The New York Knicks are headed to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999 after a four-game sweep of the eastern conference finals over Cleveland.
The Knicks pulled their starters with 7:47 remaining and a 35-point lead as their large contingent of fans loudly chanted “Knicks in four!”.
New York fans easily outnumbered Cleveland supporters for the away clash as die-hard celebrity fans like director Spike Lee, comedian Tracy Morgan and actor Timothée Chalamet and his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, made the trip.
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When the match was over and the official presentation took place, most of the celebrities mentioned above mingled with the players and shared in the victory.
Knicks and Lakers basketball has always been synonymous with celebrity attendance, except the Knicks haven’t had anything to crow about in quite some time.
This will be the Knicks’ third appearance in the Finals since winning their last title in 1973. They lost in seven games to Houston in 1994 and in five to San Antonio in 1999.
New York will play the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs in the Finals.
The western conference finals is tied at two games apiece with game five to be played in Oklahoma City on Wednesday AET.
As they march to the finals they’re headed there on a roll like few others in league history.
New York finished off a four-game sweep beating the Cavaliers 130-93 — and extending its winning streak to 11 games.
They haven’t lost since April 23 (they actually trailed the Hawks 2-1 in that first-round series after back-to-back one-point losses), and are now in a very small club of teams heading into the title round on this kind of winning streak.
Only three other teams — the Los Angeles Lakers in 1989, the Lakers again in 2001 and Golden State in 2017 — have been on postseason winning streaks of at least 11 games going into the NBA Finals.
The Knicks have outscored opponents by 262 points in this 11-game winning streak. It’s the most lopsided 11-game span in NBA history — regular season or playoffs.
Their average point differential in its pre-Finals playoff rounds this season was 19.4 points per game. The previous best in all rounds combined before the title round was a 16.3-point differential per game by Golden State in 2017.
Most dominant road playoff run … ever?
The Knicks have won six consecutive road playoff games by double digits. No team in NBA history has ever had such a streak in the postseason.
They’ve won those games by a staggering 161 combined points.
The previous mark for consecutive double-digit road playoff wins was five, done twice — by Miami in 2013 (by a combined 75 points) and Golden State in 2017 (by a combined 88 points). Both of those clubs won NBA titles in those seasons.
Knicks coach Mike Brown deferred all the credit to the players.
“They’re just great, great human beings and they’re obviously fantastic basketball players,” Brown said.
