When he played for the Knicks, John Starks was known for his endless energy.
But these playoffs have made him dog tired.
“As a player you know that you have some type of control over the game, and as a fan, you don’t,” the retired guard said, as the Knicks have a 2-1 series lead in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
“It’s very, very exhausting. I feel what fans go through . . . because it’s a do-or-die situation. You’re just hanging on every bucket, every loose ball, every steal, every foul. I have to get in a lot of cardio just to keep up with what’s going on.”
Fans on X joked that with the injuries the team is facing, Starks, 58, should suit up.
The Knicks play the Indiana Pacers in Game 4 Sunday.
“Yeah, I got a few of those . . . You get that feeling like you do want to jump out there because obviously I got a front row seat to everything and, you know, you start sweating because you’ve been in those moments,” said the ex-All Star, who now works as the Knicks’ alumni and fan development advisor.
Starks, whose hard-nosed style made him a fan favorite during his 1990-1998 tenure at Madison Square Garden, sees his team in this season’s squad.
“Oh yeah that’s the way we played. You feel the same type of energy that these guys play with. Because we wasn’t an explosive, offensive team,” he said.
He said the Garden atmosphere is also reminiscent of his glory days.
“It brings us all the way back to when we was rolling during the 90s and how the arena was electric throughout every game,” he said. “There’s no other place like this in the NBA. When that crowd gets going, it feels like the whole arena just shakes.
“I was just asking some guys, ‘Could you all feel it through the TV?’ And they said, ‘Oh, no question.’”
The team’s star-studded alumni have been adding to the electricity at the World’s Greatest Arena, and current Knicks star Jalen Brunson gave them all a shout-out in a press conference this week.
“It’s not just one game, they’ve been to a lot of games. They’re not just sitting there drinking and having some popcorn. They’re up yelling,” he said.
Starks thinks the former players can be an important sixth man: “Having that extra support from guys like myself and Larry Johnson and [Latrell] Sprewell and [Marcus] Camby. And you know, Stephon [Marbury], Melo [Carmelo Anthony], Tim Thomas, Bernard King, Amar’e [Stoudemire] — I could just go on and on.
“And everybody is truly, truly into it and behind these guys, the way they play.”
The Oklahoma native, who now lives in Stamford, CT, even traveled to Philadelphia during Round 1 of the playoffs — and said 76ers’ Joel Embiid should have been kicked out of Game 3, when he tried to trip Mitchell Robinson.
“During the regular season, he probably would have been gone, but this is the playoffs. The league wants their stars out there on the floor because it makes for good basketball,” he explained.
Starks doesn’t give playoff predictions. His thing is “I don’t play so I don’t make predictions.”
For the rest of the Knicks run, Starks will be sporting his now-signature “little brown cap,” which he’s worn through their winning streak.
“That’s my lucky cap,” he said. “I have to have that on.”
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