How the Knicks' Road to Finals Has Prepared Them to Beat Spurs

Mar 8, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) talks with head coach Mike Brown against the Los Angeles Lakers in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Knicks playoff run has had so many talking points between Mike Brown, Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Landry Shamet and more.

But a lot of that can be boiled down to one thing: Their road to this point has been the perfect series of tests to prepare them for the ultimate challenge of defeating the Spurs to win their first championship in 53 years.

Knicks' playoff opponents each tested them in different ways

While the main discussions surrounding the Knicks’ first few rounds have unfairly and inaccurately been about the Eastern Conference being weak, it should be about how each one of those teams gave the Knicks important challenges to make them better in the long run. 

In their first round matchup against the Hawks, the Knicks had to find new ways to score. With elite defender Dyson Daniels constantly hounding Brunson, they could no longer rely on a heliocentric offense dominated by his isolations. It took them a few games, and a couple of the uglier one-point losses a team could suffer to an inferior squad to figure things out, but they eventually did.

For the rest of the series, the offense ran through not Brunson, but Towns, and it took their offense to another level. They had Brunson play off the ball, using his gravity, which allowed Towns to get to work.

On almost a high percentage of their offensive possessions, Towns either got a great look for himself, or he’d hit one of his teammates for a great look of their own. And when they needed to be bailed out, Brunson was still there as a safety valve, but this time, with much more energy.

KAT's playmaking has proven huge in Knicks' Finals run. | David Richard-Imagn Images

The Knicks may not be able to replicate this offense with the same level of success going forward. But learning to score in different ways when a great defender, such as Stephon Castle, is defending Brunson, was something that they clearly needed to improve on. 

In their second round matchup against the 76ers, they faced a different test in the form of Tyrese Maxey. Long considered the archetypal player known to give the Knicks’ defense trouble with his combination of speed and shooting, he was looked at as the potential difference maker who could dominate the series.

What we saw instead was a masterclass performance from the Knicks defense, and in particular, Bridges, who frustrated Maxey throughout the entirety of the series. The young guard looked overmatched and disappeared as the series went on. 

Bridges, and the team, will have the unenviable task of trying to keep De'Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper, and Castle out of the paint, and they cannot load up on those players the same they did Maxey. it should be reassuring to know, though, that between Bridges, Anunoby, and Hart, they do have the personnel to make it difficult for them.

New York also had to learn how to play against a dominant offensive big man in Embiid. While the former MVP was very clearly not healthy, he still put up some big numbers during the regular season. The Knicks still fell for some of his foul-baiting antics, but slowed him down just enough, and attacked him in drop coverage.

That last part is especially of note. Brunson feasted on his coverage with his ability to hit pull up threes off the dribble. And that may be one of the biggest differences between him and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Obviously Victor Wembanyama is tiers above Embiid as a defender, but Brunson showing the ability to take and make pull-up threes could be a major factor in the Finals against a San Antonio team that loves to play drop coverage to keep everything in front of Wemby.

Last, but certainly not least, was confronting ghost coverage on Josh Hart. It’s been a major issue that has plagued the starting lineup as it’s given them consistent problems. And they’d yet to really solve it.

When the Cavaliers smartly went to it in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, it was a lot more of the same. Hart was hesitant in shooting the ball, which led to a clogged up lane for his teammates. And when he did reluctantly decide to shoot, it wasn’t going in. Down double-digits, and the game looking close to over, Brown decided to park Hart on the bench -- where he’d remain for almost the entirety of the rest of the game, -- and went with Shamet.

Not only did Shamet reward him with multiple pivotal threes to help lead the Knicks to a historic 22-point comeback victory, he could not miss the rest of the series. It was the ultimate proof that Brunson, Towns, and three other capable shooters was nearly impossible to slow down. And Brown gave a fanbase that was traumatized by its last coach being too stubborn a reason to believe that he could adjust on the fly, and wasn't afraid to pull the plug on lineups that weren't yielding results.

Part of what makes the Hart coverage so tough to execute offensively has been getting others going besides Hart, and the ability to run an offense out of it

The past two game vs Cleveland (Games 3 and 4) are some of the best they've attacked it ALL SEASON pic.twitter.com/dxsTSjHL9c

— Shax (@ShaxNBA) June 2, 2026

In Game 2, Hart was not nearly as hesitant in shooting, and proved that Brown's decision to continue starting him was the right one as he exploded for five threes and a playoff career-high 26 points. For the remainder of the series, the Cavaliers continued to play ghost coverage, but it didn’t slow down the Knicks nearly as much.

Hart couldn’t replicate his Game 2 shooting performance, but he was still shooting them willingly, and the Knicks generated some of their best offense against ghost coverage all season long in Games 3 and 4. While it may still be an imperfect offense, it was encouraging to see them pick a part a defense that deployed a similar, albeit a worse, defense than the one the Knicks will face off against in the Finals. 

It goes without saying, but the Spurs will be the best team the Knicks have faced. And they’ll likely pose a new set of questions that New York has yet to encounter. But they’ve already come face-to-face with a lot of the problems that have haunted them in the past, and have convincingly overcome them and have come out better for it.

Brown and his players’ ability to grow mid-series has to give fans hope that they’ll find a way to work around whatever the Spurs throw at them.