Steve Popper: Knicks will have to switch back into underdog mode immediately after celebrating last season's championship
GREENBURGH — Throughout the Knicks' ascension from a laughingstock of the NBA to a contender and now, finally, a champion, there has been a constant in the background. The Knicks had something to prove.
There were slights, real or perceived. Jalen Brunson was a second-round pick who, even as he proved himself in the league, found critics insisting he wasn’t enough to serve as the star. Karl-Anthony Towns was traded from Minnesota. Josh Hart shuttled through teams and roles. Mikal Bridges was measured against the draft picks surrendered to bring him to New York. And OG Anunoby was never an All-Star.
But Tuesday night, when the spotlight is trained on the championship banner being raised to the rafters for the first time in 53 years, the doubters will have been silenced. So when the championship rings are handed out, the question is now a different one: How do you play the underdog when you’ve spent months being celebrated?
“It is a little tough, even for me as a head coach,” Mike Brown said. “You have people patting you on the back, telling you how good you are. It’s good, and you want people to be able to do that with you and for you and all that stuff. But in the same breath there always has to be a part of you — and I know this from experience — that says, ‘OK, Don’t listen to this, don’t read this, don’t watch this.’ Because it’s hard to stay even-keeled in situations like that.
“You’ve got to embrace it. You’ve got to enjoy it with others, especially your family. But try to come back to earth as soon as possible. And I think our guys have done a good job with it. There have been times when we think we know [what it takes], which is natural, and there’s going to be more times like that during the course of the season.
"But at the end of the day, we have a pretty sharp group. And if they don’t know, we’ll definitely help them know that this is not last year. This is a new season and we can’t just think we’re going to switch that light on and get after it.”
Maybe it’s fitting that after the ceremony is over, the first obstacle In front of the Knicks will be the reconstructed Philadelphia 76ers, an on-paper upgrade from the group that the Knicks swept out of the playoffs last season. If any part of the Knicks wanted to believe the hype — and they insist they don’t — the presence of LeBron James and Jaylen Brown added to Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe would serve as a quick wake-up call.
Throughout camp though, the Knicks have insisted that there is no change in their approach, no egos that need to be tamped down.
“I would say most of, if not all of us, have kind of turned the page already,” Brunson said after the final practice of training camp. “I think tomorrow is just something we can reflect on and understand what we did. But for the most part, we all turned the page . . . There is no relaxation.”
It starts with Brunson, the captain, who already captured two national titles in college at Villanova. And through all of the accolades that came this summer, has said from the start of camp that the party is over and getting better is the only goal.
But he’s not alone. The Knicks enter the season with issues, contracts that need to be settled at some point, but there is little doubt that there is a group as mature and motivated as any.
“I don’t think any of us are ready to sign off and be done playing basketball,” Landry Shamet said. “I don’t view it as a contentment thing. I think obviously you’re super grateful and appreciative, and I know I am, to have all that work to pay off. But I think the fascinating thing about it is starting tomorrow nobody cares. The ceremony is over. It’s 0-0. We’re all a competitive bunch and by no means is anybody expecting to coast or anything like that. Definitely not the tone of our group.”
When the Knicks were working their way up the mountain, two years ago they found themselves opening the season in Boston while the Celtics raised another in a long line of championship banners. They stayed in the locker room through most of the ceremony and then saw the Celtics crush them when the game began. If that lesson remains for the Knicks who were there, it only emphasizes what they already feel.
“It's a challenge,” Brown said. “I mean, it's hard because they're human, and there's a part of you that wants to keep celebrating. But you got to turn it off. So the challenge is trying to get them to enjoy the moment, but not fully. I guess, if that makes sense.
"Because you have to try to suppress all that early, before the ceremony, during the ceremony, so that you can quickly get, not just your body, but your mind and your emotions into the task in front of you.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
