Photo: Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
Sometime during the second half of game four of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Knicks and Celtics on Monday night, an entirely unfamiliar thought leapt to the mind of anyone who had watched the entire series up to that point: The Knicks could actually win this thing.
That’s a strange thing to say about a team that won the first two games of the series, a team that in fact held a 2-1 series lead at this point. But — now that they’re safely behind us and officially banked — it has to be said that the Knicks had clearly been the worst team on the floor in those three and a half games by a large margin. New York pulled furious, almost magical comebacks in games one and two after being dominated in the first three quarters, and then got their doors blown off in game three. And for the first half of game four, it looked to be more of the same. The Knicks were more feisty this time around, but every time they gained some momentum, the Celtics would go on yet another unstoppable run, drain yet another three-pointer, get yet another insane shot from their star, Jayson Tatum. Boston displayed the perfect combination of stifling defense, oppressive size, championship experience, and shooting prowess. The Knicks were fighting. But the Celtics were inevitable.
And then everything started to click. OG Anunoby started hitting three-pointers and pestering Tatum. Josh Hart returned to being the guy who’s always leaping into the most troublesome spot for the opposing team. Karl-Anthony Towns had his best game of the series precisely when it was most needed. Mikal Bridges, after a season in which many Knicks fans feared they might have traded the draft bounty they’d saved up for the wrong guy, was brilliant, an absolute terror on both ends of the court. And most of all, Jalen Brunson, the undersize second-round pick, the guy the Knicks were mocked for “overpaying” back in 2022, the guy whose stunning elevation into the top tier of NBA players allowed the Knicks to dream this big in the first place — he went absolutely nuts, hitting incredible shot after incredible shot, each one sending Knicks fans leaping to their feet. (Two of his threes knocked multiple beverages off my coffee table.) It was incredible. And, more than that: It was definitive.
The Knicks didn’t just look like they could hang with the Celtics. They looked … better. It was something we had never seen from a team that was specifically constructed in the Celtics’ image, a team who was seen by most, even at its best, as Celtics Lite, a team that, again, looked worse in the first three and a half games (and was swept by Boston during the regular season). In front of a Madison Square Garden so riotous that you worried the building would lift from its moorings and spin off madly into the sky, New York played like a championship team. For the first time in, oh, 30 years … you wonder if maybe they might just be.
The Knicks’ 121-113 win gives them a 3-1 lead in the series, which now looks insurmountable. That’s not just because of the score. On a play late in the game, Tatum — who may have been playing the best playoff game of his distinguished career — collapsed on a noncontact play, holding his ankle in what sure looked like an Achilles injury, the worst possible noncontact injury a player can suffer. (It essentially ended Kobe Bryant’s career; he was never the same afterward.) One can only hope Tatum will eventually get back on the court and return to being the player he was, but that’s a hope for months, or years, from now. In the context of this series, the Celtics have lost their superstar, and — and this is key — the only player who was keeping them in the game once the Knicks turned it on Monday. Without him, suddenly, this series looks over. And the Celtics seemed to know it. In his postgame press conference, Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, who has struggled with his own injuries this postseason, stared silently in the distance when asked about Tatum’s injury. “It’s tough,” he said, eyes vacant. “There’s not really a lot to say.”
If the Knicks win game five in Boston on Wednesday night and clinch this series, Tatum’s injury will be widely cited as a reason why. But the Knicks would have won this game had Tatum stayed on his feet until the end, and they would still be up 3-1. Everything the Knicks have been trying to become in the Leon Rose era came to fruition in this game. They’re a stalwart defensive team that can hit threes, rebound (Mitchell Robinson, the longest-tenured Knick, had yet another splendid game), and get the ball to the NBA’s best clutch player in Brunson in case of emergency. After a somewhat listless season that led many fans to wonder if widespread changes would be required after what was presumed to be a pending series loss to the Celtics, the Knicks have become their best selves at exactly the right time. They didn’t just look like a team that could beat the Celtics. They looked like a team that could beat anybody.
They are now one game away from their first conference finals since 1999, when Jalen Brunson was 2 years old, when Jerry Seinfeld was courtside sitting next to Diddy (really), when you were younger and cooler and your life was still all right there in front of you. Monday was the most glorious night at the Garden since then. It was a team, at last, discovering who they are and who they can be, in front of a fan base that has waited so, so long for something like that. I believe that the Knicks winning the NBA title would be the biggest story in sports. I also, after last night, now believe, for the first time, that it’s legitimately possible. You should believe too. Come onboard. The Knicks can actually win this thing.
