For the first time since 1999, the New York Knicks are heading to the NBA Finals. The Knickerbockers completed the sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday night with a 130-93 victory. After Game 1, when New York made an incredible fourth quarter comeback to then win in overtime, the rest of the series was all Knicks, with 16-, 13-, and 37-point wins. The Cavaliers flat out gave up on playing defense towards the end of Game 3 and Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson
seems to be living in an alternate universe where what analytics spit out matters more than the scoreboard.
All of which begs the question, do you feel any better about the Sixers’ own sweep at the hands of the Knicks? Philadelphia had their own share of embarrassing defeats, with 39- and 30-point losses. We as fans made our share of excuses (Joel Embiid missing a game, Tyrese Maxey’s finger injury, the team being wiped out from the seven-game series win over Boston), but the fact remains it wasn’t a particularly close series result. But now, seeing Cleveland suffer a similar fate, are you less bothered by how the Sixers bowed out? Are the stars just aligning for New York to have a magical run? Is it just their year and no amount of Nick Nurse adjustments was going to make a difference?
Whether you’ve made slighter better peace with things after seeing the Knicks shellack Cleveland, or if your feelings haven’t changed one iota, let us know your thoughts and vote below in the comments.
