Why This Knicks Team Rules New York Once Again...

The secret to the Knicks’ popularity has nothing to do with Captain Clutch, Jalen Brunson, the greatest Knicks player since the team won the NBA title five decades ago, or the emergence of Karl-Anthony Towns in the middle or any other playe on the court.

No, the key to this particular team being so charismatic goes even beyond their stunning playoff victories (over, admittedly, inexperienced Detroit Pistons and injury-depleted Boston Celtics squads).

The New York Knicks are so likable! Like no other New York sports teams in recent memory, the Knicks so strongly reflect the values that we Noo Yawkers hold dearest: our toughness, our street smarts and our perseverance.

Maybe, just maybe, not since the magical Walt Frazier-Willis Reed-Bill Bradley championship Knick squads of the early 1970s has a local sports team given us such civic pride because they remind us of, well, us.

The 2025 Knicks make us smile when they win and lament when they lose. When they win, we see ourselves and revel in our daily triumphs, as undramatic and mundane as they would seem to the outside world.

When They Lose

But when the Knicks lose, we blame ourselves, somehow. We take their failures personally.

Am I overstating matters a wee bit? Of course, I am. If the Knicks go on to defeat the underdog Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference final round and advance to the rarified air of NBA Finals, the F train won’t necessarily arrive on time. You won’t suddenly get a table in your favorite weekend bistro. The tourists will no longer drive us crazy with their stupid questions.

In other words, a Knicks’ victory over Indiana–which I predict we’ll will take place in five games–won’t change life in the city. But a Knicks’ success would accomplish a lot.

It will remind us of what we love about team sports: the teamwork, the sacrifices that the individuals make for the glory of the organization, the sense that we outsmarted the opposition and didn’t win merely on bulk and raw ability.

These Knicks are likable, too, because they are humble in victory. They don’t dance in the end zone in post-game interviews. They share the credit as naturally as they share the basketball on the court. When they lose, they don’t make excuses.

Why, then, am I picking the Knicks to win in five? Here are five big reasons:

1) The Knicks are healthy! Last season, you’ll remember bitterly, the Knicks lost to the same Pacers in seven, gut-wrenching games. The Knicks were weakened by injuries by the end of the series and got shellacked in game seven. WHAT IF? We all wondered. Now, we’ll get to find out.

2) A favorable matchup: Like most of the NBA teams, the Pacers have a glaring matchup problem in the middle. The Pacers simply have no answer for Knicks center Towns. He is (finally) playing like the force we envisioned when the Knicks traded for him after the end of last season.

3) Matchup advantage, Part 2: The Pacers similarly can’t stop Brunson. Indiana’s most acclaimed player is speedy point guard Tyrese Haliburton, a formidable opponent. But the Knick s come out ahead in a direct matchup of Brunson and Haliburton. Brunson has the rare ability to score at least 25 points in seemingly every game – and still act as a conduit for his teammates. No wonder Brunson is so beloved in this town.

4) Home cooking: The series will open with two games at Madison Square Garden. If there is a game 7, it will be played here, too. That’s huge. Much is made of an extra player in the form of rabid fans. But forgeddabout it. Nowhere else in the NBA can hometown fans influence the outcome like they can here. Ask the Celtics, who visibly collapsed in a crazed MSG during the decisive sixth game of the recent series.

5) Swagger. The Knicks suddenly possess THAT CHAMPIONSHIP LOOK. If you’re a lifelong New York sports fan, you can recognize it a mile away. It is the quality that enabled the Giants to beat Bill Belichick and Tom Brady TWICE in the Super Bowl. It lifted the Yankees past the Dodgers in 1977 and 1978. It guided the Miracle Mets in 1969. Above all, it boosted the Knicks in their epic championship run in 1970, even after Willis Reed, the backbone of the team, went out with an injury in game five of the finals versus Wilt Chamberlain and the Los Angeles Lakers. These Knicks have The Swagger. They will be very tough to beat.

OK. So the Knicks, as expected, dispatch the Indiana Pacers and move on to the NBA Finals. No matter if Oklahoma City or Minnesota wins, the Knicks will face a major player that was on its roster a year ago. Emotions would run high.

Will the Knicks win the NBA championship?

To answer that crucial question, I’ll use the worst cliché in journalism:

Stay tuned!

Jon Friedman celebrates May 8 as a local holiday–that is the day he watched the Knicks win their first NBA championship in 1970.