The Knicks have one more chance to get to the Eastern Conference Finals.
And Stephen A. Smith doesn’t want them to miss their shot.
The ESPN talking head and avid fan was not happy that the Knicks couldn’t close out the Pacers in Game 6 on Friday and called out their effort, including star Jalen Brunson.
On top of that, with the Knicks having not reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 24 years, Smith said it’s time for the team to “get it done.”
“I’m not happy, the New York Knicks didn’t come ready to play,” Smith said on the postgame show that aired on part of “SportsCenter.
“Jalen Brunson was awful in the first half, Josh Hart had his abdominal area messing with him for a little while… I would’ve expected more from him, capitalize off of the three days’ rest and not put themselves on the precipice of elimination, but, nevertheless, that’s what it is. They need something more.”
From there, Smith said the Knicks need something special, and he quickly added they’ll get it: his presence at Madison Square Garden on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
“They need something special — and they will get it. It will be me, I will be there,” he said, drawing some laughs from his ESPN NBA teammates.
As former Warriors general manager Bob Myers discussed later in the segment about how he loves watching the Knicks but is, at the same time, concerned with their health, especially Hart’s abdominal, Smith retorted that his beloved blue-and-orange franchise will find a way.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Knicks in the NBA playoffs
“Josh Hart will play, he will play. [Isaiah] Harteinstein will play,” Smith continued. “And the New York Knicks are going to the conference finals. I didn’t want it to get to this, OK … But dammit, this is what it’s about. You’ve been waiting for decades to get back to the Eastern Conference Finals. I understand the abdominal, I understand how you’re feeling right now.”
“Here’s the bottom line, there is no tomorrow, get it done!” Smith yelled on the ESPN set. “We’ll think about Boston or what’s going to happen after that. Get it done Sunday at 3:30 [ET], be ready! I don’t give a damn what you’ve gotta do — figure it out!”
The last time the Knicks played a Game 7, they knocked out the Heat in the 1999-2000 Eastern Conference semifinals.
In the 1994 and 1995 playoffs, the Knicks and Pacers played two epic seven-game series, with New York taking the first one and going to the NBA Finals and Indiana winning the latter one in the semis.