Leon Rose must decide what Knicks really are in loaded East
NY Post
The Celtics earned banner No. 18 Monday night, finishing off a season in which they went a combined 80-21 in one of the great start-to-finish years you’ll ever see. They went 16-3 in the playoffs. They not only never faced a decisive game, they were never worse than tied 1-1 in any of those romps against the Heat, Cavaliers, Pacers and Mavericks.
That makes it seven titles for the Celtics since the Knicks won the second of their two championships in 1973. And there will be plenty of Knicks fans who will argue that, at the least, the Knicks would’ve given the Celtics a better run than any of the four teams Boston vanquished.
Maybe they would’ve.
Maybe not.
And that’s one of the problems the Knicks face as they now officially relaunch their quest to close the gap between themselves and the Celtics. Because it’s impossible to calculate with any kind of precision just how vast that chasm is.
More to the point, it’s difficult — very, very difficult — to shake from the consciousness the 27 days connecting Jan. 1 and Jan 27. Twenty-seven days in which the Knicks looked as good as any team in the NBA: 14 games played, 12 games won. Boston was 9-5 in that stretch. Dallas was 6-7. Oklahoma City was 10-4. Denver was 9-4. Minnesota was 8-7.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Knicks could not fully salvage a two-way clunker Saturday night, and their longest winning streak of the season is history.
If Brian Daboll will be fighting to keep his job across these next seven weeks, it is not lost on Tommy DeVito that he is the one who has been entrusted to help his coach save it.
Kevin Shattenkirk is 35, a Stanley Cup champion and now a father of three with his wife, Deanna, after having a second daughter in September.
SALT LAKE CITY — An encouraging upgrade in his availability status didn’t result in Miles McBride’s return to the Knicks lineup.
This is pretty much the deal.
Uncertainty has followed Zion Williamson off the court.
SALT LAKE CITY — The “Dimes” nickname is open in New York now that quarterback Daniel Jones has been released by the Giants, and perhaps it can be a fitting team-wide moniker in another sport.
General Curtis LeMay: “You’re in a pretty big fix, Mr. President.”
Last spring’s ultimate defeat, coming on top of a quite similar one 24 months earlier, should have proved once and for all that the Rangers’ skill game, impressive at it at may be in spurts, does not overcome their physicality deficiency at the final-four level.
Jon Berti, who started three postseason games at first base for the Yankees when Anthony Rizzo was out with fractured fingers, was non-tendered by the team prior to Friday’s deadline, as was left-hander Tim Mayza.
CALGARY, Alberta — The Rangers needed just 16 seconds to get back into a game they had no business being in over halfway through.