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      Knicks’ Resurgent Season Ends With Game 5 Loss to the Hawks

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      Julius Randle had 23 points for the Knicks, but it wasn’t enough. The Hawks’ star guard Trae Young dominated again down the stretch.The Knicks were eliminated from the playoffs on Wednesday in a 103-89 Game 5 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at Madison Square Garden, a deflating end to a promising season.It was a feisty, defensive battle, with both teams getting off to a slow start. But the Hawks, once again, methodically took control in the second half, led by their star guard Trae Young. He finished with 36 points.Julius Randle, the Knicks star, struggled again. He scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, but was only 8 for 21 from the field and had 8 turnovers.The Knicks’ Taj Gibson and Atlanta’s John Collins grappling for the ball.Wendell Cruz/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThis season marked an unexpected return to relevance for the Knicks, who surpassed even some of the most optimistic preseason expectations by obtaining the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. It was the team’s first trip to the postseason since the 2012-13 season, bringing fresh optimism for a beleaguered New York City fan base.Randle emerged as a legitimate franchise player, making his first All-Star Game and winning the N.B.A.’s Most Improved Player award. RJ Barrett, in his second season, made significant strides as a shooter and playmaker. The rookies Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin provided sparks off the bench.There was much hope for the playoffs after the Knicks went 16-4 over the final 20 games of the regular season. The fifth-seeded Hawks were seen as a beatable opponent, especially because the Knicks defeated them in all three of their regular-season matchups.Instead, even with home-court advantage, the Knicks collapsed in the playoffs, in large part because of the poor play of the starters. With several players, including Randle and Barrett, making their playoff debuts, the team looked rattled at points by the spotlight. The Knicks were also without one of their key weapons: the springy starting center Mitchell Robinson, an effective rebounder and rim protector, who had foot surgery in late March.In the series opener, the Knicks lost at the last second on a Young floater, a shot Atlanta’s top player used to punish the Knicks all series. The Knicks won Game 2, bolstered by a deafening home crowd and a stirring second-half comeback. But they fell apart on the road in Games 3 and 4, as Young scored and created opportunities for his teammates.Julius Randle shot 28 for 94 in the series, a 29.8 percent clip.Pool photo by Wendell CruzRandle shot 20 for 73 through the first four games — a dismal 27.4 percent. He had almost as many turnovers (15) as he did assists (17). His performance was even more confounding considering Randle’s thorough domination of the Hawks during the regular season: He averaged 37.3 points in three matchups — his most against any team. But the Hawks flummoxed Randle throughout the series, sending double and triple teams to him on almost every touch.Barrett was mostly ineffective as well. Through Game 4, he was shooting just 39.6 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from deep. In Game 2, the Knicks’ only win of the series, he was benched in the fourth quarter. Several of his misses in the series came on passes from Randle, which made it easier for the Hawks to continue to pressure Randle.With Randle and Barrett struggling, the Knicks relied on a surprisingly productive bench. Derrick Rose, who only started three of the 35 games he played for the Knicks during the regular season after coming over from Detroit, was their best offensive player in the first four games. He averaged 22.8 points and 5 assists per game on 50.7 percent shooting. Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau moved Rose and the veteran center Taj Gibson into the starting lineup for Game 3. More

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      Derrick Rose Leads Knicks Past Hawks in Game 2

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      The Knicks head to Atlanta tied with the Hawks, 1-1, thanks to a halftime switch and 26 points from Derrick Rose.Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau, known for his rigidity, had to change something.The Knicks’ starters had been listless in the first half of Game 2 of their first-round N.B.A. playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday. The starting five had combined to hit only four field goals in the first two quarters. Thibodeau had benched his point guard, but the Knicks still trailed by 13 points at halftime. Madison Square Garden, packed with fans again, was restless.So Thibodeau pulled out a surprise, something he is typically hesitant to do. He opened the second half with two lineup changes, sending out Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson, both of whom had kept the Knicks in the game to that point.The move changed everything: The Knicks went from 13 points behind to holding a 1-point lead entering the fourth quarter. The crowd was revived. So was the team, which pulled away to beat the Hawks, 101-92.The victory was the Knicks’ first playoff win since 2013, and tied the series at 1-1. Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night in Atlanta.“We just felt like we were flat and needed a jolt of energy,” Thibodeau said after the game. “We wanted to change it up and we got going. It started with the defense, then we started sharing the ball.”The Garden was full for Game 2.Elsa/USA Today Sports, via ReutersWhat was notable about Thibodeau’s turning to Rose and Gibson was that they are the two players with whom Thibodeau has the most experience, making Wednesday’s midgame switch less an adjustment than a revival. Rose, 32, and Gibson, 35, have played for Thibodeau on three different teams he has coached: the Chicago Bulls, the Minnesota Timberwolves and now, the Knicks.Rose and Gibson were key parts of Thibodeau’s most successful team: the 2010-11 Chicago Bulls, who went to the Eastern Conference finals. Each player has a different, lesser role on Thibodeau’s current team, but his trust in them has never faltered.The five players he sent out for the second half on Wednesday night — RJ Barrett, Julius Randle, Rose, Gibson and Reggie Bullock — were not a makeshift group; they were, in fact, the Knicks’ fifth-most-used lineup during the regular season, according to the N.B.A.’s tracking numbers. They were extremely successful in 109 total minutes, with a net rating of 14.4 (a measure of how much a team is outscoring the other team or being outscored).“Regardless of who was out there, I think us, as a team, we came out with a different intensity level and focus and we were able to make them uncomfortable,” Randle said.Randle finished with 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting, adding 12 rebounds and four assists. But in the first half, the Hawks once again flummoxed him with double teams, a repeat of Game 1, and he could not hit his jumpers. Randle’s teammates did not make shots off his passes, either, allowing Atlanta to make its double teams even more aggressive. In the game-changing third quarter, with Rose on the floor as another playmaker, Randle had more room to operate: He scored 11 points, including two 3-pointers, which helped turn the tide.Rose finished with 26 points in 39 minutes, while Gibson had 6 points and 7 rebounds in 30 minutes. But it was Gibson’s defense in the paint that helped limit the effectiveness of the Hawks star Trae Young, who had hit the game-winning shot in Game 1 and hushed the Garden crowd.That is not to say Young didn’t give the Knicks fits again. He finished with 30 points on 20 shots, often leaving his primary defender, Rose, in the dust. But this time it was Rose, and the Knicks, who got the last word. As the final seconds ticked off, Rose dropped the basketball and aggressively clapped his hands.“To get that far and play the way that we played, to come back and get the lead, and not only that, but to win, it shows a lot,” Rose said. “It shows fight.”Inserting Gibson and Rose into the lineup after halftime was not Thibodeau’s only tweak. Elfrid Payton, a starting guard, played only the first five minutes of the game and, after being replaced by Rose, did not return. For months, Payton had been a prime example of Thibodeau’s unwillingness to bend: He has largely been ineffective as a player since March, but he never received less than 12 minutes the entire regular season, and averaged 24 minutes overall. Now, he might be out of the rotation altogether.Thibodeau also gave his bench, which has been a pleasant surprise, more leeway on the court than he typically does. The Knicks began the fourth quarter with Obi Toppin, Nerlens Noel, Immanuel Quickley, Alec Burks and Bullock on the floor. And at a crucial juncture in the game, with minimal playmaking on the floor, that group extended the Knicks’ lead to 10.And Barrett, who averaged 34.9 minutes a game during the regular season, sat out the entire fourth quarter. Instead, Thibodeau’s final adjustment was his closing lineup of Rose, Burks, Bullock, Randle and Gibson, a five the Knicks had not tried all season. It worked, particularly defensively, as they forced the ball out of Young’s hands.Trae Young, left, with Reggie Bullock. Young scored 30 points but took 20 shots.Elsa/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe game was tied with about five minutes left. Atlanta did not score another field goal the rest of the game. Instead, the Hawks looked like the Knicks had in the first half, tentative and unable to make shots. Young was able to get off only one shot in that stretch, to the delight of a Garden crowd that had booed every mistake of their new archenemy.Now the series will move to Atlanta for Games 3 and 4. The Knicks were 16-20 on the road during the regular season. Thibodeau and his team can take solace in the fact that, despite their best players putting up poor performances, they barely lost Game 1 and rallied to tie the series on Wednesday. Whatever questions they have, the Knicks certainly have the confidence of Thibodeau.“Look, I love this team,” Thibodeau said, high praise from the typically impassive coach. “There’s a great will and determination to them.” More

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      Knicks’ Julius Randle Wins N.B.A.’s Most Improved Player Award

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      Randle led the Knicks in scoring and fueled their run to the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.Julius Randle can claim another accolade after his unexpected leap to stardom this season. He is the winner of the N.B.A.’s Most Improved Player Award.He is the first Knick to win the award. Randle’s winning was not much of a surprise, given that the 26-year-old posted career highs in several categories, including points per game, 3-point percentage and assists per game. His strong play garnered him his first career All-Star selection and he is also a candidate to make an All-N.B.A. team for the first time. If he makes the All N.B.A. team, he will be the first Knick to do so since Carmelo Anthony in 2013.In an interview with TNT’s “Inside The N.B.A.” on Tuesday evening, Randle said that the award “embodies who I am as a person.”“When the summertime comes, that is really where I have the most fun because I enjoy the process of getting better,” Randle said. “So all of a sudden you look at the trajectory of my career, every year, I’ve taken steps forward to get better and improve my game and that’s really what I’m proud of. I never want to feel like I’m staying in the same spot or I’m not getting better.”Randle was the Knicks’ best player all season, and he was as durable as he was reliable — leading the N.B.A. in minutes played. On a team without many playmakers, Randle, a 6-foot-8, 250-pound forward, shouldered much of the offensive burden each night, and he became a fan favorite in the process.His versatility put the Knicks squarely in a playoff race for the first time since 2013. And now, Randle is leading the Knicks as a No. 4 seed in a first-round playoff series against the fifth-seeded Atlanta Hawks. The Knicks lost the first game in a nail-biter, 107-105. Game 2 is Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.Recent winners of the award include Randle’s former teammate Brandon Ingram of the New Orleans Pelicans (2020), Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors (2019) and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks (2017), who went on to win back-to-back Most Valuable Player Awards.Randle, who is in his second year with the Knicks, has only one year left on his contract. The Knicks can extend him this summer and likely will try after his strong season and their yearslong struggle to attract big-name free agents. But if they cannot come to an agreement, Randle can bet on himself and test the free-agent market in the summer of 2022. Or if the Knicks decide that Randle cannot be one of the best players on a championship team or don’t want to risk losing him for nothing, they can use him as the centerpiece in a trade for another superstar.For his part, Randle told The New York Times earlier this year that he would like to remain with the Knicks long-term. More

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      Rowdy, Rude and Really Loud: New York N.B.A. Fans Let Loose

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      We’re back, baby! The chants. The cursing at referees! The cursing at opposing players. The cursing just because you can! And that was just in living rooms.New York City basketball fans were out in full force this past weekend, as the Knicks began a first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks, and the Nets opened their postseason against the Boston Celtics.Much to the chagrin of Knicks fans — known for their patient, understanding nature — their team lost to the Hawks in Game 1 of their series on Sunday, 107-105, thanks to a last-second floater from the villainous Trae Young.Across the East River the day before, the Nets — currently the Knicks’ adorable, more talented younger brother — easily dispatched Boston, 104-93.Yes, the Nets are the team more likely to win a championship this season. With the addition of James Harden to the tandem of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, they might have one of the most talented rosters in N.B.A. history. Yet, if this weekend was any indication, if the Nets indeed win the title, New York City may react with a collective shrug.Meanwhile, as the Knicks tipped off against the Hawks, the fans in Manhattan reacted as if Elvis had risen from the dead.OK, we’re being kind of unfair to the Nets. They’ve built an enduring fan base of their own. So they say. But attendees yelling “Brooooklyn!” repeatedly doesn’t have the same ring as Knicks fans yelling, uh, nevermind. We can’t type that here.“The crowd kind of threw me off a bit,” Harden said. “It was pretty loud in there, and the vibe was what we’ve been missing.”Derrick Rose, the Knicks guard, said the crowd was “everything that we expected and probably a little bit more.”Basketball has a long history in New York City, even if N.B.A. championships do not. This is a city of basketball aficionados, and seeing both the Knicks and the Nets make legitimate playoff runs at the same time is a cultural event.Who knows when we’ll get to see this again? More

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      A Wrenching Knicks Loss, but an Electric Night at the Garden

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      Playoff basketball returned to Manhattan as a cultural event with a loud, spirited crowd and a new archenemy, the Hawks’ Trae Young.For 47 minutes 59.1 seconds, the fans at Madison Square Garden ranged from raucous to delirious, as the Knicks — their Knicks — were locked in a dogfight on Sunday night against the Atlanta Hawks in the New York team’s first N.B.A. playoff game since 2013.And with nine-10ths of a second remaining, Trae Young, the Hawks’ star guard, was able to get around Frank Ntilikina, a guard ostensibly known for his defense, and hit a game-winning floater.Young then added insult to injury by using his finger to shush the crowd, a good portion of which had been sending profane chants his way for much of the game, a 107-105 Hawks win.”Next one.”🤫🤫-@TheTraeYoung pic.twitter.com/e41Knsyl53— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) May 24, 2021
      “I’ve always looked at it as I’m doing something right if I’m offending them with my play that much,” Young told reporters after the game, adding, “Just got to let my play do the talking because at the end of the day, fans can only talk. They can’t guard me.”Neither could the Knicks in Game 1 of this best-of-seven first-round series. An unfazed Young took the air of the building repeatedly as he took over in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t just the game winner. It was the two free throws with 28 seconds left. Another floater with less than two minutes left, plus a free throw. Young scored 13 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, deftly casting aside the howling home fans and the haymakers the Knicks kept throwing the Hawks’ way in a back-and-forth thriller. All nine of Young’s free throws came in the final quarter, as did three of his 10 assists.The Knicks tried valiantly to keep Young contained in pick-and-rolls. It didn’t work, as Young used his best weapon — the floater — to frustrate much taller centers.“He’s a great player,” Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks’ coach, said. “We’ll take a look at the film. You’re not going to be able to stay with a steady diet of anything, so obviously we have to do a better job.”Gathering outside Madison Square Garden before the game.Sara Naomi Lewkowicz for The New York TimesOn their feet inside near the end of the game.Pool photo by Seth WenigSunday’s game had all the hallmarks of the classic Knicks playoff games N.B.A. audiences were accustomed to in the 1990s. (Before tipoff, Thibodeau, who was an assistant coach for the Knicks then, recalled that he had never heard a building as loud as Madison Square Garden when Larry Johnson hit a game-tying 3 against the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 of the 1999 Eastern Conference finals — one of the most famous shots in Knicks history.)Game 1 was low scoring and defensively oriented, much like the premillennium Knicks. Angry fans chanted profanities at an opposing team’s best player (and the referees). Those same ones screamed so loudly that the public-address announcer could not be heard after RJ Barrett’s fast-break dunk over Bogdan Bogdanovic in the third quarter sent the crowd of 15,047 into a frenzy.An exuberant Spike Lee berated the referees and embraced Knicks players from the sideline. Other celebrities, like Tracy Morgan, Jon Stewart and Rachel Brosnahan, sat courtside to aid in efforts to rattle the Hawks. Christopher Jackson, the Broadway star, sang the national anthem. David Guetta, the French D.J., performed at halftime.The playoff opener was a reminder that at its best, the Knicks basketball experience is as much a cultural event in New York as it is a basketball one. (To that end, Andrew Yang, one of the leading candidates for mayor of New York City, posted a video of himself on Twitter shaking hands with attendees outside the arena before the game. He had apparently gotten over his previous disavowal of the franchise, which had also been done on Twitter.)The contest had everything Knicks fans could want except for a win. But this was the kind of game that had some significant outliers, making it difficult to project the rest of the series. For one thing, while Young, an All-Star, came through for the Hawks, the Knicks’ All-Star did not. Julius Randle, facing a steady rush of double teams, shot 6 for 23 from the field for 15 points. He dominated the Hawks during the regular season, but could not get his jumpers to fall on Sunday.“Listen, I’m not making no excuses,” Randle said. “I’ve got to be better, and I will be better. I’ll just leave it at that.”As a whole, the Knicks were one of the most accurate 3-point-shooting teams in the N.B.A. On Sunday, they were 10 for 30 from deep — 33 percent, far below their season average of 39 percent.The Knicks stayed in the game mostly because of the play of the reserves, particularly Alec Burks, who led the team with 27 points off the bench. Derrick Rose had 17 points and Immanuel Quickley added 10, including two momentum shifting 3s.Immanuel Quickley celebrated after hitting a 3-pointer in the first-half.Pool photo by Seth WenigA slight bounce here or a friendly foul call that doesn’t go Young’s way, and this discussion is way different. It would be about the Knicks returning to playoff glory and the large number of city residents who suddenly had to — wink, wink — call out sick on Monday. It would be about how the Knicks beat the Hawks despite their best players not playing well, and how well that bodes in a series in which the Knicks have home-court advantage.But the Hawks pulled it out. And they’re one game closer to a series win than the Knicks are.But there’s plenty of reason for optimism for the Knicks heading into Game 2 on Wednesday night at the Garden. Randle showed himself to be too good a player this season, particularly against Atlanta, to have a repeat of Sunday’s game. By the law of averages, more of those 3s the Knicks missed will start going in. The supporting cast showed it was capable of taking some of the load off Randle. And the team was 25-11 at home in the regular season.The unsolvable issue may be Young, one of the few players who can hurt a team from anywhere on the court. When the Knicks played up on him, he drove around them. When they gave him room to operate, he got off his floater or found Hawks teammates for dunks. The answer may be to pack the paint and encourage him to shoot more from 3-point range, where he was a 34.3 percent shooter during the regular season, or to send more traps at him to force the ball out of his hands.Even though Ntilikina was burned on Young’s game winner, he may get more time if Young continues to abuse the guards who had difficulty with him, like the starting guard Elfrid Payton, who continued to be ineffective.The one constant for Game 2 is that Knicks fans will be out in force. Lee will be there screaming, and thousands of others will match him note for note. As Rose said about the opener, the fans gave the team “everything that we expected and probably a little bit more.” More

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      Why Being a Knicks Fan Hurts So Good

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      Knicks fans used to disappointment are now reveling in a season of joy. “God forbid, if we win, we are going to burn this city down,” one famous fan said.Ashley Nicole Moss did not have much of a choice when she was growing up. Her father, Jeff, was a Knicks fan, which meant that she was a Knicks fan, too.For part of her childhood in Brooklyn and Queens, Moss, 27, found that rooting for the Knicks was not such a horrible thing. When she was especially young, the team often made the playoffs and even advanced to the N.B.A. finals in 1999, which she said was among her earliest memories as a fan. So she was completely unprepared for the subsequent two decades, which were largely a wilderness of losing and dysfunction, of failed hopes and shattered dreams.“It’s been a lot of disappointment and a lot of frustration,” said Moss, who is a co-host of “KnicksFanTV” on YouTube.All of which has made this season — this glorious season — so much more special for fans like Moss. The Knicks have engineered a comeback story, sending their long-suffering fans into a fervor. While the Nets, over in Brooklyn, are brimming with high-priced talent as a championship favorite, the Knicks have gone from punchline to playoff contender in the space of several thrilling months.“God forbid, if we win, we are going to burn this city down,” said Daniel Baker, an avowed Knicks fan more popularly known as Desus Nice on the late-night comedy show “Desus & Mero.” “Sorry, I’m just letting you all know.”The Knicks, with the second-lowest payroll in the league and a roster almost devoid of stars, will open their first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks are seeded fourth in the Eastern Conference after finishing with a 41-31 record in the regular season.“It’s a team that people can relate to,” Moss said, “because of that true New York mentality: You grind from the bottom, and you work your way up.”The filmmaker Spike Lee, who has famously clashed with the team’s owner, James L. Dolan, said the past was history.“This is a new era,” he said. “A new day. And all I see are orange and blue skies.”Two stars in Madison Square Garden: Julius Randle and Spike Lee.Vincent Carchietta/USA Today Sports, via ReutersIt is not often that the Knicks can cast themselves as gritty underdogs, given their history of profligate spending. Yet they have won just one playoff series since 2001. They are two seasons removed from finishing with the league’s worst record. They also haven’t landed big free agents: Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving opted instead for the Nets.But after trying something new — fiscal prudence — the Knicks have built themselves in the image of their first-year coach, Tom Thibodeau, who barks instructions with the low growl of an outboard motor. The Knicks rank among the league leaders in blue-collar categories like opposing field-goal percentage and rebound rate. There is not a whole lot of flash. Instead, fans celebrate the unsung things that the players do so well: a hard screen, an intercepted outlet pass.And while the Nets seem to channel the Harlem Globetrotters by lobbing passes off the backboard for alley-oop dunks, the Knicks lean on the more earthbound labor provided by the likes of Julius Randle, a forward and first-time All-Star who led the league in the most roll-up-your-sleeves category imaginable: minutes played.Earlier this season, when the Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers to improve their record to 17-17, a video that went viral on social media captured some fans rejoicing outside the Garden as if the team were on the brink of a championship.“And that was real,” said Josh Safdie, a Knicks fan who was co-director of the film “Uncut Gems” with his brother, Benny. “The same thing was happening in my living room.”Even the N.B.A.’s top star, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, recognizes the importance of the team’s resurgence, saying on Twitter in April that “the league is simply better off when the Knicks are winning.”Knicks fans have experienced pockets of joy in recent seasons, of course. There was Jeremy Lin’s star turn in the off-Broadway production of “Linsanity.” And the early part of Carmelo Anthony’s tenure was often a lot of fun, with the team making three straight playoff appearances. But more common is fans investing in potential saviors — the former team president Phil Jackson, the former lottery pick Kristaps Porzingis — only to come away crushed.Knicks fans during Linsanity in 2012.Barton Silverman/The New York Times“As a Knicks fan, you’re signing up for basically insanity,” Baker said. “The beginning of the year, as a Knicks fan, you’re like, ‘Yo, we’re going to the finals.’ You have no rhyme or reason to say that. You have no player that’s going to take you to the finals, but you just go in with your gut.”Joel Martinez, Baker’s co-star on “Desus & Mero” who is better known as The Kid Mero, likened the Knicks to a “wild, volatile stock.”For Safdie, a formative moment came in 1994, when the Knicks, led by Patrick Ewing, faced the Houston Rockets in the N.B.A. finals. In Game 6, with a chance for his team to close out the series and win its first championship in two decades, the Knicks’ John Starks had his shot blocked at the buzzer, and the Rockets escaped with a narrow win.“Ewing was open,” Safdie said, his voice rising at the memory of it. “Ewing was wide open!”At the time, Safdie cried before heading to a nearby playground to shoot hoops. He consoled himself with the belief that the Knicks would win Game 7. They lost.“For the consummate Knicks fan, there’s a certain kind of masochism that comes with it,” Safdie said. “I’m a moody guy to begin with, but my moods and attitudes fluctuate so much based on the play of the Knicks.”For fans of a finer vintage, the present is often viewed through the lens of the team’s more illustrious past. Nostalgia, though, comes with a whiff of sadness, because the team’s only championships in 1970 and 1973 become more distant by the day.Lewis Dorf, 69, recalled working as one of the team’s ball boys for three seasons, from 1966 to 1969. During one of Dorf’s first nights on the job, the Knicks’ Willis Reed decked several Lakers, splattering blood on Dorf’s team-issue Converse sneakers. Some time later, Dorf had Reed over to his family’s home for dinner.Lewis Dorf in his lucky Knicks shirt.Kat Slootsky for The New York TimesA signed Willis Reed picture on Dorf’s wall along with his other Knicks memorabilia.Kat Slootsky for The New York Times“Those kinds of memories stick with you,” said Dorf, a high school sports referee who now lives in West Orange, N.J.Steve Finamore, 56, a longtime high school basketball coach in Michigan, grew up in Brooklyn mimicking Reed’s post moves, Earl Monroe’s spinning drives and Walt Frazier’s ball-handling wizardry. There was never any question, he said, about his fandom. The Nets were an afterthought in New Jersey, and the Knicks were a part of his identity as a New Yorker who loved basketball.“It’s something that grew on us,” he said, “the way plants grow in your backyard.”It was not until 2013 that Finamore had a crisis of conscience. Even though the Knicks were coming off a competitive season, Finamore was tiring of the drama that seemed to surround Dolan and some of the team’s stars. The Nets, meanwhile, had traded for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in a bold title bid. Feeling the tug of his Brooklyn roots, Finamore picked up a couple of pieces of Nets gear before his wife, Mary, intervened.“She said, ‘You’ve been a Knicks fan since 1973, and you’re going to leave them now?’” Finamore recalled. “My loyalty won out. I realized there was no way I could do it.”Daniel Wann, a professor of psychology at Murray State University who has specialized in studying sports fans, said people tend to tie their identities to larger groups. But many of the groups that people once used to form connections have been in decline, Wann said. Fewer people attend church, for example, and most no longer live within walking distance of their relatives.So following a sports team, he said, gives many an important sense of belonging. Suffering along with a losing team is often considered a badge of honor because it shines a light on their loyalty.“It’s really hard to say, ‘Well, I don’t care anymore,’ even in those times when you want to say that you don’t care anymore,” Wann said. “The reality is, it’s just too much a part of who you are to let it go.”Dennis Doyle, a 38-year-old lawyer from Queens, spent the 2014-15 season attending every Knicks game, home and away. It turned out to be the worst season in franchise history.Dennis Doyle attended every Knicks game in the 2014-15 season, when the team went 17-65.Barton Silverman/The New York Times“I’ve always looked at it like it’s not a choice,” Doyle said of being a Knicks fan. “It’s almost like having a disease. It’s just something you’re kind of stuck with, and there was always too strong of an emotional bond.”His reward for persevering has come this season.“It’s such a pleasure to watch them,” Doyle said. “They play hard, and they play defense. And even though their offense stinks sometimes, you can live with that. I’m just so proud.”Dorf, who has been a season-ticket holder for 52 years, scrambled over the past week to land good seats for the first round. He said it was the first time he had felt stressed about tickets since 1999, when the Knicks last went to the finals. (On Tuesday, when Dorf called his ticket representative, he wore his commemorative T-shirt from the 1998-99 season as a “good luck charm,” he said.)Safdie said he was hoping to attend Sunday’s series opener. If not, he said, he will probably do what he usually does: stream the MSG Network’s broadcast of the game on his tablet, positioning his face approximately “four inches from the screen.” More

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      In the NBA Playoffs, The Scariest Teams Are Lower Seeds

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      Injuries and illness dragged down the records of several teams, including the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. That could mean early postseason exits for the season’s best.The N.B.A.’s play-in tournament nearly fell flat with a series of blowout games until LeBron James and Stephen Curry rescued the postseason appetizer experiment with a dynamic one-off between the Los Angeles Lakers and Curry’s Golden State.Now, the real games are here, with the Knicks and the Nets both earning a seat at the table.The championship is up for grabs after a truncated off-season and a somewhat sluggish and injury-filled regular season.In the Western Conference, neither of the two top seeds — the Utah Jazz or the Phoenix Suns — is favored to escape the conference with the defending-champion Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers lurking.In the Eastern Conference, the Nets are finally at full strength at the right time, Milwaukee and Philadelphia are revamped, looking to advance beyond past stumbles, and Jimmy Butler and his Heat — last season’s Eastern Conference champions — will try to prove that success last year was no fluke.Here’s a look at the matchups.Eastern ConferenceNo. 1 Philadelphia 76ersvs. No. 8 Washington WizardsPhiladelphia’s Joel Embiid is one of three finalists for the league’s Most Valuable Player Award.Matt Slocum/Associated PressThe Wizards have emerged as an Eastern Conference feel-good story to rival the Knicks. To seize the East’s final playoff berth, they rallied from a 17-32 start and a coronavirus outbreak that shut down the team for nearly two weeks.The problem: Washington’s reward is a first-round matchup with the best Philadelphia team since Allen Iverson led the 76ers to the N.B.A. finals in 2001. Joel Embiid is one of three finalists for the league’s Most Valuable Player Award, Ben Simmons ranks as one of the league’s most feared defenders and Coach Doc Rivers, in his first season with the Sixers, has this group primed to capitalize on an enticing playoff draw.The three teams best equipped to keep the Sixers out of the N.B.A. finals — Milwaukee, Miami and the Nets — are all on the other side of the bracket, meaning Philadelphia can face only one of them and not before the conference finals.The potency of Bradley Beal and the triple-double king Russell Westbrook in the Wizards’ backcourt might enable them to steal a game, but this is a series in which the Wizards could use Thomas Bryant, their rugged big man who sustained a season-ending knee injury in January. As good as Daniel Gafford has been since Washington acquired him from Chicago on trade deadline day in March, Gafford and a resurgent Robin Lopez will need help to cope with Embiid.No. 2 Brooklyn Netsvs. No. 7 Boston CelticsBoston’s challenge in facing the Nets is daunting, but Jayson Tatum gives the Celtics (some) hope.Bob Dechiara/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe Nets’ starters have not played together enough to be deemed invincible, but it will take a team at full strength to pose any serious challenge. The Celtics are not that team.Boston limped through the regular season with injuries to Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart and Evan Fournier, whom the Celtics traded for in March. Most significantly, Jaylen Brown and his 24.7 points and 6 rebounds per game are out for the season following his wrist surgery.Walker and the offensive virtuoso Jayson Tatum will have to play magnificently and carry the burden just to steal a game or two against a Nets defense that can be porous. The Nets finished with one of the most efficient offenses in N.B.A. history, scoring 117.3 points per 100 offensive possessions, and vied for the Eastern Conference’s top seed, despite piecing together rotations throughout the season.The most realistic result of this series is that the Nets will use the games as an opportunity to jell following a regular season in which Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving rarely all shared the court. Their real test won’t come until they meet healthier opponents down the playoff line.No. 3 Milwaukee Bucksvs. No. 6 Miami HeatJimmy Butler and the Miami Heat have a chance to show that their success last season was not a fluke.Bob Dechiara/USA Today Sports, via ReutersLast season, the Heat thumped the Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals, needing just five games to eliminate Giannis Antetokounmpo & Co. It was another disappointingly brief postseason appearance for Milwaukee, which has reoriented itself behind Antetokounmpo for another crack at its first trip to the N.B.A. finals since 1974 — and its first championship since 1971. Few contenders, if any, have gone about their business more quietly. Antetokounmpo went a long way toward ensuring a drama-free existence for the franchise by signing a huge contract extension before the start of the season, and the addition of Jrue Holiday has given the team some defensive-minded toughness.A season removed from an Eastern Conference championship (and a demolition of the Bucks in the process), the Heat have had their ups and downs. Jimmy Butler appeared in just 52 games because of injuries and illness, but he is a fearsome competitor — especially in the postseason. Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro are constant perimeter threats, and the power forward Bam Adebayo is coming off the most productive regular season of his career. Slowing Antetokounmpo — who was limited by an ankle injury last season — will be the challenge.No. 4 New York Knicksvs. No. 5 Atlanta HawksTrae Young was Atlanta’s leading scorer this season, averaging 25.3 points per game.Brett Davis/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe Knicks and Hawks might be the most evenly matched teams in the first round. Each team has a marquee player who carried it to the postseason: Julius Randle for the Knicks, and Trae Young for the Hawks. Both teams played their best basketball in the second half of the season after an inconsistent first half. Both were among the slowest in terms of pace.All of that to say: This is a tossup. The Hawks do have a wild card in their favor: health. They’re getting some key players back, including Kris Dunn and De’Andre Hunter, who were out with injuries for most of the season. That could cause some headaches for the Knicks, who have mostly avoided the injury bug.The Knicks were elite defensively and have the weapons to contain Young. But offensively, the Knicks have had trouble finding consistent help for Randle. That being said, Randle played the best basketball of his season against the Atlanta. The Knicks won all three of their matchups.Western ConferenceNo. 1 Utah Jazzvs. No. 8 Memphis GrizzliesUtah’s Jordan Clarkson is one of three finalists for the league’s Sixth Man of the Year Award. He averaged a career-high 18.4 points per game.Neville E. Guard/USA Today Sports, via ReutersWhat to make of the Utah Jazz? They were the best team in the N.B.A. and did not have a single top candidate for the Most Valuable Player Award. Donovan Mitchell, their young star in the midst of a career year, missed the final 16 games of the season because of an ankle injury. The Jazz went 10-6 in those games. Utah led the league in point differential, meaning the average margin of victory for their games. The team was dominant, in large part because of Rudy Gobert’s anchoring of the defense, and because of players like Joe Ingles and Jordan Clarkson picking up the slack with Mitchell absent.It’s unclear whether Mitchell will be able to return for the first round. But the biggest issue is that we’ve seen great regular seasons from the Jazz in the past two years, only for them to get bounced in the first round. But this is the best regular-season Jazz team since 1998-99.They’ll face Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies, who overpowered Golden State in a play-in game on Friday night for the eighth seed. Morant, who won the Rookie of the Year Award last season, was relentless on Friday with 35 points. The Grizzlies are young and inexperienced, but they’re also fearless. That mind-set will give them their best chance against the Jazz.No. 2 Phoenix Sunsvs. No. 7 Los Angeles LakersLeBron James’s game-winning 3-pointer against Golden State in the play-in game, which gave the Lakers the seventh seed, signaled that he’s ready for the playoffs.Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressThe Suns assembled their best regular season since 2006-7, motoring through a competitive conference to win their division. Just two seasons ago, they went 19-63 and were a laughingstock. But their talented young core, led by Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton, has begun to fulfill its potential, and the addition of Chris Paul in the off-season infused the team with leadership, desire and direction.The Suns’ reward for all their hard work? A first-round meeting with the defending champions. It doesn’t exactly seem fair that Phoenix has to christen its first trip to the postseason since 2010 by figuring out how to contend with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. (Welcome back to the playoffs!)The Lakers are an oddity as a No. 7 seed: Injuries to their stars hindered their season, and the roster was seldom whole. James, for example, appeared in just 45 games because of an ankle sprain. But if his game-sealing 3-pointer against Golden State in the play-in round is any indication, he could be rounding back into form — and the Suns could be in for a tough series.No. 3 Denver Nuggetsvs. No. 6 Portland Trail BlazersThe Trail Blazers are healthier than they were this time last season, but they will still need to rely on their All-Star guard Damian Lillard.Steve Dykes/Associated PressThe last time these teams met in the playoffs, the result was an epic seven-game clash that included a quadruple-overtime game before Portland exhaustingly outlasted Denver in the 2019 Western Conference semifinals.Both teams have sensational M.V.P. candidates — Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Portland’s Damian Lillard, stars looking to journey past the conference finals for the first time.Both also wavered through uneven stretches during the regular season. Denver was below .500 after the first 13 games of the season, and Portland often struggled while cycling through a series of injuries to key rotation players.But Portland will have the services of CJ McCollum and the former Nugget Jusuf Nurkic after each missed chunks of the regular season. The Nuggets will be without Jamal Murray, one of the breakout stars of last season’s playoffs, after he sustained a knee injury in April. Denver’s Monte Morris and Will Barton are also nursing recent injuries.Jokic should be able to find holes in Portland’s 29th-ranked defense. The Nuggets will look for Aaron Gordon, acquired in a March trade with Orlando, and Michael Porter Jr. to replace some of Murray’s scoring punch, and will need to pay attention to Lillard and McCollum on screens.No. 4 Los Angeles Clippersvs. No. 5 Dallas MavericksThe Clippers fell apart in last season’s playoffs, but they stand a good chance against the Dallas Mavericks this year.Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesWhen the Clippers lost their final two regular-season games to Houston and Oklahoma City, two of the league’s worst teams, it signaled to the rest of the N.B.A. that the Clippers wanted to get out of the Lakers’ side of the Western playoff bracket and delay a possible matchup until the conference finals. With the Clippers needing only a win over the Thunder to clinch the No. 3 seed, rest assured that they were equally motivated by the prospect of dropping to No. 4 and locking in a first-round series with Dallas.The state of the Clippers’ psyche remains a major curiosity after their second-round collapse against Denver last season, but no one questions their confidence in being able to beat the Mavericks for the second straight postseason. It’s a matchup they clearly relish; health is the greater uncertainty after they coped with myriad injuries this season.For all of the danger Dallas’ Luka Doncic poses, Clippers Coach Tyronn Lue has a variety of defensive options (Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Marcus Morris for starters) to send at Doncic and make him work for his numbers. To have a chance, the Mavericks will need consistent production from Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jalen Brunson, and even more so from their big men who can stretch the floor with shooting — Maxi Kleber and Kristaps Porzingis. More

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      Knicks Are a Playoff Threat After Years on the Sideline

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      When it comes to the playoffs, many Knicks fans are just happy to be here. But they can hope for more — like a first-round series win — because of Julius Randle.If you picked the Knicks before the season to have home-court advantage in the first round of the N.B.A. playoffs, you should probably head straight to Las Vegas because, as Bobby Bacala might note, not even Quasimodo could have predicted all this.For the rest of us, there is another opportunity not to underestimate this year’s Knicks. In the first round, they will host the Atlanta Hawks in the Knicks’ first trip to the playoffs since the 2012-13 season. The Hawks haven’t made the postseason since the 2016-17 season.Drawing the Hawks was a best-case scenario for the Knicks. Thanks in part to a three-game winning streak to close the season, they locked down the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, and avoided the Milwaukee Bucks, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Nets, the top tier of the conference. This is not to say the Hawks should be overlooked. They will enter the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the N.B.A. after winning seven of their last eight.But this is a winnable series for the Knicks, and it would be just their second postseason series win in this century. Both teams were 41-31, but the Knicks had the tiebreaker, giving them the higher seed.Here is a look at the two teams heading into the postseason.What you need to know:How the Hawks made the playoffsHow they’ve played against each otherWhose back is hurting from carrying his team?“We didn’t expect that” candidatesWhat kind of games will these be?Why the Knicks will win the seriesWhy the Hawks will win the seriesHow the Hawks made the playoffsAtlanta had high hopes after adding Rajon Rondo, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Danilo Gallinari and Kris Dunn in the off-season and trading for Clint Capela toward the end of last season. But a combination of injuries and a lack of cohesion, particularly on the defensive end, kept the Hawks from being a top-tier team. Like the Knicks, the Hawks were inconsistent in the first half of the regular season, which prompted the firing of their coach, Lloyd Pierce, in March. Rondo was later traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for Lou Williams.Nate McMillan took over for Pierce as the interim head coach, and the Hawks finished the season 27-11 — the third best team in the N.B.A. in that span. The Knicks were the ninth best team in the league in that same period.The Knicks were also a good draw for the Hawks, since both teams lack playoff experience and are evenly matched.How they’ve played against each otherBarrett dunking against the Hawks at Madison Square Garden last month. Wendell Cruz/USA Today Sports, via ReutersJan. 4: Knicks over Hawks, 113-108 (in Atlanta)Feb. 15: Knicks over Hawks, 123-112 (in New York)April 21: Knicks over Hawks, 137-127 (in New York; overtime)The Knicks had the Hawks’ number this season, beating them in all three of their matchups. There is no team that Julius Randle, the Knicks’ best player, was better against. He averaged 37.3 points in the three games — his highest average against any team this season — along with 12.3 rebounds and 6.7 assists.But the Hawks were missing key players in each game, such as Gallinari and Bogdanovic, and they were a much different team in the second half of the season, so it’s difficult to read too much into these results. With Pierce as coach, the Hawks were 12th offensively and 22nd defensively. Under McMillan, Atlanta was a top-10 offensive team and morphed into an above-average defensive one.Whose back is hurting from carrying his team?Julius Randle24.1 points/10.2 rebounds/6.0 assists/45.6 field-goal percentageRandle’s career year makes him a candidate for an All-N.B.A. team. He led the league in minutes and missed only one game. The Hawks will surely throw double teams at him early and often. And in theory, players like Capela, John Collins and De’Andre Hunter should be able to frustrate Randle, but Randle did just fine during the regular season. He is skilled at finding open shooters and evading double teams.The issue for the Knicks has been getting Randle consistent help on the offensive end, where they were 22nd in the league.Trae Young25.3 points/9.4 assists/3.9 rebounds/43.8 field-goal percentageYoung is one of the best scorers in the N.B.A. and the engine that spurs the Atlanta offense. Despite his small frame, he can create space and score whenever he needs to because of his ball-handling and shooting skills. He is also an exceptional passer, one of two players in the league averaging at least nine assists per game. (Russell Westbrook is the other.) Luckily for the Knicks, their defense is designed to stop a player who thrives in isolation in the way Young does. RJ Barrett is a solid defender, and the Knicks had one of the league’s best defenses.“We didn’t expect that” candidatesFrank Ntilikina, left, has become a key player for the Knicks on defense.Elsa/Getty ImagesDe’Andre Hunter gives the Hawks a scoring punch that could be tricky for the Knicks to counter.Dale Zanine/USA Today Sports, via ReutersKris Dunn and De’Andre Hunter (Hawks)Dunn made his debut for the Hawks in late April after signing as a free agent in the off-season. Because of a knee injury, he missed all but four games. Dunn is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, and now that he’s healthy, he may cause problems for RJ Barrett, Derrick Rose and the rest of the Knicks’ guard rotation.In January, Hunter, a second-year forward, averaged 18.7 points and 4.9 rebounds in 14 games on 53.3 percent shooting. For the rest of the season, he played only five games because of a knee injury that required surgery. On Sunday, Hunter played 24 minutes. If he had stayed healthy all season, he might have been considered for an All-Star spot.Like Randle and Barrett, Hunter made a leap this season. If he is anywhere close to what he was in January, that spells trouble for the Knicks. The Hawks have been playing great basketball over the last month, and adding players as good as Dunn and Hunter at this stage of the season is a luxury most teams don’t have.Nerlens Noel and Frank Ntilikina (Knicks)Noel and Ntilikina aren’t flashy players. Noel has trouble catching the ball underneath the basket. Ntilikina barely gets on the floor. But Noel is one of the best rim protectors in the N.B.A., and Ntilikina is an excellent wing defender. The Hawks like to penetrate and create open looks or alley-oops. Having Noel at the rim may help limit opportunities for Young to connect with Capela and Collins, while Ntilikina may get more time on the floor to keep Young from getting into the paint, something Thibodeau said was a possibility on Wednesday. And really, Ntilikina should probably eat into some of Elfrid Payton’s minutes.What kind of games will these be?Slow and probably low-scoring. Both teams were near the bottom of the league in pace, and playoff games typically have fewer possessions as defenses lock down.There will also be fans! It will not be the same atmosphere the Garden had in the 1990s playoff runs, but about 13,000 fans will be allowed at Knicks’ home games. Vaccinated fans will have their own section, where social distancing won’t be required. Others who show negative results for an antigen or coronavirus test can sit in socially distanced sections.Why the Knicks will win the seriesImmanuel Quickley scored 5 points in a Knicks victory over the Hawks last month.Pool photo by Wendell CruzRandle will continue his dominance of the Hawks. The Knicks’ suboptimal offense will get help from Atlanta’s suboptimal defense. Doubling Randle will frustrate the Hawks because of his ability to create open looks for perimeter shooters. Also, the Knicks are an elite 3-point-shooting team.On top of all this, Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau is a master at developing schemes to slow players like Young. As great a coach as McMillan is in the regular season, he has had minimal success in the playoffs. In nine trips to the postseason, he has coached only one team to a series win (the 2004-5 Seattle SuperSonics).Why the Hawks will win the seriesYoung will establish himself as a top-level star by carving up the Knicks’ defense. A Hawks team that is almost entirely healthy for the first time all season will finally show the potential that many analysts saw before the season. The player who unexpectedly hurts the Knicks the most will be Bogdanovic, who doubled his scoring output after the All-Star break under McMillan, giving Young a dynamic backcourt partner.And Williams, the streaky scoring guard, will win one game almost single-handedly for Atlanta. More