Is Knicks-Spurs the rare NBA Finals where neutral fans do not have an obvious villain?
The Finals start Wednesday, and I have been trying to determine which team neutral fans are supposed to dislike.
Normally this is a straightforward process. One team has been successful for too long, one fanbase has become too confident, or one player has developed a recognizable facial expression that causes people to become upset.
This year is less clear.
The Knicks have not won a championship since 1973 and have not made the Finals since 1999. New York is also the largest media market in the country, so if the Knicks win, the response will probably be extremely calm and limited to a reasonable number of newspaper articles, television segments, podcasts, commemorative shirts, and conversations with people who were not previously aware they cared about basketball.
The Spurs should be easier to root against. They already have five championships, and this is their first Finals appearance since 2014. But it does not really feel like the old Spurs returning. It feels like a new problem developing earlier than expected.
Wemby is 22 years old. He averaged 27.3 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.4 steals, and 2.7 blocks in the Western Conference Finals, then helped eliminate the defending champion Thunder in seven games. He is already in the Finals in his third season, which is good news for San Antonio and somewhat discouraging information for the rest of the Western Conference.
It is also difficult to dislike him personally. He seems less like a standard NBA villain and more like a polite alien who was sent to Earth to block shots and answer questions thoughtfully.
So this feels like a rare Finals where both teams are easy to root for now, but one of them could become significantly more annoying very soon.
If the Knicks win, do neutral fans enjoy the moment or immediately regret what they have allowed New York to become?
If the Spurs win, how long does Wemby remain universally likable before everyone realizes this may keep happening for the next decade?