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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

Not having won a Championship in over five decades, and slowly watching themselves turn into the laughing stock of the league for the majority of this century, the Knicks fans tend to go a little overboard in their celebrations every time they taste victory. And that might also be the case this year as they find themselves only two wins away from reaching the Conference Finals for the first time since 2000. However, not too sure about Jalen Brunson and Co.’s legitimacy, Draymond Green shattered the Knicks’ Cinderella story on his podcast, even getting confirmation from veteran analysts Chris Broussard and Rob Parker.

Citing the examples of the Atlanta Hawks from three years ago and the Portland Trail Blazers from 2019, when both teams surprisingly reached the Eastern Conference Finals, Draymond called their one-time runs a “fluke” and predicted the same fate for the Knicks this year, “That’s what the Knicks are setting y’all up for right now and it will be probably another fifteen years of misery.” Replaying Draymond’s comments on The Odd Couple Podcast, Chris Broussard affirmed the Warriors star’s opinion, “He’s right! He’s so right!… Draymond Green is on the money.”

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Heavily criticized before for saying that Jalen Brunson is not a superstar everyone thinks he is, Broussard agreed with the notion that it is very easy to reach the Finals in the Eastern Conference as compared to the West, “The Western Conference is the varsity, the Eastern Conference is the JV.” Then, doubling down on his comments, Broussard claimed that the Knicks would not have dominated the same way if they were in the Western Conference. Although what the Knicks have done this season is great, Broussard believes they are not in the same class as the Nuggets, Celtics or even the Timberwolves. His co-host Rob Parker also agreed with the premise of Draymond’s comments although he thought the tone was a little over the top.

Should the Knicks fans be worried?

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With Draymond Green and several other basketball savants declaring the Knicks dream run a mere “fluke” and on Friday, the Knicks facing their first loss of the series against the Pacers, concerns are starting to creep in in the Knicks fans’ mind. After losing the third game, courtesy of a dagger three-point shot from Andrew Nembhard, even New York’s faithful Hollywood star Ben Stiller tried to put on a brave face on social media, tweeting, “We won’t cry.”

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But the overwhelming tweets from the Knicks fanbase shows that the doubts might slowly be starting to take over. And if we look at the way Jalen Brunson’s squad has reached this stage, it only makes things scarier for the Knicks fans going forward. In the previous series with the Sixers, all of the Knicks’ victories were by very close margin and every game went down to the wire. Even in the first three games of the ongoing series, every game has been decided by a single digit difference and there is no win clearly putting the Knicks miles ahead of the teams they have faced.

Moreover, with stars like Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Jimmy Butler, either out or playing through injury, the Eastern Conference also lacked the level of competition it would have had if they were all healthy, probably giving the Knicks an easier path in the playoffs. With that, Broussard believes that the Knicks should not stick with the same squad next season and look to add another superstar to become actual title contenders. What are your thoughts about the Knicks’ future?