Hawks 103, Knicks 89: “Yes!”
The Knicks lost to the Hawks at home in Game 5, putting a cap on their 2020-21 season. But now isn’t the time for frustration — it’s the time for reflection of how much the Knicks accomplished this year, and how much more they (hopefully) have yet to come.
The 2021 Knicks season passed away last night with 17,000 close friends by their side at Madison Square Garden. Cause of death: a 103-89 loss to the Atlanta Hawks that clinched the opening round series 4-1 for the road team. Memorial services will be held over the upcoming days and weeks on quality websites like The Strickland, in the tabloids, on TV and sports radio, and deep down in places people don’t talk about at parties.
The 2021 Knicks were born on June 22, 2017, the day they drafted Frank Ntilikina, the longest-tenured member of the team. Last night’s loss may very well go down as Frank’s final game in New York, and if it did, it couldn’t have been a more fitting tribute: getting zero playing time in an elimination game against a team whose entire offense is built around a player Ntilikina has troubled on both ends in the past. Instead Frank had a bird’s eye view of this all night.
The 2021 Knicks were born on March 2, 2020, the day they hired Leon Rose as their president. Last night’s loss was both a coronation and a call to action. Feelings are feelings and you’re always entitled to them, but feelings are not facts. Are you all warm and fuzzy today because the Knicks nearly doubled their expected win total in putting together a season out of left field? Are you down because you had dreams they’d beat Atlanta, or at least compete more against them? You’re both right. Rose should appreciate that six months ago, no one on this Earth had this team hosting a playoff series. The Knicks could have finished 10 games under .500 and it would’ve been progress; instead, they were 10 over. Those are gold star feats. The journey of a thousand miles is all about feet. One step. Then another. Then another. Keep it moving, Leon.
The 2021 Knicks were born on July 30, 2020, the day they hired Tom Thibodeau as head coach. The Atlanta series will not go down as one of Thibs’ finest hours, but coaching in the NBA is about so much more than Xs and Os and Ws and Ls. New York came into the season with no solid answers anywhere on the roster. The team lacked identity on both ends of the floor. Young players like RJ Barrett, Mitchell Robinson, and draftees Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley had much to prove. Veterans Julius Randle and Reggie Bullock were disappointing in their Broadway premieres a year ago. Ntilikina and Kevin Knox were both drafted as projects and the projects were not promising. Now the team has a defensive identity and built one on offense around Randle’s regular-season success. Barrett hit a new level. Robinson was playing the best ball of his career before fracturing his foot, an injury the Knicks patched over during the season, but that they couldn’t overcome against Clint Capela. Toppin and Quickley both showed encouraging signs. Randle and Bullock looked completely different this year (Bullock was healthier, which helped). Ntilikina and Knox... well, his name is Tom Thibodeau, not Jesus Christ.
The 2021 Knicks were born on December 23, 2020, the day they lost their season opener in Indiana. The Knicks competed that night against a team people thought (at the time) was one of the East’s better squads in the Pacers. There were signs that night of the team and the time to come. Randle was an assist and rebound shy of a triple-double, something he did as many times this year (six) as the rest of his career combined. Barrett was a deadeye shot that night. Bullock and Alec Burks brought scoring punch from the wings. Toppin did things, including from outside the arc. Quickley was a positive before leaving with an injury. The Knicks competed. They never stopped competing.
The 2021 Knicks were an active team on the defensive end. Remember Nerlens Noel for how he looked in the regular season, as one of the better free agent signings the Knicks have made... ever. Forgive him his trespasses against Capela, who has at least 20 pounds on him. Noel battled bang-ups and bigger foes all year. He wasn’t afraid to take shots at smaller dudes, too.
The 2021 Knicks graduated from an ambling wreck to a solid mass. The next rite of passage is for them to become more multi-talented without losing the identity they built this year. This play is emblematic of what they are and what they need:
Randle is there to clean up the mess; if he wasn’t, all that work by Rose and Taj Gibson to force the turnover and Bullock to push up the floor is for naught. As seen in this series, Randle, for all his gifts and drive, is not LeBron James or Giannis Antetokounmpo. There is a limit to how much he can do, how much mess he can make up for by himself. The Knicks lost last night and in this series because they’re like a baseball team with a pitching staff made up of a lot of middle- or back-of-the-rotation starters. Moving forward, Rose should not be second in minutes on a team that fancies itself anything beyond happy to be here. Bullock shouldn’t be third. It’s fine that they were this year. Atlanta was the team that spent money like a poet on payday last offseason in the hopes of being exactly where they are now. The Knicks had the lowest payroll in the league. They need to improve. Should they advance in the next few years, it will be built on the shoulders of the 2021 team and its roster of overachievers and hard hats.
The 2021 Knicks’ interests included defense, not turning the ball over and making their 3-pointers. Sometimes from way far out.
They devoted much of their time to winning games, establishing a homecourt advantage, becoming a respectable road team and clueing the rest of the league in to a truth they’ve no choice but to accept.
The 2021 Knicks are survived by Atlanta, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Milwaukee, the entire Western Conference besides Memphis, you, me, millions of fans feeling better than they have in a while, and any Knick teams in the near future who keep the good vibes vibing.
They were preceded in death by the 1947-2020 Knicks. Donations may be sent to 3601 S Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19148. Go, Sixers.
Notes
The crowd gave the Knicks a standing ovation as the final minute wound down. I’m so happy this team was able to get some sensory sense of its impact on the fan base. Despite the way it ended, this was arguably the most pleasantly surprising season in franchise history.
You’ll hear plenty from people like me the next few days. Let’s hear what some of the participants had to say after the game. RJ, the floor is yours.
Rose:
Reggie:
Thibs:
Trae Young: showman. Sniper. Server. All with a touch of drama. It’s gonna be a fun however long he’s in the East.
The Hawks’ defense was at times swarming. The Knicks could never bother Young the way Atlanta did Randle. If you ever wondered what it was like watching the Knicks lose to Michael Jordan year after year, it was kinda like that. There was just never an answer.
Doesn’t mean I respect the foul-hunting. And I get why he does it, believe me. I lived through the New Jersey Devils’ neutral-zone trap years. They were successful. But most fans didn’t like watching that crap. Et tu, Trae?
I will never, ever not be all for playoff pettiness. With just under three minutes left in the first quarter, Young called the Hawks’ first timeout, after which Bullock smacked the ball from him. Trae was annoyed, griping to ref, when Noel came up from behind and knocked it away again.
Having watched them both, let me be clear for everybody: Trae Young > Reggie Miller. Feel free to argue, but you’d be wrong.
I get a bit of a Roy Hibbert vibe from Capela, a good center who looked outsized, literally, against a Knick team that enjoyed a Mitchell Robinson/Noel pivot pairing before ending the year starting Taj at the 5. Young was the series’ MVP, but Capela wins best supporting actor. An exceptional series for the Swiss Priss, who nevertheless gives off major Bebop/Rocksteady vibes, a.k.a. a bully who will get his hat handed to him by the big boys.
De’Andre Hunter took advantage of multiple mismatches guarded by Rose and came through with big moments on both ends. A winning player and a big part of what Atlanta will do in the coming years.
Marv Albert called the game on TNT, the last Knicks game he will ever broadcast. He started calling Knicks games in 1963. I can and pro’ly will write a much longer piece on Marv and his meaning to many people. He deserves that. And before you tell this victim of sexual violence “But what about his sexual assault trial!”, yes, I’m aware of that, and that factors into all that I want to say. For now, I’ll simply say Marv was, along with but even more than John Andariese, Ralph Kiner, Bob Murphy, Sam Rosen, and John Davidson, the voice of my youth. He’s the voice of the NBA and deserves recognition at Madison Square Garden in the rafters. From the way he said “Ewing…” to the short staccato last night of “Bullock... fires again... yes!” I am grateful for all the laughter and perspectives he brought to me as an NBA fan. This move by Burks elicited an “oh what a move!” reminiscent of a similar call he made from another Knicks’ playoff game 30 years ago.
Quoth Marv too many times to count over the years, yet never so many that it wasn’t a joy to hear: “Yes!” This was a “yes!” season for the Knicks. Who knows what will come next, and there’s never a guarantee that one good year means more are coming. But as you lick your wounds, remember the journey that led to them. Would you rather have finished with one of the league’s worst records? Not me. I know it’s a loaded draft, but dreams become tiring after you just feel like waking up, feel like feeling alive. The Knicks do. For that, I give thanks. And I thank all of you who’ve joined us here at The Strickland this season and helped make a leap of faith something young and new and promising. Kinda like a certain basketball team.
