The Knicks’ run to the 2026 NBA championship didn’t just ignite the city and break a half-century curse, it was one of the most dominant runs in recent history. After falling behind 2-1 to Atlanta in the first round, the Knicks rattled off 13 consecutive postseason victories, tied for the second-longest streak ever.
It’s fair to ask where this team ranks compared to other champions. Few plowed through their conference like these Knicks, and though they’ll have additional chances to run it back with this core, even this year alone may put them in a higher tier than most.
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To narrow down the scope, we’ll focus on this millennium’s champions, the past 26 dating back to 2000. Let’s dive in.
New York’s best historic argument would be the statistical one. Its constant drubbing of Eastern Conference foes — including wins by 51, 39 and 37 points in each of the first three rounds, respectively — profiles it among the most dangerous squads in history.
Its average margin of victory topped any of the recent champions’, even the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors and 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers, legendary teams that boasted through the postseason with only one loss apiece. They also topped the list in offensive rating, sneaking by the 2023 Denver Nuggets.
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Its defensive metrics can’t stack up to the radically different era of the 2000s, though it boasted the best defensive rating of everybody in the NBA’s recent parity streak of no repeat champions. It finished on par with the 2005 San Antonio Spurs and 2019 Toronto Raptors for reference — not as impenetrable as the peak Warriors or LeBron James’ Heat, but no slouches either.
Fans will often point to the strength of a champion’s opponents, and here the Knicks have a tough hill to climb. In terms of strictly regular season record, New York is in the bottom tier when compared to other champs, beating a couple teams that finished in the mid 40s.
Standouts include the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers that dethroned the 73-win Warriors, plus the early 2000s Lakers that had to fight through multiple high-50s winners. In New York’s defense, its final foe was a 62-win Spurs team, the second-toughest record any team trumped in the championship round within the past 26 years, with a nasty net rating to boot.
What about on-paper talent? People might have viewed Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart as far less of a super team mere weeks ago, but we’re effectively talking about an MVP-caliber player, two more top-25 guys, collectively four All-Star level players plus a couple star role players.
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Unfortunately for New York, this isn’t much of a separator when stacked up against dynastic teams like the Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant-led Lakers, the four-time champion Spurs and most LeBron teams. Even one-offs like the 2008 Boston Celtics or 2004 Detroit Pistons are debatable.
But championships aren’t won on paper, they’re won on the court. Unfortunately, we won’t ever get to see these Knicks compete with the greats that came before them.
Were they able to, even the most optimistic of Knicks fans wouldn’t be able to expect an edge over the dynastic Lakers, Spurs and Warriors. That already puts them far behind in the rankings, though their talent and production would make them a good fight for the champions that didn’t reign over multiple seasons.
They have a strong argument for being one of the better teams since Kevin Durant left the Warriors and the NBA failed to find a repeat champion. New York topped Boston in last year’s playoffs when neither were at their peaks, routinely dominated Denver in recent years, and are deeper than the 2020 Lakers or 2021 Bucks.
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Dig back further and things get murkier. LeBron’s earlier championship teams and Bryant’s latter-year Lakers certainly wouldn’t be easy.
Until we get a chance to see this group try to recapture its magic over the next few seasons, it will be hard to paint it in an appropriate historical context. What we know for sure was this was a standout run to the title from a standout collective of professionals, and the NBA should fear what they do next.
