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Madison Square Garden waited 53 years to hand out championship rings, and what a glorious celebration it was. Knicks fans were losing their minds, Spike Lee looked like he was finally vindicated, and the ring/banner combo was luxurious.
You ever seen a championship ring that turns into an arena, son??
And it took the Philadelphia 76ers about two and a half hours to make the whole thing feel like the beginning of the end. Knicks legends handed out the jewelry, the banner went up, and then Philly walked into the building and won 106-100.
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Roughly 1,600 miles southwest, the reigning Western Conference champion Spurs were preparing for a revenge tour after fumbling a title away to the Knicks a few months ago. But while the Knicks raised a championship banner, San Antonio raised nothing and got the smackdown laid on them by the previous NBA champion, the Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC came into San Antonio and beat them 116-104, a defeat so sound even the greatest Spurs fan apologist would have to hang their head in shame.
So the two teams that met in June’s Finals both started 0-1. If you’re a Warriors fan, you’ve seen this movie. Hell, you’ve starred in it. But let’s give the Knicks their rightful due as champs and focus on them for this exercise.
Deep breath….how come nobody warned the Knicks that ring night ain’t no joke?!
Here’s what makes the L especially sting: it was Philly. The Knicks swept the Sixers in the second round last spring on the way to a 16-3 playoff run, and a sweep like that usually tells a team it’s a few levels short of contending. Philly didn’t treat that sweep like a minor setback. They treated it like a demolition order, went out and added LeBron James and Jaylen Brown, and came back looking for revenge. Those moves turned a team New York had already handled into a team built to beat New York specifically.
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For a half, the Knicks looked like they’d sidestep the ring-night hangover. They were up 58-54 at the break and playing with some poise. Then the third quarter got sloppy, New York finished the night shooting 37%, and when Karl-Anthony Towns hit a three to cut the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/knicks-just-got-painful-reminder-201251882.html
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Publish date : 2026-10-21 20:12:00
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