Ad Disclosure
Why the New York Knicks Couldn’t Have Won the NBA Finals Without Saint Joe’s
By Matt Schultz
Published:
By and large, I did not enjoy watching the 2026 NBA Finals. I wanted the Spurs to win. I wanted Victor Wembanyama to make the leap to Superstar Face of the League. I wanted to see the Knicks get crushed. I wanted to see Jalen Brunson exposed as a foul-grifting, overrated crybaby. I wanted to see Josh Hart played off the floor as an offensive liability. I wanted to see Karl-Anthony Towns’ dumbass inability to stay out of foul trouble cost the Knicks games. I wanted to see Knicks fans’ hearts ripped out and stepped on. I wanted to see their entire miserable city more miserable than it’s ever been…
None of that stuff happened. In fact, pretty much the opposite of everything I wanted is how it went. Watching the final seconds tick off the clock in Game 5, I was pretty pissed about the entire Finals experience. I was mad at the Spurs for blowing every single game. I was mad at Wemby for being so limited offensively. I was mad that the Knicks got such an easy, unchallenged run to the Finals. I was mad at myself for caring this much…
All in all, the whole thing felt like a pretty big L for me.
But then, everything changed…
I saw this Instagram post:
And now I see clearly. This is no loss for me. In fact, this is a huge victory, because the Knicks winning the championship is a massive win for my Saint Joseph’s Hawks.
This is the story. This is fact. I will not back down from this.
Billy Lange, as we’re all well aware, was the head coach of the Saint Joseph’s Hawks from 2019 to 2025. After former Hawks Athletic Director Jill Bodensteiner unceremoniously fired SJU legend Phil Martelli, Billy took the reins and led the Hawks to an 81-104 record over six seasons, resulting in zero Atlantic 10 Championships and zero NCAA Tournament appearances. Then Billy abruptly quit a couple weeks before the 2025-26 season to become an assistant coach for the Knicks. That was the Billy Lange era on Hawk Hill.
Now, after reading all of that, you may think to yourself, “Wow. That guy sure seems worm-like. Like an opportunistic, conman-type worm. He didn’t win on Hawk Hill. He instilled no culture. He left the program much, much worse than he found it. Basically, all he did was show up, hone his worm skills for six years, then use them to worm his way into a better job where he technically became an NBA Champion. For Hawks fans who had to suffer through the Billy era, seeing him holding the Larry O’Brien trophy must feel like salt in the wound. Billy is not someone Saint Joe’s should be proud to be linked to in any way. He wormed Saint Joe’s big-time.”
And you would be wrong for thinking that. That’s not the narrative. The narrative is this: Billy Lange came to Saint Joe’s, learned from the Hawks’ long, storied tradition of excellence, and became a better coach. Then Billy brought the Hawks’ winning DNA to the Knicks. That SJU magis permeated throughout the Knicks locker room; they came to depend on it; it stabilized them. The proof is in the pudding. New York fell behind in every game of the Finals, but they refused to roll over. They had no quit. It’s almost as if… the Knicks… would never die… Much like the Hawk himself… Yes… This is what happened…
We’re all thinking the same thing: The Knicks couldn’t have won the Finals without Saint Joe’s. Saint Joe’s is now an incubator for NBA Champions. This will be huge for the Hawks’ program. Five-star recruits will now flock to Hawk Hill. The Knicks’ championship is more of a win for Saint Joe’s than it is for Villanova, even. This is the story. I will not back down from this.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com