New York Knicks, an American professional basketball team based in New York City. The Knicks (which is a shortened version of their official nickname, the Knickerbockers) have won two National Basketball Association (NBA) championships (1970 and 1973) and are among the most profitable franchises in professional basketball.

The team was formed in 1946 as part of the newly formed Basketball Association of America, which became the NBA in 1949. The Knicks had winning records in each of their first nine seasons and made the NBA Finals for three straight years (1951–53), losing each time. For the remainder of the decade and into the early 1960s, the Knicks fielded mediocre teams to the poor, but the team's fortunes began to change with the arrival of center Willis Reed in 1964.

Reid was named NBA Rookie of the Year for the 1964–65 season, and he led the Knicks to regular postseason shutdowns from his third season until his retirement in 1974. Knicks under a coach. Red Holtzman won his first title at the end of the 1969–70 season with a talented roster that included four future Hall of Famers: Reid, Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley and Dave DeBuschere. Their final showdown with the Los Angeles Lakers that year was one of the most dramatic playoff streaks in NBA history.

Games three and four were decided in overtime, and in the seventh, deciding game, an injured Reed, who had not played since tearing a thigh muscle in game five, rushed onto the court before the game to a raucous reception from home. crowd in Madison Square Garden. Reed only scored the Knicks' first two baskets of the game, but he inspired his team to close the door on the Lakers by giving New York the first NBA championship. The Knicks and Lakers would go head to head in the Finals two more times over the next three years, sparking a bitter rivalry that resulted in New York claiming another NBA championship in 1973.

1.Winning one game

2.Overpriced players

3.Good record

4.Scorer

As the Knicks' superstar roster began to age, the team gradually fell out of regular post-season competition, although the Knicks' home court at Madison Square Garden was home to one of the era's biggest scorers in the early and mid-1980s, Bernard King. . The Knicks' fall culminated in the team posting a third-worst league record in the 1984–85 season (due in part to King's career-threatening injury), which—combined with some luck in the NBA draft lottery—allowed the team to select center Patrick Ewing, the first pick for draft in 1985. Behind Ewing, the Knicks had many winning seasons and consistently qualified for postseason play, including two more NBA Finals berths, but the team never won a title in Ewing's 15 seasons in New York. Five of those playoff losses came at the hands of the dominant Michael Jordan. The Chicago Bulls teams from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, and the two franchises developed a bitter rivalry (often witnessed by the Knicks' most famous fan, the film director Spike Lee).

Ewing was traded in 2000, and the Knicks entered a losing streak shortly thereafter. The Knicks hired former Detroit Pistons All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas as team president in 2003. Under his leadership, the Knicks' payroll has grown to unprecedented levels, but the team has consistently finished its conference position at or near its lowest level. In addition to on-court failures, the Knicks were mired in a string of off-court scandals, leading many observers to brand Thomas's Knicks as the worst franchise in professional sports. Thomas was sacked in 2008 and the Knicks entered recovery mode with a new front office and new coaching staff that soon brought in star players Amar'e Stoudemire (in 2010) and Carmelo Anthony (in 2010–11) in an attempt bring the franchise and its fans to life.

The Knicks' revamped roster paid immediate dividends, as the team made the playoffs every season after Anthony was added, and in the 2012–13 season. The team won their first division title in 19 years. The team's success was short-lived, and in an attempt to start a reorganization, it hired former Nick Phil Jackson as team president during a disastrous 2013–14 campaign that saw the club finish eight games under .500 and miss out on the playoffs in a weak Eastern Conference. Anthony missed the second half of the 2014–15 season with an injury and the Knicks subsequently limped to the worst record in franchise history (17–65). The following year, Anthony returned to full strength, but the Knicks were unable to significantly improve their numbers, resulting in New York losing their star shortly before the start of the 2017–18 season. In the 2018–19 season, the Knicks again recorded 17 wins and had the worst record in the NBA that season.

The Knicks and former Phoenix Suns leader Amar'e Stoudemire, who became a free agent, reached an agreement on July 5, 2010. A five-year, $100 million contract was signed on July 8. Team president Donnie Walsh called Stoudemire's signing a turning point for the future of the Knicks.

5.New banner

6.That moment

7.Competing

Amare Stoudemire to the Knicks

New York continued to drastically change the team, trading David Lee to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Anthony Randolph, Kelenn Azubuke and Ronnie Turiaf. The Knicks also signed Charlotte's Raymond Felton and Russian center Timofey Mozgov. These changes allowed the Knicks to sell all of their season tickets, which had not happened before since 2002.

Carmelo Anthony, new Knicks star

Team D'Antoni, led by Stoudemire and a group of young players made up of Felton, Gallinari, Mozgov, Wilson Chandler and rookie Landry Fields, went 28-26 into the 2011 NBA All-Star break, the first positive margin the Knicks by February starting in 2000. Despite Donnie Walsh's success in building a team during his first three years in office, the Knicks couldn't stop there and tried their best to get Denver Nuggets leader Carmelo Anthony.

After months of negotiations, Anthony was traded to New York on February 21, 2011, along with teammates Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and former Knicks player Renaldo Balkman. Denver, in turn, received Felton, Gallinari, Chandler, Mozgov, Costa Koufos, a 2014 first-round pick, a 2013 and 2014 second-round pick, and $3 million. After that, the Knicks traded Anthony Randolph and Eddie Curry to the Minnesota, in exchange for Corey Brewer, who was immediately given to Dallas.

On April 3, 2011, the Knicks defeated Cleveland 123-107 for the first time since 2004 to win an NBA playoff berth. On April 10, 2011, after defeating Indiana with the help of Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks guaranteed themselves a positive win-loss difference for the first time since 2000.

8.The moment

9.Update

10.Six games

11.That face

12.Playing time

13.Knicks

14.How fun

15.PG

16.No God

17.Realizing

18.Started from the bottom

19.Agreed

20.Triangle

21.Made it

22.Right

23.Roots

24.Fans be like

25.Good vibe

26.Sad

27.Stomach

28.Top of East

29.My knicks

30.Playing 

31.Changes are here

32.Finals

33.Illegal

34.Players

35.Going to pretend

36.One year deal

37.Shoot your shot

38.Thibs

39.World champions

40.Not sure

41.LeBron

42.NBA fans

43.They said

44.Phone wallpaper

45.Success

46.Losing

47.Adidas

48.Worst record

49.In a row

50.Knicks ranked

This world's largest cycling race is a national landmark that France cherishes almost as much as the Eiffel Tower and 360 cheeses! Tour de France is held annually in July and passes through the most picturesque places of the French metropolis. We will tell you about it.

In fact, for the fans and the athletes themselves, the Tour de France does not begin on the day the race starts, but at least a year in advance, with the presentation of the route. The route of the 21st stage is different every year, but the organizers of the Tour de France always give riders of various specializations a chance to prove themselves: sprinters, station wagons capable of climbing small mountains, mountaineers, individual time trial specialists. The Tour de France is a Grand Tour, a race that lasts three weeks.

There are three Grand Tours in total: the first is the Italian Grand Tour - the Giro d'Italia, then it's time for the French - Tour de France, and finally, the final three-week race, which is held in Spain - the Vuelta. But the Tour de France is the oldest and most prestigious of all three Grand Tours, traditionally starting in early July. During the 23 days of the competition, riders cover more than 3,000 kilometers. The route of the Tour can be laid clockwise or counterclockwise through the territory of France. Often, not only the Grand depart goes beyond the borders of the Tour's home country, but some stages go beyond the borders of France. So, at the mountain stage, the peloton can go to Andorra or Italy, and then return to France again.

Bemorepanda collected some funny memes.

1.Doing it right?

2.Look guys

3.Lost a bit of time

Usually, the cities that host the start and finish of the stage are famous for their rich history, sights, because the Tour is broadcast by television companies around the world, the spectator audience of the race is huge, which means that the French regions get the opportunity to attract tourists, advertise architectural monuments and natural beauties . Thus, the Tour de France is also an exciting journey through France, which opens up new interesting routes and corners of the country for cycling fans. The race is usually attended by 22 teams, each of which has 9 cyclists. The most powerful cyclists in the world set the Tour de France as their goal and prepare for it in advance.

For its more than a century of existence, the cycling race has seen the country and reeled up the mileage. Currently, the annual route is 3,500 kilometers and is covered during the first three weeks of July by 22 teams of 8 cyclists. On the most beautiful roads in France, 176 participants compete for 23 days, the cycling race consists of 21 stages. The route, which passes through more than a third of the French departments, changes every year.

The first Tour de France took place in 1903. Then there were only six stages, but what! Paris-Lyon, Lyon-Marseille, Marseille-Toulouse, Toulouse-Bordeaux, Bordeaux-Nantes and Nantes-Paris - this was the program, and 60 cyclists came to the start. In those days, the participants in the race pedaled for 18 hours in a row (day and night) and rode on highways and dirt roads. By the finals, they covered 2,300 kilometers. What a load on the legs!

4.Not even once

5.Best sprinter

6.So wrong

Mountain trials are the most controversial and best known. It must be seen: cyclists climb the passes, having risen in the saddle, and descend from them at a speed of more than 100 km / h! The ascents of the Galibier and Tourmalet passes in the Pyrenees and the Alps became the legends of the Tour de France and gave the best cyclist a very elegant polka-dot jersey.

France leads the race in terms of national wins with 36 bike rides, followed by Belgium (18) and Spain (12). But Eddy Merckx remains the darling of the race with a record 111 days in the yellow jersey. This Belgian is a 5-time Grand Loop champion along with Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hino and Miguel Indurain.

The yellow jersey is awarded to the leader in the overall standings (the time shown at each stage is summed up). This tradition began in 1919. It has nothing to do with the July sun or sunflower fields on the roadsides. Yellow color is the color of the pages of the newspaper "Auto" (L'Auto) - the founder and organizer of the first competitions.

In 2018, as in 2011, the race started from the island of Noirmoutier in the Vendée. On June 30, a group of participants set off for the continent along the Passage du Gois, a 4-kilometer underwater highway that is flooded by the sea at high tide. Woe to those who lag behind!

7.Beaten

8.Jens Voigt

9.Drugs

The Tour de France is the third most important sporting event in the world after the Olympic Games and the World Cup, and is covered by 600 media outlets and 2,000 journalists. The race is broadcast by 100 television channels in 130 countries and is watched by 3.5 billion viewers, the broadcast time is 6,300 hours. The numbers speak for themselves!

Every year the cycling race starts in a new place - in one of the cities of France or neighboring countries. But since 1975, the triumphant finish of the participants has always taken place on the Champs Elysees in Paris. For a swift final spurt, of course, you need the most beautiful avenue in the world!

If you shoot with a helicopter or drone, then from a height a group of participants in a cycling race resembles a long colored ribbon unwinding in the midst of the most beautiful French landscapes: from Normandy copses to Alpine peaks, from the coast of Brittany to the beaches of the Côte d'Azur. In 2017, the Col d'Izoard mountain pass in the Hautes-Alpes, which is 2361 m high, was chosen as the "most beautiful scenery of the Tour de France". 

Another tradition of the race - the last, final stage takes place in Paris, its route is laid along one of the most famous and beautiful streets in the world - the Champs Elysees, which every year await a new winner of the Tour de France.

10.Live dangerously

11.Involved in a crash

12.Muttonchop

13.Good question

14.Never finished in top

15.Let’s retire

16.No idea

17.Blocking roads

18.Opi is antivaxxer

19.This is not a joke

20.Sharing a cigarette

21.Dont preorder

22.Tour de Iceberg

23.Le Mans

24.Pay attention to her

25.Who would win

26.Go out

27.Help

28.That explains

29.Retour

30.Stop

31.Good crush

32.Nani

33.Why I watch this

34.Grand parents

35.My mental health

36.Post title

37.Very long

38.Far more interesting

39.Winner

40.He is ok

41.Student loans

42.Rare photo

43.Good

44.Dont preorder

45.Evolution

46.Freeze frame

47.Mordor

48.Long time ago

49.I don't see a problem

50.Who would win