knicks. Our best shot may have been the year of the suspensions after the PJ Brown flip of Charlie Ward. We were rolling and the draconian league rules forced us to play without Ewing in Game 6. We were up 3-1 before the fight. Could that have been our year to best MJ in 1997?
Would be interesting to look at the Curry Warriors and the Knicks playoff plus minus I just posted in their best year. Not sure anything can ruin this dominant run assuming a sweep tonight. Will be disappointing if we don't win it all but ruin this run? No...it is very historic. Has been overshadowed a bit by Wemby for the League but not for us.
Excellent breakdown. (And thank you for that take on the 200 World Series. I heartily agree. Easily could have gone to the Mets in 5.)
Stars all around last night. Bridges probably gets 3 and Brunson 2 but no argument here. Two best players of the series. Cavs never have had a Brunson answer and that will continue to get exposed in game 4. The Knicks shot 82.6% from the field last night going at Mitchell and Harden. We will keep that going tomorrow night as well. Stat of the night for me may have been 0 turnovers for KAT. Truly amazing how his game has transformed on a nightly basis to fit exactly what the offense needs on any given night. I have been on his defense since December but it still feels shocking to see it in action.
Watching the Knicks on D is also incredibly enjoyable. The discipline of the close outs while still getting hands in the air to try and alter shots has been outstanding. No one is sagging with hands down. A truly connected group.
Let’s close this out tomorrow night and sit back + watch OKC/SA. Silver already called in the Extender for the game tonight.
Great call on the 0 KAT turnovers
There's not enough stars to go around and the intangibles for Kat have been tremendous.
Playoff KAT last night:
13 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals (not sure if it includes the jumpball) 1 block (plus 1 barely reversed for goal-tending) and as Jon noted a team high +23 in 36 min
The turnaround since January is just remarkable. If you said to any of us four months ago That Kat and BRIDGES should be secure we would've sent you to a psychiatrist.
Not to mention if you had said KAT was going to be a defensive stopper (Rit did do a Gradebook in which he posed the theory that KAT could be all-defense, and I thought it was ludicrous) and Jordan Clarkson would be the energy guy, racking up O-rebs and 50-50 balls, I'd be wondering which edible you had been consuming.
It's those two transformations that remain the most remarkable thing to me.
JAMES I am so astonished by the turnaround on defense and him fighting for the ball it's just astonishing. As to which edible what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas. It's just that everyone drank the defensive Kool-Aid which one of my mantras was defense and drive to the basket. Call me silly
God. That 2004 ALCS is probably the only thing worse than Game 1 last year that I've experienced as a sports fan. I felt physically ill watching the 2004 episode of the Jeter doc a few years back.
I'm sure this has been said elsewhere, but the really cool thing about this run is that the Knicks are the only New York team that can unite all New York fans like this. When the Giants go to the Super Bowl, Jets fans are left out. If the Yankees win the pennant, Mets fans are left out. If the Rangers win the Stanley Cup. Islanders fans are left out. It just feels different when it's the Knicks doing something like this. If you're a New York sports fan and you like basketball, the Knicks are your team (unless you're one of the 87 people who care about the Nets).
I watched the video of the Game 1 comeback with the proper MSG crowd noise and started tearing up. You felt the might of the entire city willing the team to win. All of those people in that crowd, and all of the people here at KFS, have different allegiances in the other sports. But the Knicks bring everyone together. They're truly one of one. I want these last 5 wins so bad.
there is nothing like the Knicks winning in New York. Nothing.
Nail on the head, Chris. Not even Brooklyn cares about the Nets.
It will be interesting to see how the Knicks maneuver their roster this offseason to free up enough money to give Shamet a max-contract. Any chance we get a home town discount and he'll take a little less than $60m/yr?
HA...
My guess is he's in line for someone's taxpayer midlevel. He certainly deserves it.
Josh should have been included in the "unsung heroes" group. He started the fast breaks that were really important, especially after made field goals. And he had a couple of touchdown passes that were great. His flagrant foul at the end was a big negative,, but overall it was a very positive game.
Josh was wonderful. I was a really good game from him. But I also thought the game was won when Brown removed him in the 4th and went 5-out, if I'm being honest.
And this is coming from me, who dies on hills daily with my Hart standom.
Jalen Brunson has been the biggest bargain signing in the 2000s for the Knicks
So, YES, of course. I should have made clearer that I was talking about guys below a certain price point.
First, can we all agree on something? If the Nets’ grand return for Mikal Bridges turns into Egot Demin, Nolan Traore, and three other “intriguing young assets,” then the Knicks won this trade by a mile. Unless one of those picks becomes Magic Johnson with a jumper, this thing is over.
Because Mikal Bridges has become some beautiful basketball science experiment where Andre Iguodala, a shutdown cornerback, and a marathon runner got merged into one player. He does everything. Scoring. Defense. Cutting. Calm. Chaos control. Winning plays that don’t show up until you rewatch the game at 1:30 in the morning because sleep is now optional.
Now, can we talk about Cleveland for a minute?
Max Strus is completely untethered right now. Playing like a kid whose toys got taken away at recess.
Sam Merrill looks as comfortable as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
Donovan Mitchell has the look of a man wondering whether that Upper East Side condo opportunity may have deserved a second meeting. Beautiful Lake Erie views and all.
Mike Breen saying Jarrett Allen is “satisfied in Cleveland” made me laugh. I’m sure he is. Satisfied is wonderful. Satisfied also doesn’t hang banners.
Kenny Atkinson is furious at everything except the thing he should actually be furious about: his staff has not adjusted once this series when the pressure rises.
Dean Wade is out there doing advanced cardio.
And Harden… look, Harden is what he has always been. You keep waiting for a different movie and somehow keep getting the remake.
As for their front office, there’s a little bit of the “smartest guys in the room” energy happening there. The endless belief that they’re seeing angles nobody else can see. Sometimes intelligence turns into overthinking. Sometimes toughness, chemistry, and stars who refuse to blink matter more.
Meanwhile the Knicks just keep showing up with lunch pails, defensive rotations, and Jalen Brunson calmly ruining everyone’s evening.
"Sam Merrill looks as comfortable as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs."
🤣 🤣 🤣
Thanks, Jonathan. I first heard it from Vin Scully, but he said he heard it from Red Barber who said he heard it growing up in the South. Sounds a bit like Mark Twain, eh?
The Atkinson, "well weve won 2 out of 3 analytically" quote is hilarious and telling about him, his staff and probably the front office. Just the hyper reliance on Harden to get you to the finals screams incompetence imo. This idea that vía expected fg % they should have won is silly. Lots of those 3s from merrill and strus may have been "open" but I wouldnt call them "good."
Knicks, to your point, are hungrier and have a stronger spirit and sense of pride and will. Given their talent, its not really that shocking theyre up 3-0 to the Cavs.
I think he means if his team wasn’t exhausted those shots go in and it’s a different series. All a coach can do is design a system that gets guys wide open shots, which Cle has done. The players still have to make the shots. His counters all worked, the offense should have been more competitive; guys just missed shots. It’d be as if Landry missed all the wide open threes our offense generated for him. Got to be hard on a coach.
I mean yeah, what else is he going to say. But to me, thats a cop out. Being down 0-3 is due to a lot more than that. Still think its a matter of being too reliant on the 3 ball. Not to mention just head scratching execution and coaching. Mobley and Allen had low shot attempts in the 2nd half in game 2. Atkinson left harden on an island in the 4th in game 1 and didnt call a timeout, and they essentially stopped attacking brunson in game 1. Those are all things that cost them two losses. Its easier to chalk it up to "missed shots" than just recognizing your game plan and in game coaching isnt that great; or that the other team is hungrier.
Frazier was the best player on the 1969-70 Knicks by quite a bit all of the Reed MVP awards notwithstanding. Remember Reed was the finals MVP but really only played in five of the games and lost two of them. Just remember 36, 19 and 7. Maybe the single greatest NBA playoff performance next to Magic Johnson’s 42 in 1980.
This is not really the time for this but worth noting. People are treating this like run like a one time miracle thing. The Knicks core is all signed for at least the next two years if KAT exercises his $61M player option after next season. I expect a potential extension will be a major talking point after this season. Everyone is right around 30 or younger, in their prime. Barring serious injury they will be together for a while. It’s really all in how much Dolan wants to spend. Aller is a genius so I kind of expect this to work its way out somehow.
KAT had a very underrated game, his first quarter was borderline dominant especially with Brunson off to a slow start.
My wife who has a pretty good gage on how long it’s been since the Knicks last won and what it means (her family are Rangers season ticket holder for 50+ years) said “why aren’t you more excited” I don’t want to say the season would be a failure if they don’t win the championship but we know how hard it is to get there. this is obviously their best chance and maybe only chance. I was a high school sophomore the last time the Knicks were in the finals I’ll probably be dead if history repeats itself. I think that holds me back from being super excited. 5 more wins I don’t want to hear this 1 more win bullshit
Knicks Cognitive Dissonance is leaving me confused. Are our Knicks really this good? Are all 3 teams they’ve played bad enough that the Knicks have mostly dominated for 10 straight games or are these teams compromised somehow and therefore not able to compete at their expected level? I guess we just aren’t used to this.
I still can’t believe any of this. I’m so scared. All the comments i left all year about them not profiling as a contender with some of the dog shit games, the losses, disappearance acts, questions about the coach and offense what an odd culmination. I love it and am nervous as heck. Great job to the NYK. Let’s go team. Apologize for ever doubting.
we both have to fill out some apology forms Arel.
Look at the all time Knicks player plus minus for playoff games! WTF?
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/knicks-players-with-most-playoff-wins
ALL TIME Knicks Playoff Games Plus Minus -
1. JB
2. Deuce McBride
3. Mitchell Robinson
I just read Atkinson's comments that the Cavs have actually "analytically" won 2 out of 3 games in the series. What an insane thing to say when you're down 3-0 in the ECF...
I hope we destroy the Cavs tonight. If we take it to them early and often and build a lead, I don't think they're all that far from wilting. LFG!!!!
not hyperbole: it is the most absurd thing I've heard a coach say, in any sport, ever.
I always liked him but think he's about to get fired...
I think they make a big trade
I mean real changes need to happen. Keeping both bigs was always a crazy choice. You're basically choosing Allen over atop flight wing.
Imagine swapping OG for Allen. Mobley, OG, Strus, Mitchell, Harden seems quite a bit more formidable.
At the start of this series I would have assumed Atkinson was safe but the quit they showed last game was very concerning.
If they lose big tonight they've got a real decision to make on the coach.