In the absence of the Warriors (and the Heat), the Knicks have become the team who has captured my attention, my headspace and my heart. I was not expecting this - all the Western Conference teams–Denver, Minnesota and Dallas– are better. The Celtics certainly are.
And yet, these pesky, determined, never say die Knickerbockers have wormed their way into my heart. Why are they the Knickerbockers? What is a Knick? (TLDR: colonizers). Suddenly I find myself knowing way too many players on their roster, telling everyone I know that the most entertaining basketball right now is the Knicks. They have won over New York City, which is no easy task. How entertaining?
Here’s the end of Game 2 against the 76ers. Knicks down by 6 with 36 seconds left.
Gritty, wild, relentless teamwork.
There are two storylines of the Knicks this season: the never-ending string of injuries and the triumvirate of former Villanova players - Donte Divincenzo, Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson, reunited in all their foolishness and glory.
First the lineup/injury changes:
The starting five in October:
Brunson: Still starting
RJ Barrett, Quentin Grimes: Traded
Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson: Injured, Out for Season
The starting five at the start of the playoffs:
Brunson, DiVincenzo, Hartenstein: still starting
OG Anunoby: injured, likely out
Josh Hart: injured, probably out or extremely limited minutes
This doesn’t count several other non-starters also out for the season. It’s unclear if they have enough players to complete the task. But if anyone can, it’s the Knicks. They are scrappy. They are not a tall team but they get rebounds like nobody’s business. They always believe they are in the game and they often are.
Storyline #2 – the Villanova trio
They are all relatively new to the Knicks. Brunson arrived summer 2022, Hart in winter 2023 and DiVincenzo this year from the Warriors. (Since several people have asked, of course, the Warriors wanted to keep Dante this year, but because of the type of contract he had, the Warriors could only offer him slightly more than his current contract, but other teams could offer him whatever they wanted. And for real, with Kerr, he would have been 7th on the roster again, instead of a starter in the playoffs.)
At Nova, they won National Championship(s). They were roommates (Josh/Jalen and Jalen/Donte) and best friends (Jalen/Donte) and seeing them talk together is like seeing 18 year old personalities in adult bodies. They lightly and openly tease each other, they are totally unable to be earnest in front of each other. They call each other out, how Donte won’t go out to dinner with the guys, how Josh eats too much junk food. Jalen is too serious. All of that camaraderie undersells how good they are. Each of them are better than they should be on the surface. We already know about the hustle of Divincenzo from watching him with the Dubs last year with his instant 6th man energy.
Here’s Josh Hart:
The Knicks are determined but not flashy and that’s due to their star, Jalen Brunson. He will get the quietest 40+ points, game after game - it never seems as if he’s scoring that much. He’s not demonstrative on the court or off the court. His humor is profoundly dry. He rarely yells, he rarely smiles. He works. He does the small things. He encourages others to outwork everyone around them. He wears a bracelet that says “the magic is in the work.” Brunson is so understated that even though he was an All Star this year and voted 5th for MVP there has been a year-long debate on whether he is a superstar. He is. He doesn’t care if you know it though.These are his highlights from the last game - an off night for him with 31 points.
On a tangent, let’s talk about the number of Jalens in the NBA. Jalen was a name that rarely existed before Jalen Rose. After his time with the Fab Five, babies started being named Jalen . There were 5 Jalens in the NBA draft last year, two Jalens (though not both spelled that way) are on the Oklahoma City Thunder. There are 17 Jalens currently in the NBA and 45 in college basketball. That’s an unexpected legacy. The influence of the Fab Five is everywhere.
Back to the Knicks - in the playoffs, they have been wildly entertaining, providing close game after close game, win or lose. With the exception of their last two games, every one of their playoff games have been within 5 points with 5 minutes left. EN-TER-TAIN-MENT.
I know - it’s the exact same clip from before but it’s worth watching more than once.
If the Knicks win tomorrow, they will be in the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000. That’s the Patrick Ewing Knicks, on a team where Jalen Brunson’s father Rick played. (Rick Brunson is an assistant coach on the Knicks now). It would be Knicks/Celtics, and when that happens, it feels like East Coast media might implode.
Let’s Go Knicks!
Have you been watching the WNBA? You should be: WNBA Schedule
The Timeout Books: (books I read during the timeouts and halftimes)
A Game At A Time Playlist (the songs that pop in my head while writing this)
I completely and totally cheated this week. In order to avoid a song that was sure to pop in my head while writing this that would then stay in my head for possibly months (and might or might not be by Chumbawamba), I played two songs on repeat while I wrote. It’s the playoffs - you do what you gotta do for the game.