Jayesh Pagar
The New York Knicks and the Atlanta Hawks are knotted up at 2-2 in the first round. If New York finds a way to advance, the Boston Celtics could be waiting in the second round, and the debate about what the Knicks need to do is already starting.
On the First Take X account, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith made his position clear. A seven-game series loss to Boston in the semifinals should not be treated as a reason to blow up the roster or show the coach the door.
“If the New York Knicks go, and they lose in the semifinals in a 7-game series to the Boston Celtics, I don’t think that’s a reason to say, ‘Coach gotta go. These players gotta go.'”
But Stephen A. did not just stop at defending the Knicks. He made the case for why Boston deserves that kind of respect in the first place. Tatum is getting healthier by the game. Brown is playing like an MVP candidate. And the gap between this Celtics team and the one New York beat last year is real.
“If we’re being honest, despite the fact that you beat Boston last year, there’s no shame in losing to the Boston Celtics. If Jason Tatum is healthy, which he looks better and better, and Jalen Brown is that MVP candidate, the Boston Celtics are no joke. The Boston Celtics are capable of winning the chip.”
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It is not just Tatum and Brown. Stephen A. went through the whole roster, the coaching staff, and the front office to explain why Boston is built differently, and the first thing he pointed to was how many ways this team can hurt you.
“They live and die with the three in a lot of people’s eyes. But the thing that we have to be amazed by is that we have to run, and let me not forget to mention the Peyton Pritchett of the world and the Derek White of the world and what they bring to the table, and Joey Mazzola and Sam Cassell, and those brothers and how exceptionally well they coach.”
Then he gave Brad Stevens his flowers.
“But the thing that I marvel at about the Boston, let me not forget to mention Brad Stevens, either, who knows what the hell he’s doing as an executive, the successor to the great Nanny Angel job that he’s done in Boston. He deserves a lot of credit.”
Then came the part that reframes everything. Tatum and Brown are not veterans winding down. They are still ascending.
“Jalen Brown is on the verge of going to his seventh conference finals. Jason Tatum is on the verge of going to his sixth conference finals. And do you know neither of them are 30 years old yet? Think about that. Neither of them are 30.”
“Neither of them is like, you know, it’s like we forget that y’all these brothers are still young. These ain’t some age old. We look at them and we marvel at KD when healthy, KD’s 37. We’re looking at Steph Curry, 37, 38 years old. We’re looking at LeBron James, 41 years old. Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum are not 30. As a matter of fact, they ain’t 29.”
That brought him right back to where he started.
“So I’m looking at them. I’m like, if the New York Knicks go and they lose in the semifinals in a seven-game series to the Boston Celtics, I don’t think that’s a reason to say coach got to go. These players got to go, blah, blah, blah.”
The Knicks knocked Boston out last year, but Tatum went down with an Achilles tear in Game 4. He is back and healthy now. Losing to this version of the Celtics in seven games would not be a failure for New York. It would just mean they ran into a team that is built to win championships.
