The morning after the New York Knicks swept their way into the NBA Finals, First Take turned to the only question left: can they actually win it?
Jalen Brunson, named Eastern Conference Finals MVP, kept the focus on the group in his postgame remarks. "It means a lot, but I wouldn't be here without my teammates — the belief they had in me, this coaching staff, this organization, this fan base," Brunson said. "Without them, none of this is possible. It's an honor to be able to do this back with the team that I grew up cheering for my whole entire life."
Stephen A. Smith had no reservations. "They winning. They winning a chip," he declared, before adding a note of realism: "The New York Knicks will walk into the NBA Finals as the clear underdog, and they will deserve it." Smith drew a contrast with the franchise's last Finals run, in 1999, when New York ran into a Tim Duncan and David Robinson Spurs team that left little doubt about the outcome. This time, he argued, the feeling is different — a team that can genuinely find a way to get it done.
Kendrick Perkins went further. "I do trust the Knicks, and I believe they have a real shot at winning the NBA championship," he said. "The Knicks have been the best basketball team in this postseason, offensively and defensively, in my opinion." Perkins singled out the two players at the heart of the run, calling Brunson "the best player in the Eastern Conference" and Karl-Anthony Towns "a top-three big in the NBA." He also pointed to New York's depth of two-way wings — OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges — as the championship ingredient Oklahoma City rode to a title a year ago.
Not everyone was ready to commit. Cam'ron, who had picked the Knicks to reach the Finals before the season, stopped short of trusting them to win it, warning that the level of competition awaiting them out West would be a clear step up from anything they faced in the East. Still, the rapper liked what he saw in Brunson's businesslike demeanour after the clincher, noting there were no celebrations or smiles in the postgame interviews — just a team that looked like its work was unfinished.
The numbers behind the hype are hard to ignore. New York rode an 11-game playoff win streak into the Finals, winning by an average of nearly 24 points, with Anunoby averaging better than 18 points on 57 percent shooting through the run. It is the franchise's first Finals appearance since 1999 and its first realistic title shot since the championship drought began in 1973.
Whoever emerges from the Western Conference Finals, the consensus on set was that this version of the Knicks has earned the right to be taken seriously — even as the underdog.
