It's been a while, and Knicks owe fans a playoff series-clinching win at Garden
New York Knicks' Jalen Brunson reacts as he walks off the floor after the Knicks won Game 4 in an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers, Sunday, April 28, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) Credit: AP/Matt Slocum
Jalen Brunson was there the last time it happened.
Brunson was there to witness history when the Knicks last closed out a playoff series at Madison Square Garden. He doesn’t remember much, of course, given that he was 2 years old and sitting in the stands with his mother, Sandra. But his dad, Rick, a player on that 1999 team that clinched a trip to the Finals with a win at the Garden in Game 6, has made sure his son knows what a special experience it is to close out a series in front of your hometown fans.
“He said moments like these are pretty cool,” Brunson said Tuesday morning as his Knicks got ready to play the 76ers in a closeout Game 5 at Madison Square Garden. “He said just go out there and have fun and make sure you’re playing with the same intensity, same mindset.”
Perhaps nothing says more about how far the Knicks franchise has come under Brunson and his teammates than the fact that it’s been nearly 25 years since they played and won the final game of a playoff series at Madison Square Garden.
Since earning a trip to the NBA Finals on June 11, 1999, by eliminating the Pacers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, the Knicks have played in 13 playoff series and won just four of them. They eliminated Cleveland in five games in Cleveland last year in the first round. They defeated the Celtics in Boston in six games in the first round of the 2013 playoffs. And in 2000, they swept the Raptors in Toronto in the first round and then beat the Heat in Miami in Game 7 of the second.
Knicks fans have been a noticeable factor in this series, even on the road as they showed up en masse for both games in Philadelphia and were definitely a factor getting underneath Joel Embiid’s skin. After the 76ers' Game 4 loss, Embiid said it was “disappointing” that so many Knicks fans had flooded the arena, adding “it’s not OK.”
After Game 4, a video of Knicks fans celebrating on Wells Fargo Concourse and repeating an obscene chant about Embiid went viral. You can bet the chant will surface again and again Tuesday night at the Garden.
The Knicks, of course, loved the support and would be delighted to finish the series off at home.
“Hopefully, we can do something like that and they can go out on Seventh Avenue and have some fun,” Josh Hart said Tuesday morning. “It would be huge, not just for the team, but for the fans.
“As a team during this time, we’ve got to be humble — just keep focus on what’s next. But the fans, we want them to be passionate, as energetic, as etcetera as they want. We want them to have fun and enjoy the ride we're on.”
The entire series hasbeen incredibly intense. Even though the Knicks lead the series, 3-1, they have only outscored the 76ers by four points over the four games. Hart said the Knicks fans have been a huge plus all the way.
“You love when your crowd is getting rowdy, bringing energy, passion and those kind of things,” Hart said. “That’s why you play games at home. That’s the home court advantage. The Garden was jumping for Game’s 1 and 2. I’m sure they’re going to be jumping tonight. Hopefully we can feed off that energy.”
Most of the current Knicks were too young to remember the craziness of the Knicks' win over the Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals, how Allan Houston scored 32 points while Knicks-killer Reggie Miller shot 3-for-18 to give the Knicks a 90-82 win and send a No. 8 seed to the Finals for the first time in NBA history.
One member of this team, however, was not too young. Coach Tom Thibodeau was an assistant on Jeff Van Gundy’s staff. Thibodeau said before Tuesday night's game that he didn’t want his players to “get lost in all the hoopla” as they entered a possible close-out game.
“We have to understand what goes into winning, don’t change the approach,” Thibodeau said. “Make sure we’re locked in and ready to play each possession.”
Still, when pressed, it was clear he remembers the feeling of coming up big in front of Knicks fans at home.
Said Thibodeau: “That was a long time ago. That was a great team and it was a great experience for us and we know how important this game is to the city. We want to make them proud.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
