1973: Life When the Knicks Last Won a NBA Title

The New York Knicks will play in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999 when the series opens on the road on June 3. The last time the Knicks won an NBA championship was in 1973, leaving the franchise four wins from ending a 53-year drought.

How The "Nova Knicks" Got It Done

New York went 12-2 in the postseason to reach the Finals, eliminating the Atlanta Hawks in 6 games in the first round, sweeping the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Knicks closed the Atlanta series with a 140-89 Game 6 rout on the road, a 51-point margin.

The Knicks will face the winner of the Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs, who play Game 7 on May 30. Both Western Conference teams finished with better regular-season records than New York's 53-29 mark, giving the West home-court advantage in a 2-2-1-1-1 format. Madison Square Garden will host Games 3 and 4 on June 8 and June 10.

The last Knicks championship came on May 10, 1973, when New York defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 in the NBA Finals.

The last Knicks NBA title came at a remarkable moment in American life.

What a Time To Be Alive 

The U.S. had signed the Paris Peace Accords on January 27 to end direct American combat in Vietnam. George Steinbrenner completed his purchase of the New York Yankees earlier that same January. The World Trade Center was formally dedicated on April 4, with the Twin Towers debuting as the tallest buildings in the world. The Senate Watergate Committee opened its televised hearings on May 17, exactly one week after the Knicks closed out the Lakers. A month later, Secretariat won the Triple Crown with a 31-length victory at the Belmont Stakes.

New York itself was in the middle of a creative boom that would define the rest of the decade. Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks played their home games at 4 Penn Plaza, was only in its fifth year at the new building. It had already hosted the Ali-Frazier I "Fight of the Century" in March 1971 and was settling in as the center of the city's sports and entertainment world. Knicks games were broadcast locally on WOR-TV 9 and Manhattan Cable, with Bob Wolff and Cal Ramsey calling the action. Marv Albert and John Andariese had the radio side on WNBC.

There was no cable, no internet, no League Pass. Fans who could not watch live picked up the details the next morning in the Daily News, Post, or Times. On television, the top shows in heavy rotation that spring included All in the Family, M*A*S*H*, Sanford and Son, and The Waltons. Later that year, SoHo's cast-iron industrial buildings would be formally designated a historic district in August, and CBGB would open on the Bowery in December.

"He is synonymous with the New York Knickerbockers"

— Madison Square Garden on John Condon, voice of the Knicks for 42 years, when he passed in 1989

Here Condon introduces the Knicks before Game 4 of the 1973 ECF: pic.twitter.com/W2NxTtiMNK

— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) May 29, 2026

How It Went Down in '73

That Knicks team, the 1972-73 group, finished 57-25 and second in the Atlantic Division behind a 68-14 Boston Celtics team. Red Holzman coached the roster, which carried six future Hall of Fame players: Walt Frazier, Earl Monroe, Bill Bradley, Dave DeBusschere, Willis Reed, and Jerry Lucas. Phil Jackson, a reserve forward on the team, was later elected to the Hall of Fame as a coach.

Frazier led the team in scoring at 21.1 points per game and assists at 5.9 per game. DeBusschere averaged 16.3 points and 10.2 rebounds and shared All-Defensive First Team honors with Frazier. Bradley played all 82 games and averaged 16.1 points. Monroe added 15.5 points per game as a secondary backcourt creator. Reed contributed 11 points and 8.5 rebounds across 69 games. Frazier was the team's lone All-NBA selection, named to the Second Team.

The Knicks defeated the Baltimore Bullets 4-1 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals before meeting Boston in the conference finals. The Celtics were the best team in the regular season with Dave Cowens as league MVP and John Havlicek as a primary scorer. The series went seven games. New York clinched it on the road with a 94-78 win at Boston Garden.

The reigning champion Lakers took Game 1 of the Finals before the Knicks won four straight. New York closed the series in Game 5 at the Forum, 102-93. Monroe led with 23 points, Bradley scored 20, Frazier had 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists, and Reed posted 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 7 assists.

Wilt Chamberlain played the final game of his career in that loss and scored his last NBA points on a fast-break dunk with 1 second remaining.

Reed averaged 16.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists across the series and was named NBA Finals MVP for the second time, becoming the first player to win the award twice. Bradley led the Knicks in scoring through the Finals at 18.6 points per game. Reed played 19 more regular-season games the following season and retired.

The 1972-73 Knicks were the first NBA team to defeat two opponents with at least 60 regular-season wins on the way to a championship. The franchise did not return to the Finals until 1994 and has not won one since.

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