Best Knicks team ever? With franchise's first NBA championship in 53 years, they're building their case

The Knicks' claim to be the greatest New York team in franchise history rests on a record-setting postseason that produced their first NBA championship in 53 years. They rode a 13-game playoff winning streak, the second-longest in NBA history, and finished 16-3 in the playoffs, a top-10 mark. New York outscored opponents by 283 points and posted a 14.9-point margin of victory per game, the highest for any team with at least four playoff games in the play-by-play era. Their net rating of +15.4 per 100 possessions led the play-by-play era, with only the 2001 Shaq-Kobe Lakers and the Durant-era Warriors offering a comparable benchmark. The Finals, played at Madison Square Garden for the first time in 27 years, saw the Knicks win the series in five games against Victor Wembanyama and the Western Conference champions. Analysts and local voices have framed the run as compelling evidence of a historic turnaround.