ZERO-ZERO
Unlike Stephen A Smith who is declaring the series over, fans should take a cue from the New York Knicks players. After Game 2, they refused to talk about winning 13 games in a row, or coming home with a chance to close out the NBA Finals.
Instead, to a man, they stated that they are taking it “one game at a time” and treating the series as if it’s “zero-zero”. Now, those are well-worn cliches, but based on the way the Knicks have played and reacted to their wins, I’m buying what they are selling.
On the flip side, I understand fans wanting to figure out what day they should take off for the parade. You’ve waited 53 years, or your whole life, and your team won both games in San Antonio despite Jalen Brunson shooting 24% from three, and 34% overall. No doubt, it’s starting to feel like the Knicks are Destiny’s child.
But I would urge everyone to take a breath, and remember how you felt on Thursday, April 23 after the Knicks lost Game 3 to the Atlanta Hawks — falling behind 2-1 in the first-round series. As a reminder, Mikal Bridges did not score, Landry Shamet played 3 minutes, Mike Brown’s job status was being questioned, and Giannis Antetokounmpo trade rumors resurfaced.
The point is — life comes at you fast. You don’t know what lies ahead, and you don’t know how many years it will take to get back here again. Don’t rush it. As I said on April 20, “These Are the Good Times” — take a cue from the players and focus on one quarter at a time.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
The Knicks are on a historic roll, and it shows up when comparing their 2024-25 vs. 2025-26 NBA Playoff Statistics. The only major team stat trailing last season is blocks.
2024-25 | 2025-26 | |
GAMES | 18 | 16 |
PTS FOR | 109.6 | 118.1 |
PTS AGAINST | 109.6 | 100.4 |
REBOUNDS | 42.6 | 45.3 |
ASSISTS | 19.8 | 26.4 |
STEALS | 7.9 | 9.1 |
BLOCKS | 4.7 | 4.3 |
TURNOVERS | 13.1 | 12.1 |
KAT LOVES HIM SOME MITCH
Knicks coaches and players credited Mitchell Robinson for his defense on Victor Wembanyama late in Game 2, but Karl-Anthony Towns really showed his deep appreciation for his teammate in the post-game news conference.
“On the last play, that was the best defense Mitch played on Victor all game”, Towns said. “He’s a helluva defensive player, you expect him to make the best effort. It speaks to his resiliency too, coming out here with an injury and making the biggest play of the game.
It speaks to how important he is to our team, the impact that he has on our team. He’s one of a kind. I don’t know if there’s another Mitch Robinson in the league… there’s only one of him, and we are honored and blessed to have him.”
YOU RANT — WE LISTEN
At SportsRantNY we pride ourselves on blending a fan’s passion with traditional journalistic values. However, in “Around NYC Jalen Brunson Headlines Our Top 13 Free Agent Signings”, I personally ignored my journalism degree.
In an effort to put an exclamation point on the fact that Brunson is the best local free agent signing of all time — I decided to lean into Kevin Durant’s decision to sign with the Brooklyn Nets in 2019.
I used Durant’s quote “I didn’t want to be the savior of the Knicks or New York” as a way of emphasizing that Brunson wanted the pressure of signing to play under the bright lights of the Mecca.
On its own, that’s pretty good point. But I didn’t stop there. With the excitement of the Knicks Game 1 win still flowing through my veins, I proceeded to take down KD, Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets’ smaller fanbase.
The only redeeming thing I did was include a link to a Jose Martinez article on September 10, 2020, which recapped Durant’s explanation for his snubbing of the Knicks on the “The Old Man and the Three” podcast.
Unfortunately, while waving my orange and blue pom-poms, I left that contextual quote out of my post.
Mea Culpa
Meanwhile, I want to thank all the readers who reamed me out — er, I mean — pointed that out. To paraphrase what Knicks head coach Mike Brown said after Game 2 about his coaches and players, “my door is always open, RantBack at any time”.
ICYMI “4 Things Knicks: From Punchline to Eastern Conference Champs”