Top 5 Knicks moments to look back on in 2024

A lot of good for us to all be grateful for. Here’s to an even better 2025!

Jubilations, disappointments, surprises, anger, joy, sadness, proudness. 2024 has had all of that, and much more. Last year has been a rollercoaster of emotions. But as a whole, it was one of the best years ever to be a Knicks fan given the team’s overall success, the individual performances, accolades, and the characters on the team. So with the year finally behind us, here’s a list of the top five best moments of last year to look back on and be grateful for.

Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart’s big threes

DiVincenzo’s shot had it all. It was a crucial shot in a home playoff game that not only helped decide the game, but also helped turn the series in the Knicks’ favor. And making it even more memorable was everything that happened leading up to it.

New York was down five with 45 seconds left. Jalen Brunson got a friendly bounce on a well-contested three from the left corner. The Knicks trapped Tyrese Maxey and somehow pried the ball away from him. DiVincenzo ended up with a good look but couldn’t capitalize. But Isaiah Hartenstein battled for the offensive rebound, tapped it to OG Anunoby, who swung it back to DiVincenzo, and the rest is history. And making it feel so appropriate was how right the play felt.

The Knicks had spent the entire second half of the season morphing into a physical, and gritty team built on offensive rebounds, hustle, and big plays.

But it wasn’t just the on-court aspect of it. Even if DiVincenzo hadn’t hit this shot, he’d still be a beloved Knick for multiple reasons. He was a close friend of Brunson’s. He set the single-season record for threes made in his first and only season as a Knick. And he played with a level of effort and swagger fans loved. But this shot cemented his place in Knicks history and also made sure that he’d stay in Knicks fans’ hearts forever.

A big-time shot, in a big-time moment, from big-time player, that was made possible by big-time plays from his big-time teammates.

With all that being said, it’s possible that it wasn’t even the most important or memorable three in the series. While DiVincenzo’s shot making the Garden erupt and tipping the series in the Knicks’ favor will always be engrained into fans’ heads, there was something so sweet seeing Hart, who played his college ball just a few miles away, silence the Philadelphia crowd and putting the final touches on a hard-fought physical series.

Making it even more memorable was the fact that the year before, Brunson turned the ball over in the Knicks’ final game of the season after hesitating to pass to Hart. This time around, he trusted and found Hart, making this a full-circle moment for both of them.

The whole month of January

January of 2024 will go down as one of the most memorable months in Knicks lore.

In the moment, it was incredibly fun seeing a team that started out the season slow, morph into one of the most dominant teams in the league thanks in large part to the addition of OG Anunoby. The former Raptor improved almost every aspect of the team seemingly overnight.

Their offense was injected with some much-needed spacing, their defense took a significant leap, and the starting core of Brunson, DiVincenzo, Anunoby, Hartenstein, and Julius Randle were firing on all cylinders, and the players themselves looked like they were having a blast.

Unfortunately, the month ended with a pair of season-altering injuries, and looking back at that run now may conjure up feelings of bittersweetness instead of fondness. But it remains one of the best moments of 2024, and we must remember that.

Jalen Brunson making his first All-Star Game

In Knicks fans’ hearts, Brunson has been an All-Star for nearly every minute he’s worn a Knicks jersey.

Since coming over from Dallas, the point guard has completely changed the trajectory of the franchise and has endeared Knicks fans with his tantalizing play, and his humble, and calm leadership. But it still felt like he wasn’t getting the attention he had earned.

So when he was announced as a first-time All-Star and was finally rewarded with the recognition we all felt he deserved, it was a special moment for Knicks fans everywhere. And making the day of his All-Star announcement feel even more memorable, was his dominant 40-point performance against the Pacers, which was followed up with a postgame interview with MSG’s Allen Hahn where Brunson, who is usually stoic, started to tear up a bit.

Happiness, relief, pride. I think all Knicks fans looked back at just how bad they used to have it, especially at the point guard position, and felt a little bit of everything that day.

Mikal Bridges’ Christmas Day Miracle

When you think of some of the most dominant individual performances from 2024, many think of the numerous awe-inspiring games from Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, but Mikal Bridges’ 41-point outburst against the Spurs on Christmas Day may take the cake as the most memorable.

It certainly helps that it was on one of the biggest days of the year, when basketball fans from all over the world tune in. And the fact that the game came down to the wire and that the win extended an ongoing win streak also added some extra points.

But maybe more than anything, the fact that it was Bridges stealing the show made it stand out.

With Brunson, and now Towns, a lot of fans have started to expect a level of greatness, and while many of their 30, 40, and 50-point games are still wildly impressive, with Bridges, we just hadn’t really seen this coming.

He had developed a reputation of being one of the best role players in the league, capable of going off on any given night, but his Knicks tenure started off just about as horribly as anybody could have expected. And it led the entirety of the NBA community to question the trade. And even when he did eventually turn it around to start December, he was still a third option that was averaging around 20PPG.

But on Christmas, he delivered Knicks fans a much-needed miracle. The first-year Knick hunted for his shots, looked more aggressive, and confident than he had all season long, and dragged a Knicks team that could not find any semblance of consistency on the offensive end to the finish line.

This may not have been the most impressive, the best, or the most dominant performance by a Knick last year, but it’s still my pick for the most memorable individual regular season performance of 2024.

Yes, there’s recency bias, but no, I do not care.

Jalen Brunson’s historic playoff run

While Brunson may or may not have had the single most memorable individual performance of 2024, his playoff performance is easily the most memorable, and most impressive, stretch of games by a Knick in 2024. It was so good that it’s quite possibly the best stretch of games by anyone, Knick or not, all year long.

Brunson stumbled out of the gates in the first round of the postseason, scoring just 22 points on 8-26 shooting in game one, and 24 points on 8-29 shooting in game two. But from then on, he was a completely different player.

He exploded for 39 points in game three, and then went on to score 40 or more in four straight games, joining former Knick Bernard King, and Michael Jordan for the second most consecutive 40-point playoff games. During that span, he also became just the fifth player ever to average a 40-point double-double over any four-game stretch. And after he scored 44 points in a 30-point game-five win over the Pacers, he became just the 11th player ever to score 40 or more points in five or more games in a single postseason.

Between game three of the Sixers series and game six of the Pacers series, Brunson averaged 35.8 PPG, and 7.5 APG, while shooting 48.1% from the field.

In a season that started off with people—who shall not be named—questioning Brunson’s ability to be a 1A in the postseason, it was incredible to see a 6-foot-1 undersized point guard dominate in the biggest moments on the national stage. And he did so while carrying a hobbled team that so badly needed him to be at his best night in and night out to even have a shot at winning.

It was truly a remarkable stretch of games none of us will forget any time soon.