Josh Hart on the Spurs beating OKC: “You see that reaction because they think they gonna win it”
I’m not sure that’s true. But if you’re a player and their next opponent, this is 1000% what you tell yourself to use it as motivation
It was their first playoffs together and they beat the defending champs in a game 7 in their arena so I can see why they acted the way they did. Though, it didn’t help that the media thought the western conference final was the “real finals” and I can see that seeping into their subconscious.
Sure they beat the defending champs on the road in a game 7 as a very young team to get to the finals and it’s their first playoffs together But that still doesn’t mean they should’ve celebrated the way they did! I mean it’s not like they won a home play-in game to warrant that type of celebration.
Did they even stand up now? Face the sun?
Hide their tail or turn and run?
You mean they shouldn’t have jumped around and hugged each other and been happy and cried because they won a grueling 7 game series? They shouldn’t have expressed any happiness whatsoever at their win? All these people saying they celebrated too much act like the team went on some kind of bender, but they didn’t do that at all. Also, everybody who was rooting for the Spurs enjoyed seeing it. Them being happy they beat the Thunder is not what made them lose the Finals series.
Idk if you look at the way they discussed the Knicks the entire series even when they were losing, they spoke like they were the far better team.
Who knows what they really thought when they were giving those lines to the media, but the Knicks were not imagining things when they told themselves the Spurs were overconfident
Everyone said the west was better. Everyone crowned Wemby as unstoppable. They got their teeth knocked in. And they didn’t get up.
WCF was supposedly the real finals and hell we were all saying it before the playoffs began but man the Knicks proved everyone wrong. What a dominant run. Inspirational.
The Knicks going into San Antonio and punking them for games one and two on their home court wasn’t on anybody’s radar outside of NY.
Yeah the general feeling/consensus from anyone I talked to and most of the media was that OKC was the Spurs’ biggest challenge.
Obviously wrong, but still the sentiment. As for the Spurs’ mindset about it, who knows unless they say it (which they constantly did), but they didn’t show up at home. Treating the Finals like a gimme fucked them.
The betting consensus was that the Spurs were 2 to 1 favorites to beat the Knicks.
No Knicks fan believe that either. Sure maybe someone truly believed they’d split and win home court, but winning both G1 and G2 is crazy
Thats literally every team in the post-game that plays us ever since Jaylen Browns comments last playoffs saying they were up 20 and lost both games didnt really make sense to him
His “Losing to the Knicks… feels like death” is probably one of my favorite post-series comments.
If he surprised if any team ever said that they weren’t better than the opposition.
This was different. They refused to give the Knicks any sort of credit, even when the series was over. And mid series, saying things like “we don’t need to be great to win, just play at our normal level” is the kind of rhetoric that shows a lack of appropriate respect for who they were up against.
We can act like this is normal, but I think if the Knicks were in a similar boat making the same comments they would be getting clowned for it.
It’s insane people are just denying what the Spurs were saying the whole series.
It’s not even like it was subtext or subtle. They just straight up said it all lmao
Spurs were so insanely arrogant
Gaslighting is real.
Spurs still get that top tier PR lol
Wemby drank the kool-aid the media was spurting. No one gave the Knicks a chance and Wemby ate that shit up and believed it.
I mean I don’t think it’s uncommon to see athletes admit they were outclassed after the competition, which none of the spurs seemed to be able to bring themselves to do.
Next you’re gonna tell me these boxers don’t all actually hate each other
They usually do after losses. Ofc before games you have to think you’re the best, but after losing games the spurs always acted like they were still the better team that night
I thought it was a great sign for the Knicks the way Castle, Wemby, Mitch Johnson, and Vasell were talking after games. Every time they seemed so sure they were the better team and if they just played their game they would win.
Josh said this on the podcast too. Basically that he felt the Spurs didn’t give the Knicks credit and chalked it all up to self inflicted stuff. And that while yes the Spurs had their mistakes and sometimes the Knicks feel that way about themselves too, sometimes that’s because of what the other team is doing and that you always have that kind of respect for the opponent.
I definitely feel like the outside noise does play a role, guys from the league like Teague have said many times stories about how the outside narratives and media and fan rhetoric does get in the locker room.
Somehow the Knicks were viewed as a team that isn’t ‘talented’ despite going on a historic run and having one the most talented big men we’ve ever seen, a lead guard who’s won at every level despite his size and probably the best two way wing in the league.
They played like shit when it mattered, unfortunately for them.
Tbh the spurs didnt have any playoff scar tissue. This was their first playoff run ever for most of their core. I totally understand why they would get super excited regardless. It was a first for everything the whole way through for them.
yeah the average age of the team is 14 and a half years old.
Bunch of Tatums over there.
Being down 3-2 in the WCF has to be a slight scar lol.
Pretty sure a lot of fans thought the same, that Spurs thought they had it in the bag. Kinda confirms this when you look at how the Spurs acted when Knicks won it all.
Wemby said it too lol
OKC was the Spurs’ finals. They overlooked you guys, and they were punished for it.
I was at the pod. Right before this he said the Knicks went thru the same emotions last year after beating Boston.
That’s what I thought when I saw Wembys reaction. They looked like they had just won the Finals.
I’ll get downvoted for it, but this looks like a pretty standard 7 game conference finals win celebration. I think there’s a lot of projection going on in this Reddit thread.
Yeah you’re right it’s just that the Thunder felt unbeatable with their playstyle. The emotions were 100% not at all about the path ahead but rather about the fact that they somehow won that series.
I’m sure that’s true.
Weeks ago, people were talking like the East had no shot, like whoever came out of the West was automatic.
It was all “The Western Conference Finals is the most important series in these playoffs. It’s basically the NBA Finals.”
[removed]
Lot of revisionist shit going on. Josh is right.
And now we get to see a ton of people hilariously saying that OKC would’ve won if they were healthy or that they were really the best team. Kinda hilarious how disrespected the Knicks are for going 16-3 and winning 15 of their final 16 in the playoffs and by historic margins
Yup. We went through the same thing with the Pacers. It is what it is, just gotta ignore it. People love to hate the champs.
❤️
OKC would’ve been a better matchup against the Knicks for sure. Compared to the Spurs, they have more veteran experience and I have no doubt it doesn’t go downhill so quick. While their starting center is not Wemby, they also don’t depend on him as much, so the team is more balanced in the other areas.
OKC had nobody who could stop KAT from doing whatever he wanted
Kat stops Kat from doing whatever he wants. He was wildly inconsistent all playoffs, averaged only 15.9 the whole postseason, and had 2 points in game 5. He did step up his defense in a major way tho
He wouldn’t have been going up against the league’s next darling so he not getting 2 quick ticky tack fouls back to back.
The sub got so used to shitting on the Knicks that they’re trying anything to undermine it.
“They about to lose to the Hawks! Trae Young’s ghost still lives on!”
“Wait until they play an actual good team like the Celtics again Sixers.”
“Knicks in trouble because they’re about to play Detr- Cleveland..?”
“They only got this far because the Pacers didn’t play Haliburton.”
“WCF is the Real Finals^^^TM .”
“Lol down 29 at the half. BTA!”
No one gave the Knicks any grace last year after losing to the Pacers. Now they’ll just magically find that grace for Wemby and the Spurs.
In fairness, the internet does this to every champion in every sport. They’d rather say the sport sucks than admit a team they hate is good.
What does the Reddit, media, or neutral fan opinion have to do with what the spurs themselves thought? Why are we placing what every person besides the actual team thought onto them? Even if you agree with Josh, the argument can’t be well the media thought it so the spurs thought it too
I was at the pod and this is also getting clipped out of context for views. Right before this hart said we went through the same emotions after beating the defending champs in Boston last year and then ended up getting punched in the mouth by the pacers. He’s relating to the spurs, not shitting on them.
This is an example of why deep playoff experience matters. The Spurs were able to overcome their inexperience until they weren’t.
Yeah, idk if the Spurs thought they were winning jt all in that moment. But their main goal of the season was to get past OKC.
The Knicks also built themselves to beat Boston last year. This year, they were laser-focused on winning the title, regardless of who was in the way
Yep. This sub was blowing the Spurs nightly talking about them having the league on lock for a decade.
They’ve been doing that since they drafted wemby
I was said idiot but at least I can admit it. Too many clowns on here acting like they all knew Knicks would crush. On Kalshi, Spurs and OKC were both trading way over Knicks to win it all despite having to eliminate each other.
Institutionalized disrespect
“I’m never wrong if I move the goalposts” strikes again!
I thought the Sixers were just dogshit. I never wanted to admit the Knicks were that good but now I have to smh
I admire how much you hate your own team to also discredit your rivals. I’m a Mets fan so I see you.
People said the same thing about okc vs pacers… it’s like fans never learn
My friend who is a Sixers fan said it doesn’t matter who wins our series we’re both getting destroyed by OKC or San Antonio
I sent him a screenshot after the Knicks won the chip and he never answered lmao
I hated how middling teams tried to act like the Knicks were in the same position as them only to get utterly embarrassed 😭😭
The Knicks didn’t face a fellow top-three seed but also mostly skullfucked the three teams they played. People acted like that didn’t mean anything.
Preach brother
I remember there was a post saying like “Consensus around the league is that whoever wins WCF is winning it all.”
Yeah the spurs players and this sub thought the Knicks were food we don’t gotta pretend
“WCF is the real chip” - NBA media until game 1 of the finals. they absolutely thought they had it lmao
NBA fans have dementia. For the last 10 years, we’ve consistently seen the impossible made possible but people will still act like x team is a lock.
Every single time
And it will happen again next year
Also stupid because the Knicks/Spurs played twice. Healthy Spurs beat Knicks by 2 without Hart/Robinson/Shamet. When fully healthy (minus McBride), Knicks beat the Spurs by 25.
You’re forgetting the NBA Cup final.
We played the Spurs 8 times this year. We won 6 of them. We were down double digits in all 8 games.
Knicks play rope a dope.
Let the opponent throw some punches, wear themselves down and then they do their thing….
Outside of the 24 Celtics, it’s felt like it could be one of a handful of teams at the start of each playoffs.
…well, except my team
Pretty sure this sub thought Knicks were cooked halfway through G4 too lmao. Reactionary as fuck.
And this subreddit too
Made our victory soooooo much better 😂
He’s right. Spurs thought they would run through the Knicks and so did so many of their fans. Thought they won the chip by beating okc in 7
Was very satisfying to see them get humbled by a team of destiny
its a reminder of how hard it is to win a championship. Spurs won 13 games and it was genuinely a monumental accomplishment, but you need to win 16 to win it all.
Okc would have been killed in the finals with all their injuries too.
Naw I don’t think so. They at least put up a good fight. Sga wouldn’t give every game away on a plater
SGA wouldn’t but his team would. 2nd best player in Chet and 3rd best player is Alex Caruso. Do the math.
Chet definitely plays much better against KAT/Robinson compared to playing against Wemby.
I don’t know about that. Knicks matched up better with the Spurs
The spurs celebrated like this bc they just beat their rival in a grueling 7 game series to go to the finals for the first time in their really young careers.
I can’t believe they’re getting clowned for celebrating hard for that win. People do not want to see emotion in this sport.
Depends on the team. If it’s a team people hate, they get slated for it. If it’s a team people like, they get praised for being emotional.
It’s like the Gordon Ramsey meme.
All before the playoffs & finals the narrative was that the East is weak and the WCF is the “real” finals
Some people here have short term memory loss
In general yes, but I saw many people saying the Knicks having a favorable matchup against the Spurs. Based off their games earlier in the season.
Sure, I saw that too. The absolute best people would give them is “favorable match up”, nobody thought they were gonna win and especially not in the fashion in which they won
I think the media really fueled it too, the whole West is just better narrative. It wasn’t even this year, last year OKC was supposed to stomp on the Pacers.
Part of it is that the Spurs are young, you know they’re watching the media and monitoring social media. I think they bought the idea that OKC was the mountain to climb and then dismissed the Knicks.
Unfortunately the media controls a lot of the narratives, they barely even breach issues unless it serves a purpose. Everyone knew the officiating was BS but national media like “Thank God we don’t have to talk about it now” because there’s no purpose. The fans buy into it, and so do the players.
Aside from a few voices like Nick Wright, the media largely kept downplaying the Knicks run through the East at every step. The Spurs clearly bought into the narrative because they refused to give the Knicks any credit and never adjusted.
Every step Knicks were doubted. Made it all the more sweet
It was odd because a lot of the goal posts kept shifting. I was like “Do they just want the Knicks fan base to be angry all the time?”
Even the Spurs went from like OKC-Spurs is like the Seahawks-Rams for the SB to “Yeah that’s a very young team, they overachieved honestly, they should be proud” type sentiment.
as a fan i was confused when they were tryna make it seem like we were the favorites in the finals, Knicks gave us belt to ass all year and had just beat us in the NBA cup. Media was just overly pushing the wemby agenda
Completely wrong. Any spurs fans with a brain knew the knicks were a better matchup than okc was. The thing is the spurs were super young and on their first playoff run together. They got emotional after beating okc in a game 7. We can’t blame them for that. But the spurs didn’t have the experience or time to adjust their mentality to properly prepare for the knicks. As a spurs fan I just don’t agree the team or fans thought we were gonna breeze past the knicks. We aren’t that stupid bro. The knicks beat the spurs on the regular season series also.
Even many neutral and casual fans on this sub thought the WCF were the true Finals.
Spurs thought they were going to win it because every major news outlet was spreading that narrative. I almost started believing it myself. “Whichever team wins in the West is going to take it.” “The West is in a different league.” Blah blah blah.
Then the Knicks come in and trounce the Spurs AND the refs 4–1. God, it was beautiful.
I found it amusing how the majority of the comments said the Knicks had no chance to beat whoever came out of the west. Boy were they wrong
No they didn’t.
Maybe some of the fans did, but do you actually think that the team and coaching staff, who undoubtedly sifted through hours of film and analytics, thought they’d “run through” a much better rested team who was the only team to have a winning record against them in the regular season, and one of the known counters to Wemby (a skilled big that can shoot 3s and pull Wemby away from the rim)?
Wemby said all he had to do was play normal not even good to win.
They 100% believed this even if it was their subconscious. A lot of the answers after games just gave the vibe of, we’re good it was just a bad game. Only Harper to me seemed to mention they need to be desperate. The entire time Castle seemed to think they were the better team by default
Their post game interviews did feel like they were looking past the Knicks. You can chalk the Wemby quote about playing normal up to a language barrier but some of the other quotes were dismissive.
“We felt like we’ve dictated the outcome of all these games”
Was especially dismissive. Like the Knicks made no adjustments.
Tbf wemby prolly did dude is psycho confident
Right. Also the Knicks were setting NBA records with how badly they were whooping their opponents. Even if you think the east is weaker, the Knicks looked like a buzz saw operating at like 10,000% efficiency. I’m sure nobody thought they’d roll right through them.
No they didn’t they were a young team celebrating winning a game 7 in the western conference finals against the defending champions why are you freaks celebration policing now. do you have literally anything else to do? You’re like old ladies out here caring about bullshit like this
Like the day after they won the WCF Kevin Garnett said basically this exact same thing in his podcast, “Look how happy they look, this was their Finals” I believe is how he worded it and now here’s Josh saying the same thing.
Seems like that’s how hoopers viewed it
How tf can you say that so positively? Lol. The Knicks had their number in the regular season. I doubt they all were relaxed thinking it would be a cakewalk
People who actually watched the season knew the Spurs were the best match up the Knicks could hope for since they got belted to ass by the Knicks all season.
The 180 on the Spurs on this sub is so reactionary lol. Went from “oh it’s good to be vulnerable and expressing emotions” to “ok nonchalant gimmick is back.”
They’re a bunch of young guys who just celebrated after beating their division rivals after a grueling 7 game series. What’s wrong with that?
I had the same thought, but honestly it was probably because they exceeded expectations and got to the finals. This kind of celebration is not unexpected given who they beat
Also the Knicks won game four by 37 points to sweep the series early, while the Spurs won a very close, hard-fought Game 7 that came down to the final minutes on the road. I mean of course the win is going to be more emotional and celebratory in those circumstances.
Nah you see it’s because he was being cocky and thinking about the Knicks in that moment he definitely wasn’t emotional about a historic season
im the last person to be the celebration police, and it doeesnt really matter, but i couldnt shake the feeling that it was a bit overboard, that somehow they were tempting fate. Obviously if they won it all then id have forgotten abou tthat feeling… but also made me think of that kobe press conference - jobs not done yet.
I think you have to keep your head always, great to celebrate making the finals over the reigning champs and odds-on favourites, but you gotta keep your head.
I do think, with just gut feeling, that San An was guilty of believing in their destiny a bit too much, they got a hard dose of reality coming up against a better coached team who understood they had to scrap for every single point and play to possibly win the series.
They can’t just be happy for beating the defending champs in 7 on the road?
They can but if I’m a Knick I’m immediately telling myself exactly what Hart said
Cmon now bro, be fr, we all know yall were talking all that about the western conference finals being the “real finals”
We need to stop saying the East is weak. Objectively it hasn’t been true this decade.
This is such rage bait. Name 1 good team from the East in the last decade other than Cavs, Raptors, Celtics, Bucks, Knicks. Barely 5 champions in 10 years.
We’re a Hali achilles tear away from 3 straight East champions
Wemby was literally crying dude dont pretend like it was normal joy. Ive never seen anyone cry after winning a playoff series that wasnt the Finals, except for Patrick Beverly after winning the playin (and he was rightfulyl clowned for that)
Reddit has gotten so weird about this. Athletes expressing joy and caring about winning is a good thing. We want them to care. “He celebrated too emotively and cared too openly” is such a dumb criticism.
Wemby literally cried after a regular season game, dude.
Like you wouldn’t cry if your first playoff run led to a Finals berth.
They drafted 2nd overall last year and Wemby had the possibility of being forced to give up basketball due to health. To beat the defending champions in a game 7 ON THE ROAD is such an emotional moment considering how quickly things changed. Obviously sweeping James Harden is not as special bruh
How many guys have you seen crying for losing the gold medal?
Wemby is just a person who’s not shy about showing his emotions.
I think their immaturity showed. Possibly because they were exited to get to the finals, but more probably because the western conference is a warzone and they assumed being the team to emerge gave them a lock for a chip.
I said it at the time, to me it felt like Wemby celebrated like he just won the finals. Plenty of stars have cried, hugged, and walked through the tunnel with the trophy…very few (if any) have done it after the conference finals and still won the full thing
Considering all we heard before the finals was “Spurs sweep.” No.
You know damn well that wasn’t just a “defending champs in 7 on the road” celebration.
It’s more because they reached a mountaintop (maybe not THE mountaintop). You could tell the Knicks would have been disappointed with anything but a Finals victory. The Spurs knew they already had a memorable season getting to the Finals with a young team.
Hart didn’t make the finals until 31 years old.
A 22 year old did it his first attempt ever after beating the defending champions and he’s wrong for being happy lol
wemby is not wrong for being happy, from josh hart it’s a scathing interpretation of where wemby’s mental was right after winning the most difficult series of his life.
don’t know if that comes from the perspective of a competitor who uses anything as fuel, not unlike how wemby absolutely hates chet and uses that. or based on seeing the postgame interviews and how he, in his 2nd language, is acting like they’re the better team even after losses. again, nothing wrong. that’s how it seems to people.
there’s a lot of ways to interpret it, this is how hart obviously sees it as a competitor. you also gotta keep in mind, this is basically a fan event. i believe it’s at fanatics fest. they’re gonna say shit that fans would wanna hear.
like or not, it lines up with how a lot of NBA fans thought the WCF was the finals.
I was rooting for the Knicks cos of the underdog story but all this attempting to clown the Spurs run is absurd. It’s a young team getting to the finals on their first playoff run, can’t blame em for being emotional.
Do I think that maybe they lost focus or their edge a bit as they saw this as a huge thing, yeah a bit. Wolves had a similar hangover getting past the Nugs previously where it felt like that was their entire goal. I think here the team just wasn’t expecting this kind of success so soon. Next time around this will feel like another series as they have their sights higher I imagine
I think its purely because theyre bitter rivals and its been a long and hard-fought series for them, so it meant a lot for them as a raw playoff team. I dont think they looked ahead at that moment, just an overwhelming relief.
But the Knicks can talk all the shit they want cause theyre champs.
Finally a reasonable take. It’s been very clear through many interviews that Wemby sees OKC as a nemesis and has purposefully cultivated a deep hatred of them in himself and his teammates. When they managed to beat them after an incredibly hard fought 7 game series, he’s going to react like this. I don’t think it had anything to do with the Knicks. He could think they’re trash or think they’re unbeatable, he would react the same way.
Now in the same way, I can definitely see the Knicks players purposefully interpreting this reaction in the way Josh Hart is talking about as fuel for them, so it would make sense that he says that and it’s fine for him to talk his shit. And at the end of the day I can’t know what I’m claiming for sure, it just seems the most plausible from context. But everyone here piling on and saying it’s obvious that they thought they had played the real final already based on Reddit and ESPN narratives and claiming to know what the Spurs players were thinking is full of shit.
“Whoever wins the west wins the finals”. “The WCF is the real finals”. It was all over this Reddit.
It’s gotten to the point it’s hilarious! Spurs fans went from confident of a title and obviously the better team, to “GET RID OF FOX”.
The Knicks literally made them eat their words that they were better, so much so it’s resulted in the fanbase turning on one of their players.
That was a popular narrative in the national media as well. It’s funny people on here are mad that The Knicks are talking their shit when they won as underdogs.
Knicks vs Hawks was the real finals
It was all over real life. real people thought this.
please don’t lump this together with all spurs fans. spurs fans mostly respected the competition. every nervous fan would. we beat them in the regular season including a playoffs level game in the cup game, a lot of us knicks fans wanted spurs over OKC in the finals because we matched up better. any hoop watcher understood this was the better outcome for the knicks.
i think the vast majority of people shitting on us weren’t wearing spurs flairs. it’s the dudes conditioned to thinking the knicks are shit. i don’t blame them. it’s easier to get your cheap jokes off and making fun of someone you don’t know.
People who think Hart is wrong are gonna act like the WCF wasn’t called the Finals.
Eh… making it to the Finals for the first time is a big deal for some players. Mavs made the mistake of being way too happy to make it with Luka. But yeah, I can see viewing it that way as the opponent.
Clearly was a big deal for wenbanyanma
Any Spurs fan that was honest knew that the Knicks was a tough matchup for us regardless.
They had our number in the regular season and were a lot fresher once the Finals came around.
So Hart and co. can say whatever they want but I seriously doubt we were looking past them.
But winners get to tell the tale so that’s how it goes.
Right before this quote, Hart said that he had the same reaction as Wemby after beating Boston in 2025, and then they got their shit rocked in the ECF. I think the reason he’s telling the tale that way is less because he thinks the Spurs were underestimating the Knicks in particular, and more because he’s trying to say he’s been where the Spurs were and he knows exactly how big the temptation to go “hell yeah, this means we made it” is.
I’m sure they were more ecstatic over making it to the finals, especially for how young they were. Also, of course they thought they were going to win, they aren’t supposed to believe they will lose.
Whats the big deal. The Knicks were ecstatic when they beat the Celtics last year
He mentioned that right before this got clipped. He was saying they went through the same thing last season
Oh good Im glad
That was last year and then they lost a series they were favored to win. Sound familiar?
So you’re saying Knicks have had years of playoff heartbreak that convinced them not to celebrate too early, and a much younger team making the finals in their first playoff run should be held to that exact same standard?
yo beating cleveland is not the same as beating okc lmfao
??? The knicks won the finals in 5 games my guy
The point is any team beating defending champs in the playoffs to head to the finals would be hype as fuck
Weird, the Knicks did it the year prior and didn’t react like the spurs did
Spurs are like all around 22 years old in their first playoff run. Knicks all were like around 28 and had all had playoff experience winning and losing. This is probably why Spurs lost the way they did but being emotional and celebrating wasn’t like “arrogance” or anything like that.
Winning the WCF is not the same as winning the finals
Hang the “beat Okc” banner
“I GUARANTEE Wemby will never cry from joy after winning a conference championship in the future, after this Spurs finals experience” Charles Barkley probably
Im a big time Knicks fan. But I disagree. I just think Vic was happy to dethrone the defending champs. He really wanted to beat them bad. It was personal in a lot of ways. I dont think he was really thinking about the Knicks at that moment.
I agree. But with hindsight i might say the Spurs wanted to beat OKC more then they wanted to win the finals 😄. But I dont think it would have changed the outcome. Knicks are better and are a bad match up for the Spurs. The regular season showed that.
Spurs played OKC well throughout the season and that along with the combination of beating the defending champs at home in Game 7 was definitely a high at that point in their young careers. Especially with how much Wemby just despises Chet.
I’m sure they locked in for NY, but this Knicks team was better prepared for the Finals at this point in their careers than San Antonio as players and coaches.
I didn’t see a big issue with the spurs celebrating because it was a game 7 and they’re young. I don’t think they celebrated extra because “they thought they already won”
Knicks probably don’t celebrate as much but they definitely would have had more emotions if they beat the cavs in 6 or 7 games.
But that’s Josh’s point. Like the clip cuts early because Josh compares it to the Knicks beating the Celtics last year and then losing to the Pacers.
Basically, you get too focused on beating the big bad wolf that you lose sight of the fact that it ain’t over.
That was my thought when I saw those posts comparing Spurs and Knicks after winning the conference finals
Very different situations. Spurs played a hard fought 7 game series and won on the road while still being on their toes til the end. Knicks wrecked the Cavs in 4
I mean they lost the seasonal match up and mid season tournament match up against the Knicks, I’m sure they knew it wasn’t over. If basketball was rock paper scissors this season it was, spurs (rock) Knicks (paper) okc(scissors).
What are we even doing here man.
People should show emotion, but don’t show too much or else your deemed as cocky.
What are we even talking about right now.
I was at the pod. This is getting clipped for views. Right before this, he said the Knicks went thru something similar last year when they had so much emotion after beating Boston and then ended up getting punched in the mouth. He’s saying he knew they had an edge cause they went thru the same thing last year.
I don’t know why, maybes it the New York but I get Patriots vs Giants vibes from this past finals and I shouldn’t because the Knicks weren’t some 8th seed that got hot. They were easily the best Eastern team in the regular season.
What a ridiculous revisionist history comment. The 3rd seed was “easily the best” in the eastern conference? No they weren’t, and if it was so obvious to you surely you bet the house on them winning the ECF at least, no?
Pistons dominated the Knicks all year, and the Celtics just had Tatum return after overachieving all year without him.
Knicks went on an amazing run. It did not start in the regular season.
The 2-9 January record made people count us out. Those were growing pains
KG said the same thing so it’s not like what Josh is saying is out of pocket.
I got downvoted into oblivion for suggesting the Knicks had played the spurs better than OKC heading into the OKC series
Those were hard facts that the records reflected. This sub is just full of down voting fools.
-19 >downvoted to oblivion
Lol
Reckless speculation. Beating OKC on the road in game 7 is an absolutely massive achievement. I hate shit like this, what team doesnt think they are going to win it, regardless of this sort of reaction? Genuinely seemed like they were relieved to have finally beat a major rival.
Josh hart is basically saying they felt disrespected. How is this reckless speculation
They can clown Wemby for crying over winning the WCF that’s fair. But you have to consider that he had a blood clot that ended his season last year and propelled his team to its first playoffs straight to the Finals against their rival who also happens to be the defending champions and the 1-seed. Oh and it’s also their first Game 7 win on the road.
I don’t think they were thinking of the Knicks at that moment lmao
Far too much weird analysis into player’s joy. This whole thing even being a discussion is incredibly bizarre to me. Let people celebrate. These were fresh to the league players already reaching the Finals through beating the DEFENDING CHAMPS.
Unfortunately, a team built by signing and trading instead of drafting isn’t gonna feel so sexy beating Cleveland in the ECF
I’m sorry, but the second half of your take is such a joke. This Knicks team has been together, for the most part, for the better part of 3-4 years, with towns being in year 2. The idea that they don’t have a type of camaraderie or brotherhood as the spurs because the team was constructed differently is stupid.
Also, OKC was the second youngest team to make the finals LAST YEAR and they didn’t overreact to winning the conference finals the same way. I don’t mind the emotion, but it certainly felt like the spurs left their hearts out on the court in Game 7, and never got it back during the Finals, cus they consistently had no fight in the second half, besides Harper
This sub acting like the majority opinion it had wasnt “WCF is the real finals” is hilarious. FOH with that revisionist shit
I think we can give the Spurs their roses for beating OKC and also admit that the Knicks were definitely written off by many.. without trying to add so much to that story.
I’m seeing a lot of posts in the past few days where people are overanalyzing so many clips and quotes, mostly to add hype to the Knicks’ underdog story. It’s enough for me to know that people still kept writing them off when they were up 3-1.
I don’t need to look at a clip of a really happy team who just beat one of the best teams in the league and cynically assume the worst of them in the moment, just to give MORE props to the Knicks.
The Knicks are champions. New York just hit like 17 backflips off of that hype, the entire state. Coast on that shit, stop being weird.
Why are people acting like this isn’t the case when you could literally see the highly visible narrative of ‘WCF are the real finals’, plus media predictions and betting predictions that majority put the Spurs over the Knicks? Spurs were clearly drinking their own and the media’s kool-aid and got humbled.
Guys like Castle and Wemby refused to give the Knicks credit after every game and Mitch Johnson never made any adjustments, right down to insisting that Fox was their crunch time guy no matter what.
They absolutely thought they could just out talent the Knicks and it showed over and over again.
I mean I don’t think many good teams go into a series expecting to lose
I was cheering for the spurs and thought they basically won after WCF. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team cry tears of joy from winning a conference final.
I think there’s a difference between expecting to win and feeling like you’ve already won it in your mind.
Beating the Champs in game 7 in dramatic fashion isn’t a small feat especially their first time in the playoffs. It’s not that they think they were gonna win it all it’s because they could. The next few decades are going to be great!
The spurs fanbase may be the softest in the league trying to baby their team and saying victor is only 22 anytime he’s criticized, let us celebrate and take the L stop complaining!
lmao no, probably not. that was years worth of “fuck Chet” released in tears of joy
it’s true, everyone was spitting out west was the real finals. all year spurs wanted to crush okc, that was their goal 😭 ppl jus don’t wanna admit it cuz then they’ll have to use wemby to replace that pat bev video
People in here acting like Hart is criticizing the Spurs for showing emotions. He’s not. He’s saying the level of emotions displayed would make it tougher on Wemby and the Spurs to refocus.
Imagine if the Knicks after winning game 2 acted like they had won the title, crying tears of joy. And then lost 4-2, we all would be saying they got ahead of themselves.
That’s exactly what happened with the Spurs, they got ahead of themselves and let their guard down and couldn’t recover.
Not gonna lie. Everyone saying “the spurs thought they were better than the knicks hahahaha” are forgetting that the spurs had the knicks in multiple games. They’re just young and ended up just giving away already won games. I still think they are the more talented team, they need experience though. Maybe if they would actually play a vet instead of the oldest player they involve being fox who’s barely sniffed a playoffs they could have sealed the deal.
not gonna lie “Had them” .. if i had a million dollars, i’d be a millionaire. games not over til its over. Knicks went 6-2 vs the Spurs all season en route to two trophies,