At the turn of the century in Queen City Book Store in Buffalo, amidst dozens of X-Men-tangential series and Tom Lyle’s high-key off-key emo Adam Warlock, there was a skinny self-published-looking collection of short stories and essays called The Nihilist’s Notebook. Maybe drawings, too. The last story ends as a man opens the trunk of his car to show another man the dead body he’s selling him to cannibalize, when an asteroid blazes overhead and crashes down, ending the world.
That juxtaposition was
seared into my brain ever since, as was a mystery: does the transgressive leave a shadow in the light of annihilation?
In a big-picture sense, the 2027 Knicks definition of success is no mystery: repeat as champions. But as they now know better than anybody, that’s a long road. The built-in baby-teeth motivation of winning for the first time served its purpose, but winning for the second requires bigger teeth, and sharpening them means chewing on small-term goals along the way. And what triggers our hunger as seductively as the superlative? The taboo?
Until next spring, the question of ultimate success is pending. Once the games count again in October, the Knicks have plenty of reasons to keep pushing. Eight, let’s say.
GETTING AHEAD OF THE JONESES
So it’s hardly 1987, when for the 18th straight season a new champion was crowned. But the NBA’s currently in its most anti-incumbent era since, with the Knicks the eighth consecutive kings of yoink! When the 1988 Los Angeles Lakers became the first team since the Red Auerbach Celtics to repeat, it was kind of a big deal. Maybe not so much after Detroit knocked them off en route to their own repeat. After which Chicago won three straight, which . . . wow, right? Then Houston repeated. Bulls won three in a row again! Spurs blipped, then the Lakers went back-to-back-to-back.
Where was I? Ahh, yes. Believe it or not, if the Knicks were to win it all again in 2027 they’re in pole position to finish the 2020s as the team of the decade. That’d give them ownership of two decades, as they’re also the team of the 1970s, the league’s only other fragmented decade. Think about it. “The ‘70s Knicks” means something; it’s a proper noun, an ethos. Does it work with any other team from that time that won a ‘chip?
The ’70s Blazers, maybe, though for reasons more precious and parochial than cultural. The only team besides the Knicks to win more than once that decade were the Celtics, but unlike The ‘60s Celtics and The ’80s Celtics I’ve never gotten the sense the John Havlicek/Dave Cowens sides made the same kind of impact. Plus they’re the Celtics. So, no.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE FRIDAY NIGHT RUN-THROUGH AT THE LOMAXES
The Knicks have been around since the Truman presidency. There aren’t many heights nor hells this franchise hasn’t known. There are a few weird gaps. They’ve never won 46 games. Or 34. Or 25. Something else they’ve never done: win back-to-back titles.
Their best runs were reaching three straight Finals from 1951-1953, losing the first two to Minneapolis and then Rochester, and winning two titles while reaching three outta four Finals from 1970-1973. Simply repeating as Eastern champs would put these Knicks in a special place in team history. Repeating as NBA champs makes a case for them as the franchise GOATs.
LEAVE THEM OTHER CRABS BEHIND
If NBA teams were 30 crabs, 21 of them are either at the bottom of the bucket or within any number of crabs near enough to drag them down. Two crabs escaped long ago. Three are comfortably perched atop the bucket, looking down on the rabble. That leaves four crabs in-between the muck and the majesty. One is the Knicks.
The Knicks, Heat, Pistons and 76ers née Nationals have all won three championships. Only the Celtics, Lakers, Warriors, Bulls and Spurs have more. If the Knicks win this season, they’ll be all alone in sixth place. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’d give them bragging rights over 24 other teams. More importantly, it’d give us as fans bragging rights over 24 other fan bases. Is that petty? Petty’s what crabs is.
61
A magic number in New York sports. Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in 1961. When 1986 NLCS MVP Jesse Orosco struck out Marty Barrett to win the World Series for the Mets he wore the number 47, but when Orosco broke in with the club in 1979 his first number was 61. The same number Rick Nash wore helping the 2014 Rangers to their first and only Stanley Cup Finals since 1994; Nash followed that up with a 42 goals in 2015. Props to those who remember Orestes Destrade, #61 for the Pinstripes in 1987. Admittedly this is Destrade hitting a home run for the Marlins, not the Yankees, when he wasn’t wearing 61. But it came against the Braves, and the ‘90s Braves went from easy to root for to easy to despise faster than you can say “Sammy Sosa.”
The Knicks record for wins in a season is 60, in 1970 and 1993. This year, they’re the hunted. What better way to stay sharp than to have something to play for over 82 games? Relatedly:
BE THE BIG FISH IN THEIR OWN POND
2013 was the last year Jason Kidd played. Same for Grant Hill. One ex-Knick, one never was, though Hill was rumored to be coming to the Knicks for so long it feels like played here. 2013 was also the last year the Knicks won their division. Droughts are the norm, apparently; the last one before then was 1994.
It’s not gonna get them a banner or anything, but I dunno. I grew up devouring box scores and standings. There’s just something cool about winning as much as you can, period. Divisions mean less ever, probably. I don’t care. It’s there. It exists. Win it. Relatedly:
BE THE BIG FISH IN AN EVEN BIGGER POND
1993 was the last year Michael Jordan played (the first time). Same for Bill Laimbeer. The man who tortured the ‘90s Knicks and the man who tortured the ‘80s Bulls. You probably knew MJ was born in NYC. Did you know Laimbeer was born in Boston? Two men born in two places many consider good enough. Both grew to surpass them — at the direct expense of their birthplace.
1993 was also the last time the Knicks finished the regular season tops in the East. Seems like it’s up for grabs, don’t it? The last two Eastern number ones, Cleveland and Detroit, are stuck somewhere between sad and meh. LeBron or no LeBron, superteams don’t jell overnight, and as long as Joel Embiid is a 76er their priority will always be game 83. Indiana’s never won more than 50 in the Tyrese Haliburton era. Boston? Har. Everybody else in the East? Har-dee-har-har.
There’s something cool about the road to the Finals going through MSG, something that’s only happened in 1953, 1954, 1970, 1971 and 1993. If the Knicks were to face a slate of, say, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia, they wouldn’t have to fly the entirety of the Eastern playoffs. Bet that came in handy last year, when New York went two months flying just once to Atlanta and once to Cleveland, versus San Antonio in the same period flying to the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Denver, Portland, Minnesota twice and Oklahoma City three times.
FIVE’S ALIVE
I was four when I started kindergarten. One morning a boy in my class went up to everybody as we were putting stuff away in our cubbies and asked how old we were. Everyone before me was five, to which he’d respond “Five’s alive.” When I told him my age he sneered. “Four’s a bore.” I was devastated.
1967 brought the Knicks the tail end of the Dick McGuire era and the arrival of a rookie named Cazzie Russell. It also brought a modest improvement from 30 to 36 wins. From such humble beginnings came four consecutive years of improved winning percentages, culminating with 60 wins in 1970 and the championship. If the Knicks win at least 54 games this season, it’d be five straight years, a franchise first. That won’t be on too many people’s minds this year, in the locker room or watching the games. But if they win a 54th game and your window is open keep an ear out for me, hollering with joy.
MIKE BROWN, KNICKERBOCKER TRAILBLAZER
There is somewhat of a chance Mike Brown coaches the Knicks for the entire 2026-27 season. If he does, he’ll move within twentysomething games of Don Chaney and Mike Woodson for the most in franchise history by a Black coach. While eight of the 22 non-Black Knick head coaches (36%) lasted at least three full seasons, 0% of their 10 Black coaches have.
Again: since the Truman administration. 50 years since Willis Reed became the Knicks’ first Black coach. Eddie Donovan, Hubie Brown and Mike D’Antoni all finished comfortably below .500. Brown would need to last two more seasons to approach their tenure. Would you bet that he does? It’s weird we can’t say yes with certainty. Not “weird” as in “unheard of,” a coach winning a title and being canned within two years. Weird as in “especially and peculiarly dumb,” which racists are and racism is.
