For this writer — this Chicago-born, -raised, -lived, lives, gonna-die-here writer — the Knicks making it to the NBA Finals is all things, everything, plus the signing bonus.Bigger than the Cubs winning a World Series, this is not nor will be, as 27 years — even by New York standards — cannot match a drought that spanned 108 years, but the magnitude of these Knicks being at the center of the basketball and sports world (until the World Cup begins in a few weeks) awaiting a Game 1 in the NBA Finals is unequaled.These Knicks. Those words carry significant and historical weight. Because at the center of these Knicks becoming “these Knicks” is a point god from Chicago (Lincolnshire, to keep it exact) who is left-handedly responsible for making the whole damn thing happen.There are only a few handfuls of people who knew Jalen Brunson would one day find himself here, fewer who knew he’d be the reason. But for those who’ve followed him being the reason Stevenson was able to secure an Illinois Class 4A chip in 2015, to only follow that up with being the reason Villanova won two NCAA chips in three years between 2016 and 2018, to only be the central reason in his first year starting for Dallas (a year after winning the NBA sixth man award) that “those Mavs” made the Western Conference finals.The straight-up, modern-day definition of a since-birth winner. But no one seemed to really give any damns until now. Because Brunson’s…
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