The New York Knicks are back in the NBA Finals.

Bear with me, I need to type that out again.

The New York Knicks are back in the NBA Finals.

 

It’s been 27 years since the Knicks have made it to the final playoff series of the season. 27 years is one whole generationof people that have never enjoyed this franchise getting to the mountaintop. 27 years of startling changes in New York City and the world, pretty much. Think about it. In those 27 years, we’ve seen the city sustain a tremendous terrorist attack that took out the World Trade Center in addition to at least two other terror incidents. We’ve had two blackouts. A hurricane that exposed how vulnerable we are to the natural elements. Two earthquakes. And a stretch of dystopian sci-fi wildfire smog that smothered the five boroughs. All those calamities, and we absorbed them because being Knicks fans PREPARED you for the wildest situations that could lead you to heartbreak. Because heartbreak echoed through Madison Square Garden as much as the cheers did.

 

I’ve been a fan since the beginning of the Patrick Ewing Era. Back when Hubie Brown sported the fro, and Walt "Clyde" Frazier was burning up the radio. Moments and years where we were in the thick of it. Then the later stars, keeping it going until the improbable 1999 run that Phil Jackson tried to shit on us for because it was shortened, saying it should have an “asterisk”. (Which is one of a few reasons he should’ve never been brought here to coach and GM, former Knick champ or not. But I digress.) 

 

Allan Houston. Marcus Camby. Latrell Sprewell. Larry Johnson. We even had a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback running point in Charlie Ward. But the lean years…they were something else. Sure, we had Stephon Marbury. But Starbury had more ups and downs here than the Thunderbolt yards away from where he grew up in the Coney Island Houses. And that was when we boasted a truly bewildering bevy of bums on the squad. We even had one draft pick get posterized out of the damn league by Vince Carter down in Sydney in 2000, in Frederic Weis.

 

I gotta show love to Amar’e Stoudamire, giving his all on two dilapidated knees. We always seemed to get stars on the way out or on the way to a better situation, or those who tried their best before injuries took em out. Baron Davis still remains a big “what if” for me. We even had Carmelo Anthony, who truly enjoyed playing here even if he had to do so with guys who must’ve felt like the weight of ten soggy pairs of old Timberlands on his shoulder every night. With the exception of that Jeremy Lin streak and the playoff run I like to call “A Gathering of Old Men” that had Kenyon Martin, Rasheed Wallace and Jason Kidd really give the city some hope.

 

And now, we’re here. With Jalen Brunson as the captain. A player that damn near everyone spat on for coming to the Knicks. Never mind that he won two collegiate titles with Villanova. Never mind that he was mentored not only by his father, Rick Brunson who coached him to be gritty and was on that ’99 Finals team. Never mind that the late, great Kobe Bryant kept up with him from high school. The "1A" player has been A-1 these entire playoffs, particularly with that nudge from his father during the Atlanta series.

 

Brunson is the kind of player I know Pops would’ve loved. My late father was a die-hard Knicks fan, who I’d put up against anyone. The man had me record games on VHS tapes because he didn’t have cable, to the point where I would get looks asking for the remaining VHS stock that would be behind drugstore shelves with the cigarettes. I’ve been thinking a lot about him, my late mother, my cousin Merrick, my Uncles Seymour, Roy, Lloyd Dennis, and other relatives who lived and breathed the Knicks. The Knicks win the title, I'm telling you - any tears I shed, will be thinking of all the cheering they'll be doing up in the clouds. Much like so many other Knicks fans whose loved ones aren't here.

 

Fandom of a team becomes more than an identity. It becomes a compass. How deep is your loyalty? How many ways can you say “next year” without it leaving a bitter coat on your tongue? How much money have you spent sporting your team’s colors?Can you still stand on your own two when everyone doubts you? The Knicks have been on a historic run this season. It is surreal to type out that the team literally hasn’t lost IN A MONTH during these playoffs. We have been putting belt to ass on our opponents. Embarassed Atlanta after losing Game 3. Swept Philly AND Cleveland to the point where it was brutal.(For that Cleveland series, please look up Mark Schwab’s report after Game 1. when the Knicks pulled off a 44-11 RUN to win. Trust me.)

 

You see it in Brunson’s eyes. In the eyes of Josh Hart, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby and the rest of the squad. You see grit. Desire. Determination to beat the odds and win. You see the best of the city, in this team. We even got a Brooklyn hard rock in Jose Alvarado and a smooth white cat in Tyler Kolek.

 

Being a Knicks fan at this moment, knowing they haven’t won a title since 1973, gives you the chills. Because it’s really that close. Yeah, I’ve seen the videos of hundreds of fans (and bandwagon riders) in the streets. Hope and pride combined are like Coke and Mentos in the hands of hyped-up teenagers. I know there’s still a lot of doubters. I know that we’ve played San Antonio in the Finals before and lost. I remember all the hurt and anger in going back and forth with others about repping the Knicks, even with those who decided to ride for the Nets once they came to Brooklyn. But the air is different around this team.

 

I mean, the legend Mike Breen said it best - Knicks fans deserve this after ALL that we've witnessed. We had players flat out ghost us during a season, dudes wind up not playing for us due to medical retirement. Players that had to leave 'cause they caught a hot one outside of a strip club. For every Deuce McBride shot, I think about all those Dennis Smith Jr. shots that didn't go in or those Ignis Brazdelis botched layups.

 

The city feels like it used to, before all the Modells stores closed, before neighborhoods started changing names, before prices rose. It feels like how it used to be, before Giuliani and Bloomberg, before snotty transplants and disappearing diners. Before people with the flavor of the city had to move to Georgia, North Carolina and other cities and states. It feels unified. Together. From celebrities to subway conductors, from the ocks with the chopped cheeses to the maitre'd's at the steakhouses.

 

What does it mean if your team becomes the mountaintop after so many falls from grace?

 

The answer begins to show itself tonight. But win or lose, I willforever be grateful to Jalen Brunson and this Knicks team for showing me the gold that can be had in orange and blue skies.

 

RIP ANTHONY MASON, JOHN ANDRIESE, DEAN MEMINGER, AL TRAUTWIG, DICK BARNETT