June 13 was a historic day for the NBA and all across the city of New York. The Knicks won the 2026 NBA Championship on the road in San Antonio in just five games. Before winning a title this year, the team last won a championship in 1973, ending their 53-year championship drought.
Jalen Brunson was named Finals MVP and the Knicks completed one of the more dominant post-seasons runs in recent memory. In the playoffs, the Knicks had a 16-3 record while setting tons of different records throughout the post-season. In their three losses, the Knicks set a record for the fewest points lost by in a single postseason with a combined total of just six points. In the first round of the playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks, the Knicks lost game 2 at home and game 3 on the road for Atlanta to take the early series lead. Since that moment, the whole Knicks team flipped a switch and never look back. The team went on to comeback down 2-1 against the Hawks resulting in closing out the series in six games on the road. In their closeout game, the Knicks won by a dominant 51 points to move on to the second round.
In the next two rounds, the Knicks continued their dominance by sweeping the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers in four games. In each of their close-out games, the Knicks just took it to a whole other level. In Game 4 against the Sixers, the Knicks blew out the 76ers by 30 points and blew out the Cavs by 37 points. The team averaged a historic +14.9 points per game differential throughout their run. Then, upon the NBA Finals, the Knicks stole the first two games on the road in San Antonio. When coming back home to the Garden, the Spurs came out on top winning Game 3. From losing Game 3 against the Hawks in the first round to Game 3 of the NBA Finals, the Knicks went 46 consecutive days without losing a game.
In the first half of Game 4, it look like the Spurs were going to leave New York tied with stealing both games on the road as they lead 76-49 at halftime. In the second half, the Spurs lead grew before the momentum shifted. The Knicks did the unthinkable to where they pulled off a 29-point comeback against the Spurs as they were held to just 30 points in the second half. In the final seconds coming back in a one possession game, Brunson missed a big time shot before OG Anunoby recovered the ball for a historic tip-in game-winner to steal Game 4 with a 3-1 lead. The Knicks’ resilience combined with their dominance and the Spurs crucial mistakes throughout the Finals, resulted in the Knicks winning an NBA championship.
Since becoming NBA Champions, the entire NBA landscape has changed this offseason. Across the association, teams have been heavily aggressive via trades and signings. There have been some big time blockbuster trades and signings from Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat, Jaylen Brown and LeBron James to the Sixers to Kawhi Leonard back to Toronto to Lamelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves. There has been so much turnaround in the NBA over the past few months since the Finals has ended.
Also, with the new NBA “3-2-1” draft lottery reform has come up to play where teams can no longer try to lose games. This upcoming NBA season, all 30 teams from top to bottom will drastically be better. There will certainly be a few bad teams across the league, however you will get every team’s best no matter if it’s in early October or a random game in late March. All 30 teams will be somewhat competitive with no easy outing in the regular season and playoffs. The league as a whole has gotten extremely better with talent all across the association as teams look to stop the Knicks from winning back to back championships.
The NBA’s last back to back champions were the 2017 and 2018 Golden State Warriors. Since then, the league has had eight different champions the last eight seasons. There is plenty of parity across the NBA with a lot of front offices being aggressive putting a roster together as many teams believe they are close to winning an championship.
The road to winning a second consecutive title will not be an easy one. The Knicks will relatively look the same besides losing the longest-tenured Knick, Mitchell Robinson to the Boston Celtics. However, the Knicks hope to replace Robinson’s contributions with free agent pickup and veteran center Andre Drummond to help the bench. The Knicks will have the same starting five this upcoming season and will have their depth off the bench with another year for the team to improve and grow together.
Do you think the Knicks will become the next back to back champions after their dominant championship run or will the league crown it’s ninth different champion in nine seasons?
