By John Jastremski
The 2025-2026 Knicks have wrapped up the regular season and it was quite good. The Knicks won 50 games for the third consecutive season and find themselves in the exact same position that they were in a year ago.
New York holds the 3 seed in the Eastern Conference and will have to eventually go through two teams that they beat a year ago to return to the conference finals.
The Boston Celtics and the Detroit Pistons can wait a few weeks, the first order of business starts Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks.
The Knicks will have their hands full with their first round opponent. Atlanta was a much improved trade after the Trae Young trade and put together an 18-2 stretch after the All Star break.
They have multiple bodies they can throw at Jalen Brunson and Jalen Johnson is a budding young star.
The Hawks are problematic, but there’s a reason the Knicks are almost a 3-1 favorite to win the series. New York is far more battle tested and they’re flat out better than the Hawks. I expect them to win the series.
The better question for this group; Can they get back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999?
There are no excuses left for this Knicks group. They made a coaching change. The two man game of Brunson and KAT is arguably the most cohesive it’s ever been. Oh and the Knicks are healthy heading into the battle of postseason basketball.
The debate all season has been centered around how much better this year’s Knicks team is compared to the team from a year ago. Once and for all, we’re about to find out.
You can listen to my podcast New York, New York every Sunday & Thursday plus following every Knicks Playoff game on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite following Mets postgame on SNY.
