What happened.
When my Dad came to pick me up from Syracuse I knew I was in safe hands. I was positive that he could swerve through traffic, honk his horn, and flip off a few drivers to avoid a horrific collision. Would there be near accidents? Quite possibly. Was there any chance we were ACTUALLY going to get hit? Nope. That’s why I was in a state of tranquility, getting lost in the voice of Kid Cudi as he finished his verse on the song “Brothers” when my dad mentioned something about me driving. Open eyed and quickly turning toward him I said, “Sure, you need a break”.
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Playoff predictions aren’t an easy feat for any analyst to conquer because of the whole “predictions” nonsense being a game of guessing, even if you have loads of statistical data that proves otherwise. Regardless, a healthy amount of analysts predicted the Knicks-Celtics matchup to go AT LEAST six games and the majority of the analysts picked that series as the “Upset Special” of the first round. As most of you may remember, that couldn’t seem further from the truth after watching the first three games of the series. The Knicks were able to control the boards, the pace, and play hard for the entire game. The Celtics seemed to run out of gas after half-time in the first couple of games and were completely dismantled in the third meeting between the two.
But, as most fans will be quick to point out, the Knicks fortune and play completely suffered after JR Smith rose his elbow to space himself from SG Jason Terry and landed a fierce elbow into his face. This led to two consecutive losses and a game six in which the Knicks barely escaped with their playoff lives. It not only seemingly changed the play of the players but the attitudes were seemingly getting lost in petty arguments with the opposing team. Dressing in black for the Celtics “funeral” and acting as if players on the other team didn’t exist.
A new series and a full roster gave Knicks’ fans hope that the last couple of games were simply an aberration, that this series would be difficult but completely doable. The first game gave question to a lot of the problems that seemed to be beneath the surface the entire season: a propensity to lose sight of the game plan.
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I took the wheel and immediately everything had changed. I didn’t feel comfortable in the car, I hadn’t driven a car for a couple of months, and my iPod kept shuffling to my dirty collection of five Brittany Spears songs that I “forgot” to delete off my iPod. Fortunately, my dad was in the car and paying close attention to exactly what I was doing, that is, until he fell asleep.
Understand that I am a confident driver on the roads that I’m accustomed to driving on, roads that don’t seem foreign with drivers that just seem…different. The speed limit was changing every few miles and I was forced to keep my eyes on coppers in case I was a bit over the speed limit. I was beginning to get my bearings when, out of nowhere, we entered a torrential down pour which made the ability to see, a major necessity on the road, a bit of an issue. The unfamiliar terrain and inexperience in driving in this type of weather made me a nervous, tense driver. I didn’t crash but the mindset was different. It COULD happen. That was the difference I learned when my Dad took the wheel and when I took the wheel. He had a lot more experience than I did, and even though I’ve been driving for a few years and have driven on that road once before, I still didn’t feel completely confident in myself.
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They walked off the court disheveled and in no way shape, or form resembled an ounce of the team that Knicks fans had the pleasure of watching in the latter part of the regular season. They had quarantined players and had players with ice packs enrapturing their knees. Players were supposedly having “internal issues” as media reports up and ran with Tyson Chandler’s quote commenting on the need to move the ball more, a common trait associated with a more fluid offense, questioning whether the statement was made to specific players on the team.
And that brings us to the day after the Knicks went down 3-1 in their playoff series against the Pacers. It leads me to this uncontrollable feeling. A discomfort of not knowing what will happen next, and possibly seeing my last Knicks game until next season. It’s the first time I have this feeling that the car is going to drive into traffic and get hit by a car. That is because Roy Hibbert stands like a tall redwood tree, deflecting and defending the paint with ferocity. It’s because the Knicks think swarming post players with double teams will lead to turnovers, even though they have generally given the Pacers open looks from the 3-point arch. It is because of miscommunication on defense on when to switch and when to help. It is because the Knicks can’t run the high pick and roll because of the superb interior defense of the Pacers. It is because the Knicks are missing open shots and the open man. It is because Mike Woodson is being outcoached.
This series isn’t over, though. An opportunity to see the issues with this team may simply be a matter of changing a couple of strategies and praying for a couple of players to catch fire from the offensive end. It’s getting tougher and tougher to believe that because I haven’t seen anything to indicate the Knicks showing that they belong in this series. I have seen one quarter of good play from this team, and I’m going to have to see more than that that before I jump out of this car crash.
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