The New York Knicks have a golden opportunity to do something special this season. After wandering through the desert, so to speak, for about two decades, they have finally found a group that has proven it can go deep in the playoffs and compete hard against any team in the NBA.
The team went to the Eastern Conference finals last season after unexpectedly knocking off the defending world champion Boston Celtics in the second round before falling to the Indiana Pacers. Celtics star Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles in that second-round series, and Pacers floor general Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, and those two injuries have opened up the East.
It seems like the Cleveland Cavaliers, who exited in round two this past spring, are the favorites to win the conference. But ESPN personality Stephen A Smith, a die-hard Knicks fan and New York City area native, boldly proclaimed that Jalen Brunson and crew will make it to the championship series.
“I’m looking forward to my Knicks capitalizing off of the Achilles tear to Jayson Tatum… Damian Lillard… Tyrese Haliburton. … The New York Knicks are going to the NBA Finals. It happened by default… I wish them all well.”
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The Knicks certainly seem to have the crew to make good on Smith’s proclamation, even if Tatum and Haliburton hadn’t gotten hurt a few months ago. Brunson has proven he’s a big-game performer in the playoffs, and both he and big man Karl-Anthony Towns started in last season’s All-Star game.
There are questions about Towns, who is a very potent offensive threat but hasn’t lived up to his potential defensively. But in his second season with the team, he has the opportunity to improve in that category.
One tangible reason for Knicks fans to be hopeful is the fact that new coach Mike Brown will almost certainly use his bench a lot more than his predecessor, Tom Thibodeau, did. Thibodeau, both with the Knicks and his previous teams, was notorious for riding his starters into the ground. That strategy may have been passable in the 1990s, but it certainly isn’t in today’s up-tempo, revved-up NBA.
The squad has a deeper bench this season thanks to the additions of guards Jordan Clarkson and Malcolm Brogdon and big man Guerschon Yabusele. Clarkson and Brogdon are both recent Sixth Man of the Year winners.
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New York hasn’t reached the NBA Finals since 1999 and hasn’t won it all since 1973. The good people of the Tri-state Area are starving for a championship, not just from the Knicks but from any of their major pro sports teams, and 2026 could be the year Midtown Manhattan finally plays host to a triumphant parade.
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