New York Knicks, with the pressure of playing in the NBA Finals
With Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns as leaders, Mike Brown’s team is one of the candidates in the East: can it achieve maximum glory?
The VHS label, peeled off at the ends, has written in capital letters: KNICKS VS. ROCKETS – MATCH #7. The ink has worn away over time, but it is still visible. The video, with some image jumps until it achieves stability, offers an exciting duel in search of the 1994 NBA title. New York Knicks lost in that seventh game against Houston Rockets the last real chance to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy. It was close. Very close.
More than 30 years have passed since those clashes between Pat Riley’s team, with Patrick Ewing as a star, and Rudy Tomjanovich’s, with Hakeem Olajuwon in his splendor and calmly watching the celebration of his teammates from the control table while Ewing, Starks, Oakley and the other Knicks walked desolately towards the locker room and Riley took off his jacket.
Another final that the Knicks reached in 1999 also happened, but they were widely surpassed 4-1 by the San Antonio Spurs, overwhelmed by the power of David Robinson and a young Tim Duncan.
To find the Knicks’ last great success, you have to rewind history to 1973. There they won their second NBA title in four years, both against the Los Angeles Lakers. Nobody imagined such a big drought for the Big Apple team.
It’s time for photos of the champion Knicks to be seen with the best resolution and clear colors. It is time for the videos of the champion Knicks to flood social networks, to be seen on all television channels and on each platform. The shoulders of Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and company feel the pressure of a franchise as giant in name as it is squalid in celebrations.
It is clear that the conquest of the NBA Cup, back in December 2025, will be absolutely forgotten if the Knicks do not reach the Finals, the true objective for which they hired Mike Brown to replace Tom Thibodeau as coach. And once there, the mission cannot be other than to win them.
The enthusiasm and desire of the fans who regularly go to Madison Square Garden, plus all those that the New York Knicks gather around the world, was constantly growing during recent campaigns. It was clear that the team was not enough with what it had, although it put up a fight: it reached the Conference semifinals twice in a row and in the 2024-2025 season it went one step further and was eliminated in the Eastern finals.
With character and determination, especially in defense, it was not enough. The main failure was in attack and that was the compelling reason for the search for a new direction in the technical direction.
Mike Brown, with credit in the Knicks bank
New York Knicks finished in third place in the East in the regular season with a record of 53 wins and 29 losses. That was the fourth best record for a coach in his first full season with the Big Apple team. A great initial step that will need to be confirmed in the playoffs.
The coach not only supported the concept of the outstanding defense that the team had developed in previous seasons, with Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Michael Bridges as pillars in this aspect, but also improved the records: the Knicks had the seventh best defensive efficiency (112.3) in the league and had ranked thirteenth in that area the previous season (113.3).
The offensive dynamic, always with Brunson and Towns as leaders, had a clear improvement in triples converted: 14.2 in 2025-2026, 10th in the NBA, against 12.6 in 2024-2025, 24th in the league.
The starting quintet is a guarantee. Without a doubt, one of the best in the league. But it has already been proven that it is not enough to achieve the goal.
The gratifying step forward that the substitutes took in the definition of the NBA Cup, with Jordan Clarkson, Mitchell Robinson and Tyler Kolek as standard bearers it was not sustained with the necessary consistency. In fact, Kolek dropped out of the rotation and then got injured. Both they and Miles McBride, Landry Shamet and even Jose Alvarado They can contribute positively to help the team grow. Brown is going to require them at specific times and they must be up to the task.
Thibodeau’s teams, which had raised hopes, had that flaw: they fell short in the rotation and did not find substitutes who offered real solutions.
Brown’s wisdom in planning tactics and strategies in each game of each series, in addition to managing energy and emotions, will be a key factor for the Knicks who do not want to drown on the shore again.
Brunson, the hope of the Knicks
Since he emerged from Luka Doncic’s shadow at Dallas Mavericks and arrived in New York in the 2022-2023 campaign, Brunson emerged as a reference for the team.
The point guard is the NYK’s top scorer and assister, but above all he is the one who takes charge of the decisive moments and honors his clutch player award from last season. If the ball burns, nothing better than giving it to Brunson.
This season, the Knicks went 18-8 (69.2%) when JB scored 30 or more points.
If he is not there, the structure falls apart. However, he is not one of those players who monopolizes all the lights: he knows how to create an environment in which everyone feels important.
Brunson alone is not enough. Without Brunson it can’t be done.
Karl-Anthony Towns, the great unknown
To climb to the top of the NBA, the Knicks need the best version of Karl-Anthony Towns. The Dominican pivot intersperses moments of lucidity with others that are absolutely opaque.
Shaquille O’Neal already warned it in his The Big Podcast with Shaq: “Do you know what scares me about the Knicks? I don’t know which version of Katie I’m going to get. Is it a tiger or a kitten? I mean, seriously. Sometimes she plays great, and other times she disappears.”
Towns’ arrival to the team last season generated high expectations. He was pointed out as the missing piece to complete the puzzle. Also, he was marked as one of those responsible for not having achieved the objective.
“I was always full of pressure and I have been held to a higher level than others. I understand that this entails criticism, and even more so when one is not successful,” reflected the Dominican.
The Knicks, in this campaign, achieved a mark of 39-17 (69.6%) when KAT recorded a double-double, a statistical area in which he was the league leader.
If Towns is focused, the illusions multiply. “As a team, it is a blessing to have high expectations and standards. That means we are doing things right. My entire career has been based on getting that ring and winning,” he said.
Towns’ desire is that of all the Knicks.
Reach the Finals. Take advantage of the support of Madison Square Garden to your advantage. Win the ring. Archive the VHS. Break, once and for all, the stigma that the New York Knicks are a losing team. The time is now.
