What A Night For The Knicks

What in the name of Willis Reed happened at Madison Square Garden last night? Other than a redux of the most iconic moment in the history of the New York Knickerbockers. 

54 years to the day that Willis Reed came hobbling out of that same MSG tunnel, Jalen Brunson hobbled out for the second half and then dropped a sledgehammer on the Pacers. Brunson hobbled out and erased a double digit deficit and dropped 24 and basically snatched Pacer soul’s right out of their bodies.

What a night for the Knicks. Knick fan is feeling themselves, I mean Knick fan is always feeling themselves, and Knick fan is always unhinged, but they're on a whole other level right now... and they should be. Because for once, the Knicks actually embody the toughness and grit of their fans and their city. Instead of embodying the major loser vibes coming off their major loser owner. 

But admit it Knick fan, for a second last night, y’all had to hit the pause on the whole GO NEW YORK GO NEW YORK GO. Admit it Knick fan, when Brunson went down, it was suddenly NO NEW YORK NO NEW YORK NO. For second there, it was UH OH NEW YORK UH OH.

Once again, the Pacers had an opening. Once again, Indy had a great look at snatching the home court in this series. They had a ten point lead at halftime, they had a banged up Brunson, then OG Anunoby went down midway through the third, plus Mitchell Robinson is already gone. That's three of the Knicks' most important pieces in their already very small rotation. So like I said, golden opportunity for the Pacers. And another golden opportunity completely squandered.

For the second game in a row, Indiana had their hands around Knickerbocker throats, and for the second game in a row, my dudes just didn’t squeeze hard enough. And you know I’m all about this Pacer team, which is why I have to tell you like it is, Pacer fan. You didn’t finish. And no... It’s not the refs' fault.

Look, we are all frustrated with the Ref Show. Nobody is saying they’re perfect. Nobody is saying they're even close to perfect. Nobody is even saying they're good. The league itself admitted a whole pile of mistakes in Game 1, it's not exactly a secret that the Ref Show is the worst show. 

But the Ref Show is not why the Pacers lost Game 1 and it sure as hell is not why they lost last night. So please, Pacer fan, miss me with those tears. Keep that puddle of tears so many of you are sobbing and weeping into this morning to yourselves, I don't want your salty eye water anywhere near me.

Is that the way you’re gonna rally yourselves Pacer Nation, by whining and crying about the Ref Show? The Pacers have actually now submitted 78 plays from the first two games to the NBA claiming they were called incorrectly. 78 plays! 29 from Game 1 and 49 from last night’s game.

Seriously guys? 49 missed calls in the game last night? There are only 48 minutes in the game! You're saying they blew more than a call a minute? Really? 

The Pacers right now are that guy on the pickup court who ruins the whole run because he thinks there’s a foul on every play. The Pacers are just out there calling fouls and trying to re-check the ball on every single possession.

My dudes, that’s not the way. That's so lame and so weak and so not the way back into this series. If there was some kind of chip on your shoulder to gain from this supposed officiating crisis happening in this series, that chip should have already come into play. If you’re really this upset that the refs are tilting the series against you, maybe you should have taken it out on the Knicks last night. Instead of letting the Knicks take you to the woodshed in the second half and rip your lead away and rip the game from your hands.

78 missed calls in this series… come on now, that is so ridiculous. We all know the Ref Show is terrible but nobody actually thinks they’re THAT bad. And again, whining about it and reporting to the league is not the kind of energy that's gonna get them back into this series.

It’s just not alpha energy. There's plenty of alpha energy in this series, don't get that twisted, it's just all coming from the Bockers. The alpha energy is coming from Jalen Willis Reed Brunson and Donte BIG D-Vincenzo and also I can’t forget JOSH STEAL MY HART.

Because JOSH STOLE MY HEART last night. With one of the coldest live broadcast interaction moments ever. You know the one where Josh Hart body bagged the arch nemesis of the Knicks franchise on live television.

To set it up, at the end of the game, the Garden crowd started a chant. Not sure if you can make it out, but here what it sounded like on the broadcast. 

I think you can make out what they're chanting. I think pretty much everyone got the gist there. But thing is, Josh Hart really wanted to MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE Reggie Miller heard. Josh Hart really wanted to do Reggie a solid and let him know what the whole crowd was chanting. You know, just in case he couldn't hear it through his headset.

So Josh Hart went over to the broadcast table, in between free throws, with 22 seconds left in the game, leaned in to Reggie and did this.

"I don't know if you heard... but I think they said EFF YOU." You wanna talk about going legend. You want to talk about stone cold. You wanna talk about straight up IONIC.

Thing is, Josh Hart could have just as easily turned around, looked at the Pacers bench and did the choking signal too. Because that’s a lot closer to what happened last night than the Ref Show robbing the Pacers. And Indy, you know it brings me no pleasure at all to say that.

And Indy, you know I would tell you if you got jobbed by the refs. You didn't get jobbed by the refs. You just didn't finish. You just didn't capitalize on a golden opportunity, for the second game in a row. That's all.

Here's the good news though, the series is only 2-0. The Pacers get to go home to their amazing fans in Indy that should give them a boost. And clearly, the Pacers are right there with the Knicks. And clearly, the Knicks are a beat up, rundown team at this point. 

There could be a winnable war of attrition here, Pacers. It's just gonna take a lot more toughness and a lot more grit and a lot more finishing then you've shown so far. And it's gonna take a lot more than whining about the refs and coming up with a new grievance every 60 seconds. 

Basically, Indy, to come back in this series, it's gonna take a lot more sack. It's gonna take a much bigger set. It's gonna take the kind of brass set the Knicks have shown so far. You're gonna have to out NAD the Knicks. And to do that, step one is pulling yourselves up out of that pathetic salty pool of Ref Show tears.