The New York Knicks won their 51st game of the season on Monday, when they narrowly escaped Atlanta as three-point victors over the Hawks. That number may seem random at first glance, but it marked history for first-year Knicks head coach Mike Brown.
With three games left in the 2025-26 regular season, Brown has officially tied Pat Riley's mark from his first season as the team's head coach. The Knicks went 51-31 in the 1991-92 season, defeating the Detroit Pistons in the first round before losing in seven games to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls.
While the team's first season under Brown hasn't been perfect, the coach has a real opportunity to take first place. All three of the Knicks' remaining games are at home, with the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, and Charlotte Hornets coming to New York to close out the regular season.
With the support of the home crowd behind them, the Knicks just need to win one of those three games. That'll etch Brown's name over Riley's at the top of that list.
Knicks just need to win one of three at home for Brown to overtake Riley
The Celtics, Raptors, and Hornets are the second, sixth, and ninth seeds in the Eastern Conference through Tuesday, with the Knicks in third (three games back of Boston). None of those teams would necessarily represent a "desirable" matchup for a team looking to win all three games. But the Knicks just need to win one.
Having a triumvirate of playoff-level teams on the calendar can help build up to the most pivotal playoff run this team will have embarked on this century, thus far. The Knicks just have to meet the moment.
Coach Mike Brown has earned his 51st win of the season, tying Pat Riley (1991-92) for the most wins in a Knicks head coach's first season.
— NY Knicks PR (@NY_KnicksPR) April 7, 2026
The stage was set for Brown to earn a spot in Knicks history as soon as CJ McCollum's heave from beyond half-court was waved off by the officials. The Cleveland Cavaliers sitting just one game behind the Knicks in the Eastern Conference standings should be enough motivation for New York not to mail in the rest of their regular season.
But the potential to help Brown earn top-billing as the winningest first-year coach in Knicks history should sprinkle a bit of gasoline on top of the fire the team hopes to cook with throughout the postseason. Brown, the team's stars, and their entire roster and front office at large have faced plenty of criticism this season.
While this record wouldn't come close to providing fans with the satisfaction of a championship, or even a Conference Finals appearance, it would represent another notch in Brown's belt to help reassure them that he can lead this team to a title.