On Wednesday night, Trae Young and the Hawks ended the Knicks season with a 103-89 drubbing at Madison Square Garden.
For long-suffering Knicks fans like myself, it was another year of heartache and crushed hopes that we have come to expect from the team. Yet despite us knowing what would ultimately happen, we did not abandon our Knicks fandom.
This year’s team and management deserve respect for a winning season and a playoff appearance. The Knicks opened the Garden and made the postseason for the first time since the 2012-13 season. They finally have a strong coach in Tom Thibodeau, who resurrected their once-proud defense and elevated Julius Randall to All-Star status. The team also assembled a highly respected management team consisting of President Leon Rose, GM Scott Perry and EVP William Wesley.
These are great assets that gives the team a good foundation to build upon.
But for true New Yorkers, 60s, 70s, and 80s babies who grew Knicks fans, the loss to the Hawks came as no surprise. Our championship expectations have long been tempered and we can predict outcomes through an instinct honed by years of painful losses.
The Good Old Days
Many Knicks fans, like myself, reminisce about the 90s Knicks.
It was a time when Pat Riley roamed the sidelines and players risked their lives clashing against the paint’s hardened phalanx of Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason.
When OJ went on his run on June 17th, 1994, I joined every Knicks fan screaming at NBC to switch back to Game 5. I broke things and (privately) shed tears along with the large group of friends and family gathered at my parent’s house after John Starks went 2-18 and shot us out of a championship against the Rockets in Game 7. We begged Riley to pull Starks and give the ball to Derek Harper, but it was all for naught and our Knicks lost 3-4 to Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets.
But my bond with the team started before that time.
I went to the Garden when players like Marvin Webster, Bill Cartwright, and Ken “The Animal” Bannister were rim protectors. When lineups consisted of Rory Sparrow, Trent Tucker, Louis Orr, Darrel Walker, and Truck Robinson. When visions of Ewing winning titles with Bernard King were dashed when King crumbled to the court with a devastating leg injury in 1985.
I was at the 1986 draft where we all chanted for St. John’s forward Walter Berry and the team picked Kentucky’s Kenny Walker instead. A year later my brother and I were back at the draft and cheered with all in attendance when the Knicks selected hometown hero Mark Jackson.
I was at MSG when Louis Orr’s bank shot beat Larry Bird and the Celtics in their 1987 MLK Day Game. We watched Patrick Ewing, Johnny Newman, and Gerald Wilkins lead the Knicks to a come-from-behind series victory over the Celtics in the first round of the 1990 Eastern Conference Playoffs. Best believe that I gave it to every Celtics fan that day at the college I attended in New England.
I still feel the anger inside remembering Charles Smith pump faking us out of finally beating Michael Jordan and the Bulls in 1993. I remember walking home in silence after Reggie Miller stole our hearts in a span of 9 seconds in 1995.
In the strike-shortened season of 1999, I actually worked for the Knicks. That miraculous season featured Ewing rupturing his Achilles in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pacers. The very next game gave us Larry Johnson’s legendary four-point play, a moment that rocked all five boroughs of New York.
Although the Ewing-less Knicks were eventually swept by the Spurs’ Tim Duncan and David Robinson in the NBA Finals, LJ, Latrell Sprewell, Allan Houston, and the rest of the team gave fans everything they had that series, and we cheered them for it.
These are the memories that will never leave us. Moments that were constantly replayed and debated across every ballcourt, subway car, and barbershop across the city. Painful moments that come with New York Knicks fandom.
This all might sound like a venting session or like I’m suffering from Knicks PTSD. You may even think that I’m having a “get off my lawn!” moment. In some ways, that all holds true.
But the love we have for the Knicks runs deep, and that comes with emotional baggage.
Real Knicks Fandom
Being a Knicks fan is a permanent condition. We swear we’re done with them, but any glimmer of hope has us returning like a moth to the flame. Unfortunately, we get burned more often than not.
The Knicks are like a drug to an addict. Like a bad habit to those lacking willpower or resolve.
Real Knicks fans are more apt to accept a painful defeat than celebrate a surprising victory. Our bond and grudges with the team are firmly rooted. Orange and blue blood flows through our veins so team affinity cannot simply be dismissed despite losing seasons and horrendous roster moves.
Names like Jerome James, Eddie Curry, Fredric Weis, and Antonio McDyess have haunted fans for years. Mortgaging the team for Carmelo Anthony and selecting Frank Ntilikina over Donovan Mitchell and Bam Adebayo gave fans premature hair loss.
Decades of being a Knicks fan has been a draining experience.
Seeing them run a three-man weave while regressing to the center court line is agonizing. Watching them cluelessly defend every high pick and roll is maddening. The Hawks did the latter to them all series and they never adjusted. Trae Young feasted on Reggie Bullock and Julius Randle every game, yet coach Thibs continued to throw Bullock at him and have Randle switch on to Young in pick and roll situations. Young averaged 29.2 ppg in the series so this was obviously a failing strategy.
In order for the team to take a major step forward next season, the Knicks need more. A superstar, leader, and bigger, more consistent outside threats. They need an identity for fans to rally around. Randle is good and he helped the Knicks return to the post-season. But he’s very similar to Amar’e Stoudemire’s tenure in New York; a very good, All-Star-caliber player who can carry the team to the playoffs but no further.
Years of floundering, scandal, and poor management hampered the Knicks on the court, but not at the bank. That’s obviously pleasing to team owner Jim Dolan. Since he took over as team owner in 1999, the team has made the playoffs just eight times in twenty-two years. Yet the Knicks are the NBA’s most valuable franchise. In the 2019-20 season, they were valued at $5 billion (#1) and generated $421 million in revenue (#2). Apparently, as long as the team makes money, wins and loses don’t matter.
That’s great for shareholders and senior management, but fans deserve more.
Much more.
Wait Until Next Year
“Wait until next year” has been the team mantra for too long.
Fan excitement and hope returned this season, and they were greatly missed. In a post-pandemic shutdown year, fans eagerly filed into the Mecca for both regular season and playoff games.
The Knicks have lots of cap space. This enables them to give Julius Randle a reasonable contract extension and still secure a star. They have a respected coach, a nucleus of young players, and an invigorated fan base.
While the current generation of fans swells with optimism, my generation hesitates to join in. We committed our hearts and energy for so many years that it’s difficult to share in this optimism.
But in the end, we’re still Knicks fans. So no matter our hesitation, we still ride for New York’s basketball team.
