Jeff Van Gundy Says This Is the Best Knicks Playoff Run Ever. The Numbers Back Him Up.
Jeff Van Gundy coached the Knicks to the 1999 NBA Finals as an 8-seed. He knows what a Knicks playoff run looks like, and he just told everyone in television land that this one is better than his.
“This is the greatest playoff run in Knicks history,” Van Gundy said after New York finished off the Cavaliers in four games on Monday. “They still have to win it, but there’s never been a Knicks team this dominant.”
That is a strong claim from a guy who used to body up Alonzo Mourning for a living. It also happens to be true.
The Receipts Are Brutal
The Knicks won 11 straight games to close out the Eastern Conference. They swept the defending champion Indiana Pacers in five and then swept the 64-win Cavaliers in four. They are 12-2 in these playoffs. The two losses came by a combined seven points.
Jalen Brunson averaged 31 points and 8 assists in the conference finals while shooting 51% from the floor. He won Conference Finals MVP. Karl-Anthony Towns torched Cleveland inside and out. OG Anunoby locked up Donovan Mitchell. Mikal Bridges quietly hit every shot that mattered. Josh Hart did Josh Hart things and finished plus 21 in Game 4.
Tom Thibodeau, who was on a hot seat as recently as January after a 12-15 start, has the team playing harder than any defense in the league. The Knicks held Cleveland to 93 points in the closeout game. They have not lost back-to-back games since February.
How This Compares to 1999 and 1994
Van Gundy’s 1999 Knicks were a great underdog story. They beat the Heat in five, the Hawks in four, and the Pacers in six before losing to David Robinson and Tim Duncan in the Finals. But that team scratched and clawed every series. They never blew anyone out.
The 1994 Knicks under Pat Riley were dominant defensively but went seven games with the Bulls without Jordan and seven games with the Pacers. Then they lost the Finals in seven to Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets.
This 2026 team is the first Knicks team since 1973 to make the Finals after coasting through the East. Van Gundy is not exaggerating. The Knicks haven’t looked this in control of an opponent since the Willis Reed era.
The Only Question Left
Can they keep it going against either Oklahoma City or San Antonio? The Western Conference Finals are still going. The Thunder lead the Spurs 3-2 with Game 6 on Thursday. Whoever comes out of that series will be a different animal than anything the Knicks have faced.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would be the best player in this NBA Finals if Oklahoma City advances. Victor Wembanyama would be the most disruptive presence the Knicks have seen all postseason if San Antonio pulls it off.
But the Knicks have not played a series yet where they did not look like the best team on the floor. Brunson is in MVP form. Towns has answered every front-court matchup. Anunoby has not given up an easy bucket since the second round.
Van Gundy is calling this the greatest playoff run in franchise history with a Finals appearance still to be decided. If New York wins four more games, no one will argue with him.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
