The Strickland

1 week ago | thestrick.land | Collin Loring

They say you don’t know the good old days until they’re gone. As a New York Knicks fan who just watched them pull off a come-from-behind overtime road win against the Boston Celtics in Game 1, I call bullshit. These are the best days. A back-and-forth feeler of a first quarter gave us hope. Boston’s counterpunch (and knockout blow, at first glance) of a second quarter washed it all away. At halftime the scoreboard read 61-45, bad guys, and I toyed with turning off my television.

1 week ago | thestrick.land | Matthew Miranda

One of the secret pleasures of a lost season of putrid basketball is the delight in discovering veteran players who can do things they’re not asked to on better rosters. Not ironically, but simply coincidentally, Jordan now backs up the greatest passing center many have ever seen in Denver. DAJ didn’t play a ton in the Nuggets seven-game series with the Clippers – just 34 minutes – but the one-time citizen of Lob City got to visit Los Angeles three times, a place he lived and worked for years.

2 weeks ago | thestrick.land | Matthew Miranda

Looooooong sigh . . . Losing 106-103 last night at home to Detroit didn’t end the New York Knicks’ season. They still lead the series 3-2 and have another chance to close it out Thursday, in a building where they’ve already won four times this season. Vegas still favors the favorites. Logic dictates with the Pistons needing three wins to advance and the Knicks only one, the Knicks held the edge. Coming into the series, the consensus was four of the five best players in it were Knicks.

2 weeks ago | thestrick.land | Collin Loring

It’s been almost 17 years since the Detroit Pistons won a playoff game on their home floor. On Sunday Jalen Brunson decided it’s best they keep on waiting. Because that’s what superstars can do. At any given moment, in any given game, guys like Brunson can turn everyone else on their heads and force them to watch what happens next, like that meme-made guy from Netflix’s Bird Box.

2 weeks ago | thestrick.land | Matthew Miranda

Every so often, a player or agent suggests New York sports fans can be a negative factor when considering joining a New York sports team. We don’t like hearing that. Obviously. “I wanna get married, I just can’t stand your whole [bleeping] family” isn’t much of a pick-up line. But in the dead of night, alone with our thoughts, we must admit we don’t make it easy. Take the New York Knicks and their series with the Detroit Pistons.