The signs are everywhere now. Panic on the sidewalks of New York, lumps in throats … hope and faith and belief in miracles in Beantown. It can’t be happening again. But it is. Because if it can happen to Joe Torre and Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, it can sure happen to Carmelo Anthony.
Only this time, it isn’t the Boston Red Sox who are desperate to Reverse the Curse. It is the New York Knicks, champions last in 1973. And this time, the choke’s on them.
This time, it isn’t Big Papi and Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling and Johnny Damon and Kevin Millar and Manny Ramirez pushing to stage an historic, epic comeback from an 0-3 hole. It is Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce and Jason Terry and Brandon Bass. It isn’t a tortured franchise that has gone 86 years without a championship. It is the proud Boston Celtics, and there are unconfirmed reports Red Auerbach, cigar in mouth up in hoop heaven, has been asking around for a light.
The great Rivera needed three outs for the Yankees to sweep the Sox in 2004 and couldn’t get them and the Ghost of the Bambino was reduced to a Sultan of Sweat and Willis Reed ain’t limping out of any tunnel to help these Knicks now.
“At the time,” Mike Mussina told the Post’s George King, “we thought, ‘Well, he’s not going to save every game. Looking back, it’s obvious to everybody them winning that game changed everything. We didn’t look invincible, and they had life and energy.”
Sometimes, all it takes is a single thunderbolt, a Dave Roberts’ stolen base in the bottom of the ninth, a Big Papi walkoff home run in the 12th inning of Game 4 at Fenway, a J.R. Smith suspension in Game 4 at TD Garden, to change everything.
“One win,” Millar, co-host of Intentional Talk on MLB Network, said yesterday. “That’s all it takes. The bottom line is that the Knicks have given the Celtics life and momentum, and that’s exactly what happened in our series. … Getting a win facing elimination gives you hope.”
Then another win gives you more hope. A Big Papi 14th-inning single in a Boston marathon Game 5 at Fenway, Smith missing his first 10 shots and Melo missing 16 of 24 in a Game 5 at a shell-shocked Garden.
“The Celtics might be feeding off what the Red Sox did in 2004, knowing that we weren’t out of it,” Millar said. “It’s been done before. When we came back from 3-0, it had never been done before. But now our success of winning four straight gives teams like the Celtics a light at the end of the tunnel.”
You hear the same things from these Knicks now you heard from those Yankees then.
Jeter: “I’m sure they’re feeling pretty good about themselves. If they didn’t win, they were going home. They did exactly what they wanted to do. But we put ourselves in a good position. We put ourselves right where we wanted to be. The last two games, it just didn’t happen. I like our chances.”
The Idiot Red Sox had to play Games 6 and 7 at Yankee Stadium and it was 3-3 following Schilling’s legendary Bloody Sock performance. Outside the Red Sox clubhouse, Schilling told Kenny Albert: “I have never in my life been touched by God like I was tonight.”
The Knicks could use divine intervention tonight — or Sunday.
“Homecourt advantage is going to be huge for the Celtics because now they are going to feel the energy and the momentum of the city of Boston,” Millar said. … “If they win [tonight], it’s going to be hard to generate that same emotion going back to New York, but that will be an advantage again for the Knicks to get back on their court.”
Mickey Mantle’s birthday, The House That Ruth Built, could not prevent Damon from hammering a crushing Game 7 grand slam.
Alex Rodriguez: “It’s crushing for us. If you open up that window just a little bit, a team that good gains momentum.”
The Yankees and Red Sox were super heavyweights. This is a different matchup.
“I don’t see a comparison,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told the Post’s Mark Hale. “The Knicks will beat Boston if healthy. The Knicks are considerably better than Boston. The Knicks are supposed to win. They will win.”
And the Celtics never sold Bill Russell to the Knicks. But could this be some Curse of the … Jambino … anyway?
steve.serby@nypost.com