NEW YORK — Celtics star Jaylen Brown said losing to the Knicks felt like ‘death.’
But outside of Madison Square Garden on Friday night, the Grim Reaper was nowhere to be found. Thousands of fans, many of whom were not born the last time their beloved Knicks played in the conference finals, and many who had enjoyed their share of adult refreshments, packed, shut down, and mosh pitted their way down 7th Avenue in a scene New Yorkers hope carries them to hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy next month.
With chants of ‘Let’s Go Knicks!’ and ‘F U Boston!,’ the world’s most famous arena became a royal blue, orange and white clad party scene unlike anything the city has seen in the past three decades, most of which was littered with playoff disappointment, uninspiring play, 11 different head coaches since the turn of the century and a two-week blitzkrieg that took the city by storm known as Linsanity.
The lightpoles outside MSG were no match for rowdy fans, but inside the building, the vibe was much more subdued, knowing what’s ahead.
‘The goal is always to win a championship. We’ve got eight wins, you need 16,’ New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said minutes after his team scored their biggest victory in a quarter of a century.
Josh Hart, who had a triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists for the Knicks on Friday, said the Game 5 tape was hard to watch.
“We watched film and we were disgusted,’ said Hart, sporting a semi-closed left eye from taking an elbow in Game 5. ‘It’s going to be a tough opponent. We can build off this game. I feel like our defensive transition, our communication was great today.’
The Knicks did what they couldn’t do Wednesday in Boston and rode a big first-half lead and an inspiring defensive effort to close out the world champion Celtics in six games and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers. Game 1 of that best-of-seven series starts Wednesday night (8 ET, TNT) in New York.
But the long-suffering fans and players of this team are not taking anything for granted, especially considering past playoff performances, including blowing a 2-0 series lead to Indiana in last year’s semifinal round. The 119-81 rout of the Celtics on Friday night, which was the Knicks’ largest margin of victory in a postseason game, did nothing but bring back memories. Still, it also boosted a confidence not seen since Patrick Ewing was roaming the tunnels near 33rd Street in Manhattan.
The Knicks will need everything the fans have and more to get past a hot Pacers team that easily took care of the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in five games. Granted, the Cavaliers did have several injuries and three starters missed one game of the series.
On Friday, all five Knicks starters scored in double figures, with four scoring over 20 points, led by Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby, who each scored 23.
The key to the next series may be Anunoby, the team’s highest-paid player after signing a five-year, $212.5 million contract last summer. It has been hit or miss for the ninth-year small forward, who had 13 total points on 4-of-27 shooting from the field in the two defeats in the conference finals but put up 29, 20 and 23 points in three of the victories.
‘From start to finish, that was terrific,’ Thibodeau said about Game 6. ‘We knew we had to play 48 minutes against them. They play their style no matter what, and I thought we earned it.’
Thibodeau quickly put this victory to bed, no matter how satisfying, knowing Indiana awaits.
‘You’ve got to win games different ways. Every game is different. There’s really no carryover from one game to the next. You have to get ready for the next series,’ Thibodeau said.
With the problems that Boston brought with their championship pedigree and prolific shooting, the Pacers possibly present more of a challenge, just in the way matchups will dictate who will win this series.
‘They are an excellent basketball team, you look at their guard play, they can push you and break you down off the dribble. We understand what the challenge is,’ Thibodeau said.
The Knicks won two of three regular-season matchups and have a long playoff history with the Pacers, dating to the 1993 Eastern Conference first round.
Over the next two weeks, phrases like ’25-point fourth quarter,’ ‘Eight points, nine seconds,’ and ‘Spike Lee sit down’ will invoke memories that will no doubt stoke Knicks’ fans ire, but also could become a rallying cry and push a team that hasn’t won an NBA championship since 1973.