Category: NBA

For the third straight season, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson is a member of the All-NBA Second Team.

Brunson got the 2025-26 honor alongside Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard and Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant.

Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, San Antonio Spurs forward-center Victor Wembanyama and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić made the First Team.

The Third Team was Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey, Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson, Thunder center-forward Chet Holmgren and Pistons center Jalen Duren.

Brunson, 29, averaged 26 points and 6.8 assists in 35 minutes per game in 74 games of New York's 53-29 regular season.

"I don't really want to consider us peaking at this moment," Brunson said Sunday on Zoom. "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, and that includes the times that we're in the playoffs because there's still time to learn, there's still time to get better.

"That's how I've always thought about it. I haven't really had the time to, like, kind of wonder where we are as a team. All I focus on is, 'How can we get better from the day before?'"

Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant is celebrating another successful season in the NBA with his 12th All-NBA honor of his career.

With his 12th All-NBA appearance, Durant joins an elite club of basketball greats, which includes:

• Jerry West
• Dolph Schayes
• Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon
• Dirk Nowitzki
• Julius Erving
• Bob Cousy
• Shaquille O’Neal
• Karl Malone
• Tim Duncan
• Kobe Bryant
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• LeBron James

Here’s a list of the All-NBA teams that the voters chose:

First: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama, Luka Doncic, Cade Cunningham

Second: Jaylen Brown, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Jalen Brunson, Donovan Mitchell

Third: Tyrese Maxey, Jamal Murray, Jalen Johnson, Jalen Duren, Chet Holmgren

In his first season with the Rockets, Durant averaged 26 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game in 78 appearances with the team. It’s the most Durant has played in a single season since the 2018-19 campaign, when he also had 78 appearances for the Golden State Warriors just before tearing his Achilles in that year’s NBA Finals.

To play that long and to still be at an All-NBA level this late into his career is extraordinary and the Rockets should not take that for granted.

While the Rockets may not have moved forward in their quest for a championship after bringing Durant in from a trade with the Phoenix Suns, having him on the roster makes them dangerous on any given night.

TDS community, how do you feel about Durant making the All-NBA team? Let us know in the comments section below.

CLEVELAND — It’s not quite the recognition coach Mike Brown sought, but Jalen Brunson has again been recognized as one of the league’s premier talents.

Brunson was named to the All-NBA second team for the third straight season.

He averaged 26 points and 6.8 assists during the regular season.

“He’s been doing this year after year after year since he got here in New York,” Brown said Sunday. “We’ve had a fantastic season. The numbers that he puts up are off the charts.”

Brown constantly has called for Brunson to be in the MVP conversation, but he got zero votes for the top five places.

“He’s also doing it two ways, and people aren’t talking about him leading the league in charges,” Brown said. “And there are other guys out there that get mentioned a lot and well deserved, well deserved. I’m not discounting them. But one or two of them might be strictly offense. Another one might be better defensively than offensively, you know? And he’s showing his mettle by leading a top three team in the conference not just with his scoring, not just with six to seven assists a game but also leading, leading the league in charges. And that should go a long way, and I hope going forward that the voters really take all of that in consideration.”

Brunson was joined on the second team by Jaylen Brown, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant and Donovan Mitchell.

Ahead of him, Brunson was beaten out by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cade Cunningham, Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Jokic on the first team.

The third team consisted of Tyrese Maxey, Jamal Murray, Jalen Johnson, Jalen Duren and Chet Holmgren.

New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson is celebrating his third consecutive All-NBA appointment, being named to the second team for a third straight year.

Here’s a look at how all the All-NBA teams shook out.

First: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama, Luka Doncic, Cade Cunningham

Second: Jaylen Brown, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Jalen Brunson, Donovan Mitchell

Third: Tyrese Maxey, Jamal Murray, Jalen Johnson, Jalen Duren, Chet Holmgren

Brunson was the final player named to the second team, receiving 49 second-team votes and 50 third-team votes. One voter left him off the ballot completely.

This season, Brunson averaged 26 points, 6.8 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game while shooting just under 37 percent from beyond the arc. Brunson did all of this while leading the Knicks to 53 victories and the third seed in the Eastern Conference. He has continued his All-NBA level throughout the postseason as the Knicks find themselves one win away from advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.

Towns had a case to join Brunson on the All-NBA list, but the big man came up just short. He was the 17th-highest vote getter, with one second-team vote and 11 third-team votes. Towns averages 20.1 points, 11.9 rebounds, and three assists per game in his second season with the Knicks.

Posting & Toasting community, what do you make of the All-NBA teams? Should Brunson have made the First Team? Who was the biggest snub next to Towns? Chime off in the comments section below.

Knicks wing OG Anunoby "got robbed" of the 2025-26 NBA All-Defensive First Team, coach Mike Brown said Sunday in Cleveland during a Zoom with reporters.

"I got one more thing before I'm taking off -- you guys can all print this," Brown, who made the case in early April, said at the end of his media availability. "Great players out there -- I'm not discounting anybody -- but freakin' OG got robbed. He should've been First Team All-Defense -- First Team All-Defense. The versatility that he brings to this team, we're a top five defensive team -- top five defensive team. OK?

"The versatility that he brings -- and everybody always says, 'Oh, you got KAT (Karl-Anthony Towns), you got Jalen (Brunson), blah, blah, blah.' The versatility that that guy brings to this team is off the charts, and I hope the voters get it next time around. I'm happy he's Second Team -- he deserves something -- but it was wrong."

"Freakin' OG got robbed. He should've been First Team All-Defense. I hope the voters get it right next time around. It was wrong."

Mike Brown ends his availability today by making the case for OG Anunoby to be First Team All-Defense 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/Z0HSYCirhf

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 24, 2026

Before Brown's statement, Anunoby said earlier in the video call that he was honored to be mentioned but "hoping" to make the First Team.

"It was cool to get the recognition, you know," Anunoby said. "... Second Team is cool. I was hoping I got First Team -- I thought I should've gotten First Team -- but Second Team is just as good."

Boston Celtics guard Derrick White, Detroit Pistons guard Ausar Thompson, Oklahoma City Thunder center-forward Chet Holmgren, San Antonio Spurs forward-center Victor Wembanyama and Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert got the nod for the First Team.

"He's been tremendous, obviously, defensively," Brunson said of Anunoby. "And I think him being able to guard 1 through 5 on any given night has really been a big part of who we are and what we're allowed to do on defense because of him. ... Any publicity is good publicity, but I think he was well deserving of the First Team."

Anunoby made the cut for the Second Team with Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels, Thunder guard Cason Wallace, Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes and Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo.

"There's a lot of great defenders in the league, so to be recognized as one of the 10 premier ones is really cool ... now just focus on the rest of the playoffs," Anunoby said.

The best of the best in the NBA have been honored.

The league announced its 2025-26 All-NBA selections Sunday, May 24, and a pair of players led the way with unanimous selections.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning, two-time consecutive Most Valuable Player, and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić were the only two players to receive 100 first-place votes.

San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama nearly made it three, but one panelist gave him a second-place vote.

A panel of 100 media members voted to select the All-NBA teams. Voters were asked to appoint five players to the first team, five to the second and five to the third. Then, the votes were tallied and added up and ranked in numerical order.

First-team votes were worth five points; second-team votes were worth three and third-team votes were worth one.

From the 21st pick in the draft to one of the 15 best players in the league.

The NBA has announced their All-NBA teams for the 2025-26 season, revealing that Tyrese Maxey has been selected for the first time in his career. He joins Jalen Duren, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Johnson, and Jamal Murray for those honors.

Leading the league in minutes per game, Maxey averaged 28.3 points, 6.6 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.9 steals a night. He did so on 46.2/36.7/89.2% shooting splits, earning his second All-Star selection back in February. Maxey becomes the first Sixer to make an All-NBA team since Joel Embiid’s MVP year back in 2023 and the first non-Embiid Sixer to earn the honors since Ben Simmons in 2019-20.

Maxey’s spot on an All-NBA started to be penciled in at the very start of the season when Maxey came out of the gates hot, averaging 32 points per game over the first month and a half of the season. His production tailed off a bit as his workload caught up with him, and suffered a finger injury in March that put him in danger of missing the 65-game threshold for awards.

He returned a week early, clearing that benchmark by five games and navigating his team through the Play-In tournament as the Sixers again lost Embiid to a freak injury right before the playoffs.

Had his production been able to withstand his heavy workload, he only averaged a measly 26.5 points per game since the calendar flipped to 2026, there was definitely an argument for him to make second team. He was the leading third-team vote getter and received 36 votes for second-team.

This is also the first step in another leap Maxey can make, this one being financial. ESPN’s Bobby Marks has already run the numbers as Maxey will be eligible for the Super-Max extension in the 2027 offseason should he make an All-NBA team again next year.

Draymond Green is certainly known to have his opinions, but a social media beef has caught everyone off guard. 

The Warriors star and NBA analyst for “Inside the NBA”bizarrely told a Knicks fan to “Watch your mouth before I crush those dirty ass kids in your banner” in response to a remark she made on X. 

The user, @HanaHoops, has an old photo featuring two young girls in her X profile banner.

It’s unclear if it’s an old photo of herself or others. 

The social media user had originally posted, “COME OUTSIDE BITCH” and tagged Green, in a likely chirp related to his commentary on “Inside the NBA.” 

The reply didn’t seem to bother @HanaHoops, who replied to Green’s comment on Sunday, asking if he was “hacked or something?” 

“Im actually crying bruh why would he say that,” she also wrote on X. 

She also posted about it on TikTok, where she screenshotted and shared the exchange and captioned it, “When you get in a random Twitter beef with Draymond Green.” 

Green seemed plenty busy on social media Sunday, also taking aim at a fan who had said that the hooper could get on the Knicks bandwagon. 

That offer was not met with much appreciation. 

“Why would I? I got more rings than y’all. I don’t need to be on anyone’s bandwagon,” Green wrote on X. 

Green has been complimentary of the way the team has played through the playoffs and even said that three was “no one playing better than the New York Knicks.” 

They’ve been consistently good on both sides of the basketball. They’re really connecting the game, they’re using their defense to fuel their offense,” Green said about the Knicks. 

The Knicks are one win away from reaching the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.

Wembanyama scores 33 and Spurs trounce Thunder 103-82 to even the NBA West final originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Victor Wembanyama had 33 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks and the San Antonio Spurs held Oklahoma City to its second-lowest postseason total, beating the Thunder 103-82 in Game 4 on Sunday night to tie the NBA Western Conference finals.

De’Aaron Fox had 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for San Antonio, which has not lost three consecutive games all season. Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell added 13 points each.

Game 5 is Tuesday in Oklahoma City, followed by Game 6 on Thursday in San Antonio.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 19 points on 6-for-15 shooting for the Thunder.

Wembanyama took Oklahoma City’s 123-108 victory Friday in Game 3 personally. The 7-foot-4 star from France said he needed to be better to make his teammates better. He was monumentally better Sunday night — and so was San Antonio.

The Spurs limited the Thunder to 33% shooting from the field, including 6 for 33 on 3-pointers (18%).

After being outscored 76-23 in bench points in Game 3, San Antonio’s reserves scored 30 points while limiting Oklahoma City to 34.

The Spurs had another hot start in Game 4 after opening the previous game on a 15-0 run. Unlike Friday’s lopsided loss, the Spurs never relinquished that lead.

After blocking Jared McCain’s layup under the rim, Vassell tossed an alley-oop pass to Wembanyama for a dunk as part of 16-0 run that gave the Spurs a 23-8 lead with 4:19 remaining.

San Antonio had an assist on all 10 field goals in the first quarter.

San Antonio held Oklahoma City to 38 points in the first half, tied for its second-lowest half in the past four regular and postseasons. The Thunder are 2-9 when they score less than 40 points in any half over the last five seasons.

Oklahoma City’s franchise low is 65 points in a playoff loss to Memphis on May 3, 2014, and its second-fewest points had been 85 against San Antonio on May 21, 2014.

Wembanyama scores 33 and Spurs trounce Thunder 103-82 to even the NBA West final originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Victor Wembanyama had 33 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks and the San Antonio Spurs held Oklahoma City to its second-lowest postseason total, beating the Thunder 103-82 in Game 4 on Sunday night to tie the NBA Western Conference finals.

De’Aaron Fox had 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for San Antonio, which has not lost three consecutive games all season. Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell added 13 points each.

Game 5 is Tuesday in Oklahoma City, followed by Game 6 on Thursday in San Antonio.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 19 points on 6-for-15 shooting for the Thunder.

Wembanyama took Oklahoma City’s 123-108 victory Friday in Game 3 personally. The 7-foot-4 star from France said he needed to be better to make his teammates better. He was monumentally better Sunday night — and so was San Antonio.

The Spurs limited the Thunder to 33% shooting from the field, including 6 for 33 on 3-pointers (18%).

After being outscored 76-23 in bench points in Game 3, San Antonio’s reserves scored 30 points while limiting Oklahoma City to 34.

The Spurs had another hot start in Game 4 after opening the previous game on a 15-0 run. Unlike Friday’s lopsided loss, the Spurs never relinquished that lead.

After blocking Jared McCain’s layup under the rim, Vassell tossed an alley-oop pass to Wembanyama for a dunk as part of 16-0 run that gave the Spurs a 23-8 lead with 4:19 remaining.

San Antonio had an assist on all 10 field goals in the first quarter.

San Antonio held Oklahoma City to 38 points in the first half, tied for its second-lowest half in the past four regular and postseasons. The Thunder are 2-9 when they score less than 40 points in any half over the last five seasons.

Oklahoma City’s franchise low is 65 points in a playoff loss to Memphis on May 3, 2014, and its second-fewest points had been 85 against San Antonio on May 21, 2014.

While Luka Dončić’s Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge was approved by the NBA, making him eligible for end-of-season awards, the voters still left him off their MVP ballots. However, Luka will not go empty-handed regarding NBA accolades this year as he was named First Team All-NBA on Sunday.

This is his sixth All-NBA selection, but his first in a purple and gold uniform.

Luka is joined by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokić, Victor Wembanyama and Cade Cunningham on the First Team.

Jaylen Brown, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brunson made the Second Team. Jalen Duren, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Johnson, Tyrese Maxey and Jamal Murray were on the Third Team.

Luka received 91 First Team votes and nine Second Team votes.

With LeBron James and Austin Reaves both failing to reach the 65-game threshold to be eligible, no other Lakers received All-NBA honors. Last year, the roles were reversed as LeBron was an All-NBA player and Luka was ineligible due to injury.

Luka had an incredible season that deserves to be celebrated. He made the All-Star team, representing the Lakers in the game for the first time in his career. He was the NBA’s scoring champion, averaging 33.5 points per game. He was also the only player to earn Western Conference Player of the Month honors multiple times this season, those coming in Januaryand March.

In March, he was particularly impressive. He scored 60 points on the road against the Heat, led the Lakers to a 15-2 record, and had 600 points in the month.

Only 10 players in NBA history have accomplished that feat. And that list includes players such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan and Jerry West.

Now, Luka adds another All-NBA selection to his resume, making him just one of the 50-plus players to make the team six or more times.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.

Luka Doncic was once again formally recognized as one of the NBA’s best players.

The Lakers superstar guard was named to a 2025-26 All-NBA team on Sunday, receiving first-team honors.

The recognition marked the sixth time in Doncic’s eight-year career that he was named to an All-NBA team.

He was named All-NBA First Team in five consecutive seasons (2020-24).

The 2025-26 All-NBA teams are:

• First Team: Doncic, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Spurs center Victor Wembanyama and Pistons guard Cade Cunningham;
• Second Team: Celtics wing Jaylen Brown, Clippers wing Kawhi Leonard, Rockets forward Kevin Durant, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson and Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell;
• Third Team: 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey, Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, Hawks forward Jalen Johnson, Pistons center Jalen Duren and Thunder center Chet Holmgren.

Doncic received 91 first-team and nine second-team All-NBA votes, landing on all 100 of the media ballots.

Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic, Wembanyama, Doncic and Brown were the lone players to be on every ballot.

Doncic is the fifth player in league history to earn six All-NBA first-team honors by age 27 or younger, according to the Lakers. He and Jokic were the 22nd and 23rd players in NBA history to receive six or more career first-team selections.

The lone seasons Doncic hasn’t been named to an All-NBA team were his first season in the league, when he was named the 2019 Rookie of the Year, and after the 2024-25 season, when he was limited to 50 regular-season games. 

Doncic, 27, won the scoring title for the second time in the last three seasons. 

He led the league with a scoring average of 33.5 points to go with 8.3 assists, 7.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals. His 254 made 3-pointers were the most in Lakers history for a season and the third most in the league for 2025-26.

Doncic was the lone player to be named the Western Conference Player of the Month twice in 2025-26, receiving the honor for his play in January and March. 

Despite falling short of the 65 games-played threshold, Doncic was eligible for the league’s end-of-season awards voting, including All-NBA, after the NBA and NBPA announced last month that his Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge for the 65-game award rule was honored. He finished fourth in the voting for league MVP, which Gilgeous-Alexander won for the second consecutive season.

Doncic played in 64 qualified games before suffering a regular-season-ending Grade 2 left hamstring strain during the Lakers’ loss to the Thunder on April 2. He missed two games in December because of the birth of his daughter in Europe, which qualified as an extraordinary circumstance according to the announcement. 

His 2025-26 regular season was filled with historic achievements and accolades, as he reestablished himself as one of the league’s best players after a 2024-25 season that featured a lengthy absence because of a calf injury and the shocking trade to the Lakers in February 2025.

Doncic scored at least 40 points in the first three games he played to start the season. Wilt Chamberlain is the only other player in league history to reach the 40-point mark in their first three games of a season. 

Despite LeBron James being sidelined for the first 14 games of the season because of sciatica, Doncic, along with fellow star guard Austin Reaves, led the Lakers to a 15-4 record through the season’s first six weeks. Doncic averaged a league-high 35.1 points in that stretch.

Doncic’s best stretch of the season came after he returned from a left hamstring injury after the All-Star break.

He averaged 35.8 points, 7.8 assists and 7.7 rebounds in the 21 games he played from Feb. 20-March 31. The Lakers went 16-5 in the games Doncic played during that stretch, including 14-2 in March.

Welcome to the Game Thread. Veterans of the Game Thread know how we do things around here, but for all you newbies we have a few rules. Our community guidelines apply and basically say be cool, no personal attacks, don’t troll and don’t swear too much. The rule against trolling also applies to members of this site that visit other fan sites.

Tonight’s game is almost a must-win game for the Silver and Black, as they need a victory tonight to avoid a trip to Oklahoma City on Tuesday night with elimination on the line. If anyone would have told me early in the season that the Spurs would be in the conference finals at the end of may with a chance to even up the series 2-2, I would have been ecstatic. But after watching the playoff run so far with the Spurs, I don’t want this to end yet. The Spurs need to keep extending the series until they can take it all the way to the Finals to meet a well-rested Knicks squad, who are murderizing the Cavs on the other side of the bracket.

Game 3 started out well for the home team, as the Spurs rushed out to a 15-0 lead, but unfortunately for the home team, the game isn’t over after the first 5 minutes, and they were thoroughly outplayed after the initial run and lost the game by 15. It was the first game where the Spurs weren’t just outschemed by a more experienced coach, but were neutralized by superior play of the opponent. I have been pretty critical of the physical play style of OKC, but that was not the reason the Spurs lost Game 3. The Thunder played with more energy and got an excellent effort up and down the roster as every player who hit the court made a significant contribution. For the Spurs, Wembanyama had a good but not great game, and the Spurs elite guard trio, struggling with injuries, couldn’t be dominant enough to make up for the lack of production from the San Antonio bench, who were bleeding points every minute they were on the court. If the Spurs want to avoid facing elimination on Tuesday, players like Keldon Johnson, Luke Kornet, and Carter Bryant will need to step up, and Julian Champagnie will need to hit some shots to relieve some of the defensive pressure on Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox.

The Spurs aren’t listing any players on the injury report, but both Fox and Harper have been dinged up, and won’t be at full speed tonight. They are going to go, and maybe that will inspire some of their teammates to help them to a win. Ajay Mitchell is out tonight, and Jalen Williams (hamstring) is listed as questionable. I doubt that JDub will play tonight, but if he does, he won’t be at full speed. With all that’s gone wrong in this series, the Silver and Black have a great opportunity for a win tonight to even up the series, and guarantee at another home game on Thursday in the Frost Arena. Let’s see the Spurs conquer adversity tonight, and give the fans another chance to cheer on their team. The Spurs have not lost three games in a row all season, and you definitely don’t want that to happen for the first time in the playoffs. LETS GO SPURS!

Game Prediction:

Carter Bryant has a breakout game and hits six three point shots as the Thunder are busy triple teaming Wembanyama.

San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma Thunder, Conference Championship Round, Game 4
May 24, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT
Streaming: Peacock
TV: NBC
Reminder: It is against site policy to post links to illegal streams in the comments.

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.

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.”