The New York Knicks advance to the ECF after decades of pain

Rewind the clocks to the Spring of 2004. In came New York Knicks president Isiah Thomas, who confidently walked up to the podium to deliver what he imagined would be a simple yet emphatic and perhaps even profound statement …

“Welcome to the playoffs.”

After two years of non-playoff basketball, something of an unimaginable occurrence back then, Thomas, who had taken over in December, assumed hero status for the diehard city hoops fans who craved this. Patrick Ewing was gone, Jeff Van Gundy saw the writing on the wall, and recovering from the Scott Layden era took some mighty effort.

So, despite Thomas’s cringey statement, the prisoner-of-the-moment vibes took hold of a significant portion of the fanbase and media-pundit onlookers.

It didn’t matter much that the Knicks finished the season 39-43 in an extremely weak Eastern Conference. It didn’t matter that everybody understood that the back-to-back East Champion New Jersey Nets would smoke them in the first round.

New York had finally made it back to the promised land.

At least that’s how Thomas viewed it.

As we now know, the truth of the matter is much more straightforward and cruel. Layden wasn’t the guy, nor was Stephon Marbury. Lenny Wilkens couldn’t get it done, nor could Larry Brown.

Carmelo Anthony didn’t come close, and Isiah Thomas was the farthest thing from a savior that it’s out-loud laughable.

After decades of pain, New York Knicks fans were waiting for Tom Thibodeau, Jalen Brunson, and Leon Rose.

The Knicks’ 119-81 beatdown of the Boston Celtics in Game 6 Friday night punched their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals—the franchise’s first such trip in 25 years (2000).

Game 6: Final