{"id":730103,"date":"2026-06-11T17:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T17:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/730103\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T17:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T17:36:10","slug":"the-new-york-knicks-have-stopped-believing-in-impossible-they-may-be-a-team-of-destiny-new-york-knicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/730103\/","title":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks have stopped believing in impossible. They may be a team of destiny | New York Knicks"},"content":{"rendered":"

What does a team of destiny look like? You know it when you see it. The evidence has been mounting for weeks \u2013 months, even \u2013 that this year, despite decades of precedent to the contrary, that team is the New York Knicks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday night, the proof overflowed in the hallowed halls of the Mecca. One of the most improbable comebacks in NBA history \u2013 and the largest ever in an NBA finals game<\/a> \u2013 saw New York erase a 29-point deficit to beat the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4, leaving Taylor Swift and members of Haim leaping for joy courtside and the 58-year-old building shaking like a bounce house.<\/p>\n

The irony, of course, is that these same Knicks have so often found themselves on the wrong end of heartbreak<\/a> in those very halls. As recently as last year, the Indiana Pacers reminded them of the sport\u2019s cruelest lesson: no game is over until the clock hits zero. In some ways, those Pacers were the last team to carry the sense of inevitability that seems to surround this Knicks squad. Their run, however, ended in crushing fashion with a Game 7 defeat. The Knicks appear mindful of that history. \u201cIt\u2019s still 0-0\u201d and \u201cstill a long way to go\u201d were common refrains throughout their post-game press conferences on Wednesday night. Some, including head coach Mike Brown and players Jose Alvarado and Karl-Anthony Towns, showed visible emotion.<\/p>\n

OG Anunoby makes the game-winning tip-in as Jalen Brunson looks on during Game 4 of the NBA finals on Wednesday night. Photograph: Nathaniel S Butler\/NBAE\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to sugarcoat this,\u201d Alvarado said. \u201cI was about to cry. I\u2019m at Madison Square Garden, end of the fourth quarter, playing with these guys, and we\u2019re playing for something special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others, such as team captain Jalen Brunson and game-winning playmaker OG Anunoby<\/a>, were more stoic. But the message was unanimous: as extraordinary as this victory was, there is still one more game left to win.<\/p>\n

The Knicks have become something of comeback specialists in recent years. There have been multiple double-digit rallies during this 2026 playoff run alone, after a handful of stunning recoveries against the favored Boston Celtics last postseason. So they certainly have some experience in the art of the improbable. But perhaps the real preparation for nights like this comes from the heartbreak. Being on the receiving end of an unlikely comeback teaches you, in unforgettable fashion, that no lead is safe and no game is ever truly over. The scar tissue of past playoff disappointments, the callouses left after having a win ripped out of your fingertips \u2013 those can be life\u2019s greatest teachers.<\/p>\n

The Knicks pulled off the greatest comeback in NBA finals history on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. Photograph: Dustin Satloff\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

And beyond the wins and losses (and Knicks fans will be the first to tell you there have been plenty of losses), this is, in many ways, a team of castoffs. The Dallas Mavericks let Jalen Brunson walk, and that was after he was passed over in the first round of the NBA draft as a two-time national champion at Villanova. Karl-Anthony Towns was abruptly moved by the Minnesota Timberwolves after years as the face of the franchise. Josh Hart bounced around the league. Alvarado went undrafted. Even Brown was dismissed as coach of the Sacramento Kings not long after helping them \u201clight the beam\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everybody, to a certain degree, at some point in life is overlooked,\u201d Brown said late Wednesday night. \u201cJust to have the ability to stay with it, stay with it, stay with it, stay with it, especially when you get knocked down, to me, that defines who you are. Even if you don\u2019t have the quote-unquote \u2018ultimate success\u2019 that you think you deserve, if you get knocked down in life and you\u2019re able to get back up and keep fighting, that\u2019s a freaking win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Knicks\u2019 historic comeback left Este Haim, Taylor Swift and Mariska Hargitay leaping for joy courtside. Photograph: Al Bello\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The idea of a team of destiny raises an interesting question: how much control do we really have over our own fate? Is destiny a path laid out before us, something inevitable and immutable? Or is it something we create ourselves? Maybe it\u2019s a bit of both. The Knicks found themselves pondering those questions after their historic victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to have a little luck in sports,\u201d Brown said. \u201cBut you can also make your luck, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Towns echoed the sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you make your luck,\u201d he said. \u201cWe made our luck today.\u201d<\/p>\n

For most of Wednesday night, it seemed as though New York\u2019s luck had finally run dry. Team owner James Dolan had spent the previous few days making himself the center of attention on a decidedly ill-advised media tour, while some fans half-jokingly wondered whether the bad vibes lingering from the Commander in Chief\u2019s controversial \u2013 and sleepy<\/a> \u2013 appearance at Game 3 had cursed the Knicks\u2019 title hopes. The Spurs certainly played as if they believed it. Victor Wembanyama even went so far as to proclaim \u201cI\u2019m in your head\u201d<\/a> to the Knicks during the first half, and he may not have been wrong. Until he was.<\/p>\n

Because that\u2019s the thing about a resilient group like this one. That\u2019s the thing about a team of destiny: however unconventional the path, however theatrical the punctuations along the way, it somehow arrives where it\u2019s meant to. And for the 2026 New York Knicks, that journey is now just one win away from an NBA<\/a> championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What does a team of destiny look like? You know it when you see it. The evidence has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-730103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}