Doc Searls Weblog

This Knicks NBA championship run is the greatest of all time. Reasons:

1. They won sixteen of nineteen games through the playoffs, including two sweeps. They only lost the first two games in the first round, each by one point, and then one game in the Finals by not much, and their city blames Trump for jinxing them for that last loss—one where his presence was hugely inconvenient and distracting, for which he was clearly not interested (except in self-aggrandizement), and during which he fell asleep.
2. They are The Formerlies. Except for Mitchell Robinson and some benchwarmers, they were all acquired off the Used Player market. 
3. They played in the East, considered the weaker conference, and won only 53 games in the regular season. Detroit, Boston, and Cleveland all won more. But the playoffs are clutch time, and nobody has ever been more clutch when it mattered most than these Knicks.
4. They have no top-tier stars. Only Jalen Brunson is all-NBA, and he’s on the second team. They also have no “big two,” or “big three.” They have a big ten: Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges. Karl-Anthony Towns, Miles McBride, Landry Shamet, Mitchell Robinson. Jordan Clarkson, and Jose Alvarado (in declining order of minutes played in the playoffs).
5. They are best team of the modern era, exemplifying what Bill Simmons calls “the secret.” Specifically, “The secret of basketball is that it’s not about basketball.” It’s about players caring more for each other, and for the team, than for themselves. It helps that three players (Brunson, Hart, Bridges) won championships (plural!) at Villanova, and call each other “Brothers for life.” Watch them for a while, and it becomes clear that the team is like a family. It also helps that Rick Brunson, Jalen’s dad, is an assistant coach with the team, and that the coach, Mike Brown (another Formerly) seems more like an uncle. 
6. In the playoffs, they became all but unbeatable. Losing is out of character for them. They could fall behind by any number of points, and their eventual victory still seemed inevitable. In the final game, when the Knicks were within seven points, it looked to me like the game was over already: the Knicks would close the gap, take the lead, and win. They know how to do that, over and over. They are glued, experienced, determined, and locked in. You can see the other team start to melt.
7. Jalen Brunson, Captain Clutch, proved he was the real league MVP. By miles. None of his moves look especially slick or athletic, but he is so good at getting open, slipping past defenders, shooting fallbacks, and getting layups no matter what, that it’s crazy to think the guy is just 6’1″ (okay, with a 6’4″ wingspan) with no shoes on. He is a great leader, an unselfish teammate, and very dependable in the clutch. OMG, and tough. I just heard Bill Simmons call Brunson the toughest guy in the league. Who’s tougher?
8. In the Finals, they beat the best collection of players in the league, starting with Victor Wembanyama, who will likely go down as the greatest player of all time if he stays healthy, learns from his failings, and wins a bunch of rings. 
9. New York showed it’s the Greatest City in the World. You could feel the love the team and the city have for each other. I grew up a Knicks fan in New Jersey, across the river from New York. Used to go to Knicks games for $5 a ticket, many decades ago. But I’ve also spent a lot of time in Boston, San Francisco (where I had season tickets to the Warriors), and Los Angeles. Among major cities, only Boston compares to New York for the level of civic devotion to the team. Both also share a subway culture, which heats up fandom, heart-to-heart, despite all other differences. But New York is a lot bigger. (And yes, San Antonio is a great basketball town too. But it’s a town. A great town. But not New Yawk.)
10. The Knicks victory was great for basketball. This year’s Finals was hugely popular. Ratings across the four-game series averaged 19.6 million viewers, +116% over 9.1 million for last year’s Thunder-Pacers series. This was the most-watched Finals in the current millennium. There was also a spike in younger demographics. Viewing among teens (12-17) jumped by 138%, and young adults (18-24) spiked with 147% compared to last year.

All this is debatable, of course. Just not right now.