As a long-suffering New York Knicks fan, I have experienced my share of heartache, frustration and disappointment since the 70s.
I was there for the pre-Ewing teams of the 80s, when players like Bernard King, Rory Sparrow, Trent Tucker, Louis Orr and Ken “The Animal” Banister roamed the MSG hardwood and you could buy nosebleed seats and then move down with ease.
When Patrick Ewing arrived, championship dreams returned to MSG. Unfortunately, New York legends like Bernard King, Mark Jackson and Rod Strickland weren’t enough to raise a banner at the Garden.
When Pat Riley arrived in 1991, I gave my heart and soul to those teams that featured tough and physical players like Ewing, Charles Oakley, John Starks and Anthony Mason. In 1993, when Charles Smith’s pump fakes cost us Game 5 against the Bulls, I was heated but still wouldn’t give up my Knicks fandom.
A year later, Starks shot us out of Game 7 of the 1994 NBA Finals after Riley refused to let Derek Harper and Rolando Blackman run the show. It was a traumatic loss that only Knicks fans can empathize with.
But I stuck with them.
In 1999, I worked for the Knicks during the strike season, and it was a year to remember.
Latrell Sprewell joined the team, Allan Houston bounced Riley and the Miami Heat out of the playoffs on a last-second shot in South Beach, Larry Johnson blew the roof off of MSG with his four-point play against the Pacers, and the team gave everything it could in the NBA Finals against David Robinson, Tim Duncan and the Spurs without Ewing, who got hurt against Indiana, before losing in five games.
After the Riley and Jeff Van Gundy eras were done, MSG was a huge revolving door for players and coaches.
Out went Ewing, Oakley, Mason, Starks and Houston and in stepped players like David Lee, Charlie Ward, Stephon Marbury, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Carmelo Anthony. This a frustrating era highlighted by a slew of bad picks and four playoff appearances in twenty years.
During this time, the team hired head coaches Don Chaney, Lenny Wilkens, Larry Brown, Isiah Thomas, Mike D’Antoni, Mike Woodson, Derek Fisher, Jeff Honacek, and David Miller, as well as interim coaches including Herb Wiliams, Kurt Rambis and Mike Miller, before finally settling on Tom Thibodeau in 2021.
It was a period that also included nine straight losing seasons (2001-2010) and a public anti-James Dolan backlash that included a giant pink slip in front of the Garden signed by thousands of Angry fans demanding he sell the team.
So excluding one decade, New York has lacked a special team that brought all Knicks fans together.
That changed with the 2023-24 Knicks.
This past season, we witnessed a team gel and grow into championship contenders. Many doubted it, but the team finally had what it lacked since Patrick Ewing.
A true superstar and face of the franchise.
That’s Jalen Brunson.
His accolades are well deserved, and how he carried the team during the postseason placed him in the team’s record books alongside players like King and Ewing.
Brunson is the tough, selfless, fearless and respectful player New York loves and embraces. And although he hasn’t won a title yet, he’s risen to become a star mentioned with other New York legends like Ewing, Jeter and Messier.
His college and now pro teammate Josh Hart also carved out his place in NYC basketball culture for becoming a tough, high-energy player who will play whatever role you need him to.
That’s so New York.
The team recognized that to win the game needed to flow through Brunson. Everyone bought in, including Julius Randle, who put up another All-Star season until a shoulder injury shelved him for the season.
Management deserves credit as well. The organization finally signed/traded for the right players, including OG Anunoby, Isaiah Hartenstein, Precious Achiuwa and Bojan Bogdanović.
And even though injuries eventually caught up with the team in Sunday’s Game 7 against the Pacers, the Knicks gave everything they had until there was no more to give.
That’s what made this team so special and what made the team so endearing to loyal fans who have stuck with New York through the bad years.
Sunday was another heartbreaking end to another season for the Knicks, even more so because without injuries, the team had a real shot at making the NBA Finals.
But they offered no excuses and gave everything they had until the final buzzer sounded on Sunday evening.
After the teams of the 90s, I felt like I had given everything to those teams who always came up a little short. Afterward, I swore that while I would always be a fan, I wouldn’t go all in again.
This team made me break that promise.
Although the season ended titleless, Brunson, Hart and company re-instilled hope that the Knicks become one of the elite teams in the NBA and compete for a Championship next season.
So while this one stings like the others in the past, it rekindled that special feeling that we Knicks fans have longed for.
Go NY, GO NY, GO!
