While irony reared its head and left the Knicks with a loss after the team wore all black before the game to "mourn" for the Celtics since the Knicks would undoubtedly win, I like the fact that the Knicks chose to talk trash through a fashionably symbolic gesture, even if it was in poor timing and bad taste.
The analytics revolution has not yet accounted for the sartorial choices of N.B.A. players, but it is generally accepted that playoff games are not won or lost in the walk-in closet. (Russell Westbrook is proof of this.)
So it was not the fact that all the Knicks players arrived at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday in shades of black for a critical playoff game that bothered their coach. It was the implied message that came with their funereal uniformity: that their series against the Boston Celtics — a proud, veteran team, steeped in playoff experience — was effectively over. That a victory would prove a mere formality. Read More
