Some odds and ends from a lifelong Knick fan:
1) As any Knick fan is saying this morning, this run has been nothing short of remarkable. Critics will be quick to point out how weak the eastern conference is this year and there is obviously some level of truth to this. However, the Knicks are just destroying everyone they play. They missed out on having to play (without home court advantage) against Detroit and Boston, but I am fully convinced they would have achieved this same level of success against Detroit. Boston would have been more of a war, IMO.
2) I am not old enough to recall the two 1950's NBA Finals appearances but am old enough to remember the two NBA Championships. The mantra of those teams was "to find the open man" which was another way of saying "sacrifice your ego and play as a team." This year's team is truly reminiscent of those teams. The teams that reached the finals in the 90's played an overly aggressive defensive style taught by Pat Riley and later refined by Jeff Van Gundy. They were overly reliant on Ewing though they did reach the finals without him (hence, Bill Simmons's "The Ewing Theory" was born.
3) When we're not talking about the most successful Knick teams, we're left to discuss a sea of mediocrity at best and a flat-out clown show at worst. There was the Bernie and Ernie show, the Bob McAdoo Knicks, the "can Lonnie Shelton really be the best player on the team?" Knicks? Ewing pulled them out of the muck and more towards respectability, but even since the team's last Finals appearance in 1999, no Knick playoff team could ever have been perceived as a legitimate threat to win it all.
4) The move to replace Thibs with Mike Brown raised many eyebrows at the time. What would the logic be behind replacing a coach who had just lost in the conference finals? In retrospect, it is now much easier to see that a different voice was needed to lead the team. While you can look at how well the Knick bench is playing this year compared to last year when TT barely played his bench, I would also point to some of the less tangible coaching aspects. These Knicks are playing with astounding confidence and coaching has plenty to do with that. The team is playing so well that nothing about this run can begin to resemble a fluke.
5) I read a great comparison of this team to the 2012 Dallas Mavericks who were also a #3 seed and then beat the newly formed Superteam in Miami led by LeBron, DWade and Bosh. So does that mean the Knicks can keep this up and knock off the Thunder or Spurs? My take on this is that the Western Conference champ will be heavily favored and rightfully so. The logic behind writing this post today is an admission that the Knicks likely will fall in the finals. However, at the start of these playoffs, there was literally nobody that would have given the Knicks a chance in the finals against either of these teams. The only interesting discussion would have been whether the Knicks would lose in 4 or 5 games. While it may very well still work out this way, there is no denying that something has radically changed. These Knicks are playing fast, moving and passing the ball with great proficiency, rebounding on both ends, getting defensive stops, and my God, knocking down shots. Take away Mitchell Robinson's free throw shooting and it's looked very close to perfection this past 5-6 weeks. They will undoubtedly continue to play at the pace and style that they desire and if a better team beats them, they will have at least put their best foot forward. So no, I'm not expecting a Knick Championship, but I'm also not ruling one out either.
Long Suffering Fan wrote: