Why are the Knicks compelling?

Matt Glassman has been discussing (here and here) why Knicks playoff runs "ignite New York City like nothing else." My answer here starts with how great NBA playoffs are. You get high volume and lots of intensity and drama per game. Sequences of games against the same team bring out the majesty of basketball in a way that doesn't apply to baseball (which isn't matchup-based in the same way) or hockey (where there are so many more players). It's just great. I've always been a baseball fan first, and football had a grip on me the way you'd expect given my age and upbringing, but the most intense excitement I've ever felt about a home-city playoff run was the 2003-04 Pistons, and the most exciting moment of my Detroit-sports-fan life to date is the Tayshaun Prince block. So my first answer about the Knicks is just that NBA playoffs are awesome. But now that I've thought about it for a few days, I think things are more nuanced, and I need to speedrun some speculative cultural history to…