The Knicks are on the precipice of immortality in the NBA Finals
Powered by an all-time playoff run, can these Knicks do what many fans thought impossible?
We have waited since 1999, but the New York Knicks are 2026 Eastern Conference champions and heading back to the NBA Finals. Can you believe it? Because I still can’t wrap my head around it.
The Knicks have done it on all ends this postseason, but their 62.4% true shooting percentage (TS%) is the highest by a team with at least 10 games played in a single playoff run in NBA history. It’s most notably higher than the 2017 Finals matchup of Cavs-Warriors.
According to Stathead, the Knicks’ +20.1 net rating (NETRTG) is the highest by any team in a single playoff run. It’s higher than the 2001 Lakers (+13.8), 2017 Warriors (+13.5), and 1991 Bulls (+13.3). All three of those teams they’re ahead of won championships.
The Knicks have also just battered and outclassed teams in their series-clinching games this postseason. They beat the Hawks by 51 in Atlanta in Game 6 of the first round. They beat the Sixers in Philly by 30 to complete the sweep in the semifinals. Then, they went to Cleveland and swept the Cavs with a 37-point win on Monday to cap an Eastern Conference Finals sweep.
They have won each game by at least 30 points, becoming the first team in NBA history with at least three series-clinching wins by 30-plus points in the playoffs. The funny thing is that they’ve actually won four consecutive series-clinching games by at least 30 points... they also had defeated the Celtics at MSG by 38 points in Game 6 of last year’s semifinals.
The Knicks’ average margin of victory in the 2026 playoffs is 19.36 points. The next closest team is the 1971 Bucks, who won their 12 games en route to winning the 1971 championship by an average of 14.5 points. Keep in mind that the historically amazing 2017 Warriors “only” won their games by an average of 13.53 points.
Since Jan. 21, the Knicks have a +13 NETRTG in their games — including the playoffs — which leads the NBA during that span. If that’s not a large enough sample size for you, maybe the following is... the Knicks have won 64 of 86 games this season outside of their 11-game stretch in January where they lost 9 of 11 games. In those 86 games, which includes both the NBA Cup final and the playoffs, they have a +10.8 NETRTG. That’s pretty elite!
Jalen Brunson — captain of the Knicks — was the unanimous winner of the 2026 Eastern Conference Finals MVP award, the fifth recipient ever of the award. He averaged 25.5 points per game and 7.8 assists per game on just under 49% shooting during the four-game series sweep.
In the four games against the Cavs, the Knicks had a 124.8 offensive rating (ORTG), 105.1 defensive rating (DRTG), and +19.7 NETRTG with Brunson on the floor. They had just a 106.5 ORTG in the 39 minutes in which Brunson sat.
The offense (128.1 ORTG) and defense (105.1 DRTG) were both even better against the Cavs when he shared the floor with Karl-Anthony Towns, as 111 of his 158 minutes (70.3%) came with KAT on the floor alongside him. They won those minutes by 66 points.
FYI: KAT only averaged 15.8 points per game in the series against the Cavs. But he did so on 54/50/83 shooting splits and was a series-high plus-79 in the four-game sweep.
That’s a far cry from last year’s Eastern Conference Finals against the Pacers. In last year’s six-game series loss to Indiana, the Knicks had just a 115.6 ORTG and -9 NETRTG with Brunson on the floor, as opposed to a 123.6 ORTG and +15.7 NETRTG in the 81 minutes that he sat. Those numbers plummeted to a 114.1 ORTG and -10 NETRTG in the minutes in that series (146 of 212 minutes, 68.9%) when he shared the floor with KAT.
This playoff run for the Knicks has been such a different animal on multiple fronts. It has specifically felt more dangerous and sustainable because of Mike Brown’s touch on things.
They are averaging 280 passes per game this postseason. That’s a bunch of ticks higher than in their three previous runs under Tom Thibodeau in the Jalen Brunson playoff era. When Brunson got to the Knicks, they averaged just 240 passes per game in his first playoff run in 2023 against the Cavs and Heat.
During the 2026 playoff run, only three of their 10 rotation players have posted a below-average TS%: Josh Hart (52.8%), Deuce McBride (55.5%), and Jordan Clarkson (54.1%). Because of how efficient the rest of the team has been, aside from Mitchell Robinson’s free-throw woes, none of that has even mattered.
The Knicks have a 124.9 ORTG and +18.3 NETRTG in Hart’s minutes. In McBride’s minutes, they have a 129.1 ORTG and +25.5 NETRTG. And in Clarkson’s minutes, they have posted a 125.8 ORTG and +24.6 NETRTG.
All 10 of the Knicks’ rotation players have played at least 110 minutes in the 2026 playoffs and none of those players have an ORTG below 121 or a NETRTG under +19.
Before Brunson existed in Knicks’ fans’ lives, the team had had just 10 playoff wins in the previous 21 seasons. In his first three years as a Knick, he won 23 playoff games. In this postseason alone, the Knicks have won 12 of 14!
Brunson is one of four players on the Knicks’ current roster who has won at least 30 playoff games with the franchise, joining Hart, Deuce, and Mitch.
Leon Rose took over as President of the Knicks on March 2, 2020. That’s when everything started to change. Nobody deserves this more than Leon, the Don.
The only player remaining on the roster from before Rose’s tenure is Robinson. The only player he’s drafted that’s received major run in the playoffs on the current roster is McBride. Both of those players were second-round picks acquired initially via trades.
Brunson was Rose’s first major signing in June 2022. Originally signed for four years and $104 million, Brunson has twice signed under-value deals. He’s currently in year two of the four-year, $156.5 million deal he signed in July 2024... the deal saved the Knicks over $100 million in cap space and would give the franchise roster flexibility.
Rose’s first major trade acquisition was Brunson’s best friend, Hart, in February 2023, trading away Cam Reddish and a protected first-round pick. The Hart acquisition was the first trade domino for Rose, as he’d later acquire the rest of the Knicks’ starting five.
The Knicks acquired OG Anunoby from the Raptors in December 2023 for RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley. After the 2023-24 season, the Knicks acquired Mikal Bridges from the Nets for a sizable package of picks in July 2024. As training camp began in October 2024, the Knicks acquired Towns — a player long connected to Rose and the Knicks — from the Wolves for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.
And then there are three other key rotation players. But Landry Shamet might be the most important guy not yet mentioned.
Shamet was originally signed to a rest-of-the-season deal in December 2024 after suffering a shoulder injury with the Knicks before the 2024-25 season began; he’d re-sign with the Knicks before the 2025-26 season, by order of Brown. Shamet went through a long rehab process following that shoulder injury in 2024. He then came back, made some game-saving plays in the 2025 playoffs, and went on to shoot an NBA-record 91.7% from three (11 makes on 12 attempts) in the Eastern Conference Finals sweep over the Cavs this season.
And then there are the other two guys. Jordan Clarkson was signed to a one-year deal last summer after getting bought out by the Jazz. Jose Alvarado was acquired from the Pelicans right before the trade deadline this past February.
The top name makes you crack a tear. Robinson has been with the Knicks for a long time and been through everything. The Knicks lost 65 games in his rookie season in 2018-19 under David Fizdale. Another 45 losses in 2019-20. Thibodeau took over before the 2020-21 season, but that was the beginning of the injuries for Robinson.
He only played 31 games in 2020-21, missing the playoffs in 2021. He played a career-high 72 games in 2021-22, but the Knicks faltered and missed the playoffs. He figured things out health-wise in 2022-23 and played 59 games, contributing heavily to the Knicks winning their first playoff series since 2013. However, he’d only play 48 combined regular-season games in 2023-24 and 2024-25, though he did play 24 playoff games in those seasons.
The 2025-26 season has been one of Mitch’s best in terms of health. The Knicks eased him into the season and never played him in both games of their back-to-backs. He’s played in 73 combined games this season, including the playoffs. The only playoff game he’s missed was due to an illness.
As happy as I am for Robinson to be part of this journey, going from the low of lows to Eastern Conference champion, none of this would be possible without Rose and his godson, Brunson. Rose built up this franchise from nothing, brick by brick. And Brunson has taken over as King of New York.
Regardless of how the NBA Finals unfold, you could make the argument that Brunson has been the most influential male athlete in the city of New York since Patrick Ewing. And, yes, that includes the likes of Derek Jeter — winner of five championships — and Aaron Judge for the Yankees.
There’s just something different about succeeding as a Knick in New York, and Brunson embodies that NYC grit, head to toe, at his (not actually) 6-foot-1 stature. He’s already surpassed Carmelo Anthony, who only won seven playoff games in his seven seasons with the Knicks.
If Brunson manages to win a ring? His place on the Mount Rushmore of New York Knicks players is etched in stone, alongside champions like Clyde Frazier and Willis Reed, and of course, Ewing — the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, among other things.
Brunson has had a lot of embattled co-stars during his time with the Knicks. He had a hobbled Randle and an underperforming Barrett during his first run in the playoffs. He was then joined by his fellow Villanova teammates Hart and DiVincenzo for one of the more underappreciated two-round runs you’ll see in 2024. Rose was then finally given the option to go get one of his white whales in Towns before the 2024-25 season... and that’s when this team started to take another leap.
Brown took over for long-time head coach Thibodeau this season, and that came with the pressure of needing to improve off a team that had made the Eastern Conference Finals in the season prior. In his first year at the helm, Brown and the Knicks have bulldozed through their opponents... and they’re four wins away from immortality.
You could say the cards unfolded just how the Knicks could want in the 2026 playoffs. They had a wakeup call in the first round against the Hawks and then won 11 straight games, including two four-game sweeps against the Sixers and Cavs — both of whom were coming off seven-game series.
“The East is weak.” Could that be true? Maybe! But the Knicks also went through this East relatively easily, and now they await the winner of Thunder-Spurs in the West.
This fanbase has been through a lot over the last decade-plus. We believed in the likes of Derrick Rose, Andrea Bargnani, Emmanuel Mudiay, and Lance Thomas. We were tantalized by Kyle O’Quinn, Derrick Williams, Michael Beasley, Langston Galloway, Ron Baker, and Pablo Prigioni. Side note: Baker, notable teammate of Shamet in college!
We can’t forget Arron Afflalo, Luke Kornet, Noah Vonleh, Mario Hezonja, Courtney Lee, Damyean Dotson, Trey Burke, Cleanthony Early, and Allonzo Trier. And the folk heroes of Marcus Morris, Bobby Portis, Alexey Shved, José Calderón, Willy Hernangómez, and Mindaugas Kuzminskas. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Quincy Acy had some moments, too!
There were princes who were promised: Kristaps Porziņģis, Frank Ntilikina, and Kevin Knox.
There are many, many more... but those guys will never be forgotten for me. Fast forward to now. Four more wins. Regardless, this has been a historic team, not just for NBA standards and franchise standards... but as a fan, it’s been an unbelievable ride.
