Unity is rare in a city as large and diverse as New York. We don’t greet each other on the street or subway, we probably disagree about the mayor’s latest proclamation, and we likely have different gut reactions to the name Juan Soto. In spite of this, basketball is the city’s game and the Knicks are its team.
Starting tonight, the basketball team that plays between Seventh and Eighth Avenues from 31st to 33rd Streets will be in San Antonio competing for its first championship in over half a century. As a lifelong New York Knicks fan, raised on my father’s stories about the Knicks title teams from the early 1970s, this reality is both unfathomable and exhilarating.
Finally, a reason to check your email.
Sign up for our free newsletter today.
For fans like me, born in the mid-to-late 1990s, our relationship with the Knicks is defined by futility. Our basketball memories begin in the aftermath of the 1990s teams that reached two NBA Finals, contended for championships for the better part of a decade, and provided indelible moments against Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. We heard about this era from our elders, but we came of age watching a team whose off-court antics overshadowed the lackluster product on the court for 82 games a season.
My earliest experience with Knicks dysfunction dates back to third grade. The 2005–2006 Knicks were mired in a feud involving all-star point guard and Coney Island native Stephon Marbury, a former two-time NBA champion turned general manager (Isiah Thomas), and a head coach who had previously accomplished the rare feat of winning championships in both the NCAA and NBA (Larry Brown). That team, loaded with players who had found success elsewhere, nonetheless limped its way to a 23–59 record, good for last place in the Eastern Conference.
In subsequent years, Knick playoff hopes were usually dashed before the All-Star break. We grew accustomed to praying for the ping pong balls to fall our way in the draft lottery, but they never did. We convinced ourselves that the picks we did make would become stars. But names like Sweetney, Balkman, Gallinari, and Ntilikina will never be enshrined in Springfield. We fooled ourselves into believing that LeBron James would choose New York in the 2010 free agency sweepstakes. But despite the inimitable James Gandolfini’s best efforts, King James elected to take his talents to South Beach.
In an era defined by desperation, Knicks fans latched onto any glimmer of hope. We were ecstatic when Carmelo Anthony came to town. When he won a single playoff game while facing elimination against the juggernaut Miami Heat in 2012, we rained confetti at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
Did that seem pathetic? Probably. But we took a game from mighty Miami, and that was reason enough to celebrate in the lean years.
What we have today looks and feels different. This Knicks team enters the Finals riding an 11-game winning streak, a feat accomplished by only four other teams in NBA history. They boast a +271 point differential in the postseason, the largest margin ever for a team about to play on the NBA’s biggest stage.
How did we get here? The answer goes back to the summer of 2022, when the Knicks signed an undersized point guard named Jalen Brunson in a then-heavily criticized free agency acquisition. He would be joined by two former college teammates, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges. This trio, who became national champions at Pope Leo’s alma mater Villanova, formed a Holy Trinity replete with athletic dynamism and enduring friendship. Rounding out the squad are Karl-Anthony Towns, a 7’0” New Jersey native who embodies theatricality and physicality, and OG Anunoby, an understated and versatile wing who can do just about anything on the hardwood.
The architect of this Knicks renaissance is the agent-turned-executive Leon Rose. Rose took over as team president in 2020 and immediately distinguished himself from his failed predecessors. Ditching the drama of prior years, he operates quietly and almost never talks to the media. Building a championship contender outside the draft is a near-impossible task in today’s NBA. Yet Rose assembled an exquisitely balanced starting five through free agency and trades—the kind of bold, enterprising maneuvering that resonates with New Yorkers.
In this rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals, Knicks fans will also be treated to announcing by Mike Breen—a fixture of Knicks basketball for nearly three decades on the MSG Network. The Yonkers native and product of Salesian High School and Fordham University will be leading ABC’s coverage of every Finals game. As the Knick fanbase navigates treacherous waters, we’ll have one familiar voice filling our living rooms and neighborhood bars.
So, New Yorkers, we can’t know what the next few weeks have in store, but at long last we have June basketball. It’s time to enjoy it. We earned this. Go Knicks.