Otis
Footballguy
I grew up a big Knicks fan, watching many of the games and the exciting playoff runs in the 90s. Grew up on Patrick, Oakley, Starks, and others, and hated the Bulls and Pacers. That said, when they fell off, they became unwatchable. Maybe the worst run franchise in all of sports. I stopped watching the Knicks, and the NBA altogether, for probably near a quarter century.
This year I started hearing buzz, and I was skeptical. Then I watched a game. Then another. Then I rekindled my MSG Network subscription and started watching near every game. Holy crap, these Knicks are .... awesome. They are FUN again. This is the ultimate team basketball. It’s no more bloated rosters with self centered prima donnas—these guys have totally bought into Thibs’ system, and are thriving. The biggest star is Randle, and he’s a pretty stoic personality — he reminds me a bit of Ewing actually in his demeanor. He’s sort of the most underappreciated superstar in the NBA right now — dropped 44 last night to bring us a 5th straight win, and makes it look pretty easy. He can do it all — shoot, rebound, defense, distribute the ball.
Then you have a case of guys who were a band of misfits coming into this season. The Knicks were surely going to be bad. It’s like the team from The Natural, where they bring in this motley crew and yet they all click, and everyone starts playing above their individual heads but also as a TEAM they are just playing excellent team ball.
Maybe my favorite observation in watching these new Knicks is when I noticed what happens when any Knick hits the floor — 2 or 3 other players SPRINT over to help him up. It’s obviously a TT thing that he’s installed as part of them being a team. Same happens if a player goes down near the Knicks bench, you instantly see a bunch of guys JUMP up off the bench to hep them up. So fun and cool to watch — nobody is too big, or too special, or too cool for anyone else. They are all team.
And yet they’re still underdogs which also just makes them so much more incredibly fun to watch. And I love that swarming defense, and I love that Thibs was a reject everywhere else in the league and couldn’t land a job because the league is all soft now and only wants “player’s coaches” who let them do whatever the hell they want and act like their buddies. And I just the other day realized that he was an assistant coach to Jeff Van Gundy in those 90s teams I watched and loved, which explains the grit and hustle and defense and just makes it even better.
I’m rambling, I know. But I’m just really excited I have a Knicks team I can root for again. And this doesn’t look like a flash in the pan either (the last real dose of excitement in the garden was Linsanity, but that was short lived). It’s young guys and centerpieces who all seem to genuinely like playing together and playing as a team, a new coach and new system that are working, and building blocks that can sustain this for years. Barrett is starting to look like a real ball player. IQ has been awesome and maybe the SOD. Obi Toppin who some seem disappointed with has, I think, looked great in flashes. Even Elfrid Payton who has been vilified in the local sports media I think has been great. I could go on.
Bottom line, this is great. I’m excited to watch the Knicks tomorrow to see if they extend this win streak to 6 games. When was the last time I could have said that?
Look out rest of the league. I know there’s all sorts of silly excitement around teams like the Nets that just spend a bunch of money buying star power, but I much prefer the way the Knicks have done it, organically, and with utility guys here and there who are good pickups, and with it being about the team much more than the individuals.
Would like to see a run here to 4th place, and then a fun playoff run. A healthy Mitchell Robinson would have been damn nice to have for that run, and who knows, maybe he can still be back? But we’ll take what we can get.
This year I started hearing buzz, and I was skeptical. Then I watched a game. Then another. Then I rekindled my MSG Network subscription and started watching near every game. Holy crap, these Knicks are .... awesome. They are FUN again. This is the ultimate team basketball. It’s no more bloated rosters with self centered prima donnas—these guys have totally bought into Thibs’ system, and are thriving. The biggest star is Randle, and he’s a pretty stoic personality — he reminds me a bit of Ewing actually in his demeanor. He’s sort of the most underappreciated superstar in the NBA right now — dropped 44 last night to bring us a 5th straight win, and makes it look pretty easy. He can do it all — shoot, rebound, defense, distribute the ball.
Then you have a case of guys who were a band of misfits coming into this season. The Knicks were surely going to be bad. It’s like the team from The Natural, where they bring in this motley crew and yet they all click, and everyone starts playing above their individual heads but also as a TEAM they are just playing excellent team ball.
Maybe my favorite observation in watching these new Knicks is when I noticed what happens when any Knick hits the floor — 2 or 3 other players SPRINT over to help him up. It’s obviously a TT thing that he’s installed as part of them being a team. Same happens if a player goes down near the Knicks bench, you instantly see a bunch of guys JUMP up off the bench to hep them up. So fun and cool to watch — nobody is too big, or too special, or too cool for anyone else. They are all team.
And yet they’re still underdogs which also just makes them so much more incredibly fun to watch. And I love that swarming defense, and I love that Thibs was a reject everywhere else in the league and couldn’t land a job because the league is all soft now and only wants “player’s coaches” who let them do whatever the hell they want and act like their buddies. And I just the other day realized that he was an assistant coach to Jeff Van Gundy in those 90s teams I watched and loved, which explains the grit and hustle and defense and just makes it even better.
I’m rambling, I know. But I’m just really excited I have a Knicks team I can root for again. And this doesn’t look like a flash in the pan either (the last real dose of excitement in the garden was Linsanity, but that was short lived). It’s young guys and centerpieces who all seem to genuinely like playing together and playing as a team, a new coach and new system that are working, and building blocks that can sustain this for years. Barrett is starting to look like a real ball player. IQ has been awesome and maybe the SOD. Obi Toppin who some seem disappointed with has, I think, looked great in flashes. Even Elfrid Payton who has been vilified in the local sports media I think has been great. I could go on.
Bottom line, this is great. I’m excited to watch the Knicks tomorrow to see if they extend this win streak to 6 games. When was the last time I could have said that?
Look out rest of the league. I know there’s all sorts of silly excitement around teams like the Nets that just spend a bunch of money buying star power, but I much prefer the way the Knicks have done it, organically, and with utility guys here and there who are good pickups, and with it being about the team much more than the individuals.
Would like to see a run here to 4th place, and then a fun playoff run. A healthy Mitchell Robinson would have been damn nice to have for that run, and who knows, maybe he can still be back? But we’ll take what we can get.
