The New York Knicks flipped a switch and steamrolled their way to the NBA Finals with a dominant playoff run.
New York trailed 2-1 to the Atlanta Hawks in the opening round, but the Knicks have since won 11 straight games by an outrageous 23.9-point average victory margin.
A remarkable run continued when the Knicks pummeled the Cavaliers in a 130-93 rout on Monday night. The Knicks swept the Eastern Conference Finals with four double-digit wins to secure their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999.
Onlookers are trying to process New York's improbable stretch. A No. 3 seed in danger of an early elimination suddenly looks like an unstoppable juggernaut.
Nate Silver, the statistician and founder of FiveThirtyEight, evoked the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. Led by Michael Jordan, they went 72-10 and eliminated the Knicks en route to their first of three straight NBA championships.
"Not sure there's a great precedent for this Knicks playoff run?" Silver wrote. "With young teams, sort of. But a veteran team just waking up one day and playing like the '96 Bulls for 11 games and running?"
Knicks making playoff history
© Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.
In some ways, New York's recent postseason dominance outshines anything Jordan's Bulls accomplished before the NBA Finals. The Knicks outscored the Cavaliers by 77 points, passing those '96 Bulls for the most lopsided point differential in an Eastern Conference Finals sweep.
NBA Communications noted that the Knicks enter the NBA Finals with the highest point differential (+217) in postseason history. They surpassed another elite team in the 2017 Golden State Warriors, who swept their way to a Western Conference title before besting the Cavs in five.
Those Warriors hold the playoff record with a 15-game winning streak, but the Knicks became just the fifth team to notch 11 or more consecutive playoff triumphs. They're only one win away from matching the San Antonio Spurs for second on the all-time leaderboard.
NBA on ESPN also noted that the Knicks became the first team in NBA history to close out three postseason series with a victory of 20 points or more. That's underselling the feat, as they advanced each time with a win of at least 30 points.
Of course, history won't remember the Knicks as fondly as the '96 Bulls and other dynasties if they don't finish the job. The Knicks will begin the NBA Finals against the Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, June 3.
