Knicks Officially Out of Excuses After Latest Loss

When all's said and done, the 2024-2025 New York Knicks have been a metropolitan fairy tale for the ages.

The penultimate edition of Knicks basketball had the most bittersweet of endings, one that was no doubt heartbreaking, but that allowed fans to pen roundball fanfiction that favored Manhattan. After all, the Knicks team that ended a seven-game conference semifinal series against the Indiana Pacers hardly resembled the one that set all kinds of hopeful hardwood landmarks, including the first half-a-hundred win total and top-two conference finish in over a decade.

Alas for the Knicks, the group's successors were unable to avenge them, as a healthy Manhattan group fell by a 4-2 final in the Eastern Conference Finals to the same Pacers, who will jet off to their own first NBA Finals showing in a quarter-century. Unlike last year's injury-riddled finale, the Knicks frequently boasted blank injury reports in this conference final fracas and faced what was pretty much the same Pacers team they saw last spring.

A new round, however, produced only the same result — and a myriad of new questions and unfortunate realities under Madison Square Garden's iconic roof.

Jan 3, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) brings the ball up court against the Chicago Bulls with forward Julius Randle (30) and center Isaiah Hartenstein (55) and forward OG Anunoby (8) and guard Donte DiVincenzo (0) during the first quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Why Fans Want More of '24

The surplus of injuries aside, last year's Knicks seemed to be a perfect antidote to questions about the NBA's declining ratings debate, one that was unafraid to rely on weapons from a bygone era (i.e. traditional centers Isaiah Hartenstein and Mitchell Robinson) and one that knew how to shoot the three responsibly (Donte DiVincenzo).

New York also carried a legitimate star in Jalen Brunson, whose Manhattan oversight was well-rewarded with the honors of the Knick captaincy, taking over a hat previously worn by Willis Reed, Patrick Ewing, and other patron saints of a city that worships basketball gods.

It created an atmosphere where the Knicks could take a chance on winning through pure vibes, such as staging at least 41 Villanova class reunions at MSG by trading a plethora of picks for Mikal Bridges, creating the famed "Nova Knicks" quarter with Brunson, DiVincenzo, and Josh Hart.

Before they could play a single game, DiVincenzo and Julius Randle were sacrificed late in the offseason to bring in Karl-Anthony Towns, fulfilling his tri-state area family's dream of donning the Knicks' iconic blue-and-orange. The trade for Towns was the type of go-getter move the Knicks had avoided in the past (i.e. the metropolitan declines of Kevin Durant and Donovan Mitchell) and a splash that the Knicks were ready to leave mere seasonal satisfaction in the past.

Such gains departures, including others like the moving of Hartenstein (now repping the likewise Finals-bound Oklahoma City Thunder) brought a new sense of mythology to last year's Knicks. Trading for Bridges and Towns, especially at their prices, was supposed to be the moves that allowed the Knicks to move to a new level, to officially forge a key to the NBA's penthouse.

While no one was ready to immediately thrust the Knicks into the realm of the Finals, this was meant to be the team, one where second-round appearances could be considered disappointments. A year of chemistry would no doubt do the new-look Knicks some good as would modest yet high-profile goals like finally breaking the 25-year-old red tape on the Eastern Conference Finals.

The first of many questions after the latest loss to the Pacers could well be this uncomfortable query: was it already there?

May 31, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) reacts after game six of the eastern conference finals against the Indiana Pacers for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Pressure Drop

One of the most quizzical, bizarre parts of this whole affair is that the Knicks accomplished their goal: getting to the ECF is a respectable accomplishment, especially after missing out on it for so long.

Such uneasiness comes despite the trek being equally impressive, as no one could say the Knicks face slouches on the path to the Pacers: the Knicks downed a Detroit team armed with the healthy reckless abandon of having nothing to lose before besting Boston, a defending champion that was healthy for a majority of its conference semifinal struggle, with a series of thrilling comebacks.

Was the frequent flair for the dramatics sustainable on a nightly basis? Probably not. But after 25 years wandering in the basketball wilderness, the Knicks were blessed with the relatively sweet gift of not caring how their victories were obtained.

All they had to do was vindicate the 2023-24 group and take the Pacers, a team that's the relative antithesis of Manhattan, modestly building through role players in the right areas ... such as former New York lottery hero-turned-depth star Obi Toppin.

By now, you know how that went. Now, the Knicks have to face the most uncomfortable questions yet and they more or less become victims of their own success: by making it this far, the Knicks have a little less time to get their offseason affairs in order. That's hardly an issue, as president Leon Rose and Co. have no doubt gotten by with a little help from their friends and a plan to keep making things right is no doubt in place.

But losing to the Pacers yet again, at mostly full strength no less, no doubt thrown at least something of a wrench into a well-oiled, momentum-packed machine. What should've been a few miles forward is simply spinning tires, as the Knicks are mostly right back where they started despite pushing things one round in the right direction.

All that is to say that the Knicks are in an uncomfortable spot no matter how it's sliced.

Is this truly the group that's going to lead the team into a long-sought (men's) pro basketball nirvana? Was it already here and the Knicks sacrificed it to try winning through good vibes and the power of friendship? If the Knicks do make bigger splashes, which name-brand talent(s) will inevitably be shipped off, considering most of their upcoming draft stock is invested in newcomers?

An "overconfident" Brunson certainly seems to think staying the course is the right way to go, but he probably wanted to play another game or two with DiVincenzo as well, so one can only guess how this later foray into summertime madness will go.

Fulfilling the most prominent, most reasonable high-stakes goals only produced panic in Manhattan. Only in New York, kids, only in New York.

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