If you’re not watching the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs, then you should.
To be sure, you’re missing a whole lot.
One of the things is getting a good idea of what the Browns’ 1980 Kardiac Kids season was like, what with all the close games the club played that year. The Browns went 11-5 in the regular season and captured their first AFC Central title in nine years, and made their first playoff appearance overall in eight years, with 14 of the their 17 games (including the postseason) not being decided until the final two minutes. No deficit was too big for the Kids to overcome, and no lead was too big for them to squander. Every week, the game wasn’t over until the clock ran out.
Oh, it was such great theater!
The Knicks have been playing like the Kids did 46 years ago. They started it, unfortunately, in the Eastern Conference Finals when, despite trailing the Cavaliers by a whopping 22 points with 7:39 left in the fourth quarter of Game 1, New York rallied to outscore Cleveland by 44-11 the rest of the way to win 115-104 in overtime. The Knicks went on to sweep the Cavs 4-0 in the series.
Then in the league Finals, the Knicks, despite being the underdogs in the series, went into San Antonio and rallied to beat the Spurs twice, including by a point in Game 2. Everybody thought the Knicks would win again in going back home to Madison Square Garden, but they played poorly in Game 3 and lost. Their struggles continued into Game 4 on Wednesday night as they trailed by 29 points in the first half. It looked hopeless. The Spurs appeared to be unbeatable on this night. It was a given that the series would go back to San Antonio for Game 5 on Saturday night tied 2-2. But, just like against the Cavs, the Knicks picked themselves up off the floor and put together the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history to win by a point on a tip-in basket with 1.2 seconds left. It is being called by some as possibly the best NBA Finals game in history.
The resurgent Knicks are now up 3-1 and looking to win Game 5 to capture this must-see-TV series. Will they do it? Perhaps, but they certainly can’t take anything for granted. They would be foolish to do so.
Just ask the 1980 Kardiac Kids.
Steve King
