The New York Knicks are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, chasing their first championship since 1973. With 11 consecutive wins, the best point differential over that stretch (+262), and over a month without a loss, this team carries real championship DNA. Four wins separate them from ending a 53-year drought.
Here are five qualities this Knicks squad shares with past NBA champions.
1. Entering the Finals on a Hot Streak
In the current playoff format (since 2003), a team needs 12 wins to reach the NBA Finals across up to 21 games. New York went 12-2 in the 2026 Playoffs, dropping back-to-back one-point decisions to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round before reeling off 11 straight. They enter the Finals with a full week of rest.
Only four other teams have entered the Finals on an 11-game win streak or better: the 2017 Warriors (15 straight), the 1999 Spurs (12 straight), the 2001 Lakers (11 straight), and the 1989 Lakers (11 straight). The ’89 Lakers are the only team from that group that did not win the title.
2. Posting a Historic Point Differential
Dominant conference runs have long been a precursor to Finals success. The Knicks won the Eastern Conference with a +271 point differential through 14 games (+19.4 per game), the highest point differential for any team entering the NBA Finals.
The previous top five included four eventual champions: the 2017 Warriors (+196 in 12 games), the 1987 Lakers (+180 in 12 games), the ’85 Lakers (+177 in 13 games), and the ’16 Cavaliers (+177 in 14 games). The lone team in the top five that fell short, the ’17 Cavaliers (+177 in 13 games), lost to the record holders in that Finals.
3. Reaching the Finals as a No. 3 Seed
Only two teams in NBA history have won a championship seeded below the top three: the 1969 Celtics (No. 4) and the ’95 Rockets (No. 6). Under the current 16-team playoff format (since 1984), a No. 3 seed has reached the Finals 10.7% of the time and won the championship 14.3% of the time. Recent history skews more favorably.
Six of the last seven No. 3 seeds to reach the NBA Finals went on to win it: the 2022 Warriors, the 2021 Bucks, the 2011 Mavs, the 2007 Spurs, the 2004 Pistons, and the 2002 Lakers. The only exception was the 2009 Magic, who lost to the No. 1 seed Lakers.
4. Shooting at a Record-Setting Clip
The Knicks enter the Finals with an effective field goal percentage of 59.2%, which accounts for the added value of three-point makes and is on pace to set a new playoff record. Only nine Finals teams have ever posted an EFG% of 55% or higher in a postseason.
Six of those teams captured the championship: the 2024 Celtics (55.5%), the ’23 Nuggets (55.7%), the ’22 Warriors (56.1%), the ’20 Lakers (56.1%), the ’17 Warriors (56.7%), and the 1985 Lakers (55.2%). The team with the single highest mark, the 2017 Cavaliers at 57.9%, still lost to the 2017 Warriors in a high-shooting Finals.
5. A First-Year Head Coach
After three straight playoff runs without a Finals appearance under Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks parted ways with him and brought in former two-time Coach of the Year Mike Brown. Brown guided New York to the Finals in his debut season with the franchise.
Should Brown win the title, he becomes the sixth coach since the NBA/ABA merger to win a championship in his first season with a team. He would join Paul Westhead (1980 Lakers), Pat Riley (’82 Lakers), Steve Kerr (2015 Warriors), Tyronn Lue (2016 Cavaliers), and Nick Nurse with the 2019 Raptors.
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