We Did It Part 2

I used this title after we beat the Cavs. If I’m being honest, there was a big part of me who said, “we never know when we’re going to make it back I’m just going to enjoy it.” I think part of that came from the fear we couldn’t beat the Thunder. I know you should be careful what you wish for when you have a preferred opponent, but I liked how we matched up with the Spurs better. Not to say I didn’t think beating the Thunder was possible but it would be tough.

This series was tough enough as is. The Spurs are much better than the competition in the east. They were good at getting leads, just not good at holding them. They ended the series +57 in the first quarter and -69 the rest of the game. As a matter of fact, the Knicks trailed by double digits every game and still won the series.

Part of this is experience. I wrote in my series preview that experience was a big reason why I thought the Knicks would beat the Spurs. Victor Wembanyama is only in his 3rd year. Even generational talents rarely win young without another all-time great alongside them. Looking at guys who have won in the first four years of their career (I used this number because that’s how long a rookie contract is), Magic had Kareem, Kareem had the Big 0, Tim Duncan had David Robinson, and Kobe and DWade both had Shaq. Larry Bird also won a championship in his second year, but he had Robert Parish a few years older than him and Nate “Tiny,” Archibald in his 10th year. Where the Spurs inexperience came back to bite them was in the fourth quarter where the Knicks were +26. If you take out game 2 where the Spurs were +8 in the fourth after trailing by as much 14, the Knicks were +34. Wemby was 12-35 from the field with several key missed free throws and a big turnover in Game 2. The Spurs have a bright future. Before their epic Game 4 collapse, I remember thinking, “if we don’t beat them now, when will anybody beat them?”

The way the Knicks won the final game series was fitting because it allowed Jalen Brunson to cement his status as one of the greatest playoff performers in the history of basketball dropping 45 and hit a floater with 1:05 to give us the lead for good. After the first two games, there was talk that Karl-Anthony Towns should be the Finals MVP. After the tip in Game 4, there was talk that OG Anunoby should be the Finals MVP. It was all noise. Brunson also has the uncanny ability to adjust to the defense mid series. In the first two games, he averaged 25.5 PPG but only shot 34% from the field and 23% from three. In games 3-5, he averaged 37.7 PPG on 48% from the field and 52% from three. Time and time again, Brunson has proved analysts wrong. It felt like every series, the experts tried to argue he wasn’t the best player in the series and whoever the Knicks opponent threw at him would stop him. In round 1, it was Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels. In round 2, it was Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe. In round 3, it was Donovan Mitchell/James Harden and Dean Wade. In the finals, it was Wemby and Stephon Castle. The frequent dismissal by analysts has made the phrase, “everybody is better than Jalen Brunson until it’s time to be better than Jalen Brunson,” a rallying cry. He averaged 32 PPG and shot 38.9% from three against a defense that led Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to 25.9 PPG on barely above 40% from the field and 28% from three. Having won every tournament MVP award there is. NBA Cup, Eatsern Conference Finals, and NBA Finals proving once and for all he is a 1A.

Yesterday’s win not only capped a dominant playoff run but ended 53 years of heartbreak. I grew up learning about Starks in Game 7, Charles Smith, the brawl in Miami, and Reggie’s 8 points in 9 seconds. We had two different dark ages, the Isiah Thomas era, where we chased washed up stars over and over, we paid Jerome James off of one playoff series, where we traded the picks that became LaMarcus Aldridge and Joakim Noah for Eddie Curry, where Stephon Marbury feuded with every coach we brought in, and James Dolan had to pay harassment lawsuits. Then we had the end of the Melo era into the pre-Randle/Thibs era. It was as close as you can come to poverty in sports. We drafted a 7’3 unicorn who tore his ACL and begged for a trade before his rookie contract even expired. We had guys like Ron Baker and Travis Wear who work in finance now. We had to believe we struck gold with undrafted free agents like Allonzo Trier and Langston Galloway. Phil Jackson fell asleep during Donovan Mitchell’s workout and drafted Frank Ntilikina. Steve Mills drafted Kevin Knox over SGA. We missed out on Steve Kerr and ended up with a series of lemons at head coach like Jeff Hornacek, Derek Fisher, and David Fizdale. I’ve been through it all. But, I’ll also be able to tell my future children about this legendary run. 13 straight wins (12 by double digits), the comeback Game 1 against Cleveland, OG’s tip, and Brunson’s Jordanesque Game 5 performance. There were several moments that built to this that will also live forever. Divo’s double bang, Brunson’s series winner in Detroit, and Mikal Bridges’s defensive stops against Boston. In the NBA, you have to build to a championship and it doesn’t happen overnight. I’m sure the Spurs will use this as fuel going forward. Every warrior has battle scars and the Knicks battle scars helped them get here.

This run will has forever changed how each player be viewed by not just Knicks fans, but the league. Brunson will be remembered as an all-time great playoff performer and a 1A. OG will be remembered as a two way demon, aka Kawhi Jr. KAT has forever shed the soft label and will be remembered as a two way-playmaking big. Mikal Bridges is no longer the guy the Knicks traded five picks for, but a lockdown defender. Josh Hart will be remembered not as Jalen Brunson’s best friend, but the Hart and Soul of the team. Mitchell Robinson, will forever be remembered as the one guy who arrived before turned it around that stuck out the dark years and the guy played through a broken finger/hand against one of the best big men in the world. More importantly, they’ll be remembered as champions and no one can take that away from them