This is who the Knicks are

An incredible team was always lurking for those who chose to see it.

Good morning. The New York Knickerbockers are going back to the NBA Finals. Let's basketball.

The New York Knicks closed out their Eastern Conference Championship run with a 37-point win in Cleveland on Monday. New York went up by as many as 29 in the first half and 45 in the fourth. Kenny Atkinson threw in the towel on the series with 8:37 left in Game 4. That's how good the Knicks are right now: in the last series, Nick Nurse threw in the towel on the series at the beginning of the fourth quarter of Game 4.

New York won their first close-out opportunity against the Hawks by 51, their first close-out opportunity against the Sixers by 30 and this first close-out opportunity against the Cavaliers by 37. You can think the East is the softest conference in a decade (which isn't true). The Knicks winning those close-outs in such ungentlemanly fashion is outrageous. The Knicks having an 11-game playoff winning streak is outrageous. The Knicks finished the Sixers off in seven days and then received eight days of rest before the next round. The Knicks just finished off the Cavaliers in seven days and will have eight days of rest before the next round. The Knicks will spend more of May waiting for the next round to start than they will being mid-series. That is outrageous.

There are any number of factors at play here. The Knicks came in as the East's No. 3 seed and have only faced lower seeds in their run – the Nos. 6, 7 and 4 seeds, in order. Most people seem to believe that New York would have beaten the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds if they'd been able to advance, too, but perhaps they don't sweep them in insulting fashion. Perhaps. The Knicks are hotter than Satan's belly button right now. That's good timing. The Knicks are largely healthy right now, not something every team can say. That's lucky, though O.G. Anunoby being able to heal from a leg injury last round is owed to the quick work New York is making of its opponents.

Also: the Knicks are an incredible team. Either O.G. Anunoby or Mikal Bridges are the team's fourth-best player. Josh Hart, one of the great role players of his generation, is the fifth starter. The Knicks are a legitimate eight deep; five of those eight players are excellent defenders, and three of them have extraordinary defensive range. Of the three non-elite defenders, one is among the top five scoring guards in the league (easily) and is incredibly composed in crunch time, one is among the greatest shooting big men of all-time and the third, Landry Shamet, is 18/23 from three over the last two rounds. He went 11/12 from deep in the Eastern Conference Finals. Eleven of 12 from deep. That's the eighth guy.

New York had the No. 3 offense and No. 7 defense this season. No one has been able to stop them in the playoffs, and their defense has leveled up. (The Cavs scored 93 points twice in this series.) Mike Brown, say what you will about him, but Mike Brown! He knows how to squeeze juice out of an orange. He got the Sacramento Kings to the playoffs in his first year in town. He came in to take over a very good Knicks team with sky-high expectations, and he tinkered, and he confused some players for a bit and aggravated some fans, and he absorbed some holdovers like the star player's dad and he punched it up and behold! Mike Brown got some more juice out of that orange.

This team has been built expertly by Leon Rose and Worldwide Wes. James "J.D." Dolan has been hands off, as far as we can tell. The players have all stepped up, from Knicks legend Jalen Brunson to mercurial Karl-Anthony Towns to moody Bridges and funny Anunoby and impassioned Hart and aggro Mitchell Robinson and smooth Deuce McBride and hot hot hot Shamet. This is just a damn good team. No excuses are necessary for the Eastern Conference: they all just got smoked by a better squad.

And yes, it is remarkable that it took me damn near 750 words before bringing up the fact that I called a Knicks championship in October and renewed that call in April. Something's been in the air, and as predicted the West juggernauts are knocking each other silly. The prophecy is upon us. Ignore all those other incorrect prophecies. Nostradamus didn't shoot like Landry Shamet either, OK? The prophecy is upon us. It's the Knicks' time. Finally.