The New York Knicks have spent the past four years building toward something great and the hope around the team is that this season is when they finally break through.

Their rise has been steady. New York won 50 games in 2024 and reached the Eastern Conference semifinals. A year later, it improved to 51 wins and made the Eastern Conference finals. 

Now, with one game left on its regular season schedule, the Knicks are up to 52 wins and are moving in the right direction. The natural progression based on the previous years’ results is obviously a finals appearance–something that the team has not done since 1999–but that is easier said than done.

The Knicks are entering the postseason full of momentum though.

They have won five straight games, including a 112–95 victory over the Toronto Raptors in their latest outing that wrapped up the third seed in the East for them. Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns led the way in that win with 29 and 22 points, respectively, something that they will need more of come the playoffs. More broadly, New York is 15–6 since March 1, a run that has helped it hold off the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third seed.

The Knicks have been preparing for the road ahead too, with Mike Brown recently revealing that his playoff rotation will go nine-deep: Jordan Clarkson, Mitchell Robinson, Deuce McBride, and Landry Shamet will join Brunson, Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Josh Hart. For a fan base that spent years watching Tom Thibodeau lean heavily on short rotations, this is a notable and welcome shift. The veteran Brown, who is in his first year with New York, has shown a willingness to trust more players that should prove important deep in the playoffs.

The challenge, of course, is that the rest of the East is not going to roll over for them.

The Knicks are entering the playoffs as one of the conference’s strongest contenders, but the road ahead is challenging. The now-healthy Boston Celtics loom as a major obstacle, and the top-seeded Detroit Pistons are no ordinary young team. New York eliminated Detroit in the first round last year, but the Pistons have been superb this season and look far more dangerous now. All of their potential first round opponents–whether it be the Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic, or Toronto–are tough teams too.There will be no easy path through this bracket.

Still, the Knicks have enough on their team to believe that they can go all the way.

Their starting five is arguably the best in the league, and that matters more in the postseason than at any other point in the year. Brunson remains one of the NBA’s most dependable clutch performers, and Towns gives New York a second star capable of carrying their offense for long periods of time. Around them, Bridges, Anunoby, and Hart provide the kind of defensive versatility and toughness that playoff teams need.

New York has its hands full, but that has been true of every real contender in the history of the league. The difference now is that the Knicks finally look like a team built to handle it. This could be the season that they finally breakthrough, but if they do not, major changes might be on the way.