Thursday June 4, 2026; 9:01 AM EDT
I didn't write about the Knicks prior to last night's game because I had no idea what to write. #- The Knicks in the Finals is something I had a hard time understanding, even thinking about. To me the Knicks are soulful losers. They're like once-future hall-of-famer Carmelo Anthony surrounded by people who shouldn't even be in the NBA, but otherwise are lovely individuals. When they asked Melo what his goal was he said it was to win a championship, but the reporters never followed up with the obvious question -- "Really?" They did make the playoffs, three times, in the Age of Melo, and they made it to the second round one of those three seasons, but that was it as far as Melo's championship aspirations went. He should've been on one of LeBron's teams, like JR Smith and Iman Shumpert, both Knicks alumni in the Melo period, who were fine players and did win with LeBron at Cleveland.#
- Going into the game last night I thought maybe the pundits were right, that the real NBA Finals was the previous round between the San Antonios and the Oklahoma Cities. But last night that was debunked. At what point did I realize this? It wasn't until the game was over, ABC announcer Mike Breen said at the exact moment the game was over "..their 12-game win streak" which revealed that I had little faith the streak would be preserved. I thought 11 was pretty great, but 12? Until that exact moment -- unthinkable. #
- In the first part of the game when San Antonio looked like they might rout the poor unprepared Knicks, I thought okay, but couldn't we just concede so we don't have to watch? In that moment I appreciated what the Clevelands must have been feeling as they shrunk to nothing faced with the Knicks onslaught? How about if we all go home now at some point they must all have been thinking. #
- I'm a Mets fan first, and I bring the Mets philosophy to every sport, including the NBA and software. I'm here for the game. Sure I love it when we win, but if the Knicks went down in the final test, I'd still be a happy camper. Look they made it to the freaking Finals! Some Mets fans say the team slogan is You Gotta Believe. I say Wait Till Next Year! Same for the Knicks. Same for every software product I make that no one bothers to try out. #
- This Knicks team is classic. Every one of their players would be a star on any other team, including the bench players. Some of them whose contracts expire at the end of the series will certainly go to other teams. But what a thrill to have this group all on the same team and that team is my lovely Knicks. #
- Last night's game was a lesson, you should always be open to the possibility of winning because sometimes you do. #
- PS: My friend Dave Carlick sent me a text overnight: "I watch the Knicks rooting for you. How tribal is that?" I had a longish reply. "I wrote a piece this morning after reading this comment, and of course I am rooting for the Knicks in some sense, but a win here is about more than winning -- it's a transformation. I've heard other people say this and the Knicks are us -- in a city that has disagreements about everything the only thing everyone is on board with are the Knicks. We're really comfortable with the Knicks as losers, and this has already become an unequivocal change. It's a whole new situation. Unless something really weird happens now, the Knicks will be great next year too, and the year after. So it's like witnessing a moon landing Dave. Underneath that of course I'm rooting for success, the same way we rooted for it for the initial moon landing in 1969."#