Knicks must embrace the madness at the Garden

Knicks fans knew.

Long before Aaron Nesmith was imbued with infernal fire so that he might defile the Garden, before Tyrese Haliburtons fiendish prayer of a shot went up, and before that same foul pact guided the ball back down and through the rim as those gathered in attendance gasped in horror, Knicks fans knew what sort of fate awaited their team if they could not lay the Pacers to rest.

Now the team does as well.

Tipoff Wednesday night marked the halfway point for the Knicks quest to cleanse Madison Square Garden of the curse that has tormented it for five decades.

Eight wins in hand on the way to a goal of 16, the Knicks christened their first Conference Finals appearance in 26 years exactly half of the 52 years since their last title with the kind of calamity that has been all too common in the first half of their journey, through the decades and through these playoffs, take your pick.

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals was a dark religious experience for Knicks fans.

But it was not a deathblow.

This fanbase, more than any other in basketball, understands what it means to lose loudly.

Its most treasured moments are inextricably coupled with trauma: John Starks Game 7.

Charles Smith Game 5.

Tim Duncan.

Reggie.

Now Hali.

Not rote failure, but raw humiliation.

And yet, the Knicks and their fans always get off the mat looking for more, proud of how far they got and the scars they have to show for it.

They have lived through the ignominy of talking themselves into Eddy Curry and Jerome James.

By that light, these are the good times, the memorable times.

So while its hard to say that theres no shame in eating a historic collapse like the one on Wednesday, its not as defining as it would be most anywhere else.

Weve seen some things.

A knowing Fkin Knicks, man , was heard more than once on the way out of the Garden.

These fans know what they got themselves into.

And they also know things are unlikely to get any less stressful from here.

The New York Knicks are a maddening team to root for, certainly, but often and more importantly to their chances in this series, to play against.

They shoot 51% in a half and allow their opponent to shoot 51.1%.

They refuse to force-feed the ball to their most talented player Karl-Anthony Towns for more than a few minutes at a time.

Its common for multiple possessions to go by with Towns either not touching the ball or only seeing it with a few seconds remaining on the shot clock.

They regularly forget where the most dangerous shooter on the other team is in their defensive rotations.

They are reckless with the ball, and reckless with their bodies.

They play their bench only under threat of violence or death.

But thats all part of the deal with these Knicks.

The defense hums to life when Josh Hart isnt where hes supposed to be and creates a turnover.

They get easy stops when their opponents try to pick on Mikal Bridges and he turns in one of his best halves as a Knick.

They marshal heroic comebacks of their own behind an iso-heavy late-game offense with Brunson.

The madness is what got them here.

Its not going anywhere.

All they can do now is try to guide their mad playoff run onto the more profitable side of insanity.

Knicks fans, for their part, would do well to get over themselves and embrace the more maddening aspects of this team.

We hear much about the rallying magic of Madison Square Garden, and of the basketball savvy of New York basketball fans.

But that savvy can come to their own detriment.

Jalen Brunsons playoff whistle has been hotly debated.

For every swashbuckling slice through the lane or indomitable pull-up in a defenders eye, it seems like there is a corresponding play where Brunson creates incidental contact (or sometimes simply falls down) and steals a trip to the line.

And Knick fans, though they may claim otherwise, are not fully willing to be complicit in the theft.

That was apparent with 9:16 remaining in the third quarter, when Brunson went to his patented shoulder-barrage into Aaron Nesmiths chest.

It was called an offensive foul on the floor.

Tom Thibodeau immediately challenged the call.

It was upheld.

And then something peculiar happened.

The Knicks fans the same ones who had overpowered the performance of the Star Spangled Banner by bellowing LETS GO KNICKS one at a time between every line tried and failed to get a REFS, YOU SUCK chant off the ground.

(They did break into a spontaneous REFS O-K serenade after an egregious missed foul call that should have gone against Towns.

) Later, with the Knicks down 132-131 with just over a minute left in overtime, Brunson was fouled near midcourt, and the nervous crowd could barely muster a golf clap for a call that sent their would-be savior to the line.

But they tore the roof off the next possession, when he sliced heroically through the lane and floated home a teardrop to retake the lead.

This has been true throughout the playoffs, dating back to the Pistons series.

They withhold full-throated M-V-P chants when Brunson acquires ill-gotten free throws, but erupt when he isolates Mytles Turner on a switch, crosses him over and finishes with a left-handed floater in the lane.

They fawn when he follows up a bad call against him on the defensive end with a midrange dagger.

And they crescendo when his duel with Haliburton heats up and results in what seemed at the time to be a knife in the Pacers heart.

Though Knicks fans love their point guard and their team, they will not debase themselves in the way that, say, Oklahoma Citys fans are willing to.

But dignity is not a luxury afforded a team or fanbase as desperate for release as these.

If Brunsons ongoing bank heist lays the track to the most undignified NBA Championship on record, so be it.

Get over it, and unleash the full force of the Garden on a Pacers team that is happy to see you humiliated.

If theres even an infinitesimal difference the crowd can make in these spots, better to hear unscrupulous applause than the death rattle that fell across the Garden as the ball hung in the air then plunged it straight to hell at the end of regulation.

Knicks fans already know how that one feels all too well..

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