For the past few years, the New York Knicks have seemingly been right on the cusp of running the postseason gamut and winning their first Larry O'Brien Trophy since 1973, only to then be held back by some sort of derailment.
During a recent appearance on The Zach Lowe Show, Bleacher Report's Mo Dakhil discussed this phenomenon in depth, stating that, despite their high-end odds of representing the Eastern Conference in the 2026 NBA Finals, he would "take the field" from a betting standpoint, for, as he explained, "it's the Knicks, man, something always happens."
"Sorry, folks, it's not the most amazing analysis, but it's the Knicks. Something always kind of comes together... [Tyrese] Haliburton's shot hits the back of the rim, pops straight up, waits in the air for 10 seconds, then drops straight down. It's all those types of things that happen. It seems to always happen to the Knicks in the playoffs," Dakhil said.
Knicks have history of poor luck in postseason
During his bad juju assessment, Dakhil described New York's lackluster playoff track record as being influenced by "weird forces."
Sadly, this cursed feeling is nothing new to the organization or its fan base.
Though Dakhil may have only mentioned Haliburton's ridiculous Game 1 buzzer-beater from last year's Eastern Conference Finals, the Knicks have fallen victim to similar levels of playoff misfortunes for decades.
From John Starks going 0-for-11 from deep in Game 7 of the 1994 NBA Finals after having a highly efficient 5-for-9 showing in the previous contest to JR Smith being suspended for Game 4 of the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals after elbowing Celtics guard Jason Terry, an act that threw him out of synch for the rest of their two-round run, the Knicks are no strangers to unfortunate happenings.
Even outside of round three of the 2025 playoffs, this current Knicks core has ample examples of poor postseason luck, especially when it comes to the health department -- Jalen Brunson's right knee in 2023; OG Anunoby's hamstring in 2024; Mitchell Robinson... always.
Already this season, they've dealt with a wide range of injuries and have been forced to use eight different starting lineups in just 19 games played as a result.
Now, if they can find a way to remain healthy come and throughout playoff time, New York should have as good a chance as any Eastern Conference club to punch their ticket to the championship round.
After all, their presumed full-strength starting lineup of Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Mitchell Robinson ranks in the 97 percentile in effective field goal percentage (60.0) and the 100 percentile in points per 100 possessions (139.1) and point differential (+52.9).
However, that's a tall ask for this constantly bruised and battered Knicks roster, and, even if they were to somehow find good fortunes in this department, Dakhil believes that another debilitating hurdle is likely to pop up.