The Knicks Finally Did Everything Right and Won a Deserved NBA Title

This is being framed as a summer for the underdogs, with Arsenal ending its league drought and Alexander Zverev winning a Grand Slam, but the biggest surprise is the New York Knicks. They are now NBA champions, described in the piece as the league’s best team and a fully deserved winner, even if that still sounds unreal after decades of dysfunction in New York.

The article says the Knicks long looked like a fake basketball empire, built on market size and celebrity rather than results. Since 1973, their teams were mostly bad and their management disastrous. Even this summer appeared to bring another poor decision, replacing Tom Thibodeau after a trip to the Eastern Conference finals with Mike Brown.

Yet in the playoffs, New York remained standing when so many other contenders fell. The team still lacks the bench that hurt it last year, but Brown gave more minutes to the second unit and more rest to Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby so they could finish games. Brunson also transformed his reputation, going from overlooked outsider to a player the final reportedly made into a Hall of Fame level name. In Game 5, he scored half of the team’s points in a low-scoring win.

The piece credits New York with elite defense, a player who can create baskets from nothing, and significant luck. It notes that they faced a 2026 version of the San Antonio Spurs, not the stronger 2027 group, and says that meeting helped prepare San Antonio for the future. With another year of experience, a first Finals series, and better understanding of how to use Victor Wembanyama, that Spurs team could become a powerhouse. For now, though, the Knicks seized the moment, pulling off big comebacks, playing excellent basketball at times, sweeping two series in a row, and winning all three road games against the Western Conference champions.