Last night, the Knicks won a basketball game.

I went into the game, realizing it does not matter all that much.

I thought it was a mental health game for Nick fans.

Beat the Celtics, you'll feel good.

Even without Jalen Brown, you'll feel good.

What I find fascinating about the Knicks, and Nick fans, you tell me if I'm wrong on this,

you are about to complete a regular season in which you will have one more games than you won

last year. A regular season in which your offensive rating is higher than it was last year.

You were fifth in the NBA this year. You're third. You're going to complete a season in which

your defensive rating jump from 14th to 8th. So statistically, you're a better basketball team.

Win-loss record. You're a better basketball team. And then, oh, do you beat good teams?

Well, against teams with winning records this season, you're 28 and 22. Last year, you were 12 and 22.

So no matter what you want to look at, the New York Knicks are going

into the postseason as a better team than they were last year. And yet, I'm not sure if every

Nick fan feels that way. You know what I mean? Yeah. No, first of all, I don't mean to rain on the

numbers, but I'm glad you brought up the versus winning teams because the offensive and defensive efficiencies, I think everybody collectively just watched an NBA season where it felt like a third of the league did not try. You think that's a factor in that? I think it's a factor in certain numbers that you bring up. But the important number there is the winning teams thing. Now, it also felt like the Knicks to start the year, all the vibes were rolling good, they go win the in-season tournament. And it felt like from that point after that, up until basically they had that seven-game win streak a month ago, nothing felt right again, Evan. And I think it's just more of a feel thing. And I think it's how it looks. You could have all the efficiency numbers you want, but it became... That's not what it is. I'm going to diagnose it. And I come from a unique place. You're half there. I'm fully there. I can look at the New York Knicks with an eye of, I'm not a fan, right? But I can also look at another team in this town with that same view. your New York Yankees. All right. No matter what the Yankees do in the regular season, you're going to look at your team and say, that doesn't matter until October. Yeah. And I think the Nick fan has officially graduated to that. They've arrived to that point where they knew they were going to the postseason, and it's about what you do then. And probably even more so because of the coaching change? Because they made a change at head coach with the clear line of, hey, we better get to an NBA finals. We fired our head coach after losing in the Eastern Conference finals. And so I think the Nick fan in a lot of ways has morphed into the Yankee fan where you're more critical of your team and you're more impatient. Like, you're saying go win in the postseason. And what I'm trying to tell you is you can't win in the post season during the regular season. There's nothing you can do. Look at the Yankees and we're going to get into them later. There's nothing they can do. Nothing that they can do in April, May, June, July, August, and September that's going to make the non-believer believe. And so I kind of think it runs the same way with the Knicks. If you don't believe in this team, whether it's Kat and Jalen Brunson who have looked very different on the floor together over the last few games, or it's their defense or whatever it is, there's nothing that's going to change that in the regular season.

So I think the Nick fan in a lot of ways, and I say this with an I-I, an I-I, an independent eye. You guys are like the same now. Yankee and Nick fans are the same. I think you're on to something. You like that, right? I do, because you knew they were going to the playoffs all year. you knew before the balls got tipped in the year to start the year that they were going to the playoffs.

But this is where it's a little different because at least two years ago when the Yankees made a run to the World Series, as much as Yankee fans were still feeling the same way they felt now, you looked at the American League. You looked at the American League last year, and that's where the Toronto stuff became disappointing. You look at the Eastern Conference this year. You got Jason Tateau basically feels like he's scared to keep coming back to Madison Square Garden. I mean, geez, enough with the Achilles. And you talk about the Pistons, you know, Kate Coney. I know they've rolled along without him. But the East, I could argue the Eastern Conference and the NBA should be more ripe for the picking than the Knicks, and even what we've thought of with the American League the last couple of years with the Yankees.

So I find that odd that while I think you're right, the expectations have risen. Comparing them to the peers, there should be more confidence in this Knicks team in the Eastern Conference. No, I think there should. And I think that what we have experienced as a roller coaster and we have tried, I have certainly tried, to stay kind of looking straight ahead on this roller coaster through the ups and the downs, which is nothing has changed. The Knicks are a damn good basketball team. They need to play their best basketball at the right time of year. They need a little bit of luck and that luck involves health. I mean, look around the league. Victor Wanban Yama's banged up. He should be fine for the postseason, but you never know the injuries that pop up in April and May. Obviously, the devastating news about Joe L. Embeded, which is not a surprise. The guy's a walking playoff injury. He's never had a year in which he has participated in the postseason without missing a game due to injury.

That's a true stat. The first NBA player to miss games with Bell's palsy and appendicitis. Is that a record? I'm pretty sure you can't find another. So, yeah, there's a little bit of luck. There's a little bit of can they stay healthy? But when you look at this basketball team, I think you should feel very similar to the way you felt back in October, which is they're a championship contender. And I know that the recency bias has been, well, they've struggled against good teams. And that's true. Over the last month, we can include last night as a good victory. I know Jalen Brown didn't play, but nevertheless. You can't control that he didn't play. You can't control that. And the Celtics are still a good team without him.

I mean, you couldn't stop Baylor Shinenman last night.

Shynaman. Was that the kid at the end of the first round? Yes, he was the last. And all I could think about, Conner, do you have this clip of Shakee-O-Neal? I don't know if we have it in the system yet. Did you hear this a month ago when they were talking about Baylor Shyneman?

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