“Sean from Rockaway, you’re on the air.”
Thanks for taking my call, guys. First time, long time.
I just wanted to start by saying: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THEY DID IT! THE KNICKS DID IT! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Fifty-three years in the making. Generations have waited for this moment. An entire city was pulling together for this.
This team. You will not be able to say enough about this team. I could talk about them for the next 53 years. On paper, this was no superteam. But on the court, this is the greatest team I have ever seen.
A 16-3 record in the playoffs. A point differential of +283. That is dominance. But even that doesn’t do it justice. This was dominance that had never been seen before in NBA history.
And at the same time, in the same breath, you can talk about how this was a team that trailed by double digits in every single game of the Finals. There were times they couldn’t buy a shot. Thirteen points in the first quarter of the series-clinching Game 5. And yet, they always believed.
Game 4, probably the greatest game I have ever watched in my life, summed up this team. It summed up this fan base. Hell, it summed up this city.
In Game 4, they found themselves down 29 points. How easy would it have been to just throw in the towel? I think most teams would have. Twenty-nine points! No one had ever come back from that in the Finals, against the cream of the crop, no less. But that thought did not cross this team’s collective mind.
It doesn’t seem to have crossed the fans’ minds either. I truly believe that in any other city in the country, half the stadium would have been empty down the stretch. Maybe I’m just biased. I am most definitely biased.
And what did this team do? They came storming back and did something, yet again, that had never been done before.
Twenty-nine freaking points.
OG freaking Anunoby.
Buy that guy a beer.
And when the entire team seemed to have their stuff stolen by the Monstars, Jalen Brunson, the heart and soul of this team, the leader and captain of this team, put on one of the greatest performances in NBA history. He carried this team across the finish line. Of course he did.
Jalen freaking Brunson.
This team refused to quit. They refused to quit when they were down in every finals game. They refused to quit when people told them it had not been done in 53 years, and it would never happen again. They refused to quit until that final buzzer sounded, and Mike Breen gave us permission to cry.
And we cried.
It wasn’t just fans in the stands for these games. At every game were past players from Knicks history. Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Carmelo Anthony, Walt Frazier. The Knicks family. They might have wanted this more than anyone else.
The Knicks always told free agents that winning here would be different. Because of these fans and this city, if you did it here, it would be unlike doing it anywhere else.
They have finally been proven right.
These New York Knicks are now NBA champions. They are now New York legends. They are now New York gods.
This city is theirs, now and forevermore.
Alright, thanks for taking the time, guys. I’ll hang up and listen.
