Haters gonna hate.
Let’s get this out of the way because it’s very clear. Neither, and I repeat, NEITHER team has played even close to their best basketball this series. The Celtics look nothing like the team that finished the season as one of the two or three hottest teams in the league and look even less like the team that took home the Larry O’Brien trophy less than 12 months ago. And the Knicks, for as bad they looked during parts of the Pistons series, have arguably looked worse in the first three-quarters of the last two games.
Who is further from their peak form is a discussion to be had, but both teams have talked about how they need to play better. Yet, for some reason, all of the talk surrounding the first two games of this series seems to be around what the Celtics have and haven’t done. It’s been about how the Celtics have shot themselves in the foot. And about how the Celtics can, and likely will, eventually play better. And it’s a fair point. One that I completely agree with. Boston has absolutely played uncharacteristically bad. They have missed a lot of makeable shots they often convert on. And they have crumbled down the stretch, looking lost, identity-less, and tired. But many reporters, analysts, and fans seem to have forgotten that two teams are playing.
Lost in all of that talk has been about what the Knicks have done and haven’t done. Where are the discussions about how the Knicks can also play significantly better? Why aren’t pundits talking about how maybe it’s not a coincidence that the Celtics’ two worst shooting games in recent memory have come on back-to-back nights against the same team? What about giving the Knicks even a modicum of credit for being a tough team that has figured out a defensive identity with a healthy Mitchell Robinson and that they’re built for these close games?
I, like most Knicks fans, aren’t asking for the media to praise the Knicks like they’re the defending champions. And truthfully, Boston should still be considered the favorite, even if it’s not by a landslide anymore. But go online for even a few minutes, and you’ll see the Knicks, their players, and the fanbase get called all kinds of names and be ridiculed.
Some of these comments and hate would have you believe that the Knicks are in the middle of a three-peat, or a four finals appearances in six years kind of dynastic run. Obviously, and quite unfortunately, they are not. Yet there’s this consistent hate towards the Knicks and their fanbase that doesn’t quite make sense.
I admit that Knicks, and New Yorkers in general, can be annoying to those outside the city. Shoot, I grew up here and have been living here since 1999, and sometimes they annoy me. And I also understand the business side of the media that often comes down to creating content that leads to engagement. With how many Knicks fans there are and how loud, boisterous, and opinionated said fans are, it’s not a complete surprise that a lot of media personalities, social media pages, and networks resort to the “Knicks for clicks” strategy.
But the same kinds of things can be said about Lakers fans, Celtics fans, Warriors fans, and Sixers fans. Those fanbases do get the blunt end of the deal sometimes. And a lot of the rest of the league hates them too. But those teams, outside of Philadelphia, have all won recently, have had dynastic runs, and or have been consistently good to great for the overwhelming majority of the last decade and a half. So it’s a bit more understandable why they suffer from some jealousy and hate from the media and other fanbases.
Some of this is admittedly just a biased Knicks fan ranting for the sake of ranting, so if you’ve made it this far, I thank you and congratulate you. But I can’t be the only one that feels this way. Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe other fanbases feel the same way. Maybe some of what we see, hear and read is warranted. But for the sake of the players (who probably could not care less) and a fanbase that has struggled through nearly two decades of ineptitude, I long for the day the coverage around the NBA returns to more nuanced discussions instead of the lazy narrative-driven, clickbait, engagement farming content that has flooded the sport we all love.