The Knicks’ span from Game 5 of the first round to Game 1 of the second round was the first time in NBA playoff history that any team had ever won three straight playoff games by 25 points or more, including wins by 51 and 38.

The Knicks’ total point margin in those three games, +119, is the highest of any three-game span in playoff history. The Knicks’ span from Game 6 of the first round to Game 2 of the second round is in third place. Their span from Game 4 of the first round to Game 6 of the first round is in fourth place. The Knicks, in these playoffs, have three of the top four three-game spans in NBA history.

The Knicks also have the greatest four-game span in NBA playoff history (Game 4 of the first round to Game 1 of the second round) … and they also have the second-greatest four-game span in NBA playoff history (Game 5 of the first round to Game 2 of the second round).

The Knicks also have the greatest five-game span in NBA playoff history (Game 4 of the first round to Game 2 of the second round), and they also have the second-greatest five-game span in NBA playoff history (Game 3 of the first round, which they actually lost, to Game 2 of the second round).

The best six-game span? Buddy, you guessed it.

I do think it’s worth noting that most of those spans occurred after the April 30th premiere of The Devil Wears Prada 2, featuring a cameo from Karl-Anthony Towns and starring legendary Knicks fan Anne Hathaway, whose favorite player is OG Anunoby. Both Towns and Anunoby are indisputably playing the best basketball of their lives right now.

Now, to a certain extent, I’m cherry-picking stats that highlight an outlying set of 40- and 50-point wins, rather than overall team greatness. 

That said, these Knicks could become the first team in NBA history to pull off The Double of winning the NBA Cup and the NBA championship, like we’re Manchester City or whatever. I promise you, this is something lots of people care about, and are talking about.

The Knicks have now been to the second round of the playoffs four straight years — the only team currently in the playoffs to hit that achievement — and it’s the best I’ve ever felt about them.

I have spent most of my life simply rooting for the Knicks to make the playoffs. My formative Knicks years were, sadly, during the Isiah Thomas era, when they peaked at 33 wins. When the Knicks made the playoffs after a nine-year drought in 2021 and lost to the Hawks, I thought, “That was fun! That’s pretty much all I’ve ever hoped for!”

When they hit on the Jalen Brunson signing and made the second round in 2023, I thought, “That was fun! That’s pretty much all I’ve ever hoped for!”

Team management didn’t think that way, though. They kept making moves to make the team incrementally better. Sometimes, that meant discarding players who had helped them, like trading Julius Randle for Karl-Anthony Towns, or getting rid of the coach, Tom Thibodeau, who had seemingly revitalized the franchise. 

These were risky moves that could have ended the most successful run the team has had in decades; both seem to have raised the Knicks’ ceiling. This is a well-constructed team: Deeper than last year’s, and better on offense and defense. I truly think they can win the championship. 

And they have to win this year if they’re ever going to do it. The Thunder are younger than everybody, better than everybody, and loaded with future draft picks. The Spurs have Victor Wembanyama, who reminds me of the baby dragons from the early seasons of Game of Thrones — already the single most lethal organism in the NBA ecosystem, and somehow becoming even deadlier. The Pistons are figuring it out. Jayson Tatum will be fully recovered next year. Tyrese Haliburton will be back. Meanwhile, the Knicks are not particularly young and their roster is not particularly flexible. This is their best chance.

I realize that at some point in my life as a sports fan, I became complacent. I became broadly OK with my teams not competing for championships. After all, I’m a Knicks and Jets fan. What is the point of getting upset about losses?

I told myself that I was opting out of sports sadness for professional reasons, because I’m a sportswriter. But I think I actually opted out for emotional reasons. I feared being let down if I invested in a team.

The Knicks snapped me out of that torpor without my permission, and I’m so grateful. They keep pushing to get better when I would’ve been happy settling for “good enough.” Now we’re at the scary part, when we find out whether it was all worth it.

The Scottish league is essentially a duopoly. The two big Glasgow clubs, Celtic and Rangers — a fierce, often violent rivalry known as the Old Firm — have combined to win 110 of 129 league championships. They’re actually tied with 55 league titles apiece, each more than any team in any major European league. (The current record-holder is Linfield FC in Northern Ireland, with 57.) Individually, they’ve won nearly three times as many league titles as every other non-Old Firm club in the league combined.

The last non-Old Firm team to win the league was Aberdeen in 1985. Their manager, Alex Ferguson, left that year for Manchester United, like a coach leaving a mid-major for Final Four favorite. (Now he’s Sir Alex Ferguson.) Nobody outside of the Old Firm has even managed to finish second since 2018.

According to Transfermarkt, each Old Firm club has a roster worth at least 120 million Euros; nobody else has a roster worth more than 30 million. Both Celtic and Rangers play in 50,000-seat stadiums; the next-largest stadium in the league sits around 20,000.

Enter Heart of Midlothian, commonly known as Hearts. They’re one of the two biggest clubs in Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh. They’re named after the bacteria-esque microscopic lifeforms that enable characters to use the Force in the Star Wars franchise.

Sorry, I’m receiving word they’re actually named after this. Oh well.

This isn’t a situation where some magnate or petrostate bought a team and spent billions, turning the club into a powerhouse wearing the kit of a longtime loser. Hearts still have a massive financial disadvantage compared to the Old Firm teams. Celtic and Rangers had the league’s 12 most expensive incoming transfers this season. While Hearts did pay the largest transfer fee in club history this offseason for Brazilian midfielder Ageu, you literally cannot scroll far enough to find that signing on the list of the largest signings in Scottish league history. You can find several hundred players bought by Celtic and Rangers.

So how are Hearts doing it? Their new part-owner is one reason. Professional gambler-turned-billionaire Tony Bloom, who amassed his wealth through data-driven betting strategies, helped usher a similar turnaround with Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise, which won its first title in 90 years after he bought the club. Bloom bought 30 percent of Hearts last year, and his data firm is helping the team identify new signings.

The approach is working. Hearts found two diamonds in the rough last year: Cláudio Braga, who is tied for the team lead with 14 goals, signed out of the second tier in Norway; and Alexandros Kyziridis, tied for the team lead in assists, signed out of the Slovakian league.

And frankly, it helps that the two big clubs are having flop seasons, with a big assist (soccer term!) from the United States of America. Celtic may have cost themselves the title with their disastrous decision to hire Wilfried Nancy, the MLS Cup-winning manager of the Columbus Crew. Celtic promptly lost four of six league matches, including one against Hearts, after Nancy took over, which is an abysmal result for a club that often goes entire seasons without losing four matches in league play. Nancy was fired after a month, but the damage was done. The team’s chairman resigned at roughly the same time citing “abuse and threats.”

And Rangers are newly under American management, including a major investment from the San Francisco 49ers ownership group. They also fired their manager this season.

Somebody new winning the Scottish Premiership is so rare that seemingly everybody’s on board with Hearts. Scottish tennis legend Andy Murray chimed in, saying that “I personally think it’s a good thing for Scottish football” … even though he’s a fan of Hearts’ big cross-town rival, Hibernian. “I’ll probably get hammered for this,” Murray said.

It would be great for the league if more teams had a realistic shot to win every year … but if we’re being honest, Hearts’ season seems less like a re-ordering and more like one miraculous run. Celtic and Rangers still have a massive financial advantage, and will rarely experience this level of simultaneous disarray again. This could be the last shot for somebody else for a long time.

Now it’s three games to glory. Hearts have three points and a healthy goal differential advantage over Celtic. Realistically, they can clinch the league by winning their next two matches against Motherwell and Falkirk. If they drop points in either of those two matches, the Premiership could come down to the season finale against Celtic. For the first time in a long time, people will be watching.

Owned Atlanta’s teams in the NBA, NHL, and MLB, popularizing the Atlanta Braves across the South by broadcasting them on his TBS superstation.

Earned the nickname “Captain Outrageous” as a competitive sailor, winning the America’s Cup as well as four medals at the sailing World Championships, including gold in 1971.

Tried creating a competitor to WWE.

Tried creating a competitor to the Olympics.

Managed the Braves for one game, going 0-1, before being told the next day he couldn’t do that.

Took over as the Atlanta Hawks’ PA announcer in the critical moments of a game, before being told the next day he couldn’t do that.

Knicks - 76ers (NYK leads 2-0) – In case you’re wondering when I’ll be Extremely Nervous. (Game 3: May 8, 7 p.m. ET; Game 4: May 10, 3:30 p.m. ET)

Pistons - Cavs (DET leads 1-0) – The Pistons took Game 1 on the backs of Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, but Tobias Harris has also been sneakily playing the best basketball of his career for Detroit this season. (Game 2: May 7, 7 p.m. ET; Game 3: May 9, 3 p.m. ET)

Thunder - Lakers (OKC leads 1-0) – The Thunder won Game 1 by 18 despite SGA only scoring 18 — the first time he’s scored less than 20 since Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals last year (preposterous stat btw). LeBron put up 27/6/4 in the loss. What a throwback to watch LeBron go off while his teammates do basically nothing. Feels like 2006! (Game 2: May 7, 9:30 p.m. ET; Game 3: May 9, 8:30 p.m. ET)

Spurs - Timberwolves (Series tied 1-1) – The Spurs won by a Knicks-esque 38 on Wednesday, but the series is still tied heading back to Minnesota with Anthony Edwards feeling better every day. (Game 3: May 8, 9:30 p.m. ET; Game 4: May 10, 7:30 p.m. ET)

Avalanche - Wild (COL leads 2-0) – The Avs have scored 14 goals combined in two games this series. Presidents’ Trophy winners usually spin out and look like a middling team that snuck into the postseason, what’s going on? (Game 3: May 9, 9 p.m. ET)

Golden Knights - Ducks (Series tied 1-1) – Anaheim is 0-9 on the power play so far, and the battle of Anaheim’s power play against Vegas’ penalty kill will probably decide the series because the Knights can’t stop tripping people. (Game 3: May 8, 9:30 p.m. ET; Game 4: May 10, 9:30 p.m. ET)

Sabres - Canadiens (BUF leads 1-0) – It’s fantastic whenever rabid hockey fanbases finally see their teams break through and make the playoffs. The crowd pop whenever the Sabres score is legitimately incredible. The Sabres still have The Best Vibes in Sports. (Game 2: May 8, 7 p.m. ET; Game 3: May 10, 7 p.m. ET)

Hurricanes - Flyers (CAR leads 2-0) – The Flyers are that team that snuck into the playoffs via OT games (only 27 regulation wins) and it’s showing, with Carolina outclassing them in their first two meetings. (Game 3: May 7, 8 p.m. ET; Game 4: May 9, 6 p.m. ET)