Knicks to party like it’s 1973
The New York Knicks have quite the penchant for proving people wrong. All throughout their playoff run, they have been doubted at every single turn. From those who thought they had an easy run to the Eastern Conference title and would get handled by a “real” team like the Spurs to those who believed a certain guard was “too small” to lead them to a championship, the Knicks have the last laugh.
I hope they did not read my column from two weeks ago where I predicted that the NBA Finals would go either six or seven games. In that regard, count me among the many who have been confuted.
The Knicks only needed five games to take down the Spurs and hoist their first Larry O’Brien Trophy in 53 years. They got the job done Saturday night in San Antonio in the only matter they know: coming back from a sizable deficit. In every single game, they were down by double digits at some point, and four out of five times they were able to pull it off.
It is true that in the modern-day game with teams scoring more points than ever, it is “easier” for teams to rally back from double-digit deficits. But 29 points? Even that seemed too big for the Knicks to overcome at halftime of Game 4.
Yet in true 2026 Knicks fashion, they disproved even their own fans by pulling off the largest comeback in NBA Finals history. Yes, they were aided by a blunder from De’Aaron Fox, going up for a layup that was blocked by OG Anunoby rather than dribbling around, bleeding some clock, and getting fouled. But that play in itself is a microcosm of what this series ultimately came down to: experience.
While most of the players that touched the floor had never been to the Finals, the Knicks had come much closer than the Spurs have over the past couple of years with a similar core of players. San Antonio, meanwhile, entered as a young but ultra-talented group. But their ultimate downfall was showing their youth at the wrong times.
I think back to Game 2 when Victor Wembanyama turned the ball over. I think back to multiple missed free throws throughout the entire series. I also think about not securing rebounds off missed Knicks free throws, like the one Mitchell Robinson claimed with the Knicks up by three with 16 seconds left, and Anunoby’s made foul shot sealed the deal.
There was also a noticeable gap of experience between the coaching staff. Mitch Johnson was severely outcoached by Mike Brown. Probably his biggest error was giving Fox more minutes than Dylan Harper, who was one of their few positives from the series. As for Brown, he seemed to push all the right buttons and pull all the right levers. It goes back to not running his starters to the ground like previous head coach Thom Thibodeau. In order to come back from multiple deficits, they had to dig deep and not tire out in the fourth quarter. Instead, they kicked it into high gear when their backs were against the wall.
Brown more than deserves his flowers. Perhaps we should’ve seen this coming knowing that he won back-to-back titles with the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018 as an associate head coach. He has that championship pedigree, but now he’s earned it as head coach.
As for Jalen Brunson… what more is there to say that hasn’t already been said? 45 points in a closeout game. 32.6 points per game in the Finals. Naysayers will bring up his lack of efficiency, but who really cares about being efficient when you’re putting up insane numbers and hitting clutch shot after clutch shot? His legendary Game 5 performance cemented himself as Finals MVP. Now that he has guided the Knicks to the holy grail, he has rendered himself, until further notice, the King of New York. Sorry, Aaron Judge.
Make no mistake, though. Brunson did not do this alone. Taking a $113 million pay cut was part of the reason why the Knicks were able to surround him with plenty of help, including Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges. In the case of Bridges, giving up five first-round picks ended up paying off despite the trade not looking great for a lot of his time in New York.
So what should other NBA teams learn from the Knicks? Maybe their superstar players could sacrifice a bit of their bank account for the betterment of the franchise. Maybe finding a missing piece is worth sacrificing your future. Or if all else fails, put together a team featuring multiple players from the same college national championship team. I guess there is some worth to the “power of friendship” when it comes to the ‘Nova Knicks. Or you could call them the Comeback Knicks. But now, after decades upon decades of suffering, you can finally call them the Champion Knicks.
Night of Champions celebrates top local athletes and coaches
Whenever the high school sports season comes to a close, there’s always plenty of triumphs to celebrate throughout the course of ten months. That’s where ESPN Ithaca’s Night of Champions comes in to highlight the very best of the best that this area has to offer.
The 13th annual awards ceremony took place Sunday evening at the Ithaca Downtown Conference Center. Over 60 student-athletes and coaches were recognized for their excellence on and off the playing surface.
In terms of the big awards, Candor volleyball’s Pam Quinlan is the Girls Coach of the Year for the second straight season. The Coyotes enjoyed another outstanding campaign under the longtime head coach. They won the IAC South Small Division title for the 15th time under Quinlan and their ninth IAC championship with a sweep of Newfield. They would square off against the Trojans again in the Section IV Class D championship, where the Coyotes pulled off another three-set victory to win their third straight title and 14th under Quinlan. Another sweep to start off their state tournament run over Tupper Lake made it 11 regional titles and a trip back to Glens Falls. Candor got through pool play and back into the championship match. They weren’t able to repeat their title, as York snatched the title away. But making back-to-back state championships is no easy feat, so a tip of the cap to Quinlan for bringing the Coyotes back to the promised land.
The Boys Coach of the Year is Marathon boys soccer’s Aubrey Brown. He maintained the standard of excellence by combining a high-flying offense with a stout defense. Through 19 games, they scored a whopping 94 while only allowing four goals. After an undefeated regular season, the Olympians repeated as IAC North Small Division champions and IAC Small School champions thanks to a 3-0 win over Odessa-Montour. In the Class C tournament, Marathon blanked division foe Southern Cayuga 2-0 before edging state-ranked Trumansburg 1-0 in overtime on the road. The championship game against Seton Catholic ended 2-2 after regulation and two overtime periods, making them co-champions and delivering Marathon its first sectional title since 2019. While they didn’t advance to the state tournament after losing the penalty kick shootout, there was plenty to be proud of this past fall.
Both coaches received $750 in scholarship money courtesy of Guthrie, which they gave to a senior student-athlete at their respective schools.
The Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year is Watkins Glen’s Rachel Vickio. The biggest thing that stands out from her three-sport career is her winning DNA. For girls soccer, she helped the Lake Hawks win three IAC titles (including one this fall) and two Section IV Class C crowns. Basketball is where she really made a name for herself, surpassing 1,000 career points and earning All-State honors for the second time in her career. She also guided the Lake Hawks to two IAC championships, including one this winter. Then in the spring, she specialized in the discus for outdoor track and field. This year, she won another IAC title in the event while placing third at sectionals. Rachel will continue her basketball career at Elmira College and will major in nursing.
The Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year is Lansing’s Trent Thibault. The senior will go down as one of the greatest long-distance runners his school and the area as a whole has ever seen. During the cross country season, he won his third IAC title and third Section IV titles. But his biggest achievement was undoubtedly winning the Class C state championship. The indoor track season also proved to be fruitful, winning the Section IV Class C/D and state qualifier titles in the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs, qualifying for states in the latter event and placing 10th. There was even more success for outdoor track, sweeping the IAC and Section IV titles in the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs and competing at states in both events. He finished runner-up in Class C in the 3,200-meter run and seventh in the 1,600-meter run. Thibault will continue running at Columbia University and will major in financial economics.
Both coaches received $1,500 courtesy of Visions Federal Credit Union.
Other highlights included Ithaca’s Kari Burke and Shane Taylor earning the Athletic Director Appreciation Award in their first year overseeing Little Red athletics, retiring Union Springs athletic director Todd Salls getting honored as ESPN Ithaca’s Community Gamechanger for the month of June, and Moravia’s Caraline Wasileski and Trumansburg’s Will Foster earning the Senior Leadership Awards.
You can check out the full list of award winners here.
USMNT near perfect vs. Paraguay
With the basketball and hockey seasons coming to a close, it’s time to turn our attention to the greatest sporting event on the globe: The FIFA World Cup. Apologies to baseball, as you’ll be playing second fiddle for the next few weeks.
If there’s any year to pay attention to the World Cup, it’s certainly this year. And it’s not just because there are 48 teams and it’s being hosted in part by the United States. That’s because the U.S. men’s national team might be conjuring up a truly special run in a tournament they’ve largely lacked success in.
The U.S. made quite the statement Friday night in Los Angeles with a commanding 4-1 victory over Paraguay. Believe it or not, the quartet of goals was the most ever they’ve scored in a World Cup game. The scary part is that it easily could have been a harsher scoreline on Paraguay. The U.S. didn’t just win. They flat-out dominated.
It’s not hyperbole to say that was the best game the U.S. have played in any World Cup game. While they’ve had greater games in terms of the sheer magnitude— like taking down Mexico 2-0 in 2002 to make the quarterfinals—most of the time the U.S. are competing, they’re the scrappy underdogs that don’t play the most eye-catching soccer but get through mainly on true grit.
That’s not entirely the case with this year’s squad. With more players than ever before plying their trade in some of the top leagues in the world, the talent pool is deep, and they’ve got an experienced manager in Mauricio Pochettino that certainly brought the best out of them against Paraguay.
There was of course Christian Pulisic, whose pass led to the own goal to make it 1-0 early on and and whose assist doubled the lead. There was Folarin Balogun, whose name people now know very well after scoring twice. Then there was Gio Reyna, whose spark off the bench provided some exclamation point with a sensational outside-the-boot strike, also known as a “trivela.”
There’s not much to say about the defense and goalkeeper, as they were rarely tested. But that won’t be the case against Australia this Friday in Seattle. While the U.S. will likely once again have most of the possession, they’ll have to be weary about Australia’s counter attack. It worked against Turkiye in a 2-0 win, and it will be fascinating to see if the same gameplan is in store against the Americans.
With eight of the 12 third-place teams advancing to the knockout stage, the United States’ current three-point total might be enough. But as long as they can get one more point, they’ll virtually be guaranteed to advance. But the way they played on Friday night, simply getting out of the group stage will not be satisfactory.
Other things that caught my eye:
- I briefly talked about the outdoor track and field state championships when discussing Trent Thibault’s accolades earlier, but he was one of many local athletes to take part across Saturday and Sunday at Webster Schroeder High School. Candor’s Logan Aman stole the show by winning the Class C state title in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash. For good measure, he was also the federation champion in the 100-meter dash and was runner-up in the 200-meter dash by just .01 seconds. Lansing’s Ava Kobylarz also returned home with a state title, claiming the Class C crown in the pole vault. Also participating from the IAC were Candor’s Lindsay Morse (seventh in the 100-meter hurdles), Dryden Reagan Burnham (eighth in the 3,000-meter run and 11th in the 1,500-meter run), Groton’s Ross Bush (third in the 800-meter run and seventh in the 1,600-meter run), Newark Valley’s Hadley Merrill (12th in the 2,000-meter steeplechase) and Logan Rhodes (sixth in the pole vault), Odessa-Montour’s Janne Anderson (seventh in the 400-meter hurdles), and Watkins Glen’s Natalee Oliver (12th in the 800-meter run). There was also a large contingent of Ithacans: Kenzie Burke (eighth in the 400-meter hurdles), the boys 4×800-meter relay (13th place), Hayden Cornell (ninth in the discus), Gavin Cornell (14th in the shot put), Naasir Hakim-El Cardona (15th in the long jump), Will Boscia (12th in the pentathlon), and Avery Whittaker (11th in the 1,500-meter run and 10th in the 3,000-meter run).
- Not to speak too soon, but through the first half of the month, it’s not been much of a “June swoon” for the Yankees even with Aaron Judge sidelined. Five wins in their last six games is an encouraging sign for the rest of the month, especially since the victories came against a team over .500 (the Guardians) and a division rival (the Blue Jays). Sweeping Cleveland was nothing too shocking, but taking two of three in Toronto and winning a series north of the border for the first time since 2023 is a nice surprise. A return to the Bronx this week to take on the AL Central leading White Sox (yes, you read that right) and a struggling Reds team.
- A few days ago, Cornell men’s hockey announced their 2026-27 ECAC schedule. I know we’re still four months out from the Big Red getting back on the ice and we know exactly who they’re facing in the conference, any time the ECAC schedule drops it’s a reminder of how we’re closer than we think to hockey season. Of course the game to circle is the Harvard matchup at Lynah Rink, which is slated for January 22. While that and the Dartmouth game are technically part of their winter break, students will be back in town since classes start on that Monday. Not that Lynah would have any trouble selling out a Harvard game, but it’s nice to know the winter break won’t impact their home slate like it did this past season.
