The New York Knicks are one win away from reaching the NBA Finals. And they’ve gotten into this position on the strength of a 10-game winning streak like no other in team history.
Or NBA history, for that matter.
They trailed Atlanta 2-1 in Round 1, which seems like forever ago. They’re 10-0 since, after winning the final three games against the Hawks, then sweeping Philadelphia in Round 2, and now taking a 3-0 lead over Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals.
It looks easy, but Knicks coach Mike Brown noted, “there’s nothing easy about this” and added having “a little bit of luck” helps as well.
“They’re doing the things I always talk about: they’re holding each other accountable, they’re believing in the process, they’re playing with a competitive spirit that is unmatched,” Brown said. “If you do those things while focusing on the detail and communicating and bringing energy and effort you have a chance to string some games together.”
A look inside the numbers of this monthlong stretch by the Knicks:
The Knicks have won these 10 consecutive playoff games by a combined 225 points. There’s never been such a one-sided 10-game stretch in NBA history — regular season or playoffs.
Before this playoff run, the most lopsided score differential in a 10-game winning streak for the Knicks came from Oct. 24 through Nov. 11, 1969 — 168 points. New York won the NBA title that season.
The most one-sided 10-game winning streak in playoff history was turned in by the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors, who outscored opponents by 171 during that stretch on their way to that season’s title. Among the assistant coaches on that Warriors staff was Mike Brown, now the Knicks’ head coach.
And the NBA record for point differential in any 10-game stretch, before now, was a 214-point margin by the Milwaukee Bucks during the 1973-74 season. The Bucks went 9-1 in those games. The most lopsided differential during a 10-game winning streak was also by the Bucks, who outscored opponents by 212 points from Feb. 11 through Feb. 24, 1971.
New York’s 10-game winning streak is tied for the fifth-longest in a single postseason.
Golden State started 15-0 in the 2017 playoffs. San Antonio won 12 straight in the 1999 playoffs, and the Los Angeles Lakers had a pair of 11-game playoff winning streaks — first in 1989, when they got swept by Detroit in the NBA Finals, and again in 2001 when they topped Philadelphia for the title.
The Knicks join Boston (2024), Cleveland (2016 and 2017), San Antonio (2012) and New Jersey (2003) in having 10-game winning streaks in the same postseason.
Before this season, the Knicks’ longest playoff winning streak (in the same season) was a six-game run in 1999.
New York has scored 1,222 points during the winning streak. The Knicks are the eighth team to have scored that many points during a 10-game postseason stretch.
Of the previous seven, five went on to win NBA titles — Golden State in 2017, the Lakers in 1987, the Lakers in 1985, Philadelphia in 1967 and Boston in 1959.
The two that did not — Denver in 1985 and San Antonio in 1983.
Shooting during the streak
The Knicks are shooting 53.8% during this 10-game winning streak, by far the best in the NBA since this run began on April 25.
Oklahoma City is shooting 50.1% since that date. No other team in the league is over 50% over those last four weeks.
New York is 5-0 in its last five playoff road games — tying the longest such streak in team history. Last season’s Knicks also had a five-game road winning streak.
But all five of the wins in this Knicks’ streak have come by double figures — tying the longest such run in NBA playoff history.
Miami won five consecutive road games by double digits in 2013, and Golden State did it in 2017. Both of those clubs won NBA titles in those seasons.
