While many watched the improbable Knicks comeback Tuesday night, one person was unable to stay awake.
Chris Russo missed the game due to a crazy series of events that transpired on Tuesday. Russo was scheduled to have an MRI exam of his shoulder that morning, but couldn’t complete it.
“They put me on the little bed, and they give me the headset, and they say, ‘Listen, you can’t move’” Russo said during ESPN’s “First Take” on Wednesday. “So they roll me in, and they give you a button to press if you get nervous. I pressed it in five seconds.”
Russo then had an idea to help with his anxiety. It involved taking some medication. Russo took two Valiums to help get him ready for the MRI once again.
“So last night at 6:30, I was a little wonky late in the show, so I took a Valium,” Ruso said. “At 7:00, I get nervous again, I took a second valium. I got the thing done in good shape… Here’s your problem: I was in bed at 8:15.”
Russo did not learn about the Knicks’ win until 7:30 a.m. Wednesday by watching highlights.
The former WFAN host missed one of the craziest comebacks in recent memory as the Knicks, led by Jalen Brunson, erased a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter to prevail 115-104 in overtime.
Even though Russo missed it live, it did not affect his views on the Cleveland Cavaliers as he declared the series is already over.
“Cleveland is finished in this series,” Russo said. “You don’t recover from these kinds of losses in sports, and they will not recover.”
Russo criticized how the Cavaliers’ head coach, Kenny Atkinson, handled the end of the game. The now-awake pundit commented that they mismanaged the clock by failing to use long possessions and call timeouts to break the Knicks’ momentum.
He also criticized some of the players’ decision-making down the stretch, including Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley.
While the Cavs had a six-point lead and the ball with 1:38 remaining in the fourth, Mobley took a shot 10 seconds into a possession instead of milking the shot clock.
“You can’t do that,” Russo said.
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The Cavaliers have a day’s rest to see if they can prove Russo wrong and give the series some serious legs with Game 2 at MSG.
The question that remains is whether Russo will be awake to catch the action on Thursday night.
