2025 was a fun year.
The Knicks played 101 total meaningful games in 2025. They went 51-31 in regular-season games and 10-8 in the postseason. When you add in the uncounted NBA Cup Final victory, the Knicks won 62 games in 2025, one of the most in recent memory (they did win more in 2024).
Along the way, we made plenty of memories with our Knickerbockers, enough that you could argue that you could combine 2014-20 together and you wouldn’t have half the good vibes we had this season.
But what were the
top 10 moments of the year?
Honorable Mentions
February 12 vs ATL – In an endlessly chaotic 149-148 slugfest against the Hawks right before the all-star break, the Knicks survive a 38-19 gem from Trae Young on the backs of Captain Clutch, who scored an efficient 36, including a clutch iso game-winner on Dyson Daniels. Georges Niang missed a wide-open three in the corner at the end.
February 28 @ MEM – Mitchell Robinson made his season debut for the Knicks, but the story was a 12-point second-half comeback that ended in a back-and-forth scrum. Brunson made clutch shot after clutch shot, but Ja Morant hit a go-ahead and-1 with 14.4 to go. Enter OG Anunoby, who cashed a three from the wing with five seconds left to win the game.
March 2 @ MIA – While it won’t happen this season, the Knicks have had a recent knack for pulling out memorable victories in South Beach. Last March, the Knicks trailed by 19 late in the second quarter, but rallied back to force overtime, allowing just 50 points in 29 total minutes after halftime.
Game 1 vs DET – Cam Payne saved the season with a 21-0 run. That was fun, but more in the way of you having heart palpitations.
No. 10: Mikal Bridges saves the day at the Garden (2/20)
There aren’t many regular season games on this list, and that’s to be expected when we have a memorable run to the Eastern Conference Finals on this list. In the grand scheme of last season, this play was forgotten by most, but it’s one of several incredible, game-saving defensive plays made by Mikal Bridges in 2024-25.
The Knicks and Bulls played a back-and-forth game at MSG right after the All-Star break, and the Knicks started strong, especially defensively. They held the Bulls to just 43 in the first half and took an 11-point lead late in the second quarter.
Of course, the Bulls exploded offensively in the third to score 38 points, pulling to within one late in the quarter. The Knicks still led for most of the game, but a three-point onslaught from Josh Giddey (again) and Nikola Vucevic pulled the Bulls in front midway through the fourth.
Brunson tied the game at 104 with 29.2 left, but never got the ball back after a missed three from Lonzo Ball was tapped out by Vucevic and deflected out of bounds by Bridges. With two seconds left, Chicago inbounded and Vucevic found himself with the ball, under the basket, with a six-inch height advantage on his defender.
His defender, however, was Mikal Bridges.
They couldn’t lose at that point. After allowing the first bucket of overtime, the Knicks rattled off seven straight points and held on through a few Coby White buckets to pull it out, 113-111.
No. 9: Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby survive the NBA Cup hangover (12/18)
The back half of this ranking was hard to order, but there was an innate charm about the Knicks’ inspiring comeback against the lowly Indiana Pacers two weeks ago.
Two days after winning the NBA Cup, Josh Hart, Mitchell Robinson, and Karl-Anthony Towns all sat for the Knicks due to the grueling travel schedule, forcing several inexperienced young players into big roles.
The Knicks stumbled out of the blocks, falling behind by 16 extremely early behind some wonky lineups involving Guerschon Yabusele, Ariel Hukporti, Trey Jemison III, and Mo Diawara. Our Knicks rallied back to pull within one a few times, but the Pacers blitzed them again in the third quarter.
The story of the game for the first 47 minutes was Tyler Kolek, who spearheaded separate 16-point comebacks in both halves en route to a stellar 16-11-6 game. Brunson and Anunoby struggled for most of this game, but the strong play of Kolek and Bridges kept the team attached for long enough for the two big money stars to break through.
The two combined for the team’s last 12 points and helped them overcome a late 7-point deficit. Anunoby splashed a game-tying three with 1:51 left, but Brunson looked fatigued in leading the offense late, turning it over multiple times. Down two with the ball in the final seconds, Brunson isolated on Andrew Nembhard and splashed a game-winning three in his face from the right wing. Sweet revenge for Game 3 in 2024.
Of course, there were still five seconds, and this Pacers team, even without Tyrese Haliburton and Aaron Nesmith, had plenty of Knick killers. Enter Anunoby, who had enough energy left to pester Pascal Siakam on the inbound and steal the ball to ice the game.
No. 8: Knicks keep the dream alive in Indiana (Game 3, ECF vs IND)
There have been a lot of hopeless days as a Knicks fan. Hell, there have been hopeless decades.
The most hopeless moment we’ve experienced in the last few years had to have been the first half of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Already down 2-0, the energized Pacers blitzed the hapless Knicks, taking a 55-35 lead late in the first half, threatening to put the visitors on the brink of a sweep.
On the road, completely hopeless and demoralized, the Knicks picked themselves off the mat and orchestrated their third 20-point road comeback of the postseason. Tom Thibodeau, with his job on the line, made a critical rotation change: going to Delon Wright and Landry Shamet to slow down Haliburton and the Pacers. He succeeded, and the Knicks chipped away.
After an awful game through three quarters, Karl-Anthony Towns scored 20 in a dominant fourth quarter that silenced all the critics. One of the most efficient offenses in NBA history was limited to 42 in the second half, as the Knicks temporarily saved their season.
This would be higher on the list, but the Knicks failed to sustain this momentum, ultimately losing in six games. It sucks, but the last gasp of hope we all felt after this game was a great feeling.
No. 7: The night Knicks stole Christmas (12/25)
Nothing does it like a big comeback on national TV.
The Knicks on Christmas is a tradition like no other for us fans, but it looked like a Blue Christmas for a while when the Cavaliers jumped out to an 18-3 lead and eventually extended it to 38-23. While Jordan Clarkson willed the Knicks back into it and got them a halftime lead, the Cavs pummeled the Knicks for the first 13 and a half minutes of the second half.
With just over 10 minutes left, Cleveland led 103-86. At this point, Tyler Kolek stole the show, and Jalen Brunson became Donovan Mitchell’s Grinch… again.
No. 6: Karl-Anthony Towns puts the Knicks on his back (Game 4, First Round vs DET)
Speaking of KAT in the playoffs, there’s a good chance the Knicks flame out in the first round against Detroit last season if not for his heroics in Game 4.
The Knicks split the first two games at MSG and took Game 3 in Detroit, but looked anything but convincing along the way. They needed a miraculous 21-0 run to win in Game 1 and they barely survived in Game 3. After starting Game 4 on fire and taking a 48-32 lead, the Pistons slowly chipped away before eventually taking an 11-point lead in the fourth.
Down 79-68 with under nine minutes to go, the Knicks mostly leaned on Jalen Brunson to get back in it, as he scored 15 in the fourth, but the real hero was Karl-Anthony Towns.
Down four in the final two minutes, the Big Bodega hit two ludicrous shots in a row to put the Knicks in front.
Did Josh Hart maybe get away with a foul in the final seconds? Who cares? Knicks went up 3-1.
No. 5: Mikal Bridges calls game in the PDX (3/12)
The wildest game of 2025 was undoubtedly the late-night thriller in Portland in March.
With no Brunson, the Knicks mostly controlled a similarly undermanned Blazers squad for most of the game, but endured a brutal collapse at the end of regulation. With a six-point lead and just over a minute left, they allowed a personal 8-2 run by Scoot Henderson to force overtime.
In a low-scoring overtime, it looked like the Knicks would prevail, but Hart committed an inbound violation and Deni Avdija hit a putback and-1 for the lead. The Knicks had the ball back, down two, with 3.4 to go.
Enter Mikal Bridges, who nailed the first Knicks’ buzzer-beater since RJ Barrett in January 2022.
No. 4: Knicks win the NBA Cup (12/16)
This is the only game on this list that technically didn’t count, but it represents the only trophy the Knicks have won in the 2000s.
On a thrilling night in Vegas, the Knicks came back from down 10 and rode Tyler Kolek, Jordan Clarkson, and the offensive rebounding prowess of Mitchell Robinson to an NBA Cup title. OG Anunoby also scored 28, and Jalen Brunson won MVP.
While the Knicks didn’t raise a banner for this accomplishment, let’s hope they can win the real thing in June.
No. 3: Two 20-point comebacks in Boston (Game 1 & 2, Second Round vs BOS)
These two moments could absolutely be separated, but both had several common themes.
In Boston. 20-point comebacks. Mikal Bridges making a game-saving defensive play.
The only difference is that you went from the joy of shocking the world and taking one off the defending champions on the road and a win that made you believe they could pull this off.
Me personally, I couldn’t believe what I was watching. Two of the clutchest games we will ever see.
No. 2: Utter jubilation at the World’s Most Famous Arena (Game 6, Second Round vs BOS)
Not much needs to be said about this game. There was no moment. There was no individual play that sparked great joy.
It was merely a 48-minute celebration. The Knicks destroyed a Tatum-less Celtics from bell to bell to advance to their first Eastern Conference Final in 25 years. The scene outside MSG was a madhouse. It was just utter jubilation.
No. 1: Jalen Brunson breaks every heart in Detroit (Game 6, First Round vs DET)
If not for the sheer drama of this moment, it would not be No. 1. The Knicks have moved past the point where every playoff series win is gigantic on its own (they’ve now won four in three years!), but it was the way it happened.
The Knicks and Pistons had a fierce, six-game series that saw comebacks by both teams and the road team win five of the six games. In Game 6, the Knicks led big early (again) before surrendering a 24-9 run to allow Detroit to tie it at 51 in the second quarter and eventually take a lead at halftime.
The Knicks rebuilt a double-digit lead in the third, but allowed a 13-0 run to fall behind in the final five minutes. The Pistons went on an extended 20-2 run and led by seven inside of three minutes. Game 7 was inevitable.
Enter Jalen Brunson. An and-1 floater and a gravity-defying layup cut the lead to two, while a Mikal Bridges putback layup tied it. After getting the stop on the other end, it was Brunson who had the chance to call game. Despite the relentless Ausar Thompson on him, that’s what he did.
As an added bonus, it was the trash-talking Malik Beasley who saw the game slip through his fingers on the ensuing possession.
That was the theme of the 2025 Knicks. They never quit, they always had an answer (well, aside from one game).
