It’s a new dawn in Madison Square Garden, and Derrick Rose can feel it.
With the New York Knicks firmly in the Eastern Conference playoff picture for the first time in what feels like an eternity, Rose expressed confidence in the team’s ability to bring back all of the fans who had grown weary of rooting for them through so many losing seasons.
“We’re going to get to the point where we’re going to bring some Knick fans back to us,” Rose said on Wednesday, per Ian Begley of ESPN. “Like the fans who gave up on the team probably a while ago, just off the strength of the direction the team was going. We’re going to bring them back.”
The Knicks are currently 15-13 on the year after failing to reach the 10-win mark by Christmas in two of their last three seasons. Rose himself is enjoying something of a revitalization in The Big Apple with averages of 16.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game on 45.8 percent shooting from the field (his most efficient since his MVP season in 2010-11).
Knicks fans, past and present, will undoubtedly be cautious about getting too hyped during the regular season, especially considering that the team has won just one playoff series this millennium. But this kind of sentiment from Rose, who appears to have found a new home in New York, is a good sign as the Knicks continue their quest to finally return to postseason contention.
