Why it’s time to take Knicks seriously as NBA title contender

Ladies and gentlemen, the New York Knicks have officially arrived.

It’s been a long, grueling path. They play a brand of basketball that merges their blue collar roots with modern elements like a faster pace. And their fans not only set an incredible home environment, but also travel to—and regularly takeover—opponents’ arenas.

It is a thing of beauty for long-suffering Knicks’ fans, and it’s all led to them being taken seriously as a threat to win a long-coveted NBA championship—their first since 1973.

Knicks’ recent success makes them hard to ignore

That fact that New York has become a real championship contender is becoming harder to ignore by the day. The Knicks have accumulated a 10-game postseason winning streak. New York hasn’t had a 10-game winning streak since 2013. And the 2025-26 Knicks are only the tenth team in NBA history to achieve a 10-game winning streak in the postseason; five of which went on to win the championship.

But the streak is a product of how the Knicks are playing, and that’s what deserves closer examination. New York has been the best team in the playoffs thus far, bar none. The Knicks are averaging 122.2 points per game over the past 10 games, and they’re surrendering fewer than 100 points per game (99.7).

Those numbers are similar to what they’ve done throughout the entire playoffs, over which time they’ve scored 119.2 points per game and surrendered 101.2. For context, the Oklahoma City Thunder—the next highest scoring team in the postseason—are averaging 117.7 points per game in the playoffs.

Additionally, all Knicks starters are averaging 10 or more points per game, and their bench is averaging more than 30 points per game. New York is also averaging the second-most rebounds among all remaining teams, which is good for fourth overall among all playoff teams (43.9 per game).

How Knicks matchup with possible Western Conference foes

The Knicks are just one win away from the NBA Finals. So, looking ahead is understandable—though the finals aren’t yet a guarantee. Still, it’s fair to consider what’s to come.

New York played well against the San Antonio Spurs in the regular season. Mike Brown and company split their regular season matchups with the Spurs 1-1; however, if you consider the NBA Cup Championship, the Knicks won the season series 2-1. And they won with a good deal on the line in the cup championship, 124-113. In that game, New York limited Victor Wembanyama to 18 points on 7-for-17 shooting.

Conversely, the Knicks were beaten by the Thunder in both regular season matchups. They also lost both games against the Thunder last season.

However, the Knicks have looked like an entirely different team since going down 2-1 in their first-round series with the Atlanta Hawks. Over the last 10 games, they’ve been decisive, resilient, and they’ve executed incredibly well on both ends of the floor. They are taking care of the basketball, committing fewer mindless fouls, and arguing less with referees.

The Knicks absolutely have to remain locked in for Game 4 against the Cavaliers. But if they play like they’ve been playing over the past 10 games, there is little to worry about in closing out the Eastern Conference Finals. The NBA Finals is a different story altogether, but the Knicks must be taken seriously as championship contenders now. And even if they’re not, they’ll just keep doing what they’ve been doing.

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