Confetti rained down Madison Square Garden Sunday. The Knicks had defeated the Heat, not to win the series, but to end the NBA’s longest playoff drought and force a Game 5 in Miami. Optimism at its best ladies and gentleman.
In a Game 4 that was void of any type of competency—sans Mike Bibby—from beyond the arc, New York snagged a victory from Miami. It was their first win over the big three-led Heat all season, and it only took them seven games.
Somewhat coincidentally, or rather, ironically, that’s the exact number of games the Knicks are looking to push this series to now. That’s right, after falling in the hole 3-0, New York is thinking Game 7.
It’s bold, endearing and somewhat naive, but the Knicks have not taken their eyes off the prize, not yet anyway. It’s fantastic to a certain extent, because, on most occasions, teams who lose the first three games in a series like this come out begging for it to be over in Game 4.
The Knicks, however, fought. Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire—lacerated hand be damned—played inspired basketball, subsequently inspiring the rest of their teammates and much of their fanbase. But is it warranted?
Though New York’s outing was an impressive and much needed affair, the team has hardly showed that they can take control of this series. Even amidst a victory like this one, you cannot shake the feeling that it wasn’t the Knicks who won the game, but that the Heat who lost it.
So, is this a team that is poised to overcome a three-games-to-none deficit? Or, better yet, are the Heat a team that are about to watch this type of stronghold disappear?
Not at all.
Never, in the history of the NBA, has a team come back from a 3-0 deficit. It’s been done in the NHL three times and MLB once, but never in the NBA.
As Knicks center Tyson Chandler explained, though, “history is made to be broke,” right?
That is correct, yet it was not made to be broken against this Heat team. They are simply too athletic, too smoldering and too good at what they do to watch a three game lead ride off into the sunset.
And by comparison, the Knicks are simply not the team to break it. Baron Davis has officially joined the ranks of Jeremy Lin and Iman Shumpert, leaving New York as thin as ever not only at point guard, but on the defensive end. Throw in Anthony’s inconsistencies, the battered bodies of Stoudemire and Chandler, and the enigma that is J.R. Smith, and you have a team with too many question marks to overthrow an adversary with too many certainties.
Is that reason to lose faith? Of course not. This is why we watch basketball, why we endured an obnoxiously pro-longed lockout.
But for the Knicks and their fans, this is no time for confetti, no time for a victory lap. This is a time to listen and take in the end of Chandler’s sentiments:
“It’s obviously a tall task, but we have to take it game-by-game.”
And that’s all Sunday’s contest was, just one game. One of four.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His basketball musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.
