Knicks’ 12th Straight Playoff Win Matches Historic 1999 Spurs. Only One Legendary Team Has a Longer Streak

New York’s winning streak is one of the most dominant in basketball history.

Jalen Brunson and the Knicks won their 12th consecutive playoff game on Wednesday, the second-longest streak in NBA history. | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

The 1998–99 Spurs split the first two games of their first-round series with the Timberwolves, before closing that best-of-five series in four games. They swept the Lakers in the second round and the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference finals, and took the first two games of the NBA Finals against the Knicks before finally falling in Game 3.

That San Antonio team, led by a young Tim Duncan and veteran David Robinson, would of course win the NBA title, beating New York in five games.

The echoes between the 1999 and 2026 postseasons grow louder by the day. Once again, the Spurs and Knicks meet in the NBA Finals, with the series beginning in San Antonio. And once again, a team has built an incredible 12-game playoff winning streak into the Finals, with a pair of sweeps along the way.

Only this time, it is the Knicks rattling off wins at a historic pace.

With their Game 1 NBA Finals victory over the Spurs on Wednesday night, New York won its 12th consecutive postseason game, matching the 1999 Spurs for the second-best mark of all time. Now, there is only one team ahead of these Knicks for longest playoff win streak of all-time: the 2017 Warriors.

Where Knicks rank among the longest playoff win streaks in NBA history

YEAR	TEAM	WIN STREAK	RESULT
2017	Warriors	15	Won Finals
1999	Spurs	12	Won Finals
2026	Knicks	12	TBD
2001	Lakers	11	Won Finals
1989	Lakers	11	Lost Finals
2024	Celtics	10	Won Finals
2017	Cavaliers	10	Lost Finals
2016	Cavaliers	10	Won Finals
2012	Spurs	10	Lost WCF
2003	Nets	10	Lost Finals

The ‘99 Spurs launched a dynastic run for the franchise, which captured five titles between that season and ‘14.

The 2017 Warriors won their second championship in three years after adding Kevin Durant to a lineup that already featured Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Golden State’s playoff run is one of the greatest in NBA history. Steve Kerr’s team swept the Trail Blazers, Jazz and Spurs in consecutive series, and went up 3–0 on LeBron James and the Cavaliers before eventually dropping Game 4 to end the winning streak at 15 games. They’d bounce back to win the NBA Finals in Game 5.

New York can’t break the Warriors’ streak, but it could tie it ... though that would require a four-game sweep of San Antonio, which feels very unlikely. However, with how the Knicks are playing right now, nothing is impossible.

Recapping the Knicks’ 12-game playoff win streak

Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns have led the way as the Knicks continue their win streak. | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The Knicks haven’t lost a basketball game since April 23, an incredible 41 days ago. At the time, their spot in the playoffs felt extremely tenuous.

That loss came to the Hawks, who went up 2–1 and seemed to have New York’s number. Ahead of Game 4 of that series, Mike Brown made a key adjustment to the offense, running more sets through center Karl-Anthony Towns as a playmaker, putting him in a role more akin to the Nuggets' Nikola Jokić. The adjustment took some pressure off of Jalen Brunson and opened up opportunities for players wings OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges on the outside.

Now, the Knicks have been beating teams in a multitude of ways, with Towns and Brunson both serving as the focal point of the offense in spots. And that offensive malleability has turned New York from a very good regular season team to one putting up historic numbers in the playoffs.

Every win of New York’s historic streak

• Knicks 114, Hawks 98 (Round 1, Game 4—Atlanta)
• Knicks 126, Hawks 97 (Round 1, Game 5—New York)
• Knicks 140, Hawks 89 (Round 1, Game 6—Atlanta)
• Knicks 137, 76ers 98 (Round 2, Game 1—New York)
• Knicks 108, 76ers 102 (Round 2, Game 2—New York)
• Knicks 108, 76ers 94 (Round 2, Game 3—Philadelphia)
• Knicks 144, 76ers 114 (Round 2, Game 4—Philadelphia)
• Knicks 115, Cavaliers 104 (Eastern Conference finals, Game 1—New York)
• Knicks 109, Cavaliers 93 (ECF, Game 2—New York)
• Knicks 121, Cavaliers 108 (ECF, Game 3—Cleveland)
• Knicks 130, Cavaliers 93 (ECF, Game 4—Cleveland)
• Knicks 105, Spurs 95 (NBA Finals, Game 1—San Antonio)

Not only have the Knicks been winning games at a historic clip, but the manner by which they’re beating teams is fully unprecedented.

As shared by Sportico’s Lev Abakas, New York’s winning differential of +272 over this 12-game run is the best of any 12-game streak by any NBA team in history, in the regular season or playoffs.

The New York Knicks have outscored their opponents by 272 points in the past 12 games

That's the best 12-game stretch from any team in NBA history, regular season or playoffs pic.twitter.com/BxQEJjDUca

— Lev Akabas (@LevAkabas) June 4, 2026

These NBA Finals are far from over, and the Spurs proved how well they can respond to adversity in the Western Conference finals against the defending champion Thunder. No matter what happens from here on out, though, the Knicks have put together one of the great runs that the sport of basketball has ever seen.

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