In “Shelter From the Storm,” Bob Dylan sang:
Well, the deputy walks on hard nails and the preacher rides a mount
But nothing really matters much, it’s doom alone that counts
And the one-eyed undertaker, he blows a futile horn
“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”
As we all know, with this Knicks team, doom is, in fact, all that counts, and it is what awaits the Knicks in this series.
However, let me just point out something that you might use to take shelter in this storm. The series is only three games in, and the Knicks have won one of those three games. One win tonight and the series is tied. This is far, far from over. Going back to the 1999 NBA Playoffs, which involved the Knicks and the Heat and an unlikely #8 seed having success, the score in Game 1 was the Knicks by 20. Then the Heat won Game 2 by 10. Then the Knicks won Game 3 by 23. Then the Heat won Game 4 by 15. Then the Knicks, of course, won Game 5 (and the series) by one point.
In 1997, the Knicks won Game 4 by 13 to take a 3-1 lead, then the Heat won game 5 by 15 and, well, you know, the rest of the series was canceled for some reason and never finished.
The Suns looked like trash after two games in Denver, and now after two games in Phoenix, are tied 2-2. The Sixers looked like jokes against the Celtics in Games 2 and 3, with people calling James Harden “Ben Simmons,” and then Harden scored 42 points and made the game-winning three-pointer with 18 seconds left in overtime (after first sending the game to overtime in regulation).
The narrative of this series so far is that the Heat have just outclassed the Knicks, and that’s absolutely been true (outside of Quarter 1 in Game 1 and Quarters 3-4 in Game 2), but guess what? Who the fuck cares? It doesn’t mean anything, because the Knicks still won Game 2. A win is a win is a win is a win. So if the Knicks “only” won one quarter tonight and it happens to be the fourth quarter and they win the game, then obviously Games 1-3 weren’t dispositive at all, right?
Again, with this Knicks team, it IS doom alone that counts, so they WILL lose this series, but you can take real shelter in the knowledge that there is no reason why this series is over after just three games (now, if they get their asses kicked in Game 4, that will be a lot more dispositive). So while everything is awful and they will certainly get eliminated by the Heat, we really don’t know that for sure just yet (except that we do).
So while it is fruitless for me to say “Let’s go, Knciks!” it is also fruitless to say that Games 1-3 are the only games that matter in this series. So, well, let’s go, Knicks!