Every historic record Knicks broke en route to their 2026 NBA championship

Every historic record Knicks broke en route to their 2026 NBA championship originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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All the people in Manhattan, along with everyone who has ever gotten a 917 area code, are in a celebratory mood, or as Billy Joel would call it, ‘a New York State of Mind’. The New York Knicks have finally won their third NBA championship after a 53-year title drought. There were big moments from Jalen Brunson’s insane scoring barrages, OG Anunoby’s massive Game 6 tip-in over the San Antonio Spurs, and even massive all-around nights from Karl-Anthony Towns, among others.

Let’s walk down the past few weeks and unearth all the records the Knicks broke as they won the 2026 NBA championship over the Spurs.

NBA Playoffs Round 1: Knicks vs. Hawks

This series against the Hawks may have been the biggest challenge that the Knicks faced in a long while, heck, maybe even throughout the whole NBA Playoffs. Jalen Brunson and Co. started off their postseason campaign right with an impressive 113-102 win in Game 1. It was Game 2 of this NBA Playoffs series when history became synonymous with the title run.

See, the Knicks led by as much as 12 points heading into the fourth quarter of Game 2. Then, disaster struck. They lost 107-106, and they had just blown their fourth-biggest last-period lead in franchise history. Knicks fans started seeing double because the last time that happened, Reggie Miller was on the Indiana Pacers, and it was Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, per ESPN Insights. This same game was the reason for the choke taunt that NBA fans know very well.

More: Watch Timothee Chalamet, Tracy Morgan, others react to Knicks NBA title

After that collapse and a CJ McCollum buzzer-beater to learn from, the Knicks went on a roll. Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns went ballistic in Game 4 to tie the series with the Hawks. They became the only two Knicks players to have ever gotten a triple-double in the postseason in the last 50 years, per StatMuse.

Towns also joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only two seven-footers to have multiple postseason triple-doubles in league history. The impact? Well, the Knicks found their playmaker through the big man’s development. Brunson and Co. finished the Hawks series shooting 71% (36-51) off of Towns’ passes.

A fight breaks out after the Knicks go up by 50 points on the Hawks 😳 pic.twitter.com/GlMy3DWqcM

— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) May 1, 2026

As a collective, the Knicks were also insane in their closeout performance in Game 6. Remember that? For those who don’t, this was the game where they blew out the Hawks with a mind-blowing 140-89 score. Brunson led the Knicks to the biggest halftime lead in NBA Playoffs history (47 points), the largest lead in a playoff game during the play-by-play era (61 points), and the most points in Knicks playoffs history (140 points).

They only needed 12 more wins to end the 53-year drought. At that point, there were already signs of an NBA championship brewing. The Knicks were first among all teams in postseason field goal percentage, had the highest true shooting percentage, won by an average of 19.5 points per game, and had the highest net rating in NBA Playoffs history.

NBA Playoffs Second round: Knicks vs. 76ers

Lopsided seems to be an understatement when describing this series. It was all on display during Game 1, a 138-89 victory. Brunson and Towns had all the momentum while Joel Embiid ran out of gas. The record books show it too. The Knicks led by 30 or more points in their last three games against the Hawks and the 76ers. They became the only team in the play-by-play era to have led by this much in the NBA Playoffs. Moreover, New York also became the first team in NBA history to have won three-straight postseason games by 25 points or more. The stretch where the Knicks won Game 6 against the Hawks (140-89) and Game 1 over the 76ers (137-98) was the highest-scoring game in their franchise’s history.

By the middle of this series, Jalen Brunson was already starting to become the greatest Knicks player of all time. He led all players who have ever suited up for New York in playoff points per game, playoff assists per game, and playoff three-pointers made.

Towns was also no slouch at this point. He shot 59% on contested shots when this part of the postseason arrived. The Knicks’ big man consequently logged the best contested field goal percentage in NBA Playoff history. He scored 60 points on those difficult shots. It became apparent that the Knicks found their other key to winning.

More: Watch Knicks fans celebrate first NBA title in 53 years

This series against the 76ers was a sweep, but this does not mean that there were no historically anomalous numbers that came out.

By the start of Game 4 and with all hopes to close this NBA Playoffs series out, the Knicks tied the record for most three-pointers (11) in a single postseason quarter. They trampled the 76ers with an eye-popping 144-114 win. The Knicks also became the fourth team in league history to have notched multiple 30-point wins to close out a series in a single NBA Playoffs run. The other squads to have done it were the 2025 Oklahoma City Thunder, 2008 Boston Celtics, and 1987 Los Angeles Lakers.

The Knicks are headed to back-to-back Conference Finals 🗽 pic.twitter.com/ij0l39G7yH

— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) May 10, 2026

The common denominator among all these teams? Well, they all won the NBA championship. After the second round, it became apparent that the Knicks were not a team of fate but a squad that earned its wins.

Eastern Conference Finals: Knicks vs. Cavs

Much like the island of Manhattan, the effort to get the Knicks over the Eastern Conference Finals hump was collective. The Cleveland Cavaliers were touted as a highly surgical defensive team that just so happened to have Donovan Mitchell and James Harden. This is where the numbers start to become less individual.

It started off with a Knicks defensive masterclass in Game 1. See, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby terrorized the Cavs’ star scoring duo. They only allowed the team from Cleveland to score 16 points in the opening quarter of this NBA Playoffs series. This was the fewest that the Cavs had scored in a period throughout the whole postseason.

Pitfalls were still evident in this game, but the Knicks started to get streaky in scoring, a postseason possession that no other team was able to stop. After being down 22 points, the Knicks ended up winning Game 1 in overtime through having the second-largest NBA Playoffs fourth quarter comeback in the 21st century. They were only behind the 2012 Los Angeles Clippers that dismantled a Memphis Grizzlies 24-point lead.

How analytically insane was this comeback? The Knicks’ win probability was at a 0.1%. A lot of NBA Playoffs squads since 1998 have lost the game when they went down by as much as 22 points. In fact, only one squad out of 594 was able to come back from this large a deficit. The Knicks joined them as only the second team to have done that. Brunson was the clutch key to this win, and the record showed it. His eight field goals throughout the fourth quarter and overtime were more than the seven-field-goal scoring output he had in the first three quarters combined.

Jalen Brunson finished with 14 assists, a new playoff career high for him. pic.twitter.com/UNvhouZc3E

— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) May 22, 2026

Entering Game 3, it was apparent that the Knicks were headed for a 53-year ending run. They won nine straight games and had a massive +212 point differential. This was the best throughout a nine-game span in league history. They also proceeded to win a 10th-straight game by double digits. Only one other squad was able to achieve this, and it was the 2017 Golden State Warriors. You know, the one with Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. How much were they winning by throughout this streak? The Knicks had an average win margin of 22.5 points.

By the time they needed to close out the Cavs, it was all just business, and everyone expected it; even Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift stayed home for Game 4. The Knicks started things off with a 20-0 run during the first half of this bout. It was the third-biggest unanswered run during an NBA Playoffs closeout game since the play-by-play era started in 1998.

They easily won 130-93 and prevented Harden from getting a title. This also meant that the Knicks’ point differential went up to 234 points, which was the most in NBA Playoffs history already. They beat out the 2017 Warriors (230) and 2014 Spurs (214).

More: How Knicks ending drought compares to most longest-suffering sports titles

Brunson and Towns’ Knicks also joined a historic list. They joined four other legendary duos that have led their teams to more than 10 consecutive NBA Playoffs wins. It was Durant and Curry’s Warriors, Tim Duncan and David Robinson’s Spurs, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal’s Los Angeles Lakers, and Magic Johnson and James Worthy’s Lakers.

To cap this NBA Playoffs series against the Cavs off, the Knicks’ average win margin during closeout games skyrocketed to 39.3 points. This still stands as the most in league history. They were also now tied for the longest win streak while entering the NBA Finals as they won 11-straight games alongside the 2001 Lakers and 1989 Lakers. Only the 2017 Warriors got to a 12-game streak and held this record.

1999 ALL OVER AGAIN! Will the Knicks beat the Spurs in the NBA Finals this time around? 🤔

Read more about the matchup here: https://t.co/0GucRKchU3pic.twitter.com/keHEXSqgXx

— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) May 31, 2026

Four more for Manhattan and it was a familiar foe, one they faced 27 years ago.

NBA Finals: Knicks vs. Spurs

Victor Wembanyama now loomed over the island of Manhattan, and he brought a hungry Spurs team with him. His matchup? It was Karl-Anthony Towns, and he was not at all worried. During the start of this series, Knicks fans would think they landed Nikola Jokic or Arvydas Sabonis. Passes from Towns led to a 69.5% field goal percentage for the Knicks. Remember that from the Hawks series? He only got better. He now owns the record for the highest field goal percentage off teammates’ passes entering the NBA Finals. The Alien needed to be scared of the feisty feline.

Game 1 was a masterclass in composure. The Knicks won with a 105-95 score to take the immediate lead. This came on the back of a 16-point comeback. Regardless, Brunson and Co. notched their seventh second-half double-digit comeback throughout their last two NBA Playoffs runs. This was the most by any team in league history. To put things into perspective, no other team has recorded more than three second-half comebacks in postseason history.

JALEN BRUNSON DROPS 30 POINTS AS THE KNICKS TAKE GAME 1 🗽 pic.twitter.com/kHAlWc7CmU

— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) June 4, 2026

Game 2 and the ending were still the same. The Knicks were behind by 12 points but still managed to win, 105-104. This marked the only time in NBA Finals history that a squad has notched double-digit comebacks throughout the first two games of the series. Brunson also headed into Game 3 with the second-longest NBA Playoffs win streak, an eighth-straight postseason road win, and the record for being only the third away team to have won the first two games of the NBA Finals.

Towns was also making waves in history at this time. He became the first Knicks player since 1973 to record a 20-point double-double in the NBA Finals while they were the road team. The last player to notch this record was NBA champion Dave DeBusschere. Alongside him, Brunson and Bridges also scored a record. See, it was only the fourth time in franchise history that the Knicks had three players notch 20 points during the NBA Finals. The last time it happened was in 1999’s Game 4 with Marcus Camby, Allan Houston, and Latrell Sprewell.

Collectively, the Knicks also scored 42 points against the Spurs in the second quarter of Game 2. This was the most an NBA Finals team has ever produced since the Milwaukee Bucks toppled the Phoenix Suns with 43 points in 2021’s Game 5. Furthermore, this Game 2 win helped them tie the 2001 Lakers as the only two teams to have the longest road game win streak in a single NBA Playoffs run.

Game 3 was gut-wrenching as all the streak records came to an end. When the big picture is looked at, they were ready to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy. All that had to happen was for the Knicks to get out of their own way after crucial mistakes led to a 115-111 loss. They did exactly that in Game 4.

More: OG Anunoby reveals who reached out after his instant Knicks classic

What was the fuss all about when the fourth bout of this Knicks-Spurs series rolled around? Nothing, just the largest NBA Finals comeback ever and the third-biggest blown lead in postseason history. The Knicks went down by as much as 29 points and still pulled off the 107-106 win. It was all due to an insane tip-in by OG Anunoby that echoed all throughout the planet – the perfect representation of what New York was all about.

OG ANUNOBY WITH THE PUTBACK.

KNICKS COMPLETE THE 29-PT COMEBACK FOR THE WIN.

LARGEST COMEBACK IN NBA FINALS HISTORY 🤯 pic.twitter.com/ZtWVWY6JsR

— NBA (@NBA) June 11, 2026

Much like the people who were doubted as they headed to the city, the Knicks led for only 53.8 seconds in this game. This was the second-lowest amount of time a winning team has spent leading in the NBA Finals since the merger in 1976-77.

Game 5 was supposed to be when the momentum started carrying the Knicks towards the Larry O’Brien trophy, but it did not come without any hardship. To start this game, they only scored 13 points in the first quarter while going 18.2% from the field. This became tied for the second-lowest scoring output of a team in NBA Finals history since the shot-clock era was ushered in 1954.

The fate of a loss could have been easily accepted after Game 5’s first quarter, but Brunson was not used to that. He scored 45 points on a 51.9% clip from the field to give the Knicks the lead over the Spurs. The Knicks found their new superstar with this outburst as Brunson usurped Willis Reed, who scored 38 points over the Lakers in 1970, to own the franchise record for most points in an NBA Finals game. That point differential? It also went up to +283.

The Knicks just finished their postseason with the greatest point differential in NBA Playoff history (+283) pic.twitter.com/MmisalL0Xn

— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) June 14, 2026

53 years is a long time in Manhattan. Sonny and Cher along with MAS*H ruled television, Stevie Wonder and the Rolling Stones were at the forefront of music, and Willis Reed was the sole king of New York. Now, the longest title drought in between NBA titles has dissipated. It was all because Brunson, Bridges, and Hart, who all won banners for the Villanova Wildcats, treated Madison Square Garden as their home even after college. They are the first trio out of the same program to have won the NCAA national championship and the NBA title. Nothing is more New York than that.

The wait is over. Who would have thought that the same kids who donned Villanova blue just needed a dash of orange a decade later to win the greatest prize in basketball? Longing for a title win since 1973 can be quite exhausting. New York deserves to flood their streets tonight and run amok with Frank Sinatra, Jay-Z, and Billy Joel blasting all over. After all, they just repelled an alien invasion and ended a five-decade drought with tears of joy.

Start spreading the news: their mayor is Muslim, their bagels are certainly still Jewish, and it looked like the Pope really was on their side.

As a heaven-sent, beautiful friend who spoke in tongues said, Knicks in five.

More Knicks News:

• WATCH: OG Anunoby’s historic tip-in gets Knicks 3-1 NBA Finals lead over Spurs

• How Jalen Brunson’s Game 5 performance made him living New York legend

• Watch Timothee Chalamet, Tracy Morgan, others react to Knicks NBA title

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