They beat an injured Thunder team, though. If they beat a healthy Thunder team, then 100% I’d back them to win this series.

Same.

That Thunder team, with no Mitchell or Williams and Chet playing like that, is not much better than Cleveland.

The Cavs beat a 60 win Pistons team FFS. They didn’t suck, we just made them look like they did.

You KNOW I think the Knicks were beating the Pistons and Celtics, too, but I don’t think it is unfair to note that they likely wouldn’t have SWEPT those two series, so it is still a very good thing that the Knicks avoided them. Especially since, the longer a series goes, the more chances you have for dudes to get hurt.

That isn’t to say Philly and the Cavs were bad teams, of course, but just that the matchups were differnet than with the Pistons and the Celtics for the Knicks.

if OKC was in New York’s conference and the Knicks somehow beat them without 2 of their 4 best players (and Chet being that) I am 100% sure people wouldn’t take that win as proof of concept

100%

And if the Spurs ran through the playoffs with the greatest margin of victory ever, no one would be saying “but their competition was weak.”

People are retro fitting their opinions to match their assumptions.

The Sixers and Cavs didn’t suck because the Knicks killed them. The Knicks are fucking great because they killed them.

The Spurs beat OKC, the prohibitive favorite, so they get the respect that comes with that.

I think the Spurs should be slightly favorite, but if OKC was in New York’s conference and the Knicks somehow beat them without 2 of their 4 best players (and Chet being that) I am 100% sure people wouldn’t take that win as proof of concept (and would also point out that they faced the 6th and 7th seeds in the previous two rounds).

The Knicks beat a bunch of teams you guys were hoping they’d play cause they were worse than all the alternatives. Now you want respect for it?

Yeah we’re really lucky we didn’t play the real powerhouses of the East like Boston and Detroit.

What happened to those teams again?

There are two things. 1. This Knicks team is obviously not the team we saw all season long. That team I would pick the Spurs to win in 6, but 2. The Spurs got here by barely beating an injured Thunder team. I think the Knicks are on the upswing while the Spurs are just kind of “there.”

The Knicks beat a bunch of teams you guys were hoping they’d play cause they were worse than all the alternatives. Now you want respect for it?

ASK FOR FUCKING MORE BRIAN

I have never agreed more with Pags.