October 25, 2026
October 25, 2026
Fifty-three years of frustration ended on a June night in San Antonio. The Knicks’ 2025-26 season began with a coaching change that divided the fan base and finished with the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Along the way, New York captured the NBA Cup, ripped off a franchise-record 13 straight playoff wins and authored the greatest comeback in Finals history. No Knicks team since Willis Reed and Walt Frazier had finished a season as champion. This one did, and it did so with a ruthlessness few saw coming in October.
The front office made its boldest bet before a single game was played. Leon Rose had watched a conference finalist come up short, and he decided good was no longer good enough.
Tom Thibodeau had restored credibility to Madison Square Garden over five seasons. He had also just led the Knicks to their first conference finals in a quarter century. None of it saved him. The franchise dismissed Thibodeau on June 3, 2025, and hired Mike Brown on July 7. Brown arrived with a reputation for defensive structure and a willingness to lean on his bench. That second trait mattered. Thibodeau’s heavy minutes for his starters had become a running criticism, and Brown promised a deeper, fresher rotation by spring.
The roster’s core stayed intact. Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart all returned. The upgrades came around the edges. New York signed Jordan Clarkson from Utah and Guerschon Yabusele from Philadelphia on the same day Brown was hired. Clarkson gave the second unit a scorer who could create his own shot. In February, the front office flipped Yabusele into Dalen Terry, then sent Terry to New Orleans for Jose Alvarado. That deadline move added a pesky, pressuring guard who fit Brown’s defensive vision perfectly.
The regular season tested the new coach’s message. It also delivered the first trophy of the Brown era far earlier than anyone expected.
New York seized its first piece of silverware in December. The Knicks went 3-1 in group play and edged Miami for East Group C on a tiebreaker. They then dispatched Toronto and Orlando to reach the championship game in Las Vegas. San Antonio led by double digits late in the third quarter behind a Victor Wembanyama surge. The Knicks answered by pouring in 35 fourth-quarter points to the Spurs’ 19. Anunoby scored a game-high 28, Mitchell Robinson hauled in 15 rebounds, and the 124-113 victory in the Cup final belonged to New York. Brunson was named tournament MVP. Few realized it was a preview of June.
The good feeling did not last. From December 31 through January 19, the Knicks unraveled into a 2-9 stretch that included two separate four-game losing streaks. Doubts about Brown’s system crept back into the conversation. Then the team responded with authority. On January 21, New York demolished Brooklyn 120-66, the largest regular-season margin of victory in franchise history. That rout launched a five-game winning streak and steadied the season. The Knicks clinched a playoff berth on March 30 and finished 53-29, good for third in the Eastern Conference. A 30-10 home record turned the Garden into a fortress, as reflected in Basketball-Reference’s game-by-game log.
Brunson carried the offense with 26.0 points and 6.8 assists per game. Towns delivered 20.1 points and 11.9 rebounds while shooting 50.1 percent from the floor. Anunoby added 16.7 points, and Bridges played all 82 games. Hart filled every gap with 12.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists.
A franchise known for postseason heartbreak needed something different this time. It found a level of dominance the East simply could not match.
The first round nearly ended the dream early. Sixth-seeded Atlanta won Games 2 and 3 by a single point each. New York trailed 2-1 and faced a hostile crowd in Game 4. The Knicks held on with a 114-98 win, then buried the Hawks 126-97 at home. Game 6 became a statement. New York led by 47 points at halftime, an NBA playoff record, and won 140-89. The 51-point margin stands as the largest playoff victory in franchise history.
Seventh-seeded Philadelphia never had a chance. New York opened with a 137-98 blowout and closed the sweep with a 144-114 win in Philadelphia. Cleveland offered more resistance, at least in Game 1. The Cavaliers forced overtime at the Garden before the Knicks escaped 115-104. Every game after that tilted further toward New York. A 130-93 rout in Cleveland completed the sweep, and NBA.com’s recap of the clincher captured a team arriving in its first Finals since 1999. The Knicks had won 10 straight playoff games, and they were not finished.
The Finals pitted New York against a 62-20 Spurs team led by Wembanyama, the Defensive Player of the Year. San Antonio held home-court advantage. It would not win a single game in its own building.
Game 1 opened with the Spurs building a 14-point lead. Brunson clawed New York back, scoring 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter despite briefly leaving with knee and ankle issues. The Knicks won 105-95. Game 2 came down to the final seconds. Wembanyama committed a turnover, a foul and a missed jumper in the closing moments, and New York escaped 105-104. Bridges scored 20, and Towns posted 21 points and 13 rebounds through foul trouble. For the first time in franchise history, the Knicks had won the first two Finals games on the road.
San Antonio snapped New York’s 13-game playoff winning streak with a 115-111 win in Game 3. Game 4 looked like it would even the series. The Spurs built a 29-point lead, and the series seemed ready to swing. Then the Knicks chipped away, possession by possession. Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox combined to shoot 5-of-22 in the second half as New York’s defense tightened. Brunson finished with 36 points, and Anunoby added 33 on 10-of-15 shooting. With the score tied and 1.2 seconds left, Anunoby tipped in the winner. The 107-106 victory completed the largest comeback in Finals history. That night defined the Knicks’ 2025-26 season more than any trophy that followed it.
Game 5 returned to Texas with a championship on the line. Could the Spurs finally hold serve at home? Brunson refused to allow it. He poured in 45 points on 14-of-27 shooting, tying Michael Jordan’s record for points on the road in a series-clinching game. Towns fouled out late, and San Antonio made one last push. The Knicks held on, 94-90. Brunson was named Finals MVP after averaging 32.6 points in the series.
The 1973 banner finally has company. The Knicks’ 2025-26 season produced the franchise’s third championship and ended a 53-year wait. New York became the first team to win the NBA Cup and the NBA title in the same season. Its 16-3 postseason record ranks among the most dominant runs the league has seen, and its 13-game winning streak trails only the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors. CBS Sports’ playoff bracket traces the full path from Atlanta to San Antonio.
Mike Brown’s hiring looked like a gamble in July. It proved a masterstroke. He kept the core together, deepened the rotation and got a veteran group to peak at exactly the right time. Brunson cemented himself among the greatest players to wear a Knicks uniform. Anunoby emerged as a two-way star, setting a single-postseason record with a 67.2 percent effective field goal percentage. A generation of fans who had only heard stories about Reed and Frazier finally had a champion of their own.
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