Knicks owner James Dolan declared in January that his team “absolutely” needed to reach the NBA Finals, but players say that ambition already existed within the locker room.
Karl-Anthony Towns made clear the Finals had been the squad’s own target long before Dolan made his feelings public to the wider basketball world.
“We all had that aspiration regardless, so we didn’t really need to hear that because we all wanted that moment, we all wanted to see that, especially after last year being in the Eastern Conference finals and coming up short,” Towns said.
“We understand that we’ve gotta take that next step. So what he’s talking about is also how we all felt,” the Knicks big man added in his full remarks on the subject.
Dolan’s statement came during a stretch where New York lost nine of eleven games, a run that allowed the Celtics to pass the Knicks in the Eastern Conference standings for good.
Josh Hart said the public mandate from the owner did not create any added pressure inside the team, framing it instead as extra motivation for a group already driven to win.
“Not pressure, because I think that’s the goal that we all kind of have,” Hart said. “Obviously, it hits a little bit different when the big dog says it.”
“But that’s the goal that each and every one of us has. And we’re our own biggest critics, so this kind of adds a little bit more fuel to that internal fire of the hunger to get there,” Hart continued.
Mitchell Robinson suffered a broken pinky finger that did not occur during a game or practice, according to head coach Mike Brown, though the Knicks declined to reveal further specifics about the injury.
Robinson underwent surgery to repair the fracture and is targeting a return for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday, a notably aggressive timeline given the nature of the injury.
According to injury tracker Jeff Stotts, no player since 2005 has missed fewer than fourteen days following a pinky fracture that required surgical repair, meaning Robinson would need to beat that mark by a significant margin.
Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon was asked this week to revisit her December 2023 claim that the Knicks could not win a title with a small guard like Jalen Brunson leading the team.
“I don’t know why everybody’s so stuck on that,” Hammon said. “I said it two years ago. I stand by it. There’s no air to be cleared. I said what I said. He proves me wrong, he proves me wrong. Good for him. But I do think the two best teams are in the West.”
The Knicks’ run to the Finals has been attributed in large part to the decision-making of president of basketball operations Leon Rose, including moves he chose not to make, such as a potential trade for Donovan Mitchell.
New York now awaits their Finals opponent, with one report suggesting the San Antonio Spurs would represent a more favourable matchup for the Knicks than the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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