Almost Home

The New York Knicks are in the finals!

The last time that happened I still had black hair, my wife and I were on an Alaskan cruise to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary, and Bill Clinton was in the White House. That was 27 years ago. To put that in perspective, Johnny Carson was on the air for 30.

They say time flies when you're having fun. Fun would be the last word fans of this franchise would use to describe the hell they've gone through. Between 2001 and 2020, New York made the playoffs five times, advancing to the second round once. Over that stretch, a litany of GMs from Isaiah Thomas to Phil Jackson have come and gone. 

But it wasn't until James Dolan hired Leon Rose in 2020 that things began to turn around. Rose immediately went to work rebuilding an organization that had become the laughingstock of the league. His first decision was to hire Tom Thibodeau as head coach that summer. In Thibs first season, the Knicks made the playoffs, losing in five to the Atlanta Hawks. Though it was a bitter defeat, a foundation had been laid.

Over the next few years, Rose made several significant moves. In the summer of 2022, he cleared enough cap space to sign Jalen Brunson to a four-year, $104 million contract; a move that was widely criticized at the time as an overpay. Then at the '23 trade deadline, he acquired Josh Hart from the Portland Trail Blazers for Cam Reddish. Over the summer, he signed Donte DiVencenzo.

But his boldest moves were yet to come. In December of '23, Rose traded RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and a second round pick to the Toronto Raptors for OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa. Then in the summer of '24. he traded five first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Mikal Bridges. Like the Brunson signing, this too was considered an overpay. But the final piece of the puzzle came right before the start of the 2024-25 season. In a stunner, he traded Julius Randle and DiVencenzo to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns. Rose had coveted the 7-0 center for years and now, at last, he had his man.

The Knicks would have their best postseason in a quarter century, beating the reigning champion Boston Celtics in six to advance the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000. But the manner in which they lost to the Indiana Pacers - blowing a late fourth quarter double-digit lead - did not sit well with Rose. He fired Thiboadeau and replaced him with Mike Brown.

Throughout the 2025-26 season, the Knicks displayed signs of a true contender. They won the NBA Cup in December, routed elite teams like the Denver Nuggets by 39 and the San Antonio Spurs by 25; the latter one of only three defeats the Spurs would suffer from February 1 through the end of the regular season. 

But there were also some bumps in the road. They barely beat a tanking Nets team and needed to come from behind to beat a Golden State Warriors team that was missing most of its starters. This dichotomy between greatness and underachievement was frustrating to watch, primarily because you never knew which Knicks team was going to show up. 

Going into the postseason, I wrote "the Knicks are capable of going all the way to the finals; they're also capable of being ousted in the first round." And after a game three loss that put the Hawks up 2-1, it was beginning to look like the latter was a very real possibility. The "Fire Mike Brown" contingent was in full force.

It was at that point that the Knicks had a come to Jesus moment. They went on a tear, the likes of which have rarely been seen by any New York area team. They won the next three against the Hawks, blowing them out by 51 points in game six. They then swept the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers. Both closeout games were ostensibly over by halftime.

The numbers are staggering. Of the Knicks twelve wins, eleven have been by double digits and five have been by 25 or more points; they've held their opponents to under 100 points seven times; and their point differential of +271 is the highest through three rounds in NBA history. Their defensive rating of 104.4 leads all postseason teams.

Leon Rose has done a masterful job assembling this roster, and Mike Brown has done an equally masterful job coaching it. This is not meant as a knock on Thibs, but no way in hell this team gets this far with him as coach. So dominant have they been that even some of their harshest critics have been forced to grudgingly admit that they are legit; though they still maintain that they had an easy path to the finals. Oh, well, you can't fix stupid, but you can sure as shit block it. 

Which is what I've been mostly doing. Nobody is going to rain on this parade. I've waited 27 years for this moment and I'll be damned if I'm going to let the haters take away my joy. I haven't felt this way about a team I root for since the '86 Giants went through the NFL like shit through a goose.

I believe in these players, and I believe they have what it takes to go all the way, regardless of which team they face in the finals. As for who that might be, I'm done projecting. I wanted the Raptors in the first round; I got the Hawks. I wanted the Celtics in the second round; I got the Sixers. I wanted the Pistons in the conference finals; I got the Cavs. At this point, I could care less who they play.

The New York Knicks are in the finals! 

They are four wins away from their first NBA championship since 1973. 

That was 53 years ago.