The New York Knicks reached the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years after sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0 in the Eastern Conference finals.
Their 11-game winning streak, all by double digits, produced the best point differential across any 11-game stretch in NBA history. They outscored three playoff opponents by 262 points across those 11 games, the best such run ever. Jalen Brunson led the charge in a campaign that transformed the Knicks from perennial nearly-men into genuine championship contenders.
From A 2-9 Slump To the Last Two Standing
Nobody predicted this in January. The Knicks were grinding through a 2-9 stretch when owner James Dolan went on WFAN radio and declared they would reach and win the Finals. Hours later, the Detroit Pistons beat them by 31 points. The Finals felt like a fantasy. Five months on, the Knicks (3.10) are one of three teams still standing.
They swept Atlanta in the first round, closing out by 51 points. Then they swept Philadelphia in the second round, winning Game 4 by 30. They then swept Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals, closing out by 37. All three clinching games came on the road. All three were decided before the fourth quarter.
The Knicks have averaged a 23.8-point winning margin across their 11-game playoff run, the best point differential through that span in the history of the league, surpassing the 2017 Golden State Warriors and the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers.
“I feel like the word ‘hope’ has been gone from the New York Knicks name for a long time,” Karl-Anthony Towns said after the final whistle in Cleveland. “For me to be part of a team that revives that hope is something special.”
Brunson Has Become Unguardable At The Right Time
Brunson was viewed as a solid piece when the Knicks signed him in 2022. Nobody outside Madison Square Garden saw him as the centrepiece of a championship-level team. The Dallas Mavericks certainly did not. Brunson has spent the past three seasons proving that assessment spectacularly wrong. He averaged 25.5 points and 7.8 assists across the four-game sweep of Cleveland and was named the Larry Bird Trophy winner as Eastern Conference finals MVP.
He led the Knicks back from 22 points down in the fourth quarter of Game 1, a comeback that effectively broke Cleveland’s spirit for the rest of the series. At 6-foot-2, he is chasing a club occupied by just two members – Isiah Thomas and Stephen Curry – of players that short and headlined a championship team. Four wins separate him from joining them.
“They give me confidence. They let me be me,” Brunson said. “Most importantly, we all believe in each other from top to bottom.”
His father, Rick, wore a Knicks uniform during their last Finals appearance in 1999. The symmetry has not been lost on anyone inside the Garden.
A Roster/Squad Built Specifically Around One Man’s Strengths
Every significant Knicks roster move over the past three years pointed in one direction. Trading five first-round picks for Mikal Bridges, acquiring Josh Hart in 2023, adding OG Anunoby the following year, and dealing for Towns on the eve of the 2024 training camp, each decision was designed to maximise Brunson and protect his limitations. Bridges, Hart and Anunoby fight over screens on defence, so Brunson conserves energy for the offensive end.
Towns replaced Julius Randle and gave Brunson room to operate without a dominant personality competing for the ball. Furthermore, the decision not to chase Giannis Antetokounmpo last year – when he wanted to come – showed genuine discipline. The old Knicks would have chased the star, invited the chaos, and fractured the plan. This version held firm.
Landry Shamet’s return from injury also proved pivotal. He shot 64 percent from three-point range across the 11-game winning streak and went 4-for-4 from deep in the Cleveland clincher. Towns dominated his matchup with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen throughout the series, averaging big numbers on both ends.
Mike Brown, hired after the controversial sacking of popular coach Tom Thibodeau, looked to be coaching for his job entering the postseason. He leaves the conference finals with the Knicks playing the best basketball in the league.
What It Means For A City That Has Waited 27 Years
The last time the Knicks reached the Finals, LeBron James had not yet dunked a basketball, Napster had just launched, and The Sopranos had aired only four episodes. Twenty-seven years of near-misses, false dawns and franchise chaos have tested the patience of one of sport’s most passionate fan bases.
They went 27 years winning just one playoff series between their 2000 conference finals exit and their 2023 second-round run. Patrick Ewing, Stephon Marbury, Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony all fell short. Brunson has gone further than all of them.
“1973 is a long time,” Spike Lee told reporters on the court after the final whistle. “We’ve been close.”
The Knicks await either the Oklahoma City Thunder (1.56) or San Antonio Spurs (2.50) in the Finals, which begin on 3 June.
Towns offered a warning to whoever emerges from the West: “It’s magical, it’s historic,” he said. “But for us as players, the job is not done.”
