Throughout the playoffs, there’s been an online joke circulating around. “If the Knicks win the NBA Finals, New York will tear to shreds.” This refers to how, in a lot of cases, when sports teams that have been in somewhat of a success drought for a few decades or so, finally starts to make their city proud with a deep playoff run, things might get a little chaotic with the fanbase. What I mean in a lot of cases is climbing street lights, flipping over cars, or tearing down signs. The fans turning the main downtown into a complete mess. And while it’s all very illegal and will always be a massive concern regarding infastructure and public safety, we (at least I) always put it in a romantic, celebratory light. Sports is a beautiful thing, and one of the main reasons we love sports so much is the years and years of disappointment and mediocrity leading to when a team is fGDinally able to turn things around, the whole city gets on its back. It’s tribalism, sure, but sometimes tribalism is a great thing because it leads to being more connected to your community and having something to put your faith into when times get hard. Sports teams often define a city, and a city defines its people, so when you give the people something that they love, and have continued to love and feel connections to for over a century now, it’s hard to prevent massive celebrations when the community as a whole gets a bit more hope.

Anyway, some more fuel to this fire is that since Game 4 of the first round of the NBA Finals against the Hawks, the Knicks hadn’t lost. And I don’t just mean like they’ve been on a roll with their last few playoff series, I mean they just came off TWO SWEEPED PLAYOFF SERIES IN A ROW, plus a 3 game win streak in that Hawks series, taking it from 2-1 down to a 4-2 win in 6 games, and an early 2-0 lead against San Antonio in the finals. If you do the math, that’s a 13 game win streak, or the 2nd longest playoff win streak in NBA history, just behind Golden State’s 15 game win streak in 2017. That would already be impressive and historical in just an NBA season alone, but they won 13 PLAYOFF games in a row, that’s 13 games FACING PLAYOFF TEAMS. Knicks fans have been overjoyed to say the least, with the celebrations in the streets alone reaching such major national attention that multiple fans have gone viral and famous just for some of these interview clips, (examples if you wish to do your own research, Che Igbo and MD Hossain).

So yeah, there’s lots of hype around this Knicks team now, but how have they done in the finals? Well as I previously mentioned, they started with a commanding 2-0 lead in the series against the Spurs. If I wanted to make an article where you wanted to hear only good things about the New York Knicks, I would’ve ended it there. Unfortunate to literally 98% percent of the population of the New York metro at this point, San Antonio took Game 3. Now in case you aren’t tapped in to how the hosting system works for NBA Playoffs series, it’s 2-3-2. Games 1-2 are hosted by the higher seed, 3-5, by the lower seed, and in case needed, 6 and 7 by the higher seed again. San Antonio are the higher seed, so the 2 games that the Knicks won were the 2 played in Texas. That’s right, the 2 games causing such massive celebration in the streets of Manhattan, weren’t even from the stadium, that was just watch parties alone. So, keeping this 2 game win streak in mind, people were expecting an even crazier celebration assuming New York won Game 3, (at this point, they were favorites, a 2-0 lead in the series and this was the first one to actually be played in their home arena).

But that’s exactly the thing, they didn’t. Monday night’s game at MSG was the game to break the Knicks historical 13 game win streak, the game that had the most hype, highest expectations, and probably the biggest and loudest Knicks crowd all season. So what was the reason for this? Well if you asked me, I would say the pressure, the amount of hype and love they recieved from the city was too much and they squealed under pressure for just one game. I mean I can’t blame them, Wemby is literally 7’4. Tallest dude I ever played basketball with was probably only like an inch or two taller than myself. But from the fans you might get a different answer, one that it’s possible President Donald Trump’s attendance may have been what killed the vibe. It sounds dumb on the surface, but despite Trump being a born and raised New Yorker, Monday was the first time that a sitting president of the United States has ever attended an NBA Finals game in history. So while that might be a great milestone for the popularity of the league/sport, the team and the city itself seemed to take a bigger hit. For starters, his attendance caused the watch party to be cancelled, due to public safety issues. That’s already a massive mood killer, a guy that 83% (NYC election results) of the crowd didn’t even vote for ruined the watch party that recieved high anticipation, especially after the inavailability of those high ticket prices of the game itself. And then when the game actually started and the president’s face was shown on the jumbotron, a loads of loud booing filled the arena. I mean me personally no matter who attends the only thing I’d be worried about is the game, but I can definitely see how that in a way ruined the vibe, although I’m sure the support for the Knicks was loud as ever.

So, was this the reason for the Knicks sudden loss? I don’t know, there’s definitely a chance. I guess the best way to find out would be tonight, at 5:30pm on ABC, as that’s when we’ll see Game 4 of the series and the 2nd finals game played at MSG. Was Game 3 a fluke? Or will San Antonio finally take the opportunity they’ve been waiting for and tie the series tonight?