The Knicks haven’t won a championship in 50 years, the Rangers haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 30 years, and New York hasn’t celebrated a Canyon of Heroes parade in 12 years. It’s time!
Yeah, it has been a long time, and it’s time for it to end. For the nation’s largest media market and a proud sports town, seeing us go through a championship drought like this is unacceptable. That is suffering after we had been so used to championships in the 90s.
But 2024 could be the year everything changes. Some say this is “the year” of New York sports, with the Rangers, Knicks, and Yankees looking primed to win championships. You know the saying about everything happening in threes, right?
Expectations for the Rangers and Knicks should always be higher. It’s about winning championships; anything short is a failure. Playing in the league finals should be the bare minimum at best. So far, at least, the Rangers and Knicks have played the part. The Rangers swept the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs, and the Knicks finished off the Philadelphia 76ers despite struggling to do it.
The Rangers should be favored to beat the Carolina Hurricanes to advance to the conference final, and the Knicks should be the overwhelming favorite to beat the young, up-and-coming Indiana Pacers. That means James Dolan will be making a lot of coins in late May when both his teams are playing at Madison Square Garden, and fans jam restaurants and bars around the tri-state area.
When you look at the strengths and attributes that make them a championship team, this year’s version of the Rangers has the 1994 Rangers written in it. The team won with excellent coaching, quality goaltending, efficient offense, and stingy defense. They’ve beaten many great teams and performed well on the road at 25-15-4.
What’s especially great about the Rangers this season is that they never had letdowns or took games off. They played at a championship level and didn’t make mistakes that lose games (e.g., turning the puck over, giving up a short-handed goal, not scoring a power-play goal). The NYRs are a tough, hard-nosed team that takes nothing from anyone.
That’s a credit to first-year head coach Peter Laviolette. He brought gravitas to the team by winning a Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes and taking three different teams to the Stanley Cup Final. The players were going to respond to a leader like that. This was the right hire by Dolan and Rangers general manager Chris Drury. What’s more, strong leadership exists in the locker room.
The Knicks have everything going for them, too. They should waltz through the Pacers in a sweep or win in no more than five games. With Western Conference teams beating each other up and the Celtics losing Kristaps Porzingis, there’s no reason to think the Knicks can’t win it all.
While I’m not a Tom Thibodeau fan, it’s clear he’s doing something right. He has his team playing together–unselfishly and with defense. As Laviolette does with the Rangers, Thibodeau prepares his Knicks for every game. When was the last time anyone can say the Knicks took games off?
Thibodeau isn’t a fan of load management. He plays his players for so many minutes in every game, and that approach has been criticized because guys can get worn down in the postseason. Yet, these players have gotten better and stronger as the season has progressed, putting the Knicks in a position to win it all.
It’s no secret that the Knicks’ success starts and ends with point guard Jalen Brunson. A superstar, Brunson gives everything he’s got in every game, makes everyone better, and hits big shots to win games. The Knicks haven’t had a point guard like him since Clyde Frazier, which explains their championship drought.
The Knicks also have players who fit Thibodeau’s style of play. They’re tough-minded, embrace pressure, and love playing heavy minutes. Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Hart, Mitchell Robinson, Isaiah Hartenstei, and Miles McBride fit Thibodeau’s type of personnel by being unselfish and defensive-minded first.
For all my criticism against Leon Rose for not talking to the media, let’s credit the Knicks president of basketball operations for building a team with a good basketball IQ. The Knicks have all the attributes of being a championship team. They play the best defense of all teams in the league and have a superstar that meshes well with the role players.
If the Rangers and Knicks can win a championship, maybe this will motivate the Yankees, Mets, Giants, and Jets to do the same. I always feel that once a Metro team wins a title, it creates a chain reaction for others to follow suit.
It’s time.
