The 2026 NBA postseason began with 20 teams on April 14, and now we're down to two.
The Oklahoma City Thunder became the first team to reach consecutive Finals since the Golden State Warriors went to five straight from 2015 to 2019. Now, they'll look to become the first team since the Kevin Durant-led Warriors of 2017 and 2018 to win back-to-back titles.
In their way are the red-hot New York Knicks, who stormed through the Eastern Conference, winning 11 consecutive games by an average margin of 23.8 points to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.
Will Shai Gilgeous-Alexander & Co. again come out on top, ending a six-year stretch of parity, or will Jalen Brunson captain the Knicks' first NBA title in 53 years?
Our experts have everything you need to know about this epic Finals matchup. (Catch all the action on ABC and the ESPN App.)
Note: Series odds provided by DraftKings.
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What two March meetings revealed
How Thunder win | How Knicks win
One matchup to watch | Stat to know
Summer stakes: OKC | NY | Best bet
The stakes -- and significance -- for both teams
Whichever team manages to emerge from this Thunder-Knicks series victorious will etch themselves into NBA history in different, but massively significant, ways.
Despite missing both Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell, the team's two primary shot creators behind Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder managed to escape from Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs' long, athletic and relentless defenders that harassed him throughout the series.
As a result, the Thunder enter the Finals with a chance to become the first repeat champions since the 2018 Golden State Warriors. Another title would snap a record-setting stretch of parity in league history.
For Gilgeous-Alexander, meanwhile, he has a chance become the 10th player in NBA history to have two Most Valuable Player awards and two championships to his name. The rest of the names on that list? Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, LeBron James, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Tim Duncan and Stephen Curry.
In other words? The innermost circle of all-time greats.
And then, on the other side, there's the Knicks, the team with the NBA's most tortured fan base. For more than a half-century, Knicks fans have been waiting for a team to recapture the magic of those legendary Knicks teams of the early 1970s, led by Walt Frazier and Willis Reed. The Patrick Ewing-led Knicks of the 1990s came close, making the Finals twice, but ultimately came up short both times.
Now, led by Brunson -- who has already placed himself on the Mount Rushmore of all-time great Knicks alongside those three stars listed above -- New York comes roaring into the Finals having ripped off 11 straight victories with a point differential of plus-262. That is only the greatest 11-game stretch any team has played in the 80 years the NBA has existed, covering both regular and postseason play.
If these Knicks can rip off four more victories, they will become legendary figures in New York City, and the parade through Manhattan's Canyon of Heroes will truly be a once-in-a-lifetime event.
With two teams anchored by depth, by sharing the ball and with star floor generals powering them, this should be a fantastic series to watch. And as for whichever side is fortunate enough to come out on top? History beckons. -- Tim Bontemps
When OKC faced New York this season
March 4: Thunder 103, Knicks 100
March 29: Thunder 111, Knicks 100
The Knicks had trouble with the Thunder in both meetings during the regular season, the first matchup causing coach Mike Brown to criticize the officiating regarding Gilgeous-Alexander's free throws.
The second matchup continued the eventual two-time MVP's trend, with Gilgeous-Alexander going to the line 16 times on his way to a 30-point night. Brunson's 32 points were the only source of consistent offense, a concern that has been resolved -- New York is 17-5 since that loss, including a current 12-2 run in the playoffs. -- Vincent Goodwill
How the Thunder will beat the Knicks
The foundation of the Thunder's potential dynasty is the league's best defense, and defense does win championships -- as former Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison was fond of saying in an attempt to justify trading Luka Doncic months after their own Finals appearance in 2024.
Oklahoma City's defensive game plan begins with Brunson, another All-NBA guard the Mavs let get away. The Thunder's roster features multiple stoppers who can rise to that challenge, starting with Luguentz Dort and Cason Wallace.
Karl-Anthony Towns, New York's other All-Star, averaged 8.5 field goal attempts in the Knicks' two losses to the Thunder this season. He'll deal with a rotation of tough defenders, including ex-Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein, Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Chet Holmgren, Jaylin Williams and Alex Caruso.
The Thunder will want to turn this series into a wrestling match, and that physicality resulted in the Knicks venting frustration at the refereeing during their lone visit to Oklahoma City this season.
The more the Knicks focus on officiating, the better for the Thunder, who might have to find ways to manufacture offense without two of their best creators as Jalen Williams (hamstring) and Ajay Mitchell (calf) continue to deal with injuries. -- Tim MacMahon
How the Knicks will beat the Thunder
New York must bottle up what helped them steamroll through the East bracket. It hasn't been just the Brunson show, although he gets a lion's share of credit. Every starter has had his moment in these playoffs.
Mikal Bridges, whose game has awoken after calls for his benching in the first three games of the first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, is shooting nearly 60% from the field. The unsung OG Anunoby is scoring nearly 20 points per game on elite efficiency. And when Towns stays out of foul trouble, his ability to both stretch the floor and be a secondary facilitator presents a matchup nightmare for OKC's bigs.
Have the Knicks, who will enter next week's Finals with nine days of rest, been tested enough throughout this run? Closer games will be the expectation, but that's where Brunson comes in. There's no easy individual matchup for him to hunt late in games -- he will have to be fresh and excellent in the clutch to help the Knicks to their first ring since 1973. -- Goodwill
One matchup to watch
Towns vs. Hartenstein
New York probably never would have traded for Towns in 2024 if it had been able to retain Hartenstein in free agency that summer. And now, the two centers will guard each other for large portions of the Finals.
Towns is playing the best team basketball of his career, while Hartenstein is coming off a conference finals in which he did an admirable job defending Wembanyama on the perimeter. The battle between New York's old and new big men is one to watch in this series. -- Zach Kram
Stat that will define the series: 123.3
The Knicks just got done blitzing its East playoff competition, posting a 123.3 offensive rating on their way to the Finals. Remarkably, their offensive efficiency was the highest intraconference mark posted by an East champion since the league's current playoff format was instituted in 2003, supplanting LeBron James' 2017 Cleveland Cavaliers.
But here's a big catch: New York's juggernaut attack sputtered against the Thunder in the regular season despite having its preferred starting lineup healthy for both matchups.
The Knicks' offensive rating against the Thunder was a paltry 104.7, which would have ranked dead last in the NBA for the season. This Finals will be decided by which version of the Knicks' offense shows up: the unstoppable machine riding an 11-game winning streak, or the dysfunctional outfit that couldn't get anything going in two March losses to the defending champions. -- Ben Golliver
OKC's offseason outlook
Oklahoma City is looking to accomplish what no team has done in 10 years: win back-to-back championships. There is no guarantee the Thunder's roster remains the same next season, however.
With extensions beginning for Holmgren and Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City will pay the luxury tax for the first time since 2019-20 and are nearly $40 million over the second apron. They could get under, but at the cost of losing Hartenstein, Dort and Kenrich Williams, who have team options for next season.
A positive to their financial crunch: Oklahoma City has draft assets to reload its roster. It has two picks in the top 17 of June's draft and could add three additional first-rounders in 2027. The Thunder also will get back 2025 No. 15 overall pick Thomas Sorber, who missed the entire 2025-26 season with a torn ACL. -- Bobby Marks
New York's offseason outlook
It's easy to say the Knicks will be the favorite to repeat as East champs -- especially with their entire starting five under contract next season -- but the cost to keep this roster together could be expensive.
Once a glaring weakness under former coach Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks' bench is now a strength. But seven of their reserves, including Jose Alvarado (player option), Landry Shamet, Mitchell Robinson and Jordan Clarkson, are free agents this summer, and New York has little flexibility to replace them if they sign elsewhere. Meanwhile, Miles McBride is eligible to sign an extension heading into the final year of his contract.
Despite being close to the second apron, the Knicks can exceed the threshold to re-sign Shamet, Alvarado and Robinson. -- Marks
Best bet for the Finals
Knicks (+2.5 games) over Thunder
The Thunder entered the playoffs as heavy favorites to repeat, and they've maintained that status entering the Finals. Though the Knicks have been dominant during the postseason, the narrative is that the East isn't as strong, so its level of competition isn't representative. I disagree.
While none of the teams the Knicks defeated were as good as the San Antonio squad that OKC just dispatched, they demolished good teams and have enough diversity on offense to give the league's best defense some trouble.
New York, which ranked seventh on defense during the regular season but has been the playoffs' best unit so far, can do enough on that end to give the Thunder pause. I'll take the Knicks to win two games. -- André Snellings