The Mis-Education of Noah Baldwin (2027 - ???)

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My two favorite teams. These Finals will be AMAZING.

Man, I was surprised that the Trail Blazers made it out. Portland has flamed out the last few times. Thought I was gonna go head up with Young Boozer.

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CROSSOVER MAGAZINE NBA FINALS EDITION!
NEW YORK KNICKS: CAN'T KNOCK THE HUSTLE

At the start of the season, Noah Baldwin graced the cover of our magazine and we talked about pressure.

He shows me a text on his phone from his uncle, Derek Baldwin. The time stamp shows that it was sent the morning of the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Young Baldwin, go farther, go further, go harder. Is that not why we came? And if not, then why bother?

No, Derek Baldwin hasn’t become a poet laureate since retiring from basketball. It’s a line from Lil Wayne’s 2008 single, “Mr. Carter” featuring JAY Z. In the song, Jay Z is rapping to Lil’ Wayne, who has the same surname as him, and he’s encouraging him to take the rap game even further than he did and continue to build his legacy.

“I was actually born the year this song came out,” said Noah. “But once I started playing ball, he has always said that line to me. He told me he expected me to be greater than him. Which, at the time, sounded crazy. It still sounds crazy today sometimes. But it’s just always his way of reminding me of how great I am and how much I can accomplish.”

This season has been on par for what was expected for the New York Knicks. Despite losing future Hall of Famer Derek Baldwin to retirement last year, the team has still proven that they are the team to beat.

“We know that everybody thinks that season was a fluke,” said Baldwin. “Which is crazy, considering we had just gone to the Eastern Conference Finals the year before with practically the same team.” Despite the Knicks losing stars, R.J. Barrett, Mitchell Robinson and Sebastio Saramago to free agency and team captain Ryan Russell to retirement in the past two years, the Knicks have definitely replaced that talent with Anthony Howard, Jr., Michael Mitchell, Sam Hendricks.

“Derek was really the X-factor no matter where he played and he is no longer an ally or opponent. So, why can’t we do it again?”

The Knicks found their mettle tested by a reloaded Boston Celtics team chasing a championship for their star forward Jayson Tatum. Tatum has played his entire career in Boston and has yet to win a championship. Last year. It was rumored that Tatum was looking to leave Boston as he felt the team had not gone all in to surround him with any talent while losing key players Jaylen Brown (Sacramento), Marcus Smart (Los Angeles), and Terry Rozier (Miami).

Boston made big moves this summer, not only by drafting former Kentucky Wildcat Jackie Robinson, but also signing DeAndre Ayton to a three year deal. Tatum then re-signed with the Celtics for three years as well. Those moves were clearly made to counteract the Knicks’ roster as Noah Baldwin and Chet Holmgren look to lead this team to their second championship in as many seasons. And with the way the Eastern Conference Finals played out, despite losing in 7 games, Boston is definitely on the right track.

After losing three games in a row to the Celtics, New York looked to be heading on vacation as critics surmised. Noah Baldwin couldn’t get it done alone. It seemed as if the Knicks were so used to having the Baldwin’s leading the way last season, that when it was time for them to step up, it looked as if nobody really knew how. Noah and Derek averaged a combined 38 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists per game throughout last year’s NBA Playoffs.

Before the series started Baldwin had the utmost confidence in his team. Stating that he liked their odds against anybody. Baldwin came into the Eastern Conference Finals averaging nearly 31 points per night. As the Eastern Conference Finals wore on, Baldwin seemed to be regretting his choice of words. He was agitated and his responses were clipped in press conferences. When reporters brought up his earlier statements as they faced elimination in Game 6, his response was only five words: I said what I said.

His teammates stepped up to the plate in the final two games of the series, namely Michael Mitchell (12.6ppg) and Chet Holmgren (13.6ppg, 11.3rpg).

“He was pissed, no doubt,” said Mitchell. “He basically let us know that he knew what people thought about us, but he didn’t share those sentiments and he hoped that we weren’t buying into that hype either. He knew that we were better than we were playing.”

“I needed my guys to be on the page. We weren’t playing like ourselves. This series really tested us and a lot of guys I felt like were checking out.”

Holmgren agreed. “This series was definitely the most challenging we’ve played in our entire run in the playoffs since 2029. And that’s even with facing Brooklyn that first year. They had Derek, but we played like we had nothing to lose and took two games. This was different. We were the hunted.”

While his teammates looked to him to lead, he had to learn to let his teammates know that he trusted them to do the right thing. A player’s only meeting was held before Game 6, headed up by none other than his childhood friend, Remy Benoit.

“Remy is probably one of the few people who understands me better than anyone else. It was just like him to call this meeting.”

While no one will discuss what was said, we were told that rapper JAY Z’s first single “Can’t Knock the Hustle” was playing in the background the entire time.

“We are New York, baby. All we know is hustle,” said Benoit. “I’ve always had to hustle for this. Not being highly recruited out of Norfolk High. Playing at Norfolk State. Pulling off upsets in the NCAA Tournament. Getting drafted in the second round, when no one thought I would get drafted at all. I had to hustle for this moment. Lot of long days. And it can’t stop just because I got one ring.”

“We had to hustle in this series. It’s always an intense battle against Boston and doing that for 7 games over the course of almost two weeks. It was a mental grind,” said Baldwin. “We had to lean on our defense to get our offense going.”

The Knicks will face the Portland Trail Blazers, who came out of a seven game battle with the Sacramento Kings after being down 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals. New York is the favorite in this one as they won their games this post season by an average of 12 points, whereas Portland has been winning by an average of 3 points.

Although, the Blazers’ bigs Zion Williamson and Jason Chen have been the leading scorers throughout the playoffs averaging nearly 15 points per game each, it took Keegan Beverly (12.3ppg) and Ronnie Lucas (12.4ppg) scoring 27 points each to lead the Blazers past Cayden Boozer and the Sacramento Kings, with Beverly playing some of his best basketball this post season. He averaged 23.3 points per game over Portland’s final three wins of that series.

If Portland can get their three point game going early, they have a chance to the Knicks to seven games. Right now Portland is shooting just under 40% from beyond the arc. New York is shooting just over 30% from deep.

New York’s shooting hasn’t been the best throughout the playoffs, so defense will make all the difference for them if they want to repeat as champions. A fact that is not lost on them.

“Defense wins championships,” said Baldwin. “We still gotta hustle.”

[Agent]

the Gfx. Sweet magazine cover.

[chosenone58]

the Gfx. Sweet magazine cover.

Thanks. I try.

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[Agent]

Jason Chen ever heard the expression “don’t poke the bear”?