For a minute there, it looked like the New York Knicks had a real chance to pull off the first round upset over the Boston Celtics. But then New York had New York things happen to them in a New York minute. And it’s not even the Knicks fault.

For 47 minutes, the New York Knicks gave the Celtics hell. It looked like the city of NY would get that playoff monkey off their back as they had the game tied at 82 with a minute left.

Then it happened.

Chauncey Billups missed a driving layup and left the game with a knee injury that would see him sit out game 2. But the Knicks were resilient without Billups and his replacement, Toney Douglas drilled a three pointer to put the Knicks up by 3 with 37 seconds left. All was will in Knickerbocker land as New Yorkers hi-fived each other across the globe.

Then it happened…again.

After Kevin Garnett pulled the Celtics within one point, the ghost of Reggie Miller entered the body of Ray Allen and it felt like 1994 all over again. A questionable offensive foul on Carmelo Anthony put the ball back in the hands of the Celtics and they made sure the Knicks wouldn’t get their first playoff win in a decade. Paul Pierce grabbed Allen’s inbound pass as Ray circled to the other side of the court, caught Pierce’s pass and drilled a three pointer with 11 seconds left to put the Celtics up by two points. Carmelo Anthony’s three pointer missed and that was that.

Or was it?

With Chauncey Billups out, game two was another close affair that appeared to be in the hands of the Knicks.

And then it happened again!

Amare Stoudemire joined Chauncey Billups on the bench as he pulled a muscle in his back and did not appear in the second half. But somehow, someway, the Knicks hung around and gave the defending Eastern Conference champions all they could handle before watching Kevin Garnett sink a go-ahead basket and losing another game where they led most of the way by a score of 96-93.

If that doesn’t prove that there is a sick and twisted curse hovering around the Knicks, I don’t know what is.

The fact that the Knicks were able to keep the games this close with two of their big three getting injured says a lot. Obviously, Knicks fans have to feel that they could have won if they were at full strength. But to rub their nose in it by coming extremely close on two occasions is just plain rude.

I’m not even a Knicks fan, but you have to call it what it is.

The Knicks are cursed.

What will they have to do to shake this curse? It seems like they will have to wait until next year. But this year was just one big tease… unless they pull off an amazing comeback. But even if they did, they’d find a way to mess it up.

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