Knicks Morning News (2026.05.26)

I’ll start by saying that this isn’t a defense of Harden/Atkinson, but instead a celebration of the fact that human beings, and not random number generators, play these games.

If you put together a bell curve of expected performances, as the fanatic “analysis” types are wont to do, the Knicks are performing on the outer tail of the curve. Not remotely at black swan levels, but on the x-axis well to the right of the fattest part of the curve, where the y-axis is at its peak.

While I personally do not fucking care, and find it a testament to humans and the human condition as well as the very reasons they play the games rather than chart them, there are some who live by these bell curves and get discombobulated and literally cannot fathom tail results that do not comport with the “laws” of statistical inference. And so they attribute them to all manner of false things — “luck” for one (*).

Or in James Harden and Kenny Atkinson’s case, “Yeah we lost, but they aren’t really better than us.”

They are, of course — but no one should give a shit.

(*) In ancient times, this is of course how religion got rolling. “We can’t figure out why these tornados are hitting our wheat fields, there hasn’t been one like this in 25 years — it must therefore be God.”

As someone who started his first corporate job in 1999 I’m afraid to say I know that suit style all too well… wide lapels, pleated trousers, dark shirt with a bold patterned tie… that’s Men’s Wearhouse, baby!

Few years before, but among other things, Bulls and Bears braces for me. (*)

While I’m sure it sounds “old,” way better look than the bullshit in offices today. Looked forward to putting on a suit and tie before I did it, happy I did it BITD. Garden and sporting arenas generally were much cooler when a number of dudes rocked suits and ties at the games. The forced conformity and Rubenesque middle aged dudes sporting jerseys is actually kind of embarrassing.(**) (Not fatally, obviously.)

(*) ’99 in fashion history is the year when tech fashion gained critical mass and started to spread from the techies themselves to the lawyers and other professionals who served them and — very unfortunately — thought that the way to get them as clients was to dress like them. Downhill ever since.

(**) Sports logos, jerseys, etc. are pretty clearly substituting for something that used to obtain, but has gone missing. Humans have an obvious need to identify and bond over shared identification, but they used to not do it in sporting arenas through clothing, being entirely satisfied with rooting fanatically for the same team.

It’s highly uncouth to whine about it and say out loud you’re the better team after you just got smoked four straight — but substantively, the games are in fact too close together. Another Adam Silver botch job.

Windhorst on what changed.

https://x.com/NBA_NewYork/status/2059256164185981077

Dribble dribble dribble does not work.

Yeah, but none of that would have happened if KAT wasn’t a multi-faceted superstar who could play point forward at insane levels virtually on command. The numbers they’re churning out are downstream from that inherent talent.

If the coaches or front office or even the players really believed that all that needed to happen for a juggernaut to be unlocked was making KAT a point forward and center of the team’s tactical offensive universe, they wouldn’t have waited until going down 2-1 to ATL to do it.

My guess for the mechanics of “what happened” are that during the post 2-1 practices or film sessions, or maybe in private (*), KAT or Brunson said something like “Hey coach, why don’t we run more of the stuff where I get the ball at the top, and OG and Mikal cut and I hit them? I think that would work.” (OG and Mikal nod, subtly.)

At which point Mike Brown probably thought but did not say, maybe even through metaphorically gritted teeth, “Motherfucker, that’s what I’ve been telling you all season,” and then said something like, “Yeah, great idea, I’m in — let’s focus on those sets. Here we go.”

Basketball is on one hand somewhat complicated, but on many other hands, not really that complicated at all. If they finish the job, much will be written about “what happened,” but the real answer is probably something like this.

(*) But probably not.

You know what’s crazy and incredibly dope at the same time? The fact that teams actively try to keep Knicks fans out of their arenas..especially in the postseason. That is absolutely nuts to me. Knicks fans- we are a crazy bunch but dammit we love our squad!

Knicks fans travel incredibly well, maybe the best of any fanbase in North American sports. Another championship cements that for 40 more years plus.

West champ will be way better defensively than any of the East teams; that said, the Knicks have been destroying teams and therefore have a built-in margin of safety. You don’t have to win games by 25 and 30 to win games.

Harden’s relentless flops, fakery, and foul-baiting are an insult to the sport of basketball. If he pulled that shit on any decent playground, he’d get his ass kicked.(*) Or worse.

He sucks.

(*) Which is why he assuredly doesn’t pull that shit on the playground. Which in turn leads to the question of why the association puts up with it. In that vein, if the Knicks beat OKC, rest assured there will be a bunch of whining that “SGA didn’t get the same whistle as he got in the regular season.” But fuck SGA’s whistle.

Or he could just be going all Jerome James and whatnot.

Generally speaking, I’m not making any long-term decisions on the team and the contracts based on this heater for the ages, and that goes all the way up to KAT. (Realistically, yeah, if they win the championship anyone who played a big part, as Landry has, is probably going to be a Knick for life. KAT obviously would be. His number frankly might be in the MSG rafters someday. JB’s obviously will be.)

With the caveat that I haven’t gamed out how the new lottery rules impact the pros and cons of tearing down, the Cavs are a teardown. Paying Spida the 5/325 he can get under the rules, and extending Harden two more years, and second aproning yourself with this nucleus as far as the eye can see, is insane.

Forget the Thunder and Spurs, the Knicks have kicked the shit out of this nucleus twice in four years. And the Pacers kicked the shit out of it last year. It is nowhere near championship caliber.

Make Quickley healthy and make Ingram play just mediocre rather than abysmal, and Cleveland would have lost to Toronto.

They aren’t even close to contention. Their delusions are quite something.

Couple long stories on the Cavs in The Athletic and in one their long-time beat writer says that for them to contend, Evan Mobley (yes, Evan Mobley) needs to become their top offensive option and clear best player on the team; in other words, needs to make Spida a number two including on the offensive end.

I highly doubt the writer came up with that one on his own, which means he’s getting it floated to him by important senior basketball people in the organization and if that’s the idea and the plan, which it sure seems to be, then I mean … knock yourselves out with that one, boys.

On the aesthetic front, gotta say I kinda dig how the font here, intentionally or otherwise, is the same one (*) as the online Times and Athletic. Classes up the joint quite nicely. Kudos to all responsible.

(*) Or if not exact, close enough.

Harden’s getting a two-year extension. He or his agents are playing the “you can’t hurt your reputation with other players and agents by not extending me” card and/or the Cavs actually do on the basketball merits want to extend him.

It’s over for them. They aren’t going to be a threat. To the Knicks, they never were.