CLEVELAND — Jalen Brunson needed just three words to answer.
How long has he thought about reaching the Finals with the Knicks?
“Since,” he said Sunday, “I signed.”
It went from a thought to a mandate. This year, it was always the requirement.
Anything else would have been considered a failure. From the moment the Knicks fired Tom Thibodeau, despite reaching the conference finals, going one step further and reaching the Finals became the unambiguous expectation. It became solidified when owner James Dolan said in January that “getting to the Finals, we absolutely got to do.” A few weeks before that, the Knicks set that standard by refusing to raise a banner for their NBA Cup triumph, preferring to hold out for more meaningful ones.
But that doesn’t make this moment any less special. The Knicks are in the midst of a magical and historic run.
With a win in Game 4 of these Eastern Conference finals Monday, they can secure back-to-back overpowering series sweeps. It would extend their incredible winning streak to 11 games.
And it would fulfill that Finals-or-bust mandate.
“Going through this process, one of the things that I’m trying really hard to do and trying really hard to make sure our team does from the top down is to stay present,” coach Mike Brown said Sunday. “And what I mean by that is, we don’t wanna get ahead of ourselves, because as soon as we start getting ahead of ourselves, that’s when disaster always occurs, it seems.
“So for us, starting with me, making sure everybody in the organization on down understands it’s about the next game. And really, it’s about the next possession. And I try to block out everything else as best I can and not think about ‘what ifs,’ because I know for me, it would distract me 100 percent at this time of the year.”
From an outside perspective, though, it’s hard not to let the mind wander and think about what is now possible for these Knicks.
They are within touching distance of their first Finals berth since 1999, a feat that would surely whip New York City into an even wilder frenzy than it’s been in the last few weeks. And with the way they are playing — setting more and more records with each passing game — it feels entirely within their capability to topple whichever team comes out of the West and bring home a championship.
Their nightly dominance is eliciting the best types of dreams.
“I don’t want to consider us peaking at this moment,” Brunson said. “I still think we have a lot of work to do. Us as a team, I’ve said this all year, we just want to get better every single day. That includes the times that we’re in the playoffs because there’s still time to learn, still time to get better. That’s how I’ve always thought about it. I haven’t really had the time to really kind of wonder where we are as a team. All I focus on is how can we get better from the day before?”
That focus is entirely forward-looking. Thinking of Knicks history and how long it’s been since they reached the Finals “doesn’t really cross my mind at all right now,” Brunson said.
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The drought is a recurring topic in media and fan discourse. But it doesn’t mean much to this group.
“I don’t think we’re stuck on it,” OG Anunoby said Sunday. “Our goal is just to win each and every game. However long it was, six years or two years or 20 years, it doesn’t matter.”
A Finals berth, a second straight sweep, a winning streak and a place in Knicks history are all attainable for the Knicks on Monday.
For them, it’s just Game 4.
“No matter what is at stake, it’s a chance for us to come together, be better than we were the game before, continue to learn,” Brunson said. “And try to be the best team we can be.”
