For most of this NBA season, the Eastern Conference crown has felt like a consolation prize - a nice piece of hardware, sure, but one that came with an unspoken asterisk: good luck against Oklahoma City. The Thunder weren’t just winning; they were steamrolling.
A 24-1 start tied them with the 2015-16 Warriors for the best 25-game opening in league history - a stat that didn’t just pop, it punched. At that pace, they weren’t just leading the league - they were daring anyone to chase them.
But over the weekend, something shifted.
The Thunder lost. Not just any loss, either - this one came in a high-stakes, prime-time matchup with San Antonio.
Oklahoma City was healthy. Locked in.
And still, they lost to a Spurs team that had Victor Wembanyama on a minutes restriction. It wasn’t a fluke.
It was a crack in the armor.
Suddenly, the narrative changed. Not just for December.
For April. For May.
For June.
The air of inevitability surrounding the Thunder evaporated. That loss didn’t just dent their record - it reshaped the landscape.
The idea that the East was playing for second? That’s out the window.
And for a team like the Knicks, that shift matters - a lot.
Let’s talk about New York.
Beating the Raptors and Magic to reach the NBA Cup Final didn’t just get the Knicks into a showcase game - it gave them something they haven’t had in a long time: belief. Tangible, earned belief.
And now, with Oklahoma City watching from home, the Knicks aren’t chasing a dream. They’re chasing a trophy.
On Tuesday night, they won’t be facing the league’s juggernaut. They won’t be staring down the preseason favorite.
They’ll be going up against the best team left standing - the San Antonio Spurs. And in a season that’s already flipped the script once, who’s to say it can’t flip again in June?
Now, let’s be real: the NBA Cup isn’t the Larry O’Brien Trophy. It’s not the end goal.
But in a franchise that hasn’t raised a championship banner in over 50 years, any banner matters. Especially one earned in a high-stakes, national spotlight game - the kind of moment this building hasn’t seen in decades.
To get it, the Knicks will have to go through a Spurs team that’s far from a feel-good story.
San Antonio has been quietly building something dangerous. Their 18-7 start speaks for itself.
They knocked off the reigning champs in the semifinals. And they’ve done it while managing Wembanyama’s minutes and missing him for stretches entirely.
This isn’t just a team that’s ahead of schedule - it’s a team that knows exactly who it is.
They’re young, but they don’t play like it. They’re explosive, but under control. Mitch Johnson, a product of the Gregg Popovich coaching tree, has this group playing with discipline and edge - a tough combo to beat.
Still, they’re not the Thunder. And that’s important.
No one has a clean solution for Wembanyama - the guy looks like he was built in a lab for playoff basketball. But the Knicks have options.
OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Mitchell Robinson give them a mix of length, strength, and switchability that few teams can match. They’ll miss Miles McBride (ankle) and Landry Shamet (shoulder) when it comes to guarding the Spurs’ dynamic perimeter trio of Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, and De’Aaron Fox, but Anunoby and Bridges just passed some serious postseason tests last spring.
They’re battle-tested, and that matters in a game like this.
Then there’s Jalen Brunson.
This is his moment. The Knicks’ closer.
The guy who gets the last word. Brunson dropped 40 on Orlando with the pressure cranked to playoff levels - and if we’ve learned anything about him, it’s that pressure doesn’t shrink his game.
It sharpens it. His scoring is up this year even though he’s spending less time with the ball in his hands.
That’s not just efficiency - that’s evolution.
Tuesday night is the Knicks’ biggest game since the 1999 Finals. That’s not hyperbole. That’s just the reality of a franchise that’s spent most of the last two decades searching for relevance, let alone contention.
Coming into the season, New York had what felt like a puncher’s chance. The kind of shot you take because, hey, someone’s got to win.
But now? With the Thunder knocked off their pedestal - even if just for one night - that chance feels a little more real.
Oklahoma City is still the standard. Winning four out of seven against them in a playoff series might still be the tallest task in the league.
But Saturday night proved something: they can be beat. And if they’re not standing in the way come July, the path might just be open.
That starts Tuesday in Las Vegas. If the Knicks can leave with the NBA Cup in hand, it won’t just validate their December run. It’ll signal something more.
A warning shot. A message. A reminder that this team isn’t just here to compete - they’re here to contend.
“Being in an environment like this, it’s a great experience for all of us, especially having the feel of a single-elimination game,” said head coach Mike Brown. “There was no, ‘Hey, let’s go get them tomorrow,’ or, ‘Let’s figure it out.’ Everybody kind of hangs on to that during the course of the game.”
The Knicks are hanging on, too. But not for dear life - for opportunity.