NBA Legend: Knicks 'Built' to Conquer Celtics
When it comes to the modern New York Knicks, Kevin Garnett seems to believe that anything is possible.
The Boston Celtics' championship quest has ended, as the team took home the most recent edition of the NBA Finals last week against the Dallas Maverick. But now, with the Larry O'Brien Trophy hoisted and the parade route traversed, the next, perhaps harder, part begins: creating the next Beantown dynasty.
Considering that most of Boston's championship pieces, such as headliners Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, are set to stay and the Celtics won the Eastern Conference regular season title by a hearty 14 games, many are already willing to place them back in the 2025 Finals.
But one of the architects of the Celtics' prior glory days believes that the rival Knicks post as the best threat to the budding Boston dynasty.
"To me, the Knicks are built to challenge this Celtics team," Garnett told fellow Celtics legend Paul Pierce on their shared web series "Ticket & The Truth," first lauding the progress of newly-minuted All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson. "You got a f*****g point guard who's a closer. He's activated ... if you're a small forward he can score on you."
"Then you got an animal that's been in the cage (in Julius) Randle. I'm putting my money on Randle this year. (Mitchell) Robinson is one of the old heads who wants to do his job: I want to rebound and offensive rebound. Throw me a lob every now and then. I'm the new Tyson Chandler."
Pierce praises Donte DiVincenzo for "turning into him" during a career-best season while Garnett rapidly lauds more Knicks such as Bojan Bogdanovic (comparing him to Soviet "Rocky IV" antagonist Ivan Drago), Josh Hart, Isaiah "the white kid who didn't even start" Hartenstein, and Miles McBride for their efforts this year.
All that, Garnett claims, allows the Knicks to stand as the biggest threat to Celtic supremacy. Garnett also hints that the Philadelphia 76ers could give the Celtics a run for their money but his faith appears firmly planted in Manhattan when it comes to labeling Boston's most dangerous competitor.
When their championship defense tips off this fall, Brown, Tatum, and their green companions will seek to do what Garnett and Pierce could not.
The latter duo, paired with Ray Allen, took home Boston's prior NBA championship during their first year of collaboration in 2008 but that title was meant to be the first of a presumed several. The Celtics returned to the Finals two years later but things eventually ended in 2013 ... ironically enough with an opening round loss to the Knicks, who ended the modern Big 3 era with a six-game triumph.
Garnett's forecast seems to partly rely upon the Knicks mostly running it back, but the key may be one of the players he negelected to mention. New York dropped each of the first four meetings against the Celtics this past season but won the last get-together in April, the only one to feature the services of OG Anunoby, in relatively one-sided fashion.
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI
Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks