The New York Knicks host Game 3 of the 2026 NBA Finals tonight at Madison Square Garden, up 2-0 on the San Antonio Spurs, and two wins away from ending a 53-year championship drought that has functionally destroyed at least three generations of my family’s mental health.
53 years. My grandfather watched Willis Reed limp out of that tunnel in 1970. My dad grew up on that story. I grew up on my dad telling me that story. Now Jalen Brunson gets to write the next chapter at MSG — and Game 2 was already insane, a game the Knicks won on a clutch free throw from a guy who went 7-of-25 from the field and still found a way to close it out. That is an absolutely ridiculous way to win a basketball game. I loved every second of it.
Knicks Game 3 MSG 2026 NBA Finals tips at 8:30 ET on ABC. If you have plans, cancel them.
Here is what this team has done to get to tonight: thirteen consecutive playoff wins, the second-longest streak in NBA history, topped only by the 2017 Golden State Warriors at 15. During that run the Knicks have outscored opponents by 273 points total. They started something in San Antonio that nobody in the Western Conference could stop, and now they’re bringing it home to a building that hasn’t seen an NBA Finals game in 27 years. Last time MSG hosted the Finals, the Spurs beat New York in five. Go figure.
Brunson is the reason none of that matters anymore. In Game 1 he dropped 30 points including 13 in the fourth quarter, helped the Knicks erase a 14-point deficit, and won 105-95. In Game 2 he was awful from the field and still won the game in the final minute. His fourth-quarter playoff free throw accuracy sits at 27-for-29. He does not miss when the game is on the line.
Tweet embed: NBA on X: “JALEN BRUNSON 4Q TAKEOVER. THE CAPTAIN LEADS NEW YORK TO VICTORY. Knicks move 3 wins away from their first NBA Championship in 53 years 🤯” https://x.com/NBA/status/2062375805343170779
There’s one more piece of this I cannot stop thinking about. Jalen’s father Rick Brunson played for the Knicks in the 1999 Finals — the same series where San Antonio beat New York in five, the last time MSG hosted a Finals game. Tonight his son plays at that same building against that same franchise. If things go right over the next two games, Jalen becomes part of the first father-son duo to play in the Finals for the same franchise in NBA history. That is either a storybook ending or the cruelest possible setup, and tonight we start finding out which.
I’ve been a Knicks fan my whole life, which is its own category of miserable that doesn’t translate to people who root for functional franchises. The Jets break your heart every year with new and creative methods. The Knicks have been living off one championship for over half a century. My dad has texted me after every Jets loss since 2009. He has never sent me a Knicks championship text. Neither has anyone in my family. Ever. My grandfather is 74, he’s watched Brunson average 28.2 points through the 2026 playoffs, and he cannot believe this is actually happening.
Honestly, neither can I.
The Spurs are younger and more talented on paper. Several teams had more star power on paper. The Knicks won the Eastern Conference Finals as a 3-seed and then swept two Finals games on the road without blinking.
Two wins from ending the drought. Two wins from 53 years of waiting. Knicks Game 3 MSG 2026 NBA Finals starts at 8:30 tonight, and the whole city holds its breath.
My dog Revis is already on the couch. I’ve had five coffees. I’m not moving until it’s over.
