Roundtable Roundup: New York Knicks Reach First NBA Finals Since 1999

The New York Knicks are headed to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999 after finishing a four-game sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers with a 130-93 win in Game 4 on Monday night.

New York closed out the series at Rocket Arena to push its playoff winning streak to 11 games, a run that has now carried the third-seeded team through three rounds with little pushback.

The team finished the regular season at 53-29, which felt like a step back in spots, but the postseason has rewritten that story.

Captain Jalen Brunson took home Eastern Conference Finals MVP after another strong run.

The Cavaliers came in red-hot after knocking off the top-seeded Pistons in round two and left winless, with their closest moment being a 115-104 overtime loss in Game 1.

Game 4 served as the clincher, as Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds while OG Anunoby chipped in 17 and Landry Shamet scored 16 off the bench.

Cleveland never had an answer in the four games.

Brunson has averaged 27.8 points and 6.7 assists across 13 playoff games, leading a team that has rolled through every matchup it has seen this spring.

An 11-game winning streak in a single postseason has only been done by three other teams in NBA history, with the last being the 2017 Golden State Warriors who put together 15 straight on their way to the title.

Mike Brown's group has done this without leaning on one player on any given night, and Game 4 set the record for the highest-scoring playoff game ever without a 20-point scorer.

Towns has averaged 18.6 points and 10.5 rebounds in the playoffs while sharing the offensive load instead of carrying it alone.

The defense from Mikal Bridges and Anunoby has flipped possessions on the wing, and the bench has shown up when called on.

The Knicks have closed out all three series on the road in three different buildings, which says plenty about a group few people had pegged as a Finals team back in October.

New York now waits on the winner of the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs, who sit tied 2-2 in the Western Conference Finals with Game 5 set for Tuesday night.

The defending champion Thunder finished the regular season 64-18, while the Spurs went 62-20 behind Victor Wembanyama, so neither opponent looks like an easy out.

Wembanyama gives San Antonio a defensive anchor with the length to bother Towns, while Oklahoma City still has the firepower of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a deeper bench than most.

The Knicks match up better than people might assume because of their size at the rim, their shot creation in Brunson, and the perimeter defense that has shut down two All-Star guards already this postseason.

The Finals tip off Wednesday, June 3, and a city that has waited 27 years for this stage finally has a real reason to believe.