Knicks sit at pivotal crossroads — it’s time for them to fight back
NY Post
DETROIT — There comes a point, you would expect, when the Knicks grow weary of hearing about how they’ve been pushed around, about how their default position has become “soft,” about how they’ve become Mac — the 98-pound weakling who used to appear in the back of comic books in those old Charles Atlas ads.
There comes a point, you would imagine, when the Knicks would like to remind the general public, as well as the Detroit Pistons, that they did not earn the higher seed in this best-of-seven playoff series in a lottery, that over the course of 82 games they won seven more games, a not-so-insignificant number.
There comes a point, you would hope, when the Knicks, collectively, scream, “Enough!”
This needs to be that point. The Knicks sit at a most pivotal crossroads of the five-year Leon Rose-Tom Thibodeau partnership that rescued the franchise from the depths of despair. It is the belief of many who care for the Knicks that Rose and Thibodeau have been duly thanked for this heavy bit of basketball lifting, and we have entered a new realm where being good — even very good — is no longer enough.
Almost a year to the day after a goaltender interference call against Kyle Palmieri lost the Islanders a game against the Blue Jackets that started their season’s death spiral, they were on the wrong end of another controversial call against those same Blue Jackets that might have had the same effect.
On the Queens side of town, the reno began in earnest almost as soon as Francisco Lindor grounded into the 4-6-3 double play. That ended a 4-0 loss before a rare sizable crowd at Miami’s loanDepot Park last Sept. 27, all of them there to witness the final death rattles of an epic baseball calamity.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is being paid handsomely for his breakout season.
Next comes the harder part. Mostly because it can’t get any easier.
It was Kids Day at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, but for the Rangers, it’s been All About The Kids for months.
PORT ST. LUCIE — From the moment he was told he needed surgery on his left hamate bone, Francisco Lindor fixated on the recovery time. Trainers provided the Mets shortstop a six-week pathway to return to play, and Lindor was determined to hit every marker.
Dylan Garand knew the number off the top of his head. He knew that, between the regular season and playoffs, he’d logged over 160 games with AHL Hartford, and he was right. Before the Rangers recalled him Friday, Garand had served as the Wolf Pack’s goaltender 165 times.
SAN DIEGO — As you may have seen elsewhere in this newspaper (and also if you haven’t deleted me yet from your social media), I have a book coming out Tuesday called “The Bosses of The Bronx.” Much of it details the 37 years’ worth of antics, winning, losing, winning again and overall mania of George Steinbrenner’s time with the Yankees.
Don’t close the curtain on “Mean” Joe Greene.
The Knicks are on a five-game winning streak and flooded with concerns.
Dylan Garand knew the number off the top of his head. He knew that, between the regular season and playoffs, he’d logged over 160 games with AHL Hartford, and he was right. Before the Rangers recalled him Friday, Garand had served as the Wolf Pack’s goaltender 165 times.
SAN DIEGO — As you may have seen elsewhere in this newspaper (and also if you haven’t deleted me yet from your social media), I have a book coming out Tuesday called “The Bosses of The Bronx.” Much of it details the 37 years’ worth of antics, winning, losing, winning again and overall mania of George Steinbrenner’s time with the Yankees.
The Knicks are on a five-game winning streak and flooded with concerns.