Whether or not it’s a valid point, I guarantee you that if the Knicks win the Final people will say it’s because they had easier opponents beforehand so they were more rested and less injured.

Personally I don’t give a shit where people rate the Knicks as long as we win. They could say they’re the worst NBA Champions of all-time, but it wouldn’t matter because they still hit.

“every game in the nba is between two frauds. if you lose, your fraudulence is proven. if you win, you’ve won against a fraud, and have thus proven nothing.”

Sixers/Embiid were toast after their long series, but the Hawks were making things interesting before the Knicks just steamrolled them, and sure the Cavs just gave out, but that’s because the Knicks broke their spirit 🤣

And yeah if the Knicks win the title there will be plenty of talk about their rest advantage and how tough the WCF was, it’s inevitable

A lot of that is just media talk, which doesn’t reflect reality.

The Knicks have been better than Sixers for at least the past 3 seasons. They beat them two years ago in the playoffs. The Knicks not the Sixers had the best player on both teams.

The Cavs are also a similar situation. NY has been better than Cavs for years as well. They easily beat them in the playoffs back in 2023. Again NY has the best player on both teams. Additionally, since that playoff series, NY has added KAT, OG and Bridges. Cleveland replaced Garland with an over the hill Harden.

Tbh hawks had the right coach and defensive scheme to apply the most pressure, they were just the only team out of the bunch who didn’t have the players to do so. I mean guys like tony Bradley and gabe vincent , even korey kispert, getting legitimate non-garbage time minutes in the playoffs is not ideal. Also for them, guys like JJ, Dyson, etc getting playoff experience at this point is more important. The rest of the east crowd had enough experienced vets and quality to not get swept, it’s laughable. Brown even said Snyder enforced them to change the way the coached the rest of the playoffs so there’s that.

While there’s truth to your statement, you’re also fabricating the truth a bit. The hawks weren’t good which is why the knicks got clowned when they lost those games. The sixers weren’t supposed to beat the Celtics, no one had them winning that series. Embiid was coming off an injury and is notorious for not making it out of the second round. The cavs are the first team where you are correct, they are a good team that on paper is a contender. But they’ve shown themselves to be frauds last year as well. The spurs and thunder will not be said to suck, if it’s the spurs what’s going to be said is that they were young, inexperienced and drained after the thunder series. If it’s the thunder it’s going to be that they were injured and drained after the spurs series. You’re correct that these things will be said, but if they win just enjoy the championship, people will knock any win.

Not only will the Thunder or Spurs “suck” suddenly the front page will be all Brunson flops, and that he’s not even that good (despite all the evidence to the contrary)

“Injury merchants” or “no playoff experience” calling it now

It’s the fraud paradox- everyone in the NBA is a fraud, if you lose then your fraudulence is proven and if you win then you only beat a fraud and have proven nothing

Hell you can see the same thing on every post game thread. Every OKC-SAS is especially egregious

No one thought that about the Hawks. Maybe after they stole a game, sure.

Rest are valid though. The dismantling of the 6ers is when most people started believing I think.

Knicks are about to get their back blown out by the west

Why what happened to the 2003 Nets? Did they not win that year? /s

The answer is KAT (distributing & defense) and making 3s. That’s how.

At first it seemed like an aberration, but 11 games of this with three close out blowouts is not an aberration.

Well said.

The reason I don’t have faith is the shooting. People are clowning the whole “analytical Cavs” but they generated more open threes than the Knicks while shooting a record low 28% from three in a conference finals.

Knicks role players like shamet shot ¹²⁄₁₃ from three in the series. They’ve shot lights out two straight rounds so the question is… is that sustainable against more physically gifted teams like the spurs or thunder?

It’s all about who’s hot. The Finals should be great regardless. I don’t think the Knicks will be easy to beat. Especially considering they are sitting back watching OKC and SA beat each other up

Just trying to put the ref swing on the back burner of my mind and enjoy the Thunder/Spurs games

Taking it easy in the regular season is part of it. The glimpse we caught of the Knicks in a playoff atmosphere, the Knicks ran through the league and won the cup

its coaching. mike brown made incredible adjustments over the past month. playoff basketball has always been about adjustments

They faced arguably the greatest NBA team of all time

The Knicks have the highest point differential in NBA Playoff history. If you put the Thunder or the Spurs in the Knicks spot, they would not have dominated the way the Knicks have, but nobody would be giving them this much shit.

Knicks have made at least the second round four straight seasons, and have a new coach and strategy. Their young guys have gotten better and the team’s chemistry is on another level right now. The Knicks are just that good. Time to accept it.

They’re dominant. OG is probably the best 2 way player right now, he’s elite on defense and owns the paint. KAT is a great “big guard” who can also clog the paint, get boards, and stretch defense with his 3 shot. Brunson is playing like a top 3 PG. On top of that, their bench is pretty solid. I mean they scored 130 with no one above 20 points individually.

They were playing like ass in the first games of the ATL series and should have done a gentleman’s sweep. Sixers have no bench depth (thanks Morey) and the Cavs unfortunately were too reliant on Harden, who has been a god awful liability in every post season.

The East is no weaker than the West was this season, the Thunder and Spurs absolutely cruised through the first two rounds of the playoffs

100 Knick threes vs 1 Alien 👽

Based on what? Their historical dominance? OKC and San Antonio are beating the shit out of each other while Knicks have 8 days off until game 1 to rest up and get healthy. Low instruction, lower basketball IQ.

This is their finals dude let them enjoy it