Post#503 » by SelbyCobra » Fri May 3, 2024 6:12 am
Being a Knicks fan the past 30 years hasn't been easy. We all hope for the best, but deep down we question the ability of the team to come through when it matters most based upon what we've seen over and over since May of 1993. From Starks going ice cold in the '94 Finals, to getting blown out of the water in the '99 Finals, to years of on-court ineptitude, to Roy Hibbert becoming omnipotent for a bunch of hours, to Amare fighting a fire extinguisher, it always seems to not work out in a way that has felt predictable - an impending doom. Hell, even in terms of matters completely out of our hands the impending doom existed. Wanting Steph, Steph wanting us, and he goes just before our pick. Missing out on #1 overall picks. Not moving up in the lottery a single time for four straight decades. The Knicks aren't cursed, but there certainly have not gotten any big breaks, and they have no real cinderella stories over the years. We're either decent and get sent packing on-time or early, or we suck but receive no luck in getting better, and then suck worse.
But this team has thrown decades of misery out the window. They lost their all-NBA offensive hub, and not only held on in the standings, but actually ascended to the 2nd seed. In the playoffs they endured horrific performances in the first two games, and yet won BOTH of them due to perseverance and plain old grit. Then they went on the road and lost by double digits, and it got a bunch of us older heads feeling THOSE vibes - the continual ones from the last 30 years. The ones that have never failed to show up. But what does this team do? They WIN game 4.
Then comes the crusher. A horrific Game 5 loss. The series could have been over, but now it's extended, and in the most demoralizing, gruesome, sleep-depriving fashion possible. An historic loss, one that has excellent potential to join the pantheon of awful Knicks moments from the last 30 years. But what does this team do? They not only win the series, but they win the very next game, in extremely tight fashion, and do so on the f*cking road. They had two bites at the apple after the devastation of Game 5, and they collectively said, f*ck it, we only need one, doesn't matter if it's in the lions den.
All Knicks fans are euphoric right now, but I cannot put into words how satisfying this win is for an old head who has been conditioned by the poor play, bad luck, and overall ineptitude of this franchise's last 30 years. The watching the game through your fingers, waiting for the chair to get pulled out from under you isht. This team isn't the best team in the league, but for once it's a Knicks team that is actually generating confidence in me, even in the darkest situations. I've been stunned by the way they have shown up throughout this season, and they have just kept doing it more and more as the stakes have gotten higher and higher.
They are a roster that has been defying organizational history and negative energy AGGRESSIVELY. Not stumbling into big wins or lucky chances, but MAKING them happen, even when they are running a talent deficit. It is so un-Knicks like, and it's giving me all kinds of joy. I'm under no delusions that this team is "going all the way" or anything, hell they could get swept next round, but I do know that no matter what happens they're competing all the way through, and assuming the lineup remains intact good things can actually be expected to happen for once.
Crazy.
RIP mags
