IRVINE, California – The Knicks have stunned the sports world, on the brink of an upset championship.
New Yorker and diehard Knicks fan Tyler Adams says he’s drawing inspiration from his hometown team – and his U.S. National Team could follow in their footsteps as a World Cup underdog.
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“That’s what I love about being from New York is the character, the personality,” Adams said when asked by the Post about the Knicks. “So as a kid from New York – obviously not the city, but just in general – I feel like you always have your back up against the wall. That’s just about proving people wrong.”
The Knicks were a longshot, with no NBA champion in the last 40 years holding longer title odds at the start of the playoffs.
Team USA will be World Cup longshots themselves when they kick off Friday against Paraguay at So-Fi Stadium. Asked if they can follow the Knicks’ blueprint, Adams said “I don’t know; hopefully. Hopefully we can do something special.”
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What the Knicks did went beyond special, to unprecedented. They pulled off the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history, overturning a 29-point deficit to win Game 4 at the Garden on Wednesday night.
Members of the U.S. National Team watched the game on TV, and in a video of them celebrating after OG Anunoby’s miraculous tipin, Adams – who is from Wappinger and came up through the New York Red Bulls organization – can be seen clambering on top of a couch multiple times in barely-recalled euphoria.
“I don’t even remember I blacked out, I’m not gonna lie,” said Adams.
“I’m not gonna lie; after the first first half I turned it off, because I was like ‘maybe it’s me that’s watching that. They’re just not playing well.’ I feel like every time I turn it off, they start to win. And I told everyone if they get it within ten points, anything can happen. And yeah, I wasn’t expecting that man. It was crazy.”
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So would a deep U.S. run, having only won three games total in the last five World Cups combined. But Adams said if the underdog Knicks can mount a historic comeback with a miraculous game-winner – and stand one victory away from a title – then Team USA can take inspiration.
Even if some are Knicks haters.
“It’s pretty captivating. I think them being the underdog coming out of the East and doing something special as they’re doing right now, I take inspiration to it. But I’m a New York Knick fan. Not everyone’s a New York Knicks fan,” said Adams.
“Brenden Aaronson; the worst. He’s a Sixers fan, he can’t say anything. Haji Wright, big hater right now. But I love all that energy. It’s good.”
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