This isn’t the banner the Knicks envisioned chasing this season–however after a 132-120 quarterfinal victory over the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, the NBA Cup is inside attain. And up to date, restricted historical past says competing for the In-Season Event banner provides you a head begin in chasing the actual factor later down the road.
In 2023, the primary yr of the Cup, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers to assert the league’s inaugural in-season trophy. The Pacers went on to make an Jap Convention Finals look the next spring, and coming a Tyrese Haliburton Sport 7 harm away from a Cinderella ending final season.
Within the Cup’s second yr, the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder. That Thunder staff responded by successful its first NBA championship later that very same season, outlasting Indiana within the 2025 Finals.
Now it’s 12 months 3 of the league’s latest experiment — and the sample is not coincidence.
After two straight quarterfinal exits, the Knicks are one of many closing two groups standing in Las Vegas. They defeated the Toronto Raptors within the quarterfinal on Tuesday then punched their ticket to the NBA Cup Remaining agains the Magic on Saturday evening.
And similar to that, they’ve joined a brief record of groups with a 50 % likelihood of doing one thing a lot larger subsequent.
The New York Knicks are for actual. They entered the season with championship aspirations, and a 3rd of the best way by way of the yr, they’re lastly starting look the half. And whereas an In-Season Event banner was by no means the goal, competing for one has given the world a glimpse into the heights this staff’s ceiling has pushed towards this yr.
“I was one of those guys when they came up with the Cup idea, I was like, ‘Oh, man, for what? In the middle of the season? We are trying to do this and that and practice and blah, blah, blah,” head coach Mike Brown recalled after apply on Friday. “It’s a fantastic experience for everybody. You really applaud how the NBA has tried to continue to find ways to make this more meaningful across the board. So it’s a pleasure to be here.”
So the Knicks look the half. Jalen Brunson appears the half, too.
Brown has been vocal about wanting his All-Star level guard to lastly obtain MVP consideration. Performances just like the one Brunson delivered Saturday make it inconceivable to have the dialog with out him.
The Knicks’ captain dissected an Orlando protection particularly constructed to grind him down — a bodily, switch-heavy unit designed to make each contact uncomfortable. As a substitute, Brunson made it look simple: 40 factors and eight assists on 16-of-27 taking pictures from the sphere in New York’s highest-pressure recreation of the season.
“Yeah, [the Magic] are really physical. That’s what [Orlando’s head coach, Jamahl Mosley] prides himself on. The way that they have been able to do it makes them very successful,” Brunson informed reporters after apply on Friday. “There’s a lot of ways you combat it. Obviously with physicality. But I would move it, with space and transition, getting stops and running. I think no matter what, they are going to play their solid basketball. We have to play ours and do it to the best of our abilities.”
Karl-Anthony Cities completed with 29 factors and eight rebounds, and OG Anunoby added 24 factors on 8-of-13 taking pictures from the sphere, because the Knicks superior to a 17-0 file in video games they lead after three quarters.
Jalen Suggs scored 26 factors for the Orlando Magic however left within the second half because of harm. Paolo Banchero scored 25 factors, and Desmond Bane added 18, however the Magic couldn’t match New York’s firepower with each groups lacking key contributors on the harm report. Miles McBride is nursing an ankle harm, and Landry Shamet is recovering from a shoulder sprain, whereas fringe All-Star Franz Wagner stays out with a excessive ankle sprain of his personal.
Now it’s yet another recreation in Las Vegas in opposition to the perfect of the West. The NBA Cup is starting to be a real playoff preview, and the Knicks live as much as the early billing they will compete for his or her first title in a long time this season.
