Ranking the Top Five Moments From the Knicks’ Historic Title Run

· Yahoo Sports

The New York Knicks’ playoff run will go down as one of the most memorable in franchise history.

New York won their first championship in 53 years, defeating the San Antonio Spurs in five games. The run featured a 13-game win streak, the second-longest in NBA playoff history behind the 2017 Golden State Warriors. This team gave fans moments they will remember forever.

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Some moments hold a larger weight than others, though. Here are the top five from the team’s historic championship run.

No. 5: 51 Point Series Clinching Win Over The Hawks 

Unlike their future playoff opponents, the Atlanta Hawks gave the Knicks some trouble in their first-round matchup.

Atlanta stole Game 2 at the Garden by one point, 107-106. The Hawks then won Game 3 by a point to take a 2-1 series lead. New York responded with convincing wins in Game 4 and Game 5 to give themselves a chance to clinch the series on the road.

The Knicks had the best start to a closeout game you could ask for, outscoring the Hawks 40-15 in the first quarter. After that, they never took their foot off the gas. At halftime, New York had an 83-36 lead, the largest halftime lead in NBA playoff history. The Knicks cruised to a 140-89 victory. It set a franchise record for the largest margin of victory in a playoff game.

No. 4: Mitchell Robinson Gets Revenge on Joel Embiid

The Knicks had all the momentum on their side after taking the first two games at home against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Philly got off to a fast start in Game 3 and led by four points after the first quarter. With under a minute left in the first, Joel Embiid hit a hook shot over Mitchell Robinson. He followed it with the ‘too small’ celebration. In the second quarter, Robinson got his payback.

On a perfectly executed inbounds play, the Knicks big man caught an alley-oop pass from Jalen Brunson and dunked it over Embiid. A photo of the dunk became so viral on social media that fans brought printed-out copies of it to Game 4 to distract Embiid while shooting free throws.

New York dominated both games on the road to sweep the 76ers and advance to the Conference Finals for the second straight season.

No. 3: 22-Point Comeback Against Cleveland

The Knicks had nine days off before taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. The rust showed right away. The Cavs led by two at halftime and outscored New York 35-23 in the third quarter. With 7:52 left in the fourth, Cleveland had a 93-71 lead, looking like they would easily take Game 1.

However, the Knicks showed once again why they were a “team of destiny.”

Jalen Brunson scored 16 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter, including a game-tying floater with 19.3 seconds left to force overtime. Landry Shamet, who became an unsung hero in the playoffs, also hit a game-tying three-pointer with 45 seconds left to even the score.

In the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime, New York went on a 44-11 run. It stole Game 1 and set the tone for the series.

No. 2: Jalen Brunson’s Historic Game 5

With a chance to win their first championship since 1973, “Captain Clutch” put the team on his back.

It was another slow start. The Knicks scored just 13 points in the first quarter and trailed by five at halftime. New York’s defense kept them in it. That gave Brunson the chance to take over. He scored 15 of his 45 points in the fourth quarter to secure the title for the Knicks and the Finals MVP award for himself.

With that performance, he joined Michael Jordan as the only players to score 45 points in an NBA Finals closeout game. Brunson rose to the occasion every time he needed to, and he cemented his legacy as one of the greatest Knicks of all time, if not the greatest.

When the final buzzer of Game 5 sounded, the Knicks and their fans could finally say they were NBA champions, and a lot of that is because of the heroics of No. 11.

No. 1: OG Anunoby‘s Game-Winning Tip-In

Game 4 of the NBA Finals did not start great for the Knicks.

At halftime, the Knicks trailed the Spurs 76-49, the largest lead for a road team in NBA Finals history. It looked like the series would be tied 2-2 heading back to San Antonio, but New York refused to let that happen. By the end of the third quarter, the Knicks cut the lead to 15, putting themselves within striking distance with another quarter still to play.

The Knicks kept fighting back and took their first lead of the entire game with over a minute left in the fourth quarter. The Spurs regained a 106-105 lead, but the Knicks had one more chance to win the game.

On the final possession, Jalen Brunson attempted a long game-winning three-pointer over Spurs star Victor Wembanyama. His shot hit the front rim, but OG Anunoby crashed the boards to tip the ball in and send the Madison Square Garden crowd into a complete frenzy.

There was still 1.2 seconds left, but the Spurs failed to score, capping off the largest comeback in NBA Finals history and giving New York a commanding 3-1 series lead. Since they finished the job and won the championship, Anunoby’s tip-in will go down as the biggest shot in New York Knicks history, and perhaps one of the greatest moments in NBA Finals history.

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