Barbara Barker

New York

Sports Columnist, Writer and Reporter at Newsday

Newsday sports columnist, features writer and queen of NY NBA writers. Been around so long I covered Knicks when they were really good and you were 10.

Articles

New York are Knickerbonkers with 2-0 lead

5 days ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

Here we go again. This was the attitude of all but the most blindly optimistic Knicks fans when it became apparent that they would be meeting the defending champion Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals. It’s been 25 years since the Knicks made it past the second round of the playoffs, so you can forgive the city for its initial caution and pessimism. Why get too invested, after all, when you know that the season is just going to end again in heartbreak?
Knicks' 2-0 lead isn't all on Jayson Tatum's shoulders

6 days ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

Oh, how they have turned on Jayson Tatum in Boston. Suddenly, the six-time All-Star is being blamed the most for the Celtics' stunning 0-2 hole that no one expect the most optimistic Knicks fan would have predicted a week ago. Tatum, who averaged 33.5 points against the Knicks in the regular season, has totaled 36 points and shot 12-for-42 with eight turnovers in the two playoff losses against the Knicks.
Mikal Bridges big reason Knicks 2-0 instead of 0-2

1 week ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

It’s time to put it to bed. It’s time to stop obsessing about those five draft picks the Knicks gave up to pry Mikal Bridges away from the Nets. It’s time to realize that some players aren’t added to a team for what they can do in a regular season or even what they can do in the first three quarters of the game.
Knicks' Mitchell Robinson needs to rebuild game by stopping bricks from free-throw line

1 week ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

BOSTON — How many players in the world can do what Mitchell Robinson does? How many players can be a dominant presence on the offensive boards, block shot after shot and then come out and guard Jayson Tatum on the perimeter, keeping him from making a potential game-winning three-pointer with seconds left in regulation?
Knicks benchmark: Tom Thibodeau stepping out of his coaching comfort zone

1 week ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

BOSTON — The morning before his Boston Celtics fell apart in the first game of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Monday night, a story ran in The Boston Globe about how coach Joe Mazzulla spent a week in the jungle of Costa Rica with a chess prodigy/personal growth guru. Mazzulla apparently honed his inner coaching genius the summer before last year’s championship season by going on barefoot 3-mile hikes up a mountain populated by scorpions and snakes.
Mikal Bridges steals the show in overtime of Knicks' Game 1 win

1 week ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

BOSTON — Stunning. Jaw-dropping. Improbable. We’re not just talking about the fact that the Knicks found a way to beat a team no one thought they could beat and opened their Eastern Conference semifinals series with a 108-105 overtime win over the defending NBA champions. No, we’re talking about the fact that the much-maligned Mikal Bridges came up with the monster steal that sealed the win, ripping the ball out of the hands of All-Star Jaylen Brown in the closing seconds.
Jalen Brunson, Jayson Tatum history goes way back

1 week ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

BOSTON — Of course they were going to meet again with everything on the line. Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brunson are the two most prolific scorers still playing in the NBA playoffs and the two primary faces of their teams. All eyes were expected to be on both players as Brunson’s Knicks opened the Eastern Conference semifinals against Tatum’s Celtics at TD Garden on Monday night. Though this is the highest-stakes meeting between the two superstars, it is far from the first.
Captain Clutch Brunson leads underdog pack of Knicks against Celtics

1 week ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

BOSTON — No one gives them a chance. A few observers think the Knicks could be swept by the Celtics in their second round series which opens here Monday. Most predict that the Knicks are capable of winning a game or two. A handful of contrarians believe the Knicks could take the defending champions to seven games. No one is predicting the Knicks to win. The Knicks are heavy, heavy underdogs, which in a way only seems right considering that their best player Jalen Brunson is the ultimate underdog.
Knicks' Mikal Bridges shows signs of taking his game to another level

1 week ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

Mikal Bridges did not trade himself to the Knicks. He’s not the one who decided to give up five first-round picks to pry him away from the Nets last summer. He’s not the one who set expectations almost impossibly high by possibly mortgaging the future to live large in the present. Yet, fair or not, Bridges has had to live with those expectations and the intense scrutiny they have brought all season.
Knicks get what they wanted: Celtics in second round

1 week ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

Yes, it’s a little scary. Yes, the Knicks are heavy underdogs. And yes, this Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Celtics is what Knicks fans have been waiting for all year. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. This was the driving force behind all of the Knicks’ roster moves last summer. Now, thanks to one of the biggest postseason buckets in franchise history, the Knicks are going to get their shots at the defending champions.