Knicks Are Proving Everyone Wrong

The New York Knicks are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals after beating the Boston Celtics in a stand-out, no denying, Game 6 at Madison Square Garden. The 37-point victory put the cherry on top of a showdown with Boston that New York had been waiting for, and for the first time in years, they can finally say they've taken the leap.

Now, the job isn't finished. The Knicks aren't at the mountain top, or close to it. They need to defeat the red hot Indiana Pacers for a shot at a title. That won't be easy. It might actually be harder than the Celtics. But right now, New York is about letting it be known they're real contenders, even if they didn't look like it all season.

"New York is not a “best of the rest” team to me," The Athletic's Law Murray said in his final power rankings of the regular season. "Three teams established themselves as bona fide contenders, and New York lost all 10 games to them. A Tom Thibodeau team hasn’t been to the conference finals since 2011, and Thibodeau’s teams have lost as the higher seed six times, including all three of his postseasons with the Knicks. I think the Knicks had a good season, I’m just not moved in the slightest. They have this spring to present something meaningful and show that they are capable of playing their best basketball against the teams that matter most. I do like that OG Anunoby is healthy and finished the season averaging 1.9 steals over the last five weeks."

"The Knicks are really good. They're in the midst of their best campaign in more than a decade but there's just one huge problem: All season long, they've looked one, sometimes two, steps behind Boston and Cleveland," ESPN's Chris Herring wrote before the playoffs."

"Against the two best teams in the East, the Knicks have gone 0-8, with a number of those losses coming in huge routs. (And the last two — this past week — coming after enjoying big leads, then ultimately faltering down the stretch.) It's a frustrating dichotomy for the franchise and its fanbase: to be vastly better than most, and a top-five team perhaps, but still far from title contention."

That was the case. The Knicks showed up against teams they should beat, but not those they shouldn't. They didn't appear ready to take on the Celtics or the Pistons heading into the playoffs, but they looked ready when the series started.

New York is four wins away from the NBA Finals. They've taken down the defending champions. They have the momentum and they aren't just winning. They're WINNING.

The talk is now silent. The conversation is, can they pull it off? And the Knicks are heading into the Eastern Conference Finals proving everyone wrong.