The Strickland

2 weeks ago | thestrick.land | Matthew Miranda

How many years does a franchise have to be good to not be slandered as bad? 10? 20? After college, I worked at an Italian restaurant in a Six Flags theme park. Every night, right when we’d close and start cleaning up to go home, our manager Amy had the kitchen make her a steak. Every night, seven days a week: steak. So even on dead nights, when most kitchens would get a head-start on cleaning up and closing down, ours couldn’t. The kitchen staff lived in Buffalo.

3 weeks ago | thestrick.land | Matthew Miranda

Whatever the truth is, it’s weird. Either presumably Rose and Brunson both supported Thibs’ firing, which would be stunning given everything we’ve ever seen or heard – why would they extend him last year, see him lead them past Boston and within two games of the Finals and then decide he’s gotta go? – or Dolan fired him despite one or both Rose and Brunson supporting him, truly the darkest of timelines.

3 weeks ago | thestrick.land | Matthew Miranda

They don’t seek drama. Ever. All killers care about is the kill; the last thing they want is attention or drama that might complicate the hunt. In all the years MJ tortured the Knicks, he never once trolled them, not publicly. He hated his enemy far too much to risk giving them any ammo. Bullies will, though. Because for them it’s not about the win. It’s all ego. They antagonize their enemies because bullies subsist on the huffing and puffing of others.

3 weeks ago | thestrick.land | Collin Loring

It’s 9:17 p.m., the day after the New York Knicks’ season ended at the hands of Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers, 125-108, and I’m exhausted. I wanted to take time and let this Game 6 loss marinate. It’s not every day – nay, every year – your favorite basketball team falls short in its first conference finals appearance in 25 years. Life had other plans. My buddy called and asked if I’d help him do a tile job. I don’t know shit about tile.

4 weeks ago | thestrick.land | Matthew Miranda

You’d have thought that coming into an elimination game, Tom Thibodeau would play his two leading scorers at least 96 combined minutes. Try 70, only a handful more than Haliburton and Pascal Siakam did in a game they trailed wire-to-wire.