It has now been over a month since the Knicks were crowned NBA champions. Their historic 16-3 run through the playoffs consisted of both numerous blowout wins and unprecedented comebacks.
On Wednesday night, ESPN had its annual ESPY Awards ceremony. In a pre-show interview, Karl-Anthony Towns took a veiled shot at Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson when asked if the Knicks should win the Best Team award. Atkinson had stated after Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals that analytically, the Cavs were up 2-1. Of course, Cleveland ended up getting blown out in Game 4 as the Knicks finished off the sweep.
“You can pick up all the analytics and statistics you want.” Towns said. “Analytically, we should win this one. We should win this one analytically.”
Every member of the Knicks will be enjoying themselves all offseason, even as others make silly comments trying to discredit what they accomplished. And they'll have the Best Team ESPY to add to their collection.
All the Knicks can do is laugh at those that just can't give them credit
Atkinson wasn’t the only one to make a somewhat confusing remark where he couldn’t just give credit to the Knicks.
Vincent Goodwill of ESPN made the remark that the Larry O’Brien Trophy feels like a “participation trophy” due to there being eight different champions in eight different years. Who knows why he waited until New York finally ended their championship drought to make that disrespectful comment to all those on recent championship teams that worked so hard to reach the mountaintop?
Then on Monday, former Spurs assistant coach and now Magic head coach, Sean Sweeney, stated that if games were 46 minutes long, they would have won the NBA finals in five games. That isn’t necessarily surprising (no matter how ridiculous a comment it is) coming from someone on a team that saw its players walk off in Game 5 without shaking hands (other than their veterans).
None of these people who are unable to just give credit to the Knicks are going to affect the elation that the team and fanbase have. Much like Towns did, they can all just joke and laugh about individuals like Atkinson, Goodwill, and Sweeney.
The Knicks were named the Best Team by the ESPYs, a bit of extra validation on top of their literal championship. That wasn't all, though, as Jalen Brunson won Best Male Athlete, Best Championship Performance, and Best NBA Player. OG Anunoby also won Best Play for his tip-in just before the buzzer during Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
It was a clean sweep. Sound familiar?
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