The New York Knicks are world champions! Fifty three years since they last won it. Thirty two years since they came within one game of winning it all.
A lifetime of cheering for them for your humble correspondent and his not-so-humble feline overlord.
The cameras captured this incredible moment when Knicks captain and Finals MVP Jalen Brunson hugged his dad, Rick, after the final buzzer:
Brunson, who had been relentlessly double teamed all series, took over the game tonight, scoring from every angle in a magnificent 45-point performance that the Spurs had no answer for.
The Spurs and their towering, 7’4″ Goliath of a star could not stop the smallest player on the court as he used impeccable footwork, head fakes, rapid changes in angle of attack and exceptional court vision to score basket after basket.
Brunson entered the league as an afterthought, the 33rd pick in the second round of his draft class. He was expected to be a bench player, a guy who might have a decent career playing limited minutes
He has been repeatedly described as too small, too slow, not talented enough to lead a contending team. One NBA coach famously said no team could win with a him as its leader.
When the Knicks signed him, he was the backup to a superstar on the Mavericks. The Mavericks never realized his value. One prominent ESPN analyst sniffed that the Knicks had overpaid for a “role player,” even though the team signed Brunson for less money than the average starter at his position. Others panned him as a player of limited potential, saying he’d never make an All Star team (he’s made the last three) or compete with the best guards in the East. (He’s surpassed them all.)
One writer compared him to Eddie Curry, one of the greatest busts in Knicks history. The league collectively laughed at him and the Knicks.
And when Brunson could have signed a massive extension, he forfeited more than $100m so his team could afford to shore up the last few pieces of its roster. No other player has ever given up that much money, let alone in their career prime, to help their team.
Here’s a clip of little Brunson when he was a kid working his butt off under his father’s tutelage. The hard work paid off:
The elder Brunson was an NBA journeyman who played his best years with the Knicks, and young Jalen spent some of his formative years watching his dad play for the franchise that would ultimately hand him the keys and put its faith in him. The above video shows Rick taking a young Jalen through drills in drives to the basket and bringing the ball up court, with Jalen’s mom behind the camera offering words of encouragement.
Rick (who is also a Knicks assistant coach) and Jalen shared an emotional moment after the game, hugging as reality sunk in. Jalen Brunson, overcome with feeling at accomplishing his life’s dream, draped a towel over his head and wiped away tears as his teammates lent him support.
Brunson not only made Knicks basketball exciting again, he helped establish a winning culture with a team of great guys who do an enormous amount of charity work and are exceedingly generous with their time and money. Brunson, Hart and Bridges were teammates on a Villanova squad that won two NCAA titles, bringing a winning attitude, a confidence that they can match up with any team, to the Knicks.
Anunoby, the hero of game four’s historic comeback — when the Knicks overcame the biggest deficit in NBA Finals history — is even involved in promoting cat adoption, and rescues in New York have named adoptable cats after him.
It was also special to see the 90s Knicks legends who came so close to winning it all, supporting the young guys from the stands and crying tears of joy as the buzzer sounded. Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Charles Oakley and Allan Houston were all there along with Walt “Clyde” Frazier to cheer on the young Knicks. Ewing was crying tears of joy as well as he hugged Big KAT in celebration.
Brunson, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Karl Anthony “Big KAT” Towns, Mitchell Robinson, Deuce McBride, Jose Alvarado, Landry Shamet, Jordan Clarkson, Ariel Hukporti and the rest of the squad worked their behinds off for this moment, and they deserve every bit of it.
It’s funny how things turn out. Last year the Knicks seemed to have enormous momentum behind them and pulled off a huge upset against the Celtics in the playoffs, only to get stopped by Indiana. This year, the team had an uneven regular season and hit its stride at precisely the right moment, winning 16 of their 19 playoff games en route to the title.
As for New York, the city is ecstatic. What a season. What a night!
Note: When the Knicks won the NBA Cup earlier this season they were heavily criticized by some for celebrating a supposedly meaningless win. The team they defeated? The San Antonio Spurs. Although it’s been clear teams are absolutely motivated to win the NBA Cup, analysts have dismissed it as an indicator of postseason potential. That should change now that the Knicks have become the first NBA Cup winners to go on and win the league championship.
Pain In The Bud 