{"id":453095,"date":"2025-12-17T11:22:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T11:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/453095\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T11:22:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T11:22:12","slug":"nba-cup-winners-new-york-knicks-now-take-aim-at-more-elusive-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/453095\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Cup winners New York Knicks now take aim at more elusive title"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"play\"<\/p>\n

NBA trades we want to see<\/p>\n

Picking potential landing spots for a few NBA stars who could be on the move.<\/p>\n

For the New York Knicks<\/a>, the NBA Cup is nice.<\/p>\n

The $530,933 each player pockets will fatten bank accounts. The franchise that hasn\u2019t won an NBA championship in 52 years got to outlast all other 29 teams for a trophy. They got, as center Karl-Anthony Towns told reporters after the game, the chance to wear \u201cthis dope-ass shirt on with the Knicks saying we\u2019re champions.\u201d<\/p>\n

But if this is the lone hardware the Knicks end up with at season\u2019s end, it won\u2019t be nearly enough.<\/p>\n

New York crashed the glass, outhustled San Antonio and sprinted past the upstart Spurs<\/a>, 124-113<\/a>, to claim the 2025 NBA Cup title on Tuesday, Dec. 16, but the Knicks are built for more.<\/p>\n

They should contend in the Eastern Conference and beyond, and their offseason move to fire former coach Tom Thibodeaux<\/a> \u2014 after New York reached its first conference finals in 25 seasons \u2014 indicated that there is no other outcome to be tolerated from this build other than an NBA Finals trophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, if you win the Cup, you feel like you have to validate why we got here and got ourselves in this position to win,\u201d Towns said.<\/p>\n

The Knicks overcame an 11-point deficit and a slow shooting night from star point guard Jalen Brunson. They launched a 15-3 run to start the fourth quarter and limited Spurs star phenom Victor Wembanyama to just 2 points on 0-of-4 shooting in the final period \u2014 New York entered down by five. The Knicks didn\u2019t let Wembanyama, all 7-foot-5 of him, record a single rebound in the fourth.<\/p>\n

The irony in all this is that this was a game that counted, but didn\u2019t, really.<\/p>\n

Yes, the Knicks will claim this title, but all statistics recorded in the game won\u2019t count toward season totals. It\u2019s fairly representative of the state of the Knicks: this is an accomplishment to be cherished and celebrated, but it\u2019s the one that has eluded New York that actually counts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited,\u201d Brunson told reporters after the game. \u201cIt was a goal of ours that we get to check off. It\u2019s an important stepping stone for us. We can still learn from this game and get better as well. I\u2019m very thankful for the opportunity that we presented ourselves \u2026 we found a way to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Knicks are currently 18-7, which ranks second in a wide-open Eastern Conference. Established teams from previous seasons like the Celtics (Jayson Tatum) and Pacers (Tyrese Haliburton) are facing significant injuries to star players. Teams like the Cavaliers and Bucks have sputtered to start the season.<\/p>\n

The Pistons (21-5) and Magic (15-11) appear to be the top threats.<\/p>\n

But the Knicks could also be at an inflection point, with rumors swirling about the future of star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> in Milwaukee. Antetokounmpo reportedly prefers the Knicks as a destination, and his addition would bolster championship aspirations.<\/p>\n

Regardless, this roster is balanced and complete. Towns can stretch the floor with his range. Brunson is a consistent threat to score. OG Anunoby, who scored a game-high 28 points on Tuesday night, is also a defensive stopper \u2014 and one who switched onto shifty Spurs guard De\u2019Aaron Fox late in Tuesday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cA game like this, an environment like this, you don\u2019t really see around the NBA too often,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to take advantage of the experience that we got here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Knicks will need more from their bench down the stretch. Backup guard Tyler Kolek provided massive minutes and recorded 14 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the victory.<\/p>\n

These are valuable experiences for young players like Kolek; while the NBA Cup doesn\u2019t carry the same stakes as the NBA playoffs, it\u2019s a heightened environment, nonetheless.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s now incumbent on coach Mike Brown and the rest of the staff to use this NBA Cup championship as a catalyst to spark further development.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe going to celebrate this one tonight,\u201d Towns said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to hold this Cup championship dear to our heart, but now it\u2019s time to work on the second one.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t say it by name, but there was no doubt which title Towns was talking about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBA trades we want to see Picking potential landing spots for a few NBA stars who could be…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":453096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,529,178683,1625,207865,1339,2625,24109,4160,463,60331,3368,7226,24114,24110,24115,8606,207866,13765,207867,1571,5382,1260,38985,942,635,405,403,3122,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,88645,17380,450,950,1624,3138,62,1458,7199,24111,11532,99908,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,11818,4714,14249,636],"class_list":{"0":"post-453095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-analysis","10":"tag-antetokounmpo","11":"tag-antonio","12":"tag-anunoby","13":"tag-basketball","14":"tag-brown","15":"tag-brunson","16":"tag-coach","17":"tag-cup","18":"tag-giannis","19":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","20":"tag-jalen","21":"tag-jalen-brunson","22":"tag-karl-anthony","23":"tag-karl-anthony-towns","24":"tag-knicks","25":"tag-kolek","26":"tag-mike","27":"tag-mike-brown-coach","28":"tag-national","29":"tag-national-sports","30":"tag-nba","31":"tag-nba-cup","32":"tag-neutral","33":"tag-new","34":"tag-new-york","35":"tag-new-york-city","36":"tag-new-york-knicks","37":"tag-news","38":"tag-newyork","39":"tag-newyorkcity","40":"tag-ny","41":"tag-nyc","42":"tag-og","43":"tag-og-anunoby","44":"tag-overall","45":"tag-overall-neutral","46":"tag-san","47":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","48":"tag-sports","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-spurs","51":"tag-towns","52":"tag-tyler","53":"tag-tyler-kolek","54":"tag-united-states","55":"tag-united-states-of-america","56":"tag-unitedstates","57":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","58":"tag-us","59":"tag-usa","60":"tag-victor","61":"tag-victor-wembanyama","62":"tag-wembanyama","63":"tag-york"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}