7 Stats That Help Explain How the New York Knicks Won the NBA Title
How the Knicks brought home their first NBA championship in 53 years.
By the time you read this, the Knicks will be capping off an incredible media run with what is sure to be one of the wildest championship parades we’ve seen in recent memory.1 The celebrations have been endless since the Knicks clinched their first NBA championship since 1953 in five games vs. the Spurs and rightfully so because this team hardly resembles the one we saw in late April, struggling in a first-round matchup vs. the Atlanta Hawks.
So before we see what new cool thing Jalen Brunson does at the parade or if they somehow trust Mikal Bridges with a live mic to talk to the crowd of reportedly millions of Knicks fans that are going to flood the city streets, I wanted to take one more look at their Finals win. More than that, I wanted to look at their playoff run as a whole which features one of the sharpest turnarounds we’ve seen in years.
How did they gel into place like that? What made them so good against Wemby and the Spurs in the Finals? I compiled seven stats that I think help shine more light on just what they did to bring this championship home and what makes it so impressive.
The Spurs led for 72% of series and still lost 4-1
Even looking at this stat now having watched all the games, this feels truly insane to see written out. In quarters 1-3, the Spurs outscored the Knicks 405-391 but in the fourth quarters alone, the Knicks outscored the Spurs 134-102 thanks in part to their large, dramatic comebacks. The Knicks’ ability to come together in crunch time was maybe the worst possible opponent for a young Spurs team still learning how to win together in the playoffs, I truly don’t know if any other East team would’ve been able to do this against them.
KAT’s +258 for the playoffs is highest ever
"Honestly, I don't know—but we're figuring it out." - Karl Anthony Towns, Oct. 2025
When Karl-Anthony Towns said this at the start of the season, shivers went down the spines of Knicks fans everywhere. Whether it was distrust of Towns heading into his second season as a Knick or early remorse on bringing in new head coach Mike Brown, this was an early warning sign that something wasn’t quite right with the team chemistry-wise. These questions continued to ebb and flow throughout the regular season and heading into the post-season, which makes it even more incredible that in the playoffs, Karl-Anthony Towns turned into something we’ve never seen from him before. Here are KAT’s regular season numbers.
And then here are his playoff stats.
KAT’s willingness to turn into an offensive hub more than just a volume scoring big man completely changed this Knicks’ offense. It was so impactful that the Cavaliers planned their whole gameplan around cutting off KAT and then wilted almost immediately when the Knicks went back to Brunson-ball. I’ll never not cheer for Karl Towns so to see him have such an impact and completely change his perception is something that I’m extremely happy for.
The Knicks’ 15.5 net rating is second highest all-time
On April 24th, the Knicks trailed the Hawks 2-1 in their first-round matchup and it looked like the team was falling apart at the seams. They had a -7.4 net rating and watched CJ McCollum walk them down not once, but twice in a row.
Then, something changed and with it came an improved defense that held opponents to 100.9 points per game throughout the playoffs, giving them an overall 15.5 net rating, which is second all-time in NBA playoff history behind only the 1956 Minneapolis Lakers (16 net rating). On top of that, they scored 115.8 points per game and that +14.9 point differential is the best ever in NBA playoff history.
OG Anunoby’s 8.9% jump in field goal percentage
One of the biggest boosts that came to the Knicks’ offense was OG Anunoby’s emergency as arguably their most consistent shooter. In the regular season Anunoby had an effective field goal percentage of 58.1% which is fantastic on its’ own merits but in the playoffs, OG was at a completely different level as he jumped 8.9% up to 67.2% from the field. It felt like he never missed a basket when the ball found him in a clutch situation. Even more impressive is the leap his three-point shooting took as he went from 38.6% from deep to 48.9% in the playoffs. That’s devastating to defenses as Jalen Brunson, one of the best at probing into the paint and drawing defenders, had someone he could kick the ball back out to that would knock down a three almost 50% of the time.2
Two 20-point fourth quarter comebacks
There have only been five 20+ point fourth-quarter comebacks ever in the NBA playoffs, teams are now 5-747 in such instances.3 Two of those five wins are the Knicks in this playoff run. Their 22-point fourth-quarter comeback vs. the Cavaliers seemed like it was going to be the highlight of their improbable run, the shining example of how this team persevered and overcame but then in the NBA Finals, they somehow topped themselves with the incredible 29-point comeback that may be one of the greatest games I’ve ever watched in my life.
42.3% was Wemby’s lowest FG% of the playoffs
Something I thought about a lot coming into the playoffs is how Victor Wembanyama would manage the added workload and pressure that comes with playoff basketball. In the regular season he was dominant, cruising to a DPOY award and a top-three MVP finish while averaging just 29 minutes a game.
Yet, as the playoffs wore on, it was clear that Wemby was in need of adjusting to the intensity of the games and the cut down in rest time between games.
Here are his playoff stats by series.
By the time the Finals came, Wemby was attempting more threes and long twos, shooting worse from the field and the free throw line, and worst of all, started making mental mistakes like the late turnover off Stephon Castle’s back. Now, he’s a 22 year old playing in his first playoff run of his career but still, it’s clear the Knicks knew how to take advantage of his increased workload with Karl-Anthony Towns doing an incredible job of forcing the added wear by being as aggressive as he could before foul trouble would set in.
22pts in the clutch for Jalen Brunson
And finally, we can’t finish talking about the Knicks’ historic win without shining a light on the engine that powered them to it. Jalen Brunson was already known as one of the best closers in the game but throughout this playoff run, he cemented himself as one of the most clutch players in this generation.
The NBA defines “clutch time” as a five-point game with less than five minutes remaining. Brunson’s 22 clutch points in these Finals was the most scored since 2011.4 Even weirder? Jalen Brunson has played 15 career playoff series now and his 53.6% true shooting percentage is actually his fourth least efficient overall, making his clutch time performances that much more impactful.
Even as it was happening, we knew we were witnessing something special with this team in this moment and though it took 53 years for the Knicks to reach the NBA mountaintop once again, I’m not sure Knicks fans would want it any other way.
I read that NYC is planning on deploying 10,000 officers on parade duty where NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch says “millions of fans” are expected to be in attendance.
His left corner three-point percentage was actually even more eye-popping at 59% (16-27 for the playoffs).
The other three 20+ point fourth-quarter comebacks are the Celtics vs the Nets in the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals, the Clippers vs. the Grizzlies in the 2012 playoffs, and then the Warriors vs. the Pelicans in 2015.
Dirk Nowitzki had 26 clutch points vs. the Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.