That shot always goes in against us.
That shot always goes in against us.
Doesn’t matter whether it’s Victor Wembanyama, or Tyrese Haliburton, or LeBron James, Michael Jordan, that shot always goes in—against us, because we’re the Knicks. We are the side character in somebody else’s story.
And even when they were up 14, with six and change to go, I knew—because I know NBA history, and I remember what happened a year ago—I knew it wasn’t over...
I didn’t expect to lose the entire lead in the next three and a half minutes! But that’s what they did. And as I’m sitting there, watching that, it’s unbelievable how everything this team has done—all twelve consecutive wins, one of the most competent franchises in the National Basketball Association, they've got the squad, you can’t count them out, so on and so forth, I’ve written all the words, I’ve spoken them into this microphone—every ounce of it gets washed away. It’s just the old pain, and the old scars. And the old PTSD comes all the way up to the surface. And I’m going to say: Of course. Of course this is how it’s going to go down...
It all comes rushing back. Charles Smith comes rushing back. Eight points in 8.9 seconds comes rushing back. The finger roll comes rushing back. The suspensions come rushing back. Olajuwon getting a fingernail on the fucking ball comes rushing back. It all came rushing back. You’re watching this, and you’re seeing your fucking life flash before your eyes on the biggest stage imaginable. And it all leads up to one shot—
—by the player for whom it has already been written in Magic Marker, the darkest ink you can imagine, It is going to be his league for the next fifteen years. He has the chance to write the first legendary chapter that they’re going to show on highlight reels until I’m long gone.
He has the chance. He has the shot—
—and he misses the shot.
And we win the fucking game.
...Look, the Knicks did not win the Finals tonight. They are up 2-0, they have taken both games in San Antonio, they did what they came to do. If the Spurs showed you anything in the last seven minutes of that game, it is that they will not lay down and die. ...The Finals did not end tonight.
But my God. My God, what a win that was.
