With the New York Knicks losing in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Indiana Pacers in six games, fans are now debating whether the team overexceeded expectations or fell below them. As rumors already surrounded the Knicks in their offseason, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith would give his opinion on the question if the team reached acceptable heights or not.

Smith would say on “First Take” that New York “overachieved” since they beat the Boston Celtics, though the Jayson Tatum season-ending injury changed the course of the series. He would mention how the expectations could have been low since they were unsuccessful during the regular season against top teams, ultimately losing against Indiana again in the playoffs.

“Well, I think they overachieved,” Smith said. “I think that when you get to within two games of an NBA Finals, they overachieve. Because even though we walked into the season before a game was played, anticipating that they had one of the best starting fives, and as a result, they would be in the conference finals.”

“Then over the course of the regular season, we saw the New York Knicks against Cleveland, against Boston, and against Oklahoma City, literally go 0-10, winless in 10 encounters against the three top teams in the NBA,” Smith continued. “And so as the postseason approached…it was a foregone conclusion, in all of our eyes, that the New York Knicks were going home in the second round again, just like they did last year.”

Stephen A. Smith says Knicks were “supposed to be better”

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With the Knicks led by Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, among other impactful players, Smith still seemed to not have true title asprations for his favorite team. If anything, there could be some implication that Smith was ultimately disappointed with New York this season, as “they were supposed to be better” than what they were last season.

“And so, because of that reality, I would look at the New York Knicks, we didn't expect them to be in the conference finals because we didn't expect them to get past Boston, but they did that,” Smith said. “The problem is that they ended up losing to the same team this year that they lost to last year, and this year they were supposed to be better, and they weren't.”

At any rate, the Knicks finished with a 51-31 record, which put them third in the Eastern Conference as they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals.