The 2020-21 New York Knicks: A season in review

The 2020-21 Knicks will be long remembered as one of the most fun teams in franchise history, but the season was also a total roller coaster ride from start to finish.

The Knicks’ season is over. The most exciting season since the 1999 NBA Finals run went out, mercilessly, with a whimper. The New York market is one of a kind, so when a team goes out the way this Knicks team did, leaving a bad taste in the mouth of just about everyone involved, a rainstorm of negativity typically follows closely behind. And yet, the immediate fallout for this team has seen an overwhelming amount of positivity and optimism, choosing to look towards the future rather than dwell on the past. Why is that? What made this team so special? Let’s dive in.

July 30, 2020: Changing of the Guard

Tom Thibodeau is not a perfect head coach. Over the last 307 days we have learned a multitude of things, but that much is clear. Despite that, if there were ever a right place, time, and team for Thibodeau to make his impact, it had to be this team. Coming off of a five year stretch that consisted of five different head coaches, the Knicks were looking for stability. More than that, they were looking for accountability and structure. To say Thibodeau brought those qualities, and more, would be the understatement of the century. 

So when you talk about what made fans fall in love with this particular Knicks team, it has to start with Thibodeau, warts and all. Gone was the team that seemed aimless & purposeless, replaced by a blue collar one that stepped on the court prepared to compete. And that’s all New York sports fans have ever wanted. A reason to care. Thibodeau gave us that. 

April 9, 2021: The Turning Point

With less than seven minutes left on a Spring Friday night, the Knicks had hit rock bottom. Trailing the Memphis Grizzlies by 13 points, losers of five of their last six games, and two games under .500, the shine had come off the surprise story of the NBA season. Even the most optimistic of Knick fans had begun to ask questions. Has this been worth it? Is it too late to tank?

But with this franchise, it’s never that simple. Led by 20-year-old sensation RJ Barrett, the Knicks mounted a comeback, forcing overtime and ultimately winning by four points. We didn’t know it then, but this would be the first of a nine-game win streak that would go on to define the wonderful season. What we did know then, what was solidified in that moment, was that this Knick team was different than the previous ones we had become accustomed to. No game would be out of their reach. Hell, no possession. 

April 16, 2021: The Phoenix Rises

If Thibodeau created the culture that would define this season, then Julius Randle was the face of that culture. Coming off one of the worst debut seasons by a big time free agent acquisition in recent memory, Thibodeau issued Randle a challenge: come into camp in the best shape of your life and be prepared to put this team on your back. And put the team on his back he did. For 71 amazing games, Julius Randle was phenomenal in ways very few who watched the team play last year could have dreamed he would be. He’s always been a gifted scorer, but suddenly he was making all the right plays and working his ass off on the defensive end. A fanbase desperate to fall in love with a team was given a hero to follow in the dark unknown. 

There was once a time when we thought things would be different. That the hero we would attach ourselves to was not a gritty underdog, but a do-all 7-footer with unflappable hair. A unicorn, some might say. But that was not meant to be. And on April 16, all over this came to a head when the Knicks met the Mavericks in Dallas. Winners of four straight, the Knicks were heavy underdogs against this Dallas team featuring not only Kristaps Porzingis, but his far superior running mate Luka Doncic. The Knicks were without Alec Burks and Mitchell Robinson. Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley, and Frank Ntilikina combined to play 17 minutes. Elfrid Payton puked up 23 putrid minutes where the Knicks were destroyed when he was on the court. 

None of that mattered though, because the Knicks had Julius Randle. Randle finished the game with 44 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists across 41 brilliant minutes. Not too far behind was his running mate, Barrett, who played 46 minutes and had 24 points to go along with eight rebounds in 46 minutes on the floor. Knick fans were, rightfully, ecstatic. Any feelings of disappointment, any wondering of what could have been had Porzingis and the Knicks made things work, were gone. Because we had a team we could be proud of, and a hero with a different cape to lead the way.

June 2, 2021: And Just Like That, He’s Gone

“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” 

I think, deep down, we all knew this season had to come to an end. Was it unfortunate that the Knicks got, seemingly, the best possible road to making some noise in the postseason and then wilted away? Sure. Are there questions that need to be answered? Absolutely. And they will be covered in painful detail as we wait these agonizing four or five months until the Knicks take the floor once again.

But let’s let this Knick season stand on its own. Let’s remember it not for what it was not, but rather for what it was. A bunch of guys of whom very few people gave a chance to, working their asses off to bring joy to a city that hadn’t had much of it recently. Because, at the end of the day, isn’t that what this season was always supposed to be about? Nobody thought this team would win a championship. We just wanted to lay that first foundational cement block. 

Mission accomplished.