Seventeen different teams — more than half of the NBA — have made it to the NBA Finals this century, a level of parity never before seen in the league’s history. Yet one notable franchise remained watching the championship round from home every spring.
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The New York Knicks.
That drought emphatically ended Monday.
Behind a 130-93 blowout Game 4 victory over Cleveland, New York swept its way through the Eastern Conference finals to advance to the Finals for the first time since 1999, where it will await the winner of a Western Conference slugfest between Oklahoma City and San Antonio that is tied 2-2.
Game 1 of the NBA Finals is June 3.
This could be a repeat of the 1999 Finals, which the Knicks lost to San Antonio in five games.
During this postseason, the Knicks have authored one of the most dominant runs in NBA history, winning 11 consecutive games by an average of 23.8 points.
There were only five lead changes in Monday’s closeout game that clinched the Knicks the Eastern Conference title, and the last came with six minutes to go in the first quarter, when New York took the lead for good en route to a landslide win. The Knicks made 19 3-pointers to just 11 for Cleveland, including Landry Shamet’s perfect 4-for-4 night off the bench. Karl-Anthony Towns scored a team-high 19 points with 14 rebounds.
Jalen Brunson scored 15 points and didn’t record a single turnover.
By sweeping the Cavaliers, the Knicks will have plenty of time to rest while the Spurs and the Thunder beat each other up in a back-and-forth Western finals. The Knicks are seeking their third NBA championship and first since 1973.
