The Knicks Chance To Make History

If you have been keeping up with the NBA playoffs, you would know that the Knicks are going on a generational run for a chance to win the championship. They currently secured their spot in the Eastern conference finals. The only other team as of now to do so is the reigning champions; The Oklahoma City Thunder (OKC). 

The Knicks are coming off a series against the Philadelphia 76ers. They have been rivals for a long time due to many conflicts between the players. Two years ago they played against them and swept them 4-0 which has caused this rivalry. These conflicts include Joel Embiid pulling down the star center at the time Mitchel Robinson, as well as the Knicks fans invading the Xfinity arena where the 76ers play. They turned their away game to a place where there are Knicks fans in Philly chanting MVP to Jalen Brunson. Now, the Knicks just swept the 76ers again, meaning they beat them in a best out of 7 series without the 76ers having a single win. This win was crucial for the Knicks because first of all, the Knicks fans have to cement their place above the Philly fans. Also because OG Ananuby was injured and needed to recover. The sweep is giving him time to rest because now the Knicks had time to wait on the other teams to reach their round in order to continue.

Now, let's talk about what led the Knicks to this success. First of all, the Indiana Pacers are not in the playoffs due to Tyrese Haliburton being badly injured and eliminating the team that got them out of the playoffs last year. Last year when playing he tore his achilles mid game which was major and may have given the win to OKC. But even if they ended up in the conference finals too, I think that with these new adjustments to the Knicks they would’ve beat them anyway. It could have been the addition of Jose Alvarado being a new hustling back up for Jalen Brunson letting him rest more. Or it could be Mike Brown replacing Tom Thibodeau. Both are controversial as to whether they are good fits for the Knicks, but so far it seems to be working. Recently, Mike Brown has made a crucial change that made the Knicks true contenders. They have put Karl Anthony Towns (KAT) to work making him run the offence. This is beneficial for them because this makes the defence all shift to play help defence leaving many more opportunities for every other player on the court. This also gives Jalen Brunson less pressure when there are people fully focussing on him to play defense on. 

Mike Brown slightly underplays his star players which is not great as a coach, but there are some good reasons for that. First off, Josh Hart and KAT are constantly getting into foul trouble early in the game. This could be a huge problem for a potential future matchup against the Thunder, especially since they are a team that is known to flop constantly. But there is another reason that Mike Brown underplays his players, specifically Jalen Brunson. When on the bench, he watches clips of what he did wrong and analyzes key details that could be important for the team. The clips are compiled by the assistant coach Chris Jent. This (although they need Jalen Brunson in as much as possible) is very important.

Currently, we are in a series with the Cleveland Cavaliers, up 2-0. The  Cavs (Cleveland Cavaliers) just came off of a 7 game series against the Detroit Pistons. They did not have nearly as much rest as the Knicks and almost had to play again instantly. Now, for the problems for the Knicks against the Cavs. I think that just Mitchell Robinson might be a problem for the defence but there's not really much to say about them, especially because of the way the Knicks have been playing on offence and defense. Recently, James Harden has had horrible games, and most importantly, he cannot score in the later parts of the games. He dropped less than 20 on both of the games in this series. 

  Overall, I think that there is a clear path to the finals for the Knicks and possibly more. This Knicks team is truly the best Knicks team in the last 26 years or possibly the entire history of the Knicks franchise, and I’m glad that I get to see it.