Mike Breen

And that goes for any fan base in any city.

When you haven't won in a long time and all of a sudden, wow, this could be the year, there's nothing like it for a sports fan.

I mean, anybody who thinks about the teams they root for, when that year finally comes around again...

But this year has been extra special because of how horrible it ended last year in the conference finals and how this year there were questions.

I mean, they were this was not a smooth sailing year at all.

They had a lot of uneven stretches.

Wonder, are they as good as they were last year?

And then for them to have this type of play, this type of dominance, I think has made it the decimal level of the lecture.

I think there's some rewriting of history here, certainly with Jalen Brunson, because if I said to Knicks fans, when you just got Jalen Brunson, that's your leader right there, I don't know if they would have been in unison, yes, we finally found our number one option.

No question.

I mean, the vast majority of people thought, okay, he's a good player, but boy, did they overpay for him.

And at his press conference, when they introduced him, somebody asked him, do you view yourself as a savior?

He says, I'm nothing even close to being a savior.

And I would imagine even Jalen himself would admit, yes, Jalen had high expectations and knew he could be a great player.

I think he might admit he didn't know if he could make this level.

I mean, he is...

He's one of the great point guards of his era in these last four or five years.

And he's one of the great playoff performers.

Very few have ever done what he's done go from what he does in a regular season to the playoffs on a consistent basis.

So I know his dad didn't think he was going to be this great.