THOUGHTS | THE NEW YORK KNICKS ARE YOUR 2026 NBA CHAMPIONS!
- 15 hours ago
- 6 min read
The New York Knicks won the NBA Finals in five games.
Also, I can't believe they won it on their home court.
Well, on their makeshift home court.
If you think about it, San Antonio offered cheaper seats than Madison Square Garden could offer. In fact, there is a section of the crowd in Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Cleveland that seemed to say to the Knicks players that they had a cheering squad consisting of high-profile celebrities and extremely loyal fans to back them up.
This is awesome.
Because here's the thing: the Knicks turned believers and bandwagoners out of naysayers.
And the mere fact that Shaquille O'Neal was only a year old when they last won a title says a lot.
In all of the games of the Finals, the Spurs finished the first quarter with double-digit leads. There was even that awesome Game 4 turnaround from 29 points down. The difference between the Knicks and the Spurs is that the Knicks were unfazed despite the margins.
Yes, Victor Wembanyama is a terrible player to go up against, but the Knicks caught Wemby at a time when his career is still on the rise. And it's not only him. Stephon Castle's and Dylan Harper's NBA careers are still in their infancy.
A veteran team could have withstood the New York onslaught, especially during Game 4. However, they are NBA babies at this point.
It's like when the Orlando Magic clashed with the Houston Rockets, or even when the Oklahoma City Thunder faced off against the Miami Heat. If an older team can go out there and commit mistakes, what about the composure of a young squad fighting for dear life against a team riding the momentum of a 29-point comeback?
And speaking of the Thunder, they are the anomaly. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his team were able to win the NBA Finals in 2025 despite their age. And they almost had the chance to repeat this season. Everyone said that the real Finals were actually the Western Conference Finals between the Spurs and the Thunder, and that whoever won that duel would eventually lay waste to the "consolation prize" from the other conference.
However, that was a best-of-seven series of monumental proportions as well, and it may have taken a lot out of the Spurs.
When Wemby cried during the West Finals clincher, it felt like the Spurs were too happy about overcoming the hump without realizing that the playoffs were far from over. All of a sudden, the Spurs saw it as their destiny to win the NBA championship. And they weren't wrong to think that way. The odds were stacked against any team coming out of the East. Even Stephen A. Smith commented that while he was rooting for his hometown team to reach the Finals, winning the championship was a completely different story.
When New York swept Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals, they still had their sights locked on the bigger prize.
Look, the 13-game winning streak might be a solid stat. However, the better streak the Knicks had was their unblemished road-game winning streak. While other teams succumbed to the pressure of playing without their fans, the Knicks did the opposite.
That meme-worthy starting-five introduction felt like fuel instead of a distraction.
One of the biggest positives for a team in road games is its ability to play in uncharted territory without getting rattled. Hell, it felt like playing at home was more of a distraction than a benefit for them, considering the hype involving Donald Trump's attendance in Game 3, the hooliganism in the streets after every NBA Finals game, and the doubling down of every pure-bred Knicks fan they had supporting the squad.
Again, that 29-point comeback could have gone badly for the Knicks if not for their second-half heroics.
And finally, they had a better roster and a greater appreciation for going the extra mile. The mere fact that they were constantly reminded of the heartbreak they suffered when they lost to the Indiana Pacers the previous season served as motivation for them to tune out the chatter and simply go out and win.
Of the Knicks teams I have witnessed in my lifetime, I thought their 1994 roster was the best before this version. When the team played the Spurs in 1999, they lost Patrick Ewing to injury, which made Chris Dudley their starting center against both David Robinson and Tim Duncan. Then, in the 2000s, there was a time when the Knicks collected a bunch of All-Stars like Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Penny Hardaway, Glen Rice, and a couple of fringe starters. The problem with that team was that they loaded up on shooting guards and small forwards while having questionable frontcourt personnel.
Yes, they missed out on talents like Steph Curry, didn't maximize what they had with Jeremy Lin, wasted Kristaps Porzingis, and failed to give Carmelo Anthony a top big man as they stayed loyal to Amar'e Stoudemire.
But they never really had a roster as deep as the one they have now.
Hello, Jalen Brunson.
Even the coaching change from Tom Thibodeau to Mike Brown worked because the Knicks got solid contributions from Landry Shamet, Jordan Clarkson, Mitchell Robinson, Jose Alvarado, and Ariel Hukporti.
When they got rid of Thibs for Mike Brown, the fans weren't too happy. But in hindsight, this feels like when Golden State relieved Mark Jackson of his coaching duties to bring Steve Kerr to the team. Some coaches are there to create a culture, but then there are coaches who are there to get their teams to the next level.
Brown also relied on his bench, while Thibs worked his starters to death. Brown's willingness to use his bench gave his starters a chance to rest, and it also gave the team an opportunity to discover which players could thrive in certain situations. Mitchell Robinson had his moments in the spotlight as well. In Game 4, Jose Alvarado was awesome, and during the Cleveland series, Landry Shamet came out of nowhere. That success carried over into the Finals, too.
This is another thing the Spurs didn't have, because even De'Aaron Fox couldn't be relied upon to lead in this situation. He spent his career with the Sacramento Kings, and it's not like they were leading the West in wins on a consistent basis.
In the end, the Finals ended up being a battle between a team whose sights were set on winning the championship and a team that was simply happy to be there and saw defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder as its primary mission.
The Knicks were seen as the underdogs because fans viewed the West as the better conference. But while the Western Conference teams battled each other, New York was quietly building its case. After losing Game 1 to the Atlanta Hawks, the Knicks won the next four games, including the torture-chamber moment they unleashed in Game 5.
Then they swept Philly.
Then Cleveland.
Jalen Brunson led the way, but Karl-Anthony Towns played with a lot of heart, while Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, and Shamet played their roles to perfection.
We all knew Brunson was there to activate his Captain Clutch mode, but when the entire team is there to wholeheartedly support him, it takes the Knicks to a different level. When Ernie Johnson said that Brunson was the only Knick to score 40 points or more in the playoffs and Brunson responded with a shocked look, you knew they weren't chasing individual numbers. They were only focused on building toward a championship.
This is what happens when an organization properly makes the right adjustments to its team.
And no, I really believe it would hurt the squad if they made a move to bring in Giannis Antetokounmpo or some random superteam mainstay.
New York suddenly found a formula, and now the West has to hope and pray that the other teams in the conference find ways to strengthen their playoff-bound squads. Otherwise, they'll just beat each other up through the grind of the playoffs, only to fall prey to the Knicks' charge.
I guess the only player worth adding would be Donte DiVincenzo, who was supposed to be the guy doing what Shamet ultimately did for New York in the playoffs.
Anyway, for the Spurs, they have the future ahead of them. In some ways, it would be unfair for the rest of the league if they became this good this early. They will still have opportunities to return to the Finals, and the offseason will help Mitch Johnson create plays that at least prevent Wemby from tiring out in the second half.
As for New York, they can cry all they want because they deserve it. Jalen Brunson's 45 points in the clincher made him worthy of being included in Knicks G.O.A.T. conversations. KAT's determination to dominate despite dealing with Wemby is something that should motivate people from all walks of life. And OG Anunoby's game-winner will go down as an iconic moment.
Congratulations, New York!
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