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This New York Knicks run to the NBA Finals isnāt shocking because theyāre not good enough.
Itās shocking because everything actually worked.
And for the Knicksā¦ thatās almost impossible to believe.
D.A. breaks down why this run feels so surreal:
The coaching hire worked.
The front office decisions worked.
The blockbuster acquisitions worked.
The stars fit.
The chemistry clicked.
Every major gamble this franchise took paid off.
Thatās the least Knicks thing ever.
For decades, New York has been the place where bold moves backfire and hype turns to heartbreak.
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0:00
For all of the foibles
0:03
and ridiculousness
0:06
of the New York Knicks over the last 20
0:09
to 25 years,
0:11
it is absolutely remarkable that this
0:14
team looks like this headed into its
0:16
first NBA finals in 26 years. Because
0:21
it never goes well for the Knicks. And
0:24
now it's going all too well. It's like
0:27
the story not only changed but changed
0:30
so dramatically that you can't even know
0:33
whether you should believe it. It's It's
0:34
a little bit like if the Cleveland
0:35
Browns were 15 and two and the one seed
0:39
and had just ripped apart the AFC
0:41
playoffs and landed in the the Super
0:43
Bowl. You'd be like, I don't know if I
0:44
believe this because this this thing
0:47
doesn't happen. There are the Knicks of
0:49
the 90s, which are my youth, and I love
0:51
those Knicks teams, the the Ewing and
0:53
Starks and
0:55
you know, whether it was Derek Harper or
0:56
Greg Anthony. I loved Anthony Mason. I
0:59
loved Oakley. I loved those guys. I
1:01
loved the tenacity and the toughness and
1:03
all of that. All of those things were
1:06
disintegrated, blown to smithereens over
1:08
the last two and a half decades because
1:11
none of those teams had any grit. They
1:13
had no fight. They had no togetherness.
1:15
They had no unity. They had no
1:16
leadership. They had no none of the
1:17
stuff that the 90s Knicks did that came
1:20
up short but they at least were
1:22
something you could be proud of.
1:24
The fact that this Knicks team did so
1:26
many things that perennially,
1:28
traditionally blow up in their face and
1:30
it worked is to me the most bizarre
1:33
part. First of all, you have a coach who
1:36
has flamed out multiple places before. I
1:38
know Mike Brown probably should not have
1:39
been fired in Sacramento, but this is a
1:41
guy who coached LeBron, who coached
1:44
Kobe, who's had multiple stints across
1:46
the NBA, and it felt like another
1:51
re-tread lands with the Knicks.
1:53
You look at a guy like Jalen Brunson.
1:55
Now, the receipts are infamous, but when
1:57
he was signed by the Knicks, it seemed
1:59
like yet again a tier B free agent given
2:03
tier A money because it's the Knicks
2:05
overspending for a guy that cannot
2:08
elevate a franchise.
2:09
And Jalen Brunson's become perhaps the
2:11
best clutch performer in the game.
2:14
You look at, you know, the addition of
2:16
big of of the bigs of of Karl-Anthony
2:20
Towns, and he's a guy that never seemed
2:23
to be a clutch performer, playoff, big
2:27
game guy. You add him to the Knicks and
2:29
you're you're guaranteeing yourself
2:31
these big goose eggs and and minimal
2:34
performances in the playoffs, and he has
2:36
been sensational.
2:38
You know, even the Mikal Bridges trade,
2:40
which was a lot of draft picks, a lot of
2:41
collateral, and it seemed like again an
2:43
overspend.
2:45
It has worked out well enough, and even
2:47
when it has not worked for Mikal
2:48
Bridges, it hasn't submarine the season.
2:52
They gave the keys to Leon Rose, who's
2:54
never before been an executive, who's
2:56
never before run a franchise. They
2:58
basically gave a sneaker guy all the
3:00
power in the world.
3:02
Somehow that worked. These are all
3:04
things that over the last 25 years, each
3:07
one of them always goes wrong for the
3:10
Knicks. Always.
3:13
And this this version
3:15
it it can do no wrong. And you look at
3:18
this kind of
3:19
primrose path that they've also walked.
3:21
They were the three seed, they earned
3:23
that, that gets them the six seed, and
3:25
they had trouble with the Hawks, at
3:26
least at first.
3:28
And then of all the things, they don't
3:30
have to play the two seed, they played a
3:31
seven when the Sixers come back from
3:33
down 3-1, then they don't have to play
3:36
the one seed, they get to play the four
3:38
because the Cavaliers knock off the
3:40
Pistons. So, a three seed
3:43
does not have to play the one
3:45
or the two in a route to the NBA finals.
3:48
Now, it's not that huge a deal because
3:50
of Knicks are the best team in the
3:51
Eastern Conference by far as we see. I
3:53
think they would have demolished the the
3:55
Pistons and the Celtics, but
3:57
it's a the point is that these are
3:59
things that have never gone the next
4:01
direction. And when you go back to the
4:03
'90s
4:04
and those teams, they were star-crossed.
4:08
Because when they were at their best,
4:11
they ran into Michael Jordan.
4:13
And when they didn't even have to run
4:15
into Michael Jordan, they ran into
4:17
Hakeem Olajuwon.
4:18
And even when it looked like they could
4:20
beat Hakeem Olajuwon, John Starks shoots
4:22
one for 19 or whatever that was.
4:25
Every time they had something, the
4:27
Charles Smith layup, the Patrick Ewing
4:29
finger roll, even the '99 finals were
4:32
it's a magical run, they're the eight
4:34
seed and they get all the way to the
4:35
finals, they are dismantled by a young
4:37
Tim Duncan and David Robinson still
4:39
there.
4:40
Nothing ever comes up Knicks. So, for
4:43
this
4:44
to be coming up all Knicks
4:46
is so unique and remarkable and out of
4:50
body, and I don't quite know how to
4:53
explain it, especially if you're from
4:55
New York,
4:57
but
4:58
this thing that's happening with the
4:59
Knicks
5:01
never happens.
5:03
>> [laughter]
5:03
>> Never.
5:05
And
5:06
I give the Knicks a fighting shot in the
5:08
NBA finals. I do. I I think the Thunder
5:11
or the Spurs are better,
5:13
but with the way the Knicks are playing
5:16
and the rest that they will have
5:19
and the the the players that they have
5:21
at the moment playing at their absolute
5:22
apex, I give them a chance and everybody
5:25
else should as well.
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