So, then: "Hicks vs. Knicks, The Return," it is.
This after Spike Lee's favorite basketball team firehosed the defending NBA champions out of the playoffs last night, pounding the Boston Celtics 119-81 in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Man, it was brutal -- especially after the Celtics trounced the Knicks in Boston the other night, giving all the Mikes and Sullys in Beantown a bit of hope that Jalen Brunson 'n' them were about to collapse like a papier mache condo,
Instead, it was the Celtics who collapsed, going down 64-37 at halftime and then apparently saying "Ah, the hell with it." Nobody likes to accuse a team of flat quitting, especially the defending NBA champs in a playoff elimination game, but a 38-point loss to a team it had just beaten by 25 on its home floor is some pretty damning evidence.
That's a 63-point swing, if you're keeping score at home. Astounding even by NBA standards.
At any rate, it's New York vs. Indiana for the East title, and all the old stories will be told. Most of them, of course, will involve Reggie Miller -- last seen scoring eight points in, like 2.6 seconds (actually nine seconds) in the Garden, throwing a choke sign at Spike Lee over there in Nicholson seats, and humiliating his nemesis, John Starks.
All of that happened 25 years ago, of course, but as this generation of Hicks get ready to take on this generation of Knicks, strange eddies are in the karmic air. In February, NBC Sports announced it was bringing Reggie Miller aboard as a lead analyst in its NBA coverage next season. NBC, of course, was where everyone saw the eight-points-in-nine-seconds game -- and many other Miller playoff heroics, against the Knicks and others.
I have no idea what sort of omen this is, or if it even qualifies as one. Maybe. Maybe not. Doubtless it stretches the boundaries of omen-hood -- or, to put it another way, "Man, are you reaching, Mr. Blob."
On the other hand, NBC didn't hand John Starks a roll of cash to call games for it. So there's that.
No comments:
Post a Comment