Finals Game Two: Knick of Time

For many years, I've been begging for the NBA to be that "anything can happen" league. Now let's get one thing straight. I have never believed in "Any given Sunday" in football. That crap is just an excuse made when teams that are supposed to be "good" lose to, as the late, great Bobby Heenan would call them, "ham and eggers." Some teams are too good to lose to certain ones. Example: the Packers would never lose to the Cardinals or Giants, but a dipstick team like the Vikings would. Just saying.

Hockey is the only sport that has that "Any given day" feel, because upsets happen a lot. For years, the NBA has been the opposite. If you're an "also ran," forget it. Just drink in your time before reality sets in. Or say you actually make it farther than you're supposed to. Eventually, the dead end is waiting for you.

Someone forgot to tell this to the New York Knicks.

The Knicks came back from down 15 points to win Game One over the San Antonio Spurs. But that's just one game, right? These were the San Antonio Spurs; one of the top teams in the NBA. They took out Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Dethroned them. They could beat the Knicks, right? It did look that way. Nine point lead for the Spurs after one, and they were up by 14 in the second quarter. Funny thing happened. San Antonio's 14 point lead became a four-point halftime deficit. The Knicks led 56-52 at the the half, and they turned that into their own double digit lead.

But hold up! Now it was the Spurs' turn to climb all the way back! It was 97-97 late, and I had one of two things happening: either the Spurs would actually win this in regulation, or we'd get overtime, where all bets would be off. OG Anunoby gave NY the lead with three free throws, but it was later tied at 104 with barely over half a minute left in regulation. Knicks had the ball, but Jalen Brunson's shot missed. Victor Wembanyama got the rebound, but a pass headed towards Stephon Castle became a turnover because Castle had his back turned. Brunson regained possession and was fouled, resulting in two free throws. Makes the first, misses the second. Less then 10 seconds left. Wemby gets the ball, takes the shot... misses.

The Knicks won Game Two, 105-104. They did it, folks. Two games in San Antonio, and the Knicks nabbed both of them. Somewhere, SGA's screaming, "Why couldn't we do this?!" It's amazing. Nearly everyone and their brother had the Western Conference Finals as the real Finals. What I mean is, many thought whoever won between OKC and the Spurs would trounce whoever won the East. The Knicks were supposed to bend the knee to either SGA or Wemby, but instead, they took this disrespect personally. The Knicks went to San Antonio and set it ablaze. They've won 13 straight games in this wild run, and they now sit just two wins away from championship glory.

This is the 38th time that a team has taken a 2-0 lead in the Finals, and out of the previous 37 occurrences, 32 times has said 2-0 team gone on to win the Finals. That's 86.5% of the time. The Knicks totally have home court now, winning both games in San Antonio, and now, they have a big chance to finish the story.

Game Three is Monday at Madison Square Garden.

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