The Knicks’ last Finals run came before Google took off, the iPhone or ‘Fast & Furious’ hit theaters
The Knicks’ last Finals run came before Google took off, the iPhone or ‘Fast & Furious’ hit theaters
Publish Date: 2026-05-25 23:33:00
Source Domain: www.nytimes.com
Remember 1999? The New York Knicks’ first NBA Finals berth since the turn of the millennium prompts the question.
The last time the Knicks represented the Eastern Conference for the NBA championship, Google was literally a few months old. The 11-installment “Fast & Furious” movie franchise was two years away from its first release. Tennis legend Serena Williams basked in the glow of winning her first Grand Slam, the U.S. Open. Eminem dropped his first major-label album, as “The Slim Shady LP” went multiplatinum. The Harry Potter books were up into the third of the series, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” The first iPhone wasn’t to be released until 2007.
For New Yorkers, the last Checker cab sold at the end of the year for six figures. And for New York basketball fans, some guy named Michael Jordan, whom many loved to hate every trip in and outside of Madison Square Garden, was in the middle of his second NBA retirement — only to come back two years later and add to his basketball legacy, leaving the greater Chicago area for an address closer to the nation’s capital.
How much has changed in the NBA since then? Plenty!
After sweeping the Cavaliers on Monday, the Knicks are looking to recapture the feeling they had 27 years ago. They’re now four wins away from securing their first NBA championship since 1973 — almost 19,400 days ago — and adding to their collection and rich history, one decorated with champions (Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe) and Hall of Fame hoopers who get enduring love in New York (Patrick Ewing, Carmelo Anthony).
The 2025-26 Knicks, led by Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, have already enjoyed one of the strongest playoff runs in recent memory, winning 10 consecutive games by a total of 262 points, but let’s examine how the NBA has changed in the near three decades since New York’s last finals run.
Brunson magic
Like this year’s Knicks, the 1999 team had a Brunson on the roster….
