Knicks, ahead of schedule, can make some memories for the fans
Knicks guard RJ Barrett gets a pat on the back from center Taj Gibson during the first half of the team's NBA game against the Pistons on April 3, 2021, in Detroit. Credit: AP/Duane Burleson
As the Knicks prepare for their first home playoff game since May 16, 2013, on Sunday, we all have to admit there’s nothing like playoff basketball at the Garden.
Unless it’s playoff hockey at the Garden. There was nothing more special than the Rangers putting an end to the "1940" taunts and taking over the city when they won the Stanley Cup in 1994.
No, wait, there’s nothing better than Citi Field (and Shea Stadium before that) when the Mets are good. 1969? 1986? Ya Gotta Believe!
Or is it Yankee Stadium, especially the previous one, where you could feel the upper deck swaying during the Joe Torre / Derek Jeter championship years?
For Long Islanders, there’s nothing like a big game at the Old Barn, aka Nassau Coliseum, the place crammed with screaming fans with an intimacy and ferocity that will be hard — if not impossible — to duplicate at UBS Arena.
You see the point? Every fan base thinks its glory years are the best, that its miracle playoff runs are the most miraculous, that its heroes are the most heroic, that its arenas or stadiums have the best nooks and crannies.
It’s about making memories. Who cares if the picture gets a little blurry as the years pass? What is starting on Sunday at MSG is why we care about our teams in the first place.
The Knicks have already captured a sliver of the city’s heart by rising from the ashes of countless dreadful seasons in this COVID-affected campaign to enter the playoffs as the East’s No. 4 seed.
That was the hard part.
Now comes the fun part.
Starting with Sunday’s series opener against the Atlanta Hawks, this Knicks team gets the chance to make Madison Square Garden "The Place to Be" again, if even for a couple of weeks or a month or however long they can squeeze out a postseason run.
"It’s a great sports town, as we know," coach Tom Thibodeau said earlier this week. "We know what basketball means to the city. So hopefully, we can give them something to be proud of. We have a special group of guys that have been working extremely hard all year long to put us in this position. Now the challenge starts all over again."
The fans will be there, a sellout crowd of 15,000, which is only 4,033 fewer than saw the Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers, 85-75, on that day in 2013.
It was Game 5 of a second-round series and the Knicks were facing elimination. Carmelo Anthony had 28 points as the Knicks took the series back to Indiana, where they lost Game 6 to end their last successful season.
Of course, longtime Knicks fans can feel free to scoff that a season that ends in the first or second round of the playoffs is a special one.
The current Knicks team isn’t built to win a championship, we all know that. But the intrigue going into this postseason is in wondering how far they can get, how many memories they can make and how much of this area — and not just the diehard basketball fans — they can bring along for the ride.
Second-year Knicks center Taj Gibson, who grew up in Brooklyn, knows first-hand the difference this year’s team has made to local fans versus the previous year’s 21-45 squad.
"You’re used to hearing, ‘What happened last night?’’’ Gibson said. "But you’re not hearing that as much because they understand that we’re playing hard, they understand that we’re trying to build something. It’s been great. It’s good to see people wearing that Knicks gear a lot more now. It’s a lot of orange and blue."
Said Thibodeau: "I think we have the greatest fans in the world here."
Every team says that. They can’t all be right. But for the next few weeks or more, the Knicks get to play in front of fans who deserve to be treated like it, anyway.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
