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JJ: “Good Midseason Report Card, but Final Grade All That Matters”

BQE Admin on February 18, 2026

New York, New York

By John Jastremski

We have reached the All Star break of this 2025-2026 NBA season.

As a whole, I’d say the Knicks are basically right around where I thought they would be at this point.

They are 35-20 and have the third best record in the Eastern Conference. 1/2 game back of Boston for 2nd place & 6 games back of upstart Detroit for 1st.

The narrative around the team is actually quite similar to where we were a season ago.

Last year, it was the struggles with the Boston Celtics that appeared incredibly problematic.

This year, it happens to be the Knicks’ struggles with the Detroit Pistons. In both matchups this year, the Knicks have been absolutely dominated and it sounds the alarm of concern for Playoff Time.

For me, I’m not there with that narrative. Last year was the perfect lesson for why I am not. 

The Celtics won all 4 matchups with the Knicks in the regular season. The Knicks flipped that vibe on its head winning the 2nd round playoff series in 6 games.

Yes, the Knicks play the Pistons this coming Thursday. I’d prefer to see the Knicks win that game and silence this building narrative.

That said, the bigger concerns for the team moving forward are these:

  1. How do you mask the defensive deficiencies of Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns on the floor together?
  2. How do you get Karl Anthony Towns back offensively to where he was a season ago?

If the Knicks can solve those two riddles, they will be playing in the NBA Finals. If they don’t, they will be soul searching in a big way this summer.

The Knicks midseason report card grade is a solid B, but it will be a monstrous swing between now and the spring.

For a group that’s been knocking at the door the past few seasons, the only grade that matters is the final.

Stay tuned for the result!

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network every Sunday/Thursday on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sportsnite at 11 PM on SNY.

JJ: “The Year in NY Sports for 2025. Not Good Enough…”

BQE Admin on December 25, 2025

New York New York

By John Jastremski

Believe it or not, next week is the final full week of 2025. 

In NY Sports, I think many of us went into the calendar year with high hopes for our teams and prospects for success. 

Looking back on the year, it’s hard to not have a feeling of disappointment. 

I think the best way to look at NY Sports in 2025 is to say the year wasn’t good enough. 

Our baseball teams were fresh off a trip to the World Series and the NLCS a year ago at this time. 

Life was good for Mets fans, Juan Soto was the new conquering hero and the sky was the limit… Until it wasn’t. 

The Mets inexplicably missed the playoffs in 2025 and it was no fluke. 

They were a terrible baseball team for the final 4 months of the season and the ramifications of that poor play is the wholesale change we are witnessing within the team heading into 2026. 

In Yankees land, it was another year of coming up short in October. 

Yes, the Yankees pivoted brilliantly away from Juan Soto. 

Yes, they tied the Blue Jays for the most wins in the American League, but another year slips through the hourglass of Aaron Judge’s career without a ring. 

The pressure continues to mount and yet the team continues to be content with where they stand. 

Good enough to be in the dance, sure they have a chance, but it hasn’t been good enough to win. 

The football teams. Par for the course. And not in a good way. A collective 5 wins by 2 teams is a special sort of ineptitude. 

One would argue the New York Knicks would buck this trend of not being good enough. 

And compared to the other teams in town, it makes perfect sense. 

The Knicks advanced to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in 25 seasons. 

They had an epic 2nd round series win against the Boston Celtics. 

Yet, they can join the club of disappointment. Why? The Game 1 collapse against the Indiana Pacers will be a game that lives forever in infamy. 

It flat out cost the Knicks the series and will haunt this team until of course they reach the NBA Finals. 

2025 was eventful. There were some monster moments, promising debuts & plenty of interesting subplots. 

At the end of the day, it wasn’t good enough for our fair city. Let’s hope 2026 can be better…

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York every Sunday & Thursday on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite at 11 PM on SNY.

JJ: “Will The Garden Party Continue In The Eastern Conference Finals?”

BQE Admin on May 20, 2025

By John Jastremski

For the first time in 25 years, the New York Knicks are playing in the Eastern Conference Finals. 

Last Friday night, the Knicks sent the Celtics packing for Cancun with a performance that will live forever in Knicks lure. 

The Knicks finished off the Celtics in a wire to wire, resounding 119-81 victory and to be honest the final score doesn’t even do the beatdown justice. 

The Knicks finished off the defending champs, who lost star Jayson Tatum after Game 4 due to a devastating achilles injury, but that said, don’t let the Tatum injury take away from the Knicks vibes of the past series. 

The Knicks were cruising to a 3-1 series lead advantage before the injury took place late in the 4th quarter. 

They were the better team in the series and that was obvious in almost every single 4th quarter of the series. 

Now, the Knicks are four wins away from a place they have not been since 1999. The NBA Finals. 

How appropriate is it that the team that’s standing in their way of an Eastern Conference Crown is the same team that knocked out the Knicks a year ago. 

The Indiana Pacers. 

Make no mistake, the Pacers are a very dangerous team. 

They are 9 plus deep in their rotation, they place a ridiculously fast pace that is tough to contend with and Rick Carlisle is one of the best coaches in the NBA. 

In addition, Tyrese Haliburton has emerged as one of the game’s biggest stars and has been lights out this entire postseason despite some of the “overrated” criticism that was thrown his way earlier in the season. 

The Knicks will have their hands full with the Pacers, but there’s a lot to like coming into the series. 

The Knicks toughness and defensive intensity is an element that the Pacers have not matched up with quite yet this postseason run. 

In addition, the Knicks did not have Karl Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges in their series a year ago.

Both Towns and Bridges had brilliant regular season games against the Pacers in the regular season.

I expect both to pay major dividends in this series.

The Pacers will be a formidable opponent in the Eastern Conference Finals. However, with the grit and toughness of this Knicks group combined with the fact that they have Jalen Brunson who is the best player in the series, it’s impossible for me to go against the wave. 

Knicks in a hard fought 7 games.

And if that happens, oh baby what a party on 7th avenue will it be.

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts following every Knicks ECF Game. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite following the Mets postgame on SNY.

JJ: A Game 1 Shock To The System

BQE Admin on May 6, 2025

By John Jastremski

 

I won’t beat around the bush.

I went into the Eastern Conference Semifinals with zero expectations for New York Knicks success.

After all, could you blame me?

The Celtics are reigning NBA Champions and have dominated the Knicks for the last two seasons.

Boston was 4-0 against the Knicks and three of the games were non competitive. 

The oddsmakers shared my sense of pessimism for the series.

Game 1 was following the same path.

The Knicks were down 20 points in the 3rd quarter despite hideous Celtics 3 point shooting.

It looked like another lost night until it wasn’t… The Knicks responded with incredible grit, toughness and resilience.

OG Anunoby sparked the team in the 3rd quarter and got them back in the game on both ends of the floor.

Of course the captain Jalen Brunson was up to his usual late game tricks. However, in Game 1 the Knicks bailed their Captain out.

Brunson missed a layup that would’ve won the game in regulation, a missed layup that I thought for sure would doom the Knicks chances of winning Game 1. 

Thankfully for Knicks fans, the much maligned Mikal Bridges came to the rescue!

Bridges’ defense on the Celtics wings was off the charts and his 5 points in overtime ended up being the difference in the game. Not bad for a guy who played over 50 minutes!

All season, the toughness of this current Knicks team has been questioned, despite the regular season success.

So far this postseason, it has been up to the challenge.

The team has handled adversity and has answered the bell in tough situations.

Will it be enough to beat the Celtics? I for one am not quite ready to go that far, but I like the feel and look of this series a lot more than I did come Monday afternoon.

Unlike the first round series against Detroit, the Knicks are not expected to win. All of the pressure falls on Boston in this series.

The Celtics may be reigning champs, but their road to a title was an easy one last year.

Let’s see if the Knicks can make it rather bumpy…

 

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network after every Knicks Playoff game on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me on Honda Sports Nite following Mets postgame.

NY Basketball Midterms Bring A Mixed Bag of Grades…

BQE Admin on February 11, 2025

By John Jastremski

On the weekend of the Super Bowl, the two basketball teams in town with massive aspirations to do big things come the Spring took center stage on Friday and Saturday Night respectively. 

On Friday night, St Johns traveled to Storrs Connecticut to take on UCONN, the reigning back to back champs. 

Saturday, the Knicks hosted the Celtics, the defending champs of the NBA. 

The weekend provided a mixed bag of results. 

The Knicks could not have failed their big test any worse. 

In front of a star studded Saturday Night Madison Square Garden crowd, the Knicks could not have looked more overmatched against the Celtics. 

They fell behind early, couldn’t guard Jayson Tatum, allowed the Celtics to hit a zillion 3’s and were all out of sorts on both sides of the ball. 

The Knicks have done wonderful things thus far this season, but they have a massive Celtics problem. 

In both matchups so far in the regular season, they have both been incredibly one sided. 

The Knicks have struggled with the versatility and three point prowess of Boston. 

The Celtics have brilliantly exploited mismatches defensively and have made the Knicks pay at every level. 

It’s only two regular season games, but it’s an ominous sign for playoff basketball. 

If the goal is for the Knicks to break through and get back to an NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, you’re going to have to go through the Celtics. 

It’s very difficult for me to believe that in early February that a potential playoff series will look any different to what I saw on Saturday night. 

On the flip side, the college basketball team in town could not have aced their midterm any better. 

St Johns had a week taking on two nationally ranked teams and two of the top teams in the Big East. 

Last Tuesday they hosted Marquette and on Friday night they were in Storrs taking on UCONN. 

St John’s swept both games and once again showed a level of fight and determination that is the calling card of a Rick Pitino coached team. 

The Johnnies trailed by 14 early in one of the best environments in college basketball. 

They didn’t panic and let their defense and star transfer guard Kadary Richmond lead the way. 

Coach Rick Pitino’s St John’s team have now won ten straight. It’s the program’s best start since the days of Carnesecca and the 1980’s.

After the best week for St John’s in decades, the dream of a regular season Big East title is in reach.

And an even bigger dream of a deep NCAA Tournament run awaits… 

Midterms alter expectations. Now let the second semester of the NY Basketball season begin.

Queen of Peace Athletic Association recovers from fire damage

Evan Triantafilidis on April 7, 2022

When Coach Eddie Cordero visited Vleigh Park Field in Kew Garden Hills last month ahead of the start of another baseball season for the Queen of Peace Athletic Association (QOPAA), he was dumbfounded at what he came across.

To his dismay, all of the league’s equipment had been burned and badly damaged inside a metal shed along the third base line of their home field at Judge Moses Weinstein Playground.

Among the damaged and charred outdoor maintenance equipment were three sets of rubber bases, liners and measuring tape, rakes, shovels and more inside the metal cage that has been protecting the equipment for well over four decades.

“I was shocked and upset,” Cordero, the parish athletic representative, said .

Coach Eddie and Melissa Grasso, treasurer of QOPAA, agree that vandalism has been dealt with in the past, but nothing to this extreme.

“It’s kind of sad,” Cordero said. “I’ve had family members playing here since 1983 and I started coaching in 1993.”

With basketball season being delayed due to COVID, baseball season was pushed back as well. Normally, Cordero says he’s preparing for baseball season in early February, but this year’s delay meant that he was simultaneously preparing for playoff basketball games and the start of baseball season on the same weekend.

A GoFundMe was created for donations to be made for the league’s equipment, with over $2,200 collected so far.

Cordero has also received a $2,500 grant from the Walter Kaner Children’s Foundation, a local nonprofit, to go towards league expenses.

With a delayed start –– just like the major leagues –– and now having to purchase new field equipment, Cordero says it’s been a difficult past two seasons of youth baseball.

“Last year, right in the middle of Covid in the springtime was tougher,” he added. “But people are starting to loosen the reins and feel a little more comfortable.”

The Queen of Peace school, formerly teaching grades K-8 in Flushing on 77th Road, closed in 2006. Cordero added that since the school closed some 16-years-ago, it’s been a more difficult task to get kids to sign up for the league.

At its peak, the league had around a dozen teams, some instructional and some travel teams, Cordero says. This year, a total of 6 teams (3 instructional and 3 travel) are part of the league.

Alumni of the league also includes Kyle O’Quinn, a Queens native who went on to play professional basketball for the New York Knicks, and relatives of Jose Alvarado, another NBA player, also participate in the league as coaches and players.

Having moved to the neighborhood in 1978, Cordero has seen three generations of his family compete or coach in the league. The all-volunteer QOPAA is part of the non-denominational Catholic Youth Organization. He says the league revolves around building sportsmanship, and keeping kids active.

A father of six, Cordero says his nieces and nephews all participate in the program.

“I’m still hanging in there because I have a three-year-old granddaughter who I’m hoping to coach when she gets eligible to play.”

To donate to the league, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/queen-of-peace-athletic-association-baseball

Using House Money

Dan on May 19, 2021

The last two decades haven’t exactly been a whole lot of fun if you are a fan of the New York Knicks.
Plenty of dysfunction combined with a whole lot of losing put the franchise in a predicament going into the 2020-2021 season, where the bar was set perhaps at an all-time low.
The Knicks season win total in Vegas for a 70-plus game season was in the low 20’s and expectations were minimal.
Well, a lot has changed in a year.
The Knicks hired Tom Thibodeau last summer, and in many ways he’s the true architect of this remarkable franchise turnaround.
Coach Thibs established a culture, and his players bought. It became obvious very early in the season that this team was not going to be the Same Old Knicks.
The Knicks compete nightly. The players have taken on the personality of their hardworking head coach.
Team MVP Julius Randle put together an All-Star season and the best of his professional career. RJ Barrett made a gigantic leap from a solid rookie season to an even better second year.
The professionalism of Derrick Rose combined with the shot-making ability of Immanuel Quickley and Alec Burks has provided much needed competence in the back court.
The fact that you can pinpoint the growth and development of multiple players on the roster throughout the season speaks volumes to the job the coaching staff has done.
The Knicks defense has been the calling card of this team all season, but look at the improvements regarding ball movement and three-point shooting.
The improved offensive play has been the catalyst to their incredible surge over the final 20 games of the season.
The Knicks finished 10 games over .500 and will host a playoff series. Who in their right mind could have imagined that before the start of the season?
Up first in round one this weekend is the Atlanta Hawks.
The Hawks bring two specific challenges to the table: the shooting skills of guard Trey Young and the size of Clint Capela and John Collins.
Atlanta has been a red-hot team in the second half of the season and played much better under interim head coach Nate McMillian.
The Knicks must be able to neutralize Young and control the pace in order to win this series. It’s a manageable ask.
Of the potential first-round opponents, Atlanta is by far and away the most winnable series for the Knicks.
Vegas says it’s basically a pick‘em series.
I’ll take the playoff-tested head coach and the team with home-court advantage to keep the feel-good ride going.
My money is on, yes, the Knicks in six.

You can listen to my NEW Podcast on all things NY Sports “New York, New York” on The Ringer. Download and subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.

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