The NBA champion New York Knicks have come a long way. How long, exactly?

Many years ago, I got jumped. Didn’t end well. Concussion. Contusions. Fractured wrist. A thumbprint on my neck, where one of them choked me.

I’ve revisited the scene since. The first time I got all tingly and jumpy. Less and less ever since. It doesn’t hit the way it used to. Sometimes you can measure how from you’ve healed from a trauma by returning to the scene of the crime.

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The New York Knicks are 2026 NBA champions, something that would’ve sounded unbelievable as recently as two or three years ago because of where the Knicks were two to three years to five to 10 to 15 before then. I continue to struggle to find words that can capture the feelings I’m feeling this glorious spring. So how about some numbers? Maybe that’s the best way to measure just how far the Knicks came to get where they stand today, as champions of the world (whose owner already promised to pull the plug on the roster. You can lead a horse’s ass to the sparkling waters of the promised land, but you can’t stop him from assing).

First of all, to appreciate just how good the Knicks are now, some context about before. (And if you’re interested, we did run a mailbag yesterday. But between the Knick parade and the capitalist illogic that demands every writer here published eight pieces a day, a lotta good tracks get lost in the shuffle. So click here if you missed it)

RELATIVE RATINGS

The Knicks have rarely been good, historically. Even being 76 games over .500 the past five seasons, the franchise is still 113 games under, all-time. In 1950-51, the first year the NBA tracked relative offensive and defensive rating, the Knicks, led by Vince Boryla, Harry Gallatin and Dick McGuire, finished second in relative offensive rating at 2.9. The only team ahead of them: the then-champion Rochester Royals, led by Bob Davies and a young point guard — name of William “Red” Holzman.

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That 2.9 was a level no Knick team could pass until 1989, Rick Pitino’s Bomb Squad. The highest relative offensive rating for any Knick team, ever? The 2013 anomaly, at 5.2. And that’s more of an anomaly than you may think:…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nba-champion-york-knicks-come-155042871.html

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Publish date : 2026-06-19 15:50:00

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