By Joe Torosian
Kick it!
OG Anunoby, in New York or in proximity to any transplanted New Yorker around the world, will be on scholarship for the rest of his life.
He won’t pay for another drink, another meal, better still, he’ll probably never have to pay for parking again. (And Josh Hart will be his personal assistant.)
If he wants to run for any public office, it’s his when he takes the escalator down.
That comeback was as beautiful as anything I’ve ever seen in sports. The greatest comeback I’ve ever seen in basketball.
But not the greatest game I’ve ever seen.
Last night was a validation of “The Villanova Effect.”
While I do not believe in a spiritual karma, I fully subscribe to a sports karma. And that karma will assert itself if a door is left open.
The San Antonio Spurs are young and athletic, and in the first half, they hit everything but never shut the door.
You can be young, athletic, and hit everything…but the team that continues to play basketball will ultimately prevail. That’s how sports karma comes into play.
The Knicks, a team influenced by the three Jay Wright disciples (The Villanova Effect), have built their roster with a discipline that will not allow them to melt when the fire turns white-hot.
After going up by 29, the Spurs morphed into “Get Mine” mode, and the Knicks kept grinding.
Watching it unfold, I was wondering what the Spurs and their coaching staff were thinking down the stretch.
When Jalen Brunson gave the Knicks the lead late, it became apparent the Spurs weren’t thinking. At all.
I refuse to believe a veteran like Harrison Barnes was silent in those huddles. I want to know why no one listened to him.
While I was locked in on D’Aaron Fox swallowing the jalapeño and Wemby clanking two free throws down the stretch…I didn’t realize before it was brought up that Dylan Harper didn’t take a shot in the final ten minutes.
It’s okay for me not to see. Great work by an analyst for spotting it, but absolutely criminal for the Spurs braintrust to allow it to happen.
Knicks HC Mike Brown is proving to be leaps and bounds above Johnson.
The call to insert Jose Alvarado in place of Mikal Bridges was brilliant, and Alvarado had the game of his life.
Outside of Taylor Swift, I’m 99% down all the celebrities are legitimate Knicks fans.
The only thing missing from the comeback was Frank Reich.
Last Add Spurs: Nothing can help you more in life than a public butt-kicking—physically, verbally, athletically, they all appropriately scar you up, and get you ready.
My greatest NBA game of all time? June 9, 1987, the Lakers beat the Boston Celtics 107-106 (Ironically), on Magic Johnson’s baby sky-hook, to take a 3-1 lead in the series.
The Stanley Cup Final has been great, but tuning into Game Five tonight after the Spurs-Knicks last night feels like I’m going from Six Flags to Santa’s Village.
#64—May the San Francisco Giants rot and lie stinking in the earth…
The Dude abides…
1,311
Colossians 2:13-15
jtbank1964@yahoo.com
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Congrats to the Knicks for essentially closing out the series last night. Perhaps there’s something to Joe’s Villanova effect fixation. After seeing the Cavs self-destruct in game one of their series against these New Yorkers, I wouldn’t have imagined that we’d see a repeat of that action in the same season, but there it was. Barkley was adamant that stupidity was the operative factor in the meltdown, but I’d also include fatigue and overconfidence. Jacking threes instead of working for the best shot is a tell-tale sign of being tired, as is MISSING SHOTS. In the first half when the big lead was established, it seemed everything was falling; in the fourth quarter, crunch time, it seemed there was a lid on that basket.
So maybe this strange thing called the Villanova effect really just boils down to being in better shape, to having that extra bit of energy at the end to finish strong.
From Joe T.: I just view it as a higher basketball IQ…how could Mitch Johnson not spell his guys? And I’m the first to admit…the Spurs are more talented…but this is something I’ve believed for a long time…there are athletes playing basketball, and then there are basketball players working as professional athletes…Unless some weird meltdown occurs…I have no doubt the Spurs time will come around. Wemby has physical gifts, but he’s a basketball player…so are Harper and Castle…they’ll figure it out real fast.