There has been so little soothing for the Knicks in these playoffs, only three games long but graying them by the minute. It has been an assault on their senses. A point guard they can’t touch. A series they can see slipping away. An arena they heard growing louder and louder as their deficit ballooned.
In Game 3, they were awash in stimuli and overrun without a response. Their 105-94 loss felt so much worse, the kind of beating they have avoided most of the season. It was, from the second quarter on, a wipeout. The Knicks were caught in a tide, a 22-3 run to close out the half, and capsized under it.
There were no answers for Trae Young, again. He has been a certainty in this first round, a metronome of greatness from night to night.
If only that was the problem for them. There is a simplicity in a star’s brilliance; one team has him and the other does not.
