No disrespect to any Knicks fans, but unless you are a TRUE New York City, born and raised New Yorker, you cannot fully fathom nor feel what Jalen Brunson did for us last night.
I say us because I am a true New Yorker- born and raised, 1970s NYC baby that has always bled orange and blue.
My parents took me to my first game at MSG in the early 80s, a time when Red Holzman and Hubie Brown were the head coaches and the roster was filled with names, outside of Bernard King, only die hard fans would remember- Bill Cartwright, Ernie Grunfeld, Louis Orr, Truck Robinson, Rory Sparrow, Michael Ray Richardson, Paul Westphal, Trent Tucker, Darrell Walker, Marvin Webster, James Bailey, Ken “the Animal” Bannister, Pat Cummings and Eddie Lee Wilkins.
King was an unstoppable scoring machine, Grunfeld eventually became the team’s GM and Westphal, Orr (RIP) and Walker went into coaching.
But the others were players that couldn’t re-create the success of the prior decade’s legendary teams.
Then in 1985, Patrick Ewing arrived.
While he rejuvenated the fan base, the team failed to surround him with star power, so it and its fans suffered through three consecutive losing seasons.
These were years when you could buy ridiculously cheap nose bleed seats and then move down as attendance was extremely sparse.
That changed in the 90s.
Pat Riley arrived, playoff appearances increased, fans returned and the Mecca was jumping.
The rivalries with the Bulls, Pacers and Heat were intense and fan favorites like John Starks, Anthony Mason and Charles Oakley arrived and were revered.
But while they had some success, the trophy continued to elude them.
Ewing did all he could, but lacking another superstar in the 1994 and 1999 NBA Finals left him ringless.
In the 2000s, the team was plagued by poor management and scandal, which led decades of frustration, futility and anger.
Team owner James Dolan was too involved, the culture deteriorated and the fans rebelled, screaming for James Dolan to sell the team. They even erected a giant pink slip in front of MSG that fans enthusiastically signed.
Then in June 2022, the Knicks announced they were signing Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson to a four-year, $104 million deal, who would become, as Charles Barkley said two years ago and Shaquille O’Neal admitted last night, the “best free agency signing ever.”
