{"id":249239,"date":"2026-07-22T11:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T11:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/249239\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T11:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T11:09:10","slug":"guest-commentary-how-the-knicks-no-really-are-like-lincoln","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/249239\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Commentary: How The Knicks (No, Really) Are Like Lincoln"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I\u2019m writing this as a lifelong Philadelphian who watched the 76ers and Philadelphia Warriors as a kid. I remember Wilt \u2014 so I\u2019ve got some bona fides. I grew up cheering for my Sixers against those Knick teams of Frazier and Reed. The rivalries between Philadelphia and New York City teams in sports and civic pride are legendary, but let\u2019s be honest and give credit where credit is due \u2014 the New York Knicks not only (painfully) swept the Sixers in this year\u2019s NBA playoffs, but went on to win the NBA Championship with grit, style and grace.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Listen to the audio edition here:<\/p>\n

I know some WIP callers will disagree, but I have long believed that the right thing to do is to cheer for the team that beat my team, and hope they go on to win it all. That\u2019s just my philosophy in sports, and maybe in life. You can cheer for the competition when you\u2019re not competing, and retain your hometown citizenship. (Go Birds!)<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to suggest that what we all witnessed in the Knicks versus Spurs NBA Finals was more than great basketball. It was really a metaphor for how to conduct oneself in times of challenge \u2014 a lesson about persistence and perseverance I\u2019ve learned in politics that can also be applied in all facets of life.<\/p>\n

Going into the series, the Spurs were favored to beat the Knicks and had homecourt advantage. Not a bad way to start. But as the saying goes, it\u2019s not how you start, it\u2019s how you finish \u2014 and the Knicks knew how to finish. In the five game series, the Knicks fell behind by double digits in every game \u2014 by 14, 15, 20, 29 and 16 points, respectively. The Knicks ended up pulling off one of the great comebacks of all time. Imagine the mental toughness required to stay focused, not panic, and keep pushing and pursue the goal of surviving and winning. Sixers fans, the Knicks showed us how to weather the storm, gather the stamina to deal with failure, and ultimately find a way to succeed.<\/p>\n

The Knicks\u2019 incredible 29 point recovery in Game 4 will stand out in sports history, not just because it is the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, but also because it is one of the great demonstrations of human resilience and personal commitment to excellence. All of us have had some challenges, obstacles, deficits, and barriers in our lives, and may have wanted to give up. You know the feeling: Self-doubt, fear, insecurity, the idea that someone might be better. I felt some combination of all those things in early 2007, when I quit my job and was dead last in all the public opinion polls\u2014barely beating out \u201cOther\u201d \u2014 before you eventually made me your mayor. Setback is part of life, and those who come back do so because they refuse to give up on their goals. (Fly, Flyers, Fly!)<\/p>\n

Sports, like politics and life, rewards stick-to-itiveness. Lincoln knew this, as does Jalen Brunson. If you\u2019re facing a challenging moment, don\u2019t forget to rely upon your team.<\/p>\n

Think about this historic figure who experienced defeat after defeat yet went on to become one of the most revered figures in American and world history \u2014 Abraham Lincoln. The Great Emancipator failed in business in 1831. He was defeated for state legislator in 1832. He tried another business in 1833 and it failed. His fianc\u00e9e died in 1835. He had a nervous breakdown in 1836. In 1843 he ran for Congress and was defeated. He tried again in 1848 and was defeated again. He tried running for the Senate in 1855 \u2014 and lost. The next year he ran for Vice President\u2013and lost. In 1859 he ran for the Senate again \u2014 and lost. In 1860, the man who signed his name A. Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States.<\/p>\n

Persistence. Perseverance. Just like those Knicks. Because I\u2019m a Philadelphian, I recognized it in the form of the Philly-area Villanova trio of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges. They showed that classic Philly \u201cgrit and grind it out\u201d mindset. It was a magical experience to watch the whole series of seriously close games with all the drama, tension and wonder of a great movie. Night after night, the Knicks showed everyone what hard work, focus, self confidence and a commitment to team and community can produce.<\/p>\n

Sports, like politics and life, rewards stick-to-itiveness. Lincoln knew this, as does Jalen Brunson. If you\u2019re facing a challenging moment, don\u2019t forget to rely upon your team. The Knicks had each other and New York City rooting for them. Often, we have our own community, and many others we may not even know, rooting for us \u2013 but they need to know that you\u2019ll never give up on yourself.<\/p>\n

Even if you\u2019re a Sixers fan \u2014 and we can be magnanimous now that we\u2019ve got superstar Jaylen Brown \u2014let the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history serve as a model for you. No matter the seemingly insurmountable depth of the hole you may be in right now, keep pushing the ball upcourt, keep shooting, keep running, keep at the task at hand with persistence and perseverance \u2013 and you too can win. (Let\u2019s go, Phillies!)<\/p>\n

Michael A. Nutter served as the 98th Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, and is presently a Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University\u2019s School of International and Public Affairs, and an Executive Fellow at the Weitzman School of Design and the Penn Institute for Urban Research at the University of Pennsylvania. He also co-hosts The Citizen\u2019s podcast, How to Really Run a City.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Citizen welcomes guest commentary from community members who represent that it is their own work and their own opinion based on true facts that they know firsthand.<\/p>\n

\"\" MORE SPORTS STORIES<\/p>\n

The Knicks’ Jalen Brunson during Game Three of the NBA Finals, June 8, 2026. Photo by Al Bello, Getty Images.
\nAt right, President Abraham Lincoln, photographed February 5 1865 by Alexander Gardner <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m writing this as a lifelong Philadelphian who watched the 76ers and Philadelphia Warriors as a kid.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5956,3314,94,69,1002,71,70],"class_list":["post-249239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-basketball","tag-guest-commentary","tag-history","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}