It’s time to party like it’s 1999.
For the first time in 27 years, basketball’s biggest series is returning to the sport’s Mecca after the New York Knicks completed a four-game sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday to advance to the NBA Finals. In order to win their first ring since 1973, however, the Knicks will have to defeat either the 64-win Oklahoma City Thunder or 62-win San Antonio Spurs.
Judging by the scenes outside of Madison Square Garden throughout the last few postseasons, it’s safe to say a Knicks win over either of those esteemed opponents would send America’s largest city into a state of Armageddon. The biggest question now is if New York has the firepower to keep up with either team.
Sizing Up The Thunder
If the Thunder advance, the everlasting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander problem is one the Knicks will have to solve if they want any shot of making it a series. This current version of SGA is as consistent of a producer as any player in league history, but the Knicks do have a rotation of defensive-minded guards that can give him more of a challenge than just about any other team in the league can. The health of Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell also remains a question mark for Oklahoma City, and the complexion of that potential series depends drastically on how much that pair is able to contribute.
Still, it was only a few months ago that it felt like there was a legitimate possibility the Thunder would set the single-season wins record and then proceed to control the league for eternity. The Spurs have made them look somewhat mortal in the Western Conference Finals, but it’s also not a secret that those two teams are a tier above every other in the NBA. Even the Knicks.
Sizing Up The Spurs
If the Spurs advance, I’m not sure what else the Knicks could do except pray. For as great, and consistent, as the Thunder have been the last two (really three) seasons, they’ve never been as imposing or threatening as this Spurs team is when Victor Wembanyama is 100 percent and playing his best basketball.
Not only is Wembanyama currently playing the best basketball we’ve seen to this point in his young career, he’s already playing at a level that is hard to find an honest comparison to in NBA history. It’s not hard to come to the conclusion that this may be the last season for a decent chunk of time where anyone even has a real chance at beating a Wembanyama-led team, especially one that’s as flawlessly constructed around him as this Spurs team currently is.
The Brunson Convo
When it comes to the Knicks themselves, a significant portion of the conversation around their NBA Finals berth has been centered around their superstar, Jalen Brunson. It’s no secret that Brunson has faced his fair share of critics since assuming the role as the franchise numero uno. He’s had to hear all the tropes about how small guards can’t lead championship teams, or about how he could never become a top option for a championship team as a second round pick.
Regardless of what happens in this series, Brunson has earned his respect as one of the great guards of the last quarter-century, and yes, he does have what it takes to lead the Knicks to a title as the best player. It may not be this season, in fact it likely won’t be, but the Knicks have built a championship caliber team around him and he’s objectively the centerpiece of all the franchise’s visions.
What people failed to realize about the Brunson conversation to begin with was that the league was already shifting away from an era where teams were reliant on one player, guard or otherwise, and that the upcoming era of NBA basketball would be defined by championship teams that were built to maximize assets and depth. There’s no reason a small guard like Brunson can’t lead a consolidation of elite players to a championship.
Knicks fans have taken over 7th Ave! pic.twitter.com/Czl8bklazI
— TickPick (@TickPick) May 26, 2026
What Separates The West
What makes the Spurs and Thunder so great is that they both lucked into acquiring generation-defining players on top of their talent consolidation, which is also why they will likely be each other’s only true competition for the foreseeable future.
The good thing for the Knicks is that if the Eastern Conference is as perennially up for grabs as it was this season, the franchise is in a great spot with their roster moving forward to make a return trip or two to The Finals should this maiden voyage not work out so well.
If the prophecy comes true that the path to the promised land is going to be going through the winner of an OKC/SA series for the foreseeable future, the Knicks front office will have to figure out what pieces it needs to not be a doormat in their prospective future trips to the NBA Finals. Because even if they somehow pull out the upset a few weeks from now, both teams are only getting better and more dangerous in the coming years.
Can The Knicks Pull It Off?
The Knicks certainly have an uphill battle if they want to throw that ticker tape parade in Manhattan. But that also means it’s that much more meaningful of an achievement if they pull it off. To be fair, 18 years ago nobody was giving the New York Giants a shot in hell against the New England Patriots ahead of Super Bowl 42, and we all remember how that turned out. Maybe that’s just the way New York wins nowadays.
A New York championship parade always draws over a million people, but the Knicks finally ending a 53-year championship drought would deliver the biggest parade the city has seen in a generation or more. Multiple generations of Knicks supporters, objectively the league’s most loyal and passionate fanbase, have gone without seeing their team reach the sport’s pinnacle. If the Knicks overcome either the Thunder or the Spurs to win that title this season, New Yorkers certainly would be entitled to all of the ruckus they would be causing in celebration.
The post The Knicks Are Going To The Finals. Can They Actually Win? appeared first on Ballislife.com.