The Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks haven’t even started their Eastern Conference finals series yet and they are already taking fire from Michael Wilbon.
Monday night saw the NBA’s Final Four tip off in the 2026 Playoffs with an epic contest between the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals. And Game 1 did not disappoint as it was one of the best playoff games in years with the Spurs and Victor Wembanyama finding a way to outlast the Thunder in double overtime.
As the nation was in awe over Wemby’s performance and the quality of basketball on both ends of the floor, it certainly looked and felt like an NBA Finals caliber series. And in talking about the Spurs-Thunder on Tuesday morning on ESPN’s Get Up and looking ahead to Knicks-Cavs, Wilbon couldn’t resist calling it as he saw it. And if it trolled some Knicks fans in New York, that was just a bonus.
“This is the junior varsity series. … Nothing we’re gonna see, out of Madison Square Garden, is gonna come close to last night.” 😳@RealMikeWilbon doesn’t believe the Knicks-Cavs series can compare to the Spurs-Thunder 👀 pic.twitter.com/ufoAAOryuG
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) May 19, 2026
“Can I just be annoying and anger everybody in New York,” Wilbon asked host Mike Greenberg. “Nothing that we see here in this series in the Eastern Conference is going to approach last night. Nothing. Ok? This is the junior varsity series. It may be great. By the way, the winner if it’s the Knicks could survive and win the whole thing because these two could kill each other, go Ali-Frazier in Manilla and nothing’s left. But nothing we’re gonna see out of Madison Square Garden is gonna come close to what we saw last night.”
Maybe it’s not entirely fair to make that proclamation before the East finals even gets underway. And to compare it specifically to Game 1 of the West finals, which was one of the best playoff games in years, might not be entirely fair either. But the oddsmakers, and the vast majority of basketball fans, certainly agree with Michael Wilbon. The Thunder and Spurs are +125 and +155 to win the championship while the Knicks and Cavs are at +475 and +2000 respectively on DraftKings.
If there’s one thing the Knicks and Cavs have going for them it’s that Tony Kornheiser proclaimed the NBA Playoffs had too many blowouts and were lacking drama before the Thunder-Spurs instant classic. So judging by that reverse jinx philosophy from PTI hosts, Knicks-Cavs will be the greatest NBA playoff series of all time.
About Matt Yoder