The last time a team won 12 straight playoff games, Tim Duncan was in his prime and the Finals opponent was New York. The 1999 Spurs swept those Knicks for the title. Twenty-seven years later, New York has matched that run – and stands on the other side of the equation.
The Knicks’ 105-95 Game 1 victory over San Antonio on June 3 made it 12 consecutive playoff wins. That ties the 1999 Spurs for the second-longest postseason winning streak in NBA history. Only the 2017 Golden State Warriors, who reeled off 15 straight before their first playoff loss, have gone further.
A margin that rewrites the record books
The streak isn’t just victories. Per Yahoo Sports, the Knicks outscored their opponents by 272 points across those 12 games – the best point differential of any 12-game stretch in playoff history, by any team. They swept through all three rounds before the Finals without dropping a game, arriving in San Antonio completely unscathed.
San Antonio earned their spot the hard way. Victor Wembanyama won Western Conference Finals MVP after a grinding seven-game series. The Spurs were the fresher team and series favorites entering Tuesday night. Then Brunson, Hart and Towns settled the matter differently.
1999, 2017, 2026
The 1999 Spurs entered the Finals at 12-0 and finished at 15-2. The 2017 Warriors won 15 in a row before their first loss, finishing the playoffs 16-1 – still the greatest postseason record in NBA history. Where the 2026 Knicks land depends on the next four games.
What’s already in the record: three rounds swept, a 14-point deficit overcome in Game 1, and a point differential that no playoff team has matched. Jalen Brunson (30 points, 13 in Q4), Karl-Anthony Towns (18 points, 12 rebounds) and Josh Hart – whose 15-rebound, 6-assist, 4-steal night broke Finals records of its own – are the architects of this run.
What comes next
Game 2 tips off Friday night at Frost Bank Center on ABC (8:30 p.m. ET). A Knicks win pushes the streak to 13 – and makes them the sole owner of the second-longest run in NBA playoff history for the first time. Every game from here rewrites the record.
Sources: Yahoo Sports, SI.com
