Jalen Brunson Is New York’s Exorcist

With a 94-90 win in Game 5, yet another doughty comeback and superlative Jalen Brunson takeover, the New York Knicks are NBA champions. This is an unsettling and unusual thing to say, because they are the New York Knicks.

Knicks fandom has, historically, been about feeling bad. But feeling bad together is still a communal experience. Much of the conversation in New York these past two months has involved proving and sharing fan bona fides, and given their track record, that takes the form of bragging about all the ways the Knicks have made us feel bad. It was a game of one-upmanship that everybody lost. The Charles Smith game. Oh yeah? How about the Reggie Miller game? Oh yeah? I lived through Eddy Curry. Oh yeah? Well, I believed in Frank Ntilikina. Oh yeah? I thought Kevin Knox was going to be a superstar. That sort of thing. (I don't believe in omens, but Knox and his Fortnite suit might've been both the low point and a portent. Take a look at this photo of him and their other draftee that 2018 evening—now the longest-tenured Knick—and their jersey numbers.)

Phil Jackson once said of his time with the Bulls that Madison Square Garden crowds were among the easiest to play against because of their pessimism. Fear was not very far below the surface; even a loud, seemingly confident crowd needed the smallest amount of stress to crack completely. They had seen it too many times, and expected it, and got it. Even now, the thought of the organ priming fans to chant "defense" inspires 'Nam-style flashbacks to all the times the Knicks needed a stop that they would not get. It was an unpleasant way to live. It felt bad.