With their second straight come-from-behind victory on Wednesday night, the New York Knicks didn’t just take a 2-0 lead in their NBA Playoff series against the Boston Celtics. According to Colin Cowherd, the Knicks also scored a “win for manalytics.”
Cowherd explained his take on Thursday’s episode of The Herd. He acknowledged that while the Game 2 loss proved him wrong, he enjoyed watching it unfold.
“I know what I said, ‘The Knicks are not going to win another game.’ I know it. But watching the Celtics collapse, you know what I thought about? The math nerds will not take over our sport. The basketball gods are pushing back. Wall Street, AI, tech, it’s all being taken over by analytics. Can we just have our basketball? Boston missed 75 threes in the last two games. By the way, 11-for-11 on dunks. How ’bout a few more of those? I found myself at the end sort of enjoying the collapse. These scrappy, tough, stayed-in-college Villanova guys. And that’s what the Knicks are. They’re Villanova professionally.”
“The math nerds will not take over our sport…Wall Street, AI, tech, it’s all being taken over by analytics. Can we just have our basketball?” Colin Cowherd on Knicks-Celtics pic.twitter.com/VOn5dqcKhO
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 8, 2025
Cowherd had more to say.
“I have never seen what just happened in Boston. A world champion starts a series at home, heavily favored at home, has 20-point leads in both games. And not only loses, had no guts at the end. The champs are supposed to have a champion’s confidence. I find the Celtics, honestly, after last night, hard to root for. All they are now is a math formula. Three-pointers regardless. And last night, to me, was not just a win for the Knicks. It was a win for manalytics, which is my term.”
“Last night was not just a win for the Knicks, it was a win for ‘manalytics’… It’s about resilience and grit and toughness.”@ColinCowherd criticizes the Boston Celtics’ late-game play and contrasts it with the underdog New York Knicks. pic.twitter.com/GvqRo76L2i
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) May 8, 2025
Cowherd is not the only person who made such comments. Celtics reporters/podcasters Chris Forsberg and Abby Chin, who offered Boston plenty of excuses after the Game 1 win, criticized the team’s lack of grit after Game 2.
“Sometimes it is funny to watch the math nerd get his pants pulled down,” Cowherd added. “And that’s what happened last night.”
About Michael Dixon
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