The Knicks have struggled at home throughout the playoffs. Who’s to blame?
Is it Tom Thibodeau? The players?
Well, WFAN host Boomer Esiason has chosen his scapegoat for the team’s 3-5 mark and MSG this postseason.
“I think [the Knicks] are sick and tired of all the damn celebrities at home,” Esiason said on the air on Tuesday.
“They’d rather get away from all that.”
Playing for a New York team comes with unique challenges, whether due to the prominent celebrities or the enormous intensity of the city’s sports scene. This atmosphere amplifies both the pressure and potential distractions for athletes.
On Monday, former Knick and current Timberwolves star Julius Randle spoke on the noise that comes with playing for the Knicks.
“It ain’t fun. You can’t really focus on the game, you’re focused on everything else other than the game itself,” Randle told Yahoo Sports.
“You’re living and dying with every single shot, every single turnover, every single loss.”
Spike Lee, Suni Lee, Timothee Chalamet, the Kardashians, Ben Stiller — you name them — MSG’s “celebrity row” is always overflowing with huge names.
And when they’re courtside and being consistently shown on game broadcasts and the in-arena Jumbotron, they’re hard to ignore.
The Knicks are in the midst of their best playoff run in quite some time.
This is the team’s first Eastern Conference finals trip since the 1999-2000 season, when the team fell to the Reggie Miller-led Pacers.
However, they have yet to turn MSG into a true home-court advantage this postseason.
In their 4-2 series victory over the Pistons, the Knicks secured just one home win. Moving to the second round against the Celtics, they faltered in Game 3 at home despite claiming the first two away, but managed to triumph in Games 4 and 6 at Madison Square Garden.
Starting the conference finals with the advantage of playing on their own court, the Knicks stumbled at the end of Game 1, losing in overtime, and then subsequently fell short in another close match in Game 2.
They then followed that up with a statement road win in Game 3.
The Knicks are 6-1 on the road in these playoffs.
When you pair the celebrities with the championship-hungry New York fan base, perhaps Esiason has a point.
