Knicks bringing gritty ‘D,’ rowdy fans as playoff journey begins
NY Post
The Knicks are now as cool as Miles Davis.
The 15,000 fans who will jam into the Garden on Sunday night for the Knicks’ first playoff game in eight years will agree. After the Nets’ Kevin Durant dismissed the Knicks last September as no longer “cool,’’ Tom Thibodeau’s tigers of defense smashed that theory to bits during a 41-31 regular season.It was only a three-second glimpse, but Matt Rempe, finally, showcased offensive strides. The ones he started talking about in the preseason — after a summer’s worth of work — and kept doubling down on, even when he fluctuated in and out of the Rangers lineup and shuttled back and forth to AHL Hartford.
In a different time, in a season to come, we may be inclined to wax poetic about the way this one played out. In a different time, in a season to come, the Nets will be seeking to stack wins and not losses, will be fighting for playoff seeding and not for a few extra ping-pong balls in the draft lottery this spring.
The NBA has an All-Star Game problem. Despite Adam Silver’s efforts to inject juice into the February showcase — including a format alteration to the 2025 game that is too confusing to attempt to understand before it’s inevitably changed again — there’s little interest in watching teams eschew defense for a series of layup line highlights. That also means the most entertaining part of the NBA All-Star Game is just like the Pro Bowl — debating over who should get a spot.