There are essentially two kinds of playoffs—the playoffs themselves, and the stranger, smaller sub-spectacle in which the New York Knicks and Toronto Maple Leafs get their fan bases excited. We have reached that second stage.
This will not be a slagging of either of those respective fan bases; first, we've already done that, and second, those fans are not responsible for the latest tandem developments. The Knicks and Leafs are now both two games to the good against the defending champions in their respective sports, and have gotten there on merit as well as through the temporary shortcomings of their alleged betters. If that isn't enough to reboot your will to live, well, you're either a Boston Celtics fan or The Dan LeBatard Show.
The Knicks have a history of disappointment braided with abject failure that reaches back to the very origins of the NBA. They didn't win any championships from 1946 to 1970, won twice in three years, and haven't won since. Put another way, they have a worse career record than the Tri-Cities/Milwaukee/St. Louis/Atlanta Hawks, a case-rester if ever there was one.
But in beating the Celtics in Boston last night, 91-90, the Knicks are now ahead two games to empty and feeling like they are ready to reclaim their place in . . . well, no, that's not it. They cannot reclaim what has been traditionally the belongings of others. They can, however, steal them, and that seems to be the M.O. here.
The Knicks have not won those games by a lot—Game 1 finished 104-101 in overtime—but they did win them both, in defiance of one of the sport's most celebrated home court advantages, which counts for something. Also, the fact that the Celtics have missed a historically epic 75 of their 100 three-point shots in these two games should be mentioned somewhere, as the Celtics' offense is heavily dependent on those at the expense of all things that happen inside 24 feet. In other words, their first option so far has been to ruin three out of every four possessions. They're lucky they haven't been given a third loss after two games just on G.P.
But never mind that. The Knicks did not squander that gift either night, and that’s as valid a way to win as any. In doing so, they have created the very real possibility that the series expected to undo them will instead emboldened them. True, it sets up a potentially massive letdown that would render the team nickname a verb, as in "They really Knicksed that up." For the moment, though, they are as good as a team can be midway through the second round of a four-round playoff structure, even if six of their ten starters in those series—the same five guys times two, obviously—have again played 40-plus minutes in these first two games, which was a crime in the regular season but once again hailed as The True Knick Way in spring. You may find more analytical and even lyrical explanations of the Celtics here and the art of watching the game here, but the scoreboard is scoreboard, and beating the champ is beating the champ, no matter where you want to bestow the credit. At the moment, the Knicks have a 92 percent chance of doing just that, implausible as it all may seem; teams up 2-0 in series like these are 327-28 in league history.
As for the Leafs, they were given a better chance of beating Florida for two reasons—they finished ahead of the Cup holders in the regular season, and Torontonian pundits, even the most sensible ones like Hayes Noodles and O-Dog, tend to try to speak a parade into existence just out of faith in the belief that the team and town can't be wrong 59 years in a row. They’re the home team and the favorites, but they are also the Leafs, and that last bit has historically mattered the most.
And credit where due; the Leafs have out-Panthered the Panthers in all the areas in which the Panthers are held to be elite, including goaltending. Joseph Woll was as good in Game 2 as the now-concussed Anthony Stolarz was in Game 1, and the defense in front of him was particularly vigilant despite being outshot 28-20 and out-attempted 79-41. Florida, accustomed to setting both the pace and tone of the game, has instead been punching uphill into Leafs' defenders, and even if you want to cite Toronto's home ice as a potential reason, the advantages of playing at home are much less evident in playoff hockey than in basketball. Although that might be due some reconsideration given that the NBA appears to be giving road court advantage a test-run in the second round; the only team to hold its ground so far is Oklahoma City, though they should be credited with two wins for beating Denver by 658 last night.
But we digress. Addicted as we are to dynasties in sport—we are all royalists at heart, now that representative democracy has shat itself—we might be looking at the premature end for two monarchs who had looked safe when this all started. You are not beaten until someone beats you, of course, and few franchises can disrespect good fortune quite like the Knicks and Leafs; nothing is over until the coach and general manager get fired. But when teams like these become the instrument of revolution, notice must be paid.
