Friendship, Chips, Culture, and the New York Knicks

The historic 80th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA) has concluded with the New York City seeing their team as kings of the coveted Larry O' Brien for the first time in 53 years.

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This rendition of the NBA Finals has felt particularly memorable in the minds of mine and I'm sure most others. 'Vibes are at an all time high' in downtown New York City, as what social media lingo would describe, in part because it is once again, the first time they have seen the trophy hoisted by a player of their own in over half a century (Shoutout to Willis Reed, Walt Frazier and the Knicks of the 70s). New York City also ranks among the most densely populated cities in the world, and sports to them, IS culture. Total conquest of sports in their city seem to have been hard to come by as of recent despite the amount of sports teams this city is known to have, to the point where if you weren't present at Madison Square Garden or even just tuning into the finals, what are you even doing? I don't recall the last time a team with supposed homecourt advantage basically did not. I don't recall the last time I saw this many celebrities present during the games. It felt like a different face at every cutaway to an advertisement, with a tinge of Timothee Chalamet and Spike Lee full of emotion at every step of the way. The 2025-26 NBA Finals is, dare I say, the most culturally significant, and the most exhilarating bit of basketball ever witnessed (or at least since the 2015-16 one; could 2026 actually be the new 2016?)

They are all friends. At the crust of it all, the core that led the Knicks to the finals, felt like a breath of fresh air. It felt like they have been doing this together for years. Oh wait. They actually have. Make no mistake about the winning with the power of friendship because finals MVP Jalen Brunson, and stars Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart were all college teammates (sorry Donte DiVincenzo). It passes the eye test, how they play with such pizazz. Anyone who has played any form of ball know what it feels like when a certain group of friends get together and they just seem to click and dominate no matter how good they are individually. It certainly does help when the starting five is rounded out by ultimate glue guy OG Anunoby and a new and improved Karl-Anthony Towns, former No. 1 overall NBA Draft Pick playing his new Nikola Jokic-role up to a tee.

It also felt like many players on the team played like they had something to prove, a chip on their shoulder, as some might say. Bridges, was traded to New York in exchange for 5 first round draft picks, causing his value to be called to question, but he has delivered as a rangey, springy defender who can provide steady offense whenever needed. Towns, once again, the top prospect of his class has been doubted almost his entire career, whether a shooting big would be good enough for a championship roster, whether he is too soft. As it so poetically turned out, he became the one playing bully ball against Victor Wembanyama. Brunson, a second round draft pick who played second fiddle to now Lakers superstar Luka Doncic back in Dallas, has been called too small, too stumpy, too slow, and everything in between. His move to New York back in 2022 sparked a lot of debate about whether he is THE guy to lead New York back to the promise land. He has heard the doubters every day, for the past 7 years in the league, and has repeatedly refused to respond anywhere but on the court, improving his game every single year, while simultaneously bringing the Knicks further in the playoffs each year. Every dagger to a team is a dagger to the talking heads. To add insult to injury for the Spurs fans, Brunson did all of this against the tallest man most rooms will ever know.

I have had the privilege of watching 3 of the 5 finals games live this year and I'm sure avid basketball watchers will agree with me when I say that the Knicks in these playoffs have played some of the most fun basketball, especially Brunson. The circus shots, the deep threes, the stop-and-pops are all things of beauty. It even shocked me when I read that the San Antonio Spurs have apparently led for 72% of the finals, and yet were only able to win 1 game. This meant that the Knicks had to claw themselves back up basically the whole of the finals, and could never ever mathematically be counted out. Despite all this, or rather possibly due to all this, every win felt all the more electrifying. Even the sole game that the Spurs won did not feel too much like a Spurs win. I mean, have you ever watched something unfold live and thought there's no way the ending is so fairytale-like, but actually is? Take Lionel Messi winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup even as Kylian Mbappe lugs France on his back with a World Cup Final hat trick to build a comeback by himself brick by brick, it's that same kind of intoxicating excitement as I watched the Knicks slowly come back from down 29 points. I have genuinely never seen a basketball team so laser-focused since the teams that featured a younger LeBron James. There's no way the Knicks make a final shot with barely seconds remaining and the Spurs players basically attached to their hips right? And then comes OG Anunoby, flying in from the other side of the country. Absolute cinema.

What does this prove? The age-old, 'Never give up' because anything is possible and impossible is nothing. Cheers.