I know I’m a few days late with this one, so please excuse my tendency to procrastinate. For what it’s worth, it did sit idly, written only in my thoughts. With that said, “Congrats to my NY Knicks!” Not only did they clinch a playoff berth, but they also have the number two seed and their first 50-win season since 2013. Now, I don’t know how beneficial that seeding will be, given that they were either going to play Philly, with a recently returned, refreshed Joel Embiid, or Miami with Playoff Jimmy—who has always managed to be a thorn in our side. But, nonetheless, it’s been a commendable 2023/2024 campaign.
Going all the way back to when Pat Riley ditched old, cold New York for figuratively and literally the new hotness down in Miami, he seemed to have taken the future fortunes of the franchise with him. The upstart Miami Heat have three championships under Riley’s watch, two I consider outliers because they won the LeBron sweepstakes. However, it’s still one more than the Knicks, who, along with the Boston Celtics, have been a part of the league since its inception in 1946. And we all know the solidified excellence that Boston has shown for the many years of being a cornerstone franchise of the NBA.
And the other cornerstone franchise? Eh, not so much. Yes, we had a decent run in the 90’s during the heyday of Ewing, Starks, and Oakley, but that iteration of the Knicks couldn’t get past some dude in Chicago. Then our fortunes were further flipped (pun intended) when P.J. Brown somersaulted Charlie Ward like a Simone Biles routine while the Knicks were up 3-1 in that particular series. And sure, they did surprisingly get to the NBA finals after being the 8th seed of the lockout-shortened season in 1999, but they ran into the future San Antonio dynasty, and their twin towers of Robinson and Duncan (in his second year as a pro). I still contend that hadn’t Patrick Ewing missed that entire series due to an Achilles injury, our own twin towers of himself and Marcus Camby (who by the way, did give Duncan the business when they matched up against each other in college), could have won that series, and at least delayed the inevitable Duncan/Spurs Dynasty.
One of the only things I find myself in agreement with a certain Mr. Smith at ESPN is, the agonizing, consistent futility of the orange and blue over the years. Their last championship was in 1973, a year in which I may or may not have still been in diapers, but I guess you could consider it a championship in my “lifetime”, though by technicality. The other, in 1970, I was nestled firmly in the womb, oblivious to the future hardships of being a Knicks fan. So with all deference to The Education of Sonny Carson, what I later found out is, “It’s a cold world out there”. And this is where my Gen X bias gets exposed. Of course that early 70’s Knicks team of Frazier, Reed, Bradley, and Monroe were great. It’s just many and I were too young to be able to bask in that greatness. That’s why my generation has, for better and worse, fomented our affinity for that 1990’s era team, who always seemed so close, but always managed to be too far. Us Gen Xer’s just want to be able to bear witness with our own eyes, the sight, the sound, the exhilaration of a Knicks championship. And while the Carmelo Anthony era did usher in a new hope, the Brooklyn-born, Baltimore-raised, Syracuse champion, was only able to muster that last aforementioned 50-plus-win season, and one playoff series win. It was all a big tease that came crashing down at the hands of Roy Hibbert (exactly), David West, and the other forgettables on that Indiana Pacers team. And no, I didn’t forget about the other Brooklyn-born McDonald’s High School All-American who was also on the court during that series, just felt betrayed by a fellow NY’er, and didn’t want to include his name (yes, I’m petty).
So, here we are. 50-wins, number two-seed, and the Jalen Brunson-led Villanova Knicks ready to take on the ghosts of playoffs past and to perhaps rewrite the futility narrative. It’s been an amazing, grueling season, and a testament to the championship mettle of Brunson, his Wildcat compadres, and the great coaching job by Tibs. But I’m not a delusional Knicks fan, even with a now side-lined Julius Randle, lifting an NBA Championship banner for the first time since ‘73 was going to be a stretch for this team. However, even without a now side-lined Julius Randle, raising an Eastern Conference Championship banner for the first time since ’99 is not a stretch. Tough, but not improbable.
So come late fall when the first reminder of winter comes blowing through midtown off the Hudson. I’ll navigate through the bustling crowd toward the world’s most famous arena. And hopefully, just before stepping inside, I’ll look up, and the figurative heavy, dark clouds that have draped this building like a Broadway curtain, will have been dispersed by skies of Orange and Blue.
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