I’m shaking as I write this. I hardly got any sleep last night after witnessing my beloved Knicks win Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals, marking their fourth win and sealing their status as champions. I still can’t believe it, and I keep reading the news and scrolling social media as if I need to confirm that yes, we did in fact win the Finals.
It’s been 53 years since New York won a championship. It’s been 27 years since we were in the Finals. (Coincidentally, we were playing against the Spurs then too. And then, the Spurs won games 1, 2, 4, and 5….and the Knicks won exactly the same games this year.) There have been so many years of heartbreak and pain, of broken dreams and mismanagement.
I had high hopes at the start of this season. After all, we had made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last year. And I had greater expectations after the trade deadline. (Leon Rose is a mastermind!). Did I expect the Knicks to make it to the Finals? I did. Did I expect the Knicks to win it all? To be honest, I was hesitant about that. The West is so strong and the NBA/refs love SGA and Wemby. But I saw a glimmer of hope when the Spurs won the Western Conference because we match up better against them and we had already beaten them in the NBA Cup.
What I didn’t expect was the generational run that my boys had in the Playoffs leading up to the Finals. After being down 1-2 against the Hawks in the first round (losing both games by 1 point each), they suddenly started playing like they were on a mission. And they did not lose. THEY WON THIRTEEN STRAIGHT PLAYOFF GAMES.. They swept the Sixers and the Cavaliers.
Two of those games were the first two games of the Finals, in enemy territory.
The Finals were nerve-wracking. The Spurs had double-digit leads in each of the games we won, only for us to come back in the fourth quarter. Game 4 was the legendary 29-point comeback game, the largest comeback in the history of the NBA Finals, where we won by 1 point thank to the “Hand of OG.” The Knicks seemed intent on giving us heart attacks this series, but they sure delivered.
And I am so, so proud of them.
How can you not love this team? The humble, hard-working captain. The Hart of the city. The stoic, two-way competitor. The big man who steps up. The one who shows he’s worth those picks. And our bench! We have gone from a non-performing bench to one of the deepest benches in the league.
I purposely didn’t write about the Knicks during their playoffs run or during the Finals because I was afraid to jinx them. J bought me a new Knicks shirt which arrived in time for Game 4 and I wore it for their miracle game. I declared it was good luck and washed it yesterday morning so that I could wear it that night for Game 5…only to immediately regret it. What if I washed away all the luck? I also brought out my Jalen Bruson Funko Pop because he had a tremendous game when I first acquired it, and I was hoping he would have another big game for Game 5 because he hadn’t had one all series.
It turns out I hadn’t washed away the luck. And Brunson did have a colossal game, scoring 45 points.
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All of New York is celebrating. People who don’t even watch basketball are elated. The vibes are immaculate. (Isn’t it hilarious how the only game that the Knicks lost is the one that Trump attended? As they said, “My mayor is Muslim, my bagels are Jewish, Trump killed the vibes, Knicks in five.” 
) Mamdani declared that the victory parade will be held on Thursday.
We’ve been through seasons where the Knicks won only 17 games. We just witnessed them win 16 in a playoff run.
I cried when the Knicks lost the Finals in ’99. I cried again when they won it all in 2026.
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