While everyone else is busy praising the New York Knicks for their scorching hot stretch in this year's postseason and, in turn, clinching their second-straight conference finals berth in the process, long-time villain and all-time hater, Paul Pierce, finds himself remaining a resident on the anti-orange and blue bandwagon.
While the 19-year NBA veteran-turned-"analyst" did admit that the Knickerbockers are playing "the best basketball in the playoffs" outside of Oklahoma City, during a recent edition of No Fouls Given, he was found peddling his spite-filled prophecy that New York will never end up winning a title in his lifetime.
Of course, in classic Pierce fashion, he couldn't help but double down on his hatred for the Knicks, as he went on to share his doomsday prediction for the ball club moving forward in this year's playoff run, saying that "they're going to do something that's gonna, like, disappoint everyone."
"They're definitely going to lose to Detroit, or they'll go up 3-0 in the Finals and lose four straight. There's going to be something devastating," Pierce said.
Paul Pierce predicts Knicks will implode: 'They do this every year!'
Though Pierce claims the Knicks wind up disappointing in a similar way he described "every year," the fact of the matter is that they haven't had enough success remotely close to this over the better part of the past 30 years for his remarks to be seen as even remotely factual.
Since the turn of the century, New York has taken part in postseason action a total of 11 times. During this span, just over half of these excursions have advanced beyond the first round, with only three separate trips to round three.
Their recent semifinal series sweep over the 76ers now officially marks the first time since the 1999-00 season that the Knicks have made it to back-to-back conference finals appearances.
Frankly, New York currently finds itself in uncharted territory, based on both its own and the league's history.
Following their series-clincher over Philadelphia, the Knicks officially boast the best net rating by any team in a single playoff run at 20.3 and have become just the fourth playoff team ever to have multiple closeout wins by 30-plus points, joining the 2025 Thunder, 2008 Celtics, and 1987 Lakers.
All of these clubs would go on to win the title that very season.
Now, granted, this is no indicator that New York is destined to snap their 53-year championship drought. They still have a ton of work to do and competition to get through to even come close to such a possibility.
However, with every passing game, they're actively proving that they are far from any Knicks team that has come before, at least as far as their 21 Century iteration is concerned.
Jalen Brunson and company are actively rewriting history, yet Pierce is still banking on their past tribulations to rise back up.
Shameful!
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Follow