Worth the Wait

The Knicks are a win away from the conference finals.

Good morning. Before we get to today’s recap, on behalf of everyone here at KFS, I’d like to wish a full and speedy recovery to Jayson Tatum, who went down with what appeared to be a non-contact injury with 3:06 remaining in the fourth quarter. That injury will - and should - be the leading story from last night for the national media, as Tatum is one of the faces of the NBA who also happens to play for its most prominent team. If he is out for some time, the entire league will shift as a result.

That being said, no one should get the sequence of events twisted. The Knicks were on the way to their most impressive victory of the last 25 years before Tatum exited the game. His injury cast a cloud over the proceedings and made the final minutes less suspenseful, but it did not, in all likelihood, impact the outcome.

So while we wish Tatum the best and hope he returns even better than he was before, not a single Knick fan should allow that unfortunate occurrence to dampen the pride they feel for their team today.

On that note, about last night…

Game 4: Knicks 121, Celtics 113

91 games.

4,413 minutes.

264,780 seconds.

The 2024-25 Knicks have taken us on a journey.

That journey began on the eve of training camp, when the front office topped off the most aggressive summer in franchise history with the brashest move of them all, acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns to be their starting center and redefining how they would operate at both ends of the court in the process.

Clearly, the roster would take time to gel, but we’d waited this long for a genuine contender in our backyard. What was another couple of months?

Opening night followed not long after. If ever we needed a memo on the uphill climb that awaited us, those 48 minutes provided it. Boston remained several steps ahead.

No worries. Rome wasn’t built in a day. As the calendar sped past Thanksgiving and eventually Christmas, patience was the word of the hour. No, they didn’t look the part, but at least the offense was breaking records. Surely the defense would come together eventually.

December gave way to January and January to February. The offense slowly subsided as dispiriting losses against top teams piled up. The defense remained a wreck. The trade deadline brought no relief. Consecutive post-All-Star blowouts against Cleveland and Boston cemented two harsh truths: not only were they not close, but they were trending in the wrong direction.

The team rallied around Jalen Brunson’s injury not long after, but his return only brought so much good will as New York crawled across the finish line. They were a chic pick to be upset in the first round, and despite a series victory, those predictions didn’t look all that foolish given how the games unfolded.

Onto the second round and into the annals of NBA history they went, with two of the most improbable playoff victories you’ll ever see. Even with that 2-0 lead though, we kept waiting.

Waiting for a complete performance befitting their talent.

Waiting for 48 minutes of serious basketball against a top opponent.

Waiting for that preseason promise to finally come to fruition.

Saturday was supposed to be that moment, but it instead turned into an affirmation of all of the skepticism that had build up over the previous seven months.

Game 1 was a 23-point loss.

Game 91, 22 points.

Had anything really changed?

Or better yet, were we all fools for expecting - hell, hoping that things could come together fast enough and with enough cohesion to beat a team of Boston’s magnitude when the Celtics weren’t pissing down their own leg?

The answer last night, at least early on, was yes. Down 13-4 early after three defensive breakdowns led to three open Boston threes, it was as if the Knicks hadn’t learned anything in their journey over those previous 4,413 minutes. It looked like they didn’t stand a chance. It looked like we were waiting for Godot.

And then, just like that, everything changed.