Knicks fans celebrate winning the eastern conference championship against the Cleveland Cavaliers on May 25, 2026 in New York City. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
By the time the New York Knicks finished off the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night, there was barely any drama left.
At halftime, ESPN’s team of announcers donned top hats and started singing “New York, New York,” understanding that the Knicks’ already substantial lead would probably be safe in the second half. Indeed, it nearly doubled by the time the final whistle blew. This fit with the recent pattern for the Knicks: big leads that faced little threat and wins, wins, wins.
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The Cavaliers put up a fight in Game 1 but allowed the Knicks a massive overtime comeback — and then mostly rolled over in the next three games. The Knicks swept the Cavs, just as they’d swept the Philadelphia 76ers in the prior round. Before that, the Knicks faced a bit more of a challenge against the Atlanta Hawks, falling behind but then triumphing in the series by winning three games in a row. In the clinching game, the Knicks won by a jaw-dropping 51 points.
None of this is normal. And not just “not normal for the Knicks,” given the team’s not-infrequent collapses under pressure in years past. An 11-game playoff run that sees a team outscoring their opponents by more than 250 points? That doesn’t happen often. In fact, it doesn’t happen ever.
Consider just the net point differential. Over the course of the playoffs, the Knicks have outscored their opponents by a cumulative 271 points. How unusual is that? Since the 1998-99 season, the last time the Knicks earned a trip to the NBA Finals, the biggest cumulative point total a team had enjoyed was the 2016–17 Golden State Warriors, who romped to the championship by scoring 230 more points than their opponents. In other words, by 41 fewer points than the margin the Knicks have enjoyed so far this year.
And the Warriors hit the 230 mark over the course of four rounds of basketball. The Knicks have done it in three. It’s certainly the case that the Knicks could lose in the finals against either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs, the team that beat them in 1999. A finals loss would reduce their net margin. But no team has been close to the Knicks through three rounds since that year. (The 2016–17 Warriors come in second with a 196-point margin.)
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Again, though, this isn’t just an exceptional playoff run. This is also the biggest point differential of any 11-game win streak in NBA history. The Knicks have scored 262 more points than the teams they’ve beaten, the biggest gap of any 11-game streak — and the biggest gap at the 11-game point of any of the nearly 140 streaks that lasted 12 games or more.
The next largest differential in an 11-game win streak was 243 points, in a run from the 2023–24 Boston Celtics.
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On that point: I am aware that I am writing about the Knicks’ dominance as a Knicks fan for a Connecticut news outlet that is probably reaching a large number of Celtics fan. So allow me to be more thoughtful in how I talk about this stretch: Remember when the Sixers beat the Celtics in seven games and then got routed by the Knicks? That was funny.
The Celtics did have a 10-game run in last year’s playoffs, and we’re all so proud of them for that. But it pales in comparison to the Knicks’ run this year.
Look, I know that the Knicks could still collapse in the finals. I’m a Knicks fan, after all; I’ve seen such things happen. I know that the 271-point margin may very well end up slightly lower — or significantly lower.
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But I also know it could end up quite a bit higher. I know the Knicks came back from a huge deficit against the Cavaliers and have been steamrolling nearly everyone since the middle of the Hawks series. I know, too, that the Knicks have to win an NBA championship again someday, and it sure would be nice if that someday were in June 2026.
And if they don’t, I promise my loyal readers this: I will not mention it again and will be annoyed whenever anyone brings it up.