I don’t know about you, but I am still thinking about this season’s Knicks team. I was there when the Knicks lost in a game 7 at Madison Square Garden and it was the first time I truly experienced the feeling of rooting for a team with all my might and trying to will a team to a win, despite the myriad of obstacles ahead.
There are still some long faces among Knicks fans in the city and I believe it’s deeper than the Knicks being knocked out of championship contention for the season. To have the Knicks season come to a close is to say goodbye to a community of fellow New Yorkers who become extended family members in this crowded and sometimes lonely city of almost nine million people. To be a real New Yorker is to be a Knicks fan (I said what I said, Nets fans). And to be a Knicks fan is to allow yourself to dream, to outwardly let others know you are filled with hope, and to outwardly set intentions and think of the best path to help you actualize your desired outcome. The Knicks have only tasted this prospect of a championship a few times since they won it all in 1970 and 1973. They’ve had some amazing runs and conference titles during the Patrick Ewing and John Starks era in the early 1990s, and the Ewing, Latrell Sprewell, Larry Johnson era of the late 1990s. There were other eras where Knicks like Stephon Marbury, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Carmelo
Anthony captivated the city. This current Knicks team, when healthy, exhibits glimmers of what a championship team could look like in NYC. Or maybe that’s just my aspirational hopeful prospecting taking over because, after all, I am a Knicks fan. To be a Knicks fan is to be simultaneously an eternal optimist and a perpetual pessimist.
For now, we can engage in the necessary debates: Did Coach Thibs work his players too hard? Was the team doomed when Julius Randle was out injured for the season? Was the team riddled with too many injuries? Does Brunson need more time to develop? Are the Knicks cursed? Do they need more big men? Or, my personal favorite, should we rebuild without Randle on the roster?
This season was a great run, with the Knicks ending the regular season with a 50-32 record. Yes, the stars are injured and the offseason will be filled with rehab and possibly some hard choices about who remains. Who knows what next season holds. However, as one of the eleven original teams in the NBA, the NY Knicks represent a type of permanence and stability many New Yorkers and Americans currently seek. And as Knicks fans know all too well, “There’s always next year!”
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; and co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC and host of The Blackest Questions podcast at TheGrio.