Ahead of the final round of the 2026 Eastern Conference Playoffs, Mike Brown showed his New York Knicks a video. It was a compilation of their own reactions to the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals.
Just a calendar year before their series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the organization had made its first appearance in the third round of the playoffs since 1999-2000. They met the exact same fate as they did 25 years before, losing in six games to a Pacers team that would go on to lose to the Western Conference Champion in the NBA Finals.
By forcing his group to relive their Game 1 collapse and overall series loss to Tyrese Haliburton's Pacers, Brown reminded the Knicks they had something that the San Antonio Spurs simply couldn't have. They knew what it felt like to fail on a major postseason stage. Despite New York's NBA Cup win over San Antonio just a few months earlier, they had a much better idea of what it would feel like to lose the 2026 NBA Finals.
In a world where teams either win or learn, though, the Knicks taught the lesson. Now, the Spurs have Tobias Harris on their side as they gear up for Victor Wembanyama's age-23 playoff run. And they have the kind of empirical experience that young playoff squads can really only get the hard way.
Knicks' historic 29-point comeback was Spurs' toughest pill to swallow
San Antonio had the talent to beat the Knicks in the NBA Finals. They held at least a 10-point lead in all five games of the season's final series. Their problem was that they blew four of those leads. Their relative inexperience resulted in some missed moments. The margin for those errors doesn't exist in the NBA Finals.
Most of the Knicks didn't bring any NBA Finals experience with them into the series. Leon Rose, however, built a team of veteran players with chips on their shoulders. They, and their coach with championship experience from his days with the Golden State Warriors, were ready to go.
Even amid a postseason full of impressive closeout blowouts, New York's Game 4 victory was potentially the toughest blow they dealt any opponent. The Knicks made NBA Finals history with their 29-point comeback at Madison Square Garden — the greatest single-game comeback ever.
The Spurs, on the other hand, were the team on the wrong end of that history. They seemingly lost a bit of their collective soul each time the Knicks closed the gap. Any time that San Antonio group takes a lead in a playoff game, they'll have to face the reality that — if it isn't greater than a 29-point advantage — it just might not be good enough for them.
That will motivate them in the future. It's the same kind of lesson the Dallas Mavericks taught the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2024. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's group responded to that Western Conference Semifinals loss with an NBA Finals win the very next season.
The Knicks are trying to become the first NBA team in almost a decade to repeat as champions. And the Spurs, with improved depth and painfully invaluable experience, are one of their biggest threats.
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