Since adding Jalen Brunson in free agency, the New York Knicks are the only team in the NBA to have won a playoff series in each of the last four seasons.
But with the Philadelphia 76ers clawing their way back against Boston, the Knicks' second-round matchup is primed to continue perhaps the most maddening trend of the Jalen Brunson era thus far.
In each of New York's last three series losses, the opponent that bested them was a lower seed who had just finished upsetting their previous opponent, a fact brought to mainstream attention by "Dean," a Knick fan on Twitter. The Sixers, after their 3-1 comeback against the Celtics, officially meet those qualifications.
Knicks have to stop 76ers' momentum after 3-1 comeback over Celtics
New York didn't lose to the Miami Heat in 2023, or the Indiana Pacers in 2024 or 2025, because they were the higher seed.
The Heat squad that took them down in Brunson's first postseason in orange and blue did end up going all the way onto the NBA Finals, where Nikola Jokic's Nuggets were too much to handle. But aside from Miami's level of play, Julius Randle played just one game in the series.
After re-injuring his ankle against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Round 1, Randle returned for Game 2 against the Heat before sitting out the rest of the series and eventually getting surgery. Brunson averaged 31 points per game on 50% shooting, but it wasn't enough to get past Miami's combination of stars and depth.
The first Knicks loss to the Pacers involved even more injuries, with Bojan Bogdanovic, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson, Mitchell Robinson, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Randle himself among the players that sustained injuries.
Those tend to pile up around this time of year, and shouldn't serve as any sort of excuse. It was simply a much different situation than the second series, in 2025, when both teams were healthy and the Pacers simply outplayed everyone – including the Knicks – on their way to an incredible Finals run.
76ers provide their own set of challenges to Knicks' title hopes
Philadelphia gave New York plenty of trouble when they faced off in 2024, but it took Joel Embiid's 50-point performance in Game 3 and late-game heroics from Tyrese Maxey in Game 5 for them to win their pair of games.
Now, with Paul George and VJ Edgecombe in tow, they're much better equipped to handle the challenges ahead of them. If the team can maintain its health, they objectively have top-level talent and enough offensive creators to make noise in May.
But after a grueling seven-game series against Boston, will they have enough left in the tank to actually end New York's season?
The Knicks seem to just be figuring out how to play their best basketball. While the Sixers have the talent, the momentum, and the vibes via historical trend to pull off an upset, the series should end up playing out similarly to how it did in 2024.