Looking back at the Knicks’ history in the Eastern Conference Finals

It proved to be worth the wait.

Behind a core headlined by Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, Dave DeBusschere, Dick Barnett and Bill Bradley, the Knicks defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in five games, despite Kareem Abdul-Jabbar averaging 34.2 points and 17.8 rebounds per game.

Reed led the Knicks with 27.8 points and 12.2 rebounds per game in the series.

The Knicks then slayed their biggest dragon, winning the NBA Finals over the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games — Game 7 being the “Willis Reed Game” — for the franchise’s first championship.

1972

With that same core intact — but with Reed out with a knee injury — the Knicks returned in 1972, with the round now renamed the Eastern Conference Finals.

Frazier averaged 24.0 points per game, and DeBusschere added 19.8 points and 13.0 rebounds, as the Knicks cruised past the Celtics in five games.

But a rematch of the 1970 Finals did not go as well for the Knicks, who fell to Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and the Lakers in five games.

1973

History repeated itself.

With Reed back in the mix, the Knicks beat Boston in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals, led by Frazier’s 26.1 points per game.

The Knicks nearly blew a 3-1 series lead, as Dave Cowens — that year’s NBA MVP who averaged 24.4 points and 14.1 rebounds in the series — helped Boston force a Game 7.

But the Knicks won that Game 7 in Boston, 94-78, behind a near-triple-double by Frazier, who totaled 25 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

The Knicks then beat the Lakers in five games in the NBA Finals.

1993

Two decades passed before the Knicks returned to the conference finals, and their reward for that wait was… a meeting with Michael Jordan and the dynastic Chicago Bulls.

Pat Riley’s top-flight defense was no match for Jordan, who averaged 32.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game as the Bulls won the series in six.

That included a Game 4 in which Jordan scored 54 points.

That was the first time in seven trips to the Eastern Conference Finals/Eastern Division Finals that the Knicks did not win.

It was also the only time the Knicks faced Jordan in that round, though he went 5-0 in playoff series against them in his career.

1994

The good news for the Knicks is that Jordan retired (for the first time) after that 1993 postseason, breaking the Eastern Conference wide open.

The Knicks took advantage by returning to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they defeated the Indiana Pacers in seven games.

That series is best remembered for Game 2, when Reggie Miller fueled a furious second-half comeback at the Garden and taunted Knicks superfan Spike Lee with the “choke” gesture.

But the Knicks got the last laugh with a 94-90 win in Game 7 at the Garden, with Patrick Ewing erupting for 24 points, 22 rebounds and seven assists.

However, the Knicks fell in the NBA Finals to the Houston Rockets in seven games.

1999

Despite being the East’s No. 8 seed in a lockout-shortened season, Jeff Van Gundy’s Knicks — now with Allan Houston, Latrell Sprewell, Larry Johnson and Marcus Camby surrounding a 36-year-old Ewing — caught fire in the playoffs.

They returned to the Eastern Conference Finals for another bout with the Pacers, whom they beat in six games.

It was an uncharacteristically quiet series by Miller, who averaged 16.2 points per game while shooting just 36.3% from the field and 33.3% on 3-pointers.

But in what remains the Knicks’ most recent trip to the Finals, the Knicks lost to David Robinson, Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs in five games.

2000

The 2000 playoffs marked the end of an era in the Knicks-Pacers rivalry, as they met for the sixth time in eight postseasons, and for the third time in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Miller got his revenge, averaging 21.8 points per game and shooting 43.6% on 3-pointers, as Indiana won in six games.

Dealing with an injured foot, Ewing missed two games in the series. The Game 6 loss at the Garden was Ewing’s final appearance with the Knicks.

2025

Two-and-a-half decades passed before the Knicks returned to the Eastern Conference Finals, and most of that drought was characterized by losing.

That’s why last year’s playoff run — during which the Knicks upset the defending champion Celtics in the second round — was so special for the fans who had lived and died through the tough times.

However, the Knicks’ surge only lasted so long.

This generation’s Pacers, with a run-and-gun offense led by the trash-talking Tyrese Haliburton, eliminated the Knicks in six games.

It started with a costly Game 1 loss at home in which the Knicks led by 17 points in the fourth quarter and by nine points with 58.1 seconds left in regulation.

But Aaron Nesmith made six 6-pointers in the fourth before Haliburton’s long 2-pointer — which bounced high off the rim and fell through the net as time expired — forced overtime.

Haliburton mimicked Miller’s “choke” taunt, and the Pacers won in overtime, 138-135, to set the tone for the rest of the series.

2026

Now, the Knicks will try to take the long-awaited next step.

The Knicks return the same starting lineup — Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges — that took them to the ECF last year.

But they have a different coach, as the Knicks fired Tom Thibodeau and replaced him with Mike Brown last offseason.

The mission was clear, and it was made even clearer in January during owner James Dolan’s interview on WFAN.

“We want to get to the Finals,” Dolan said, “and we should win the Finals.”

After seven straight playoff victories — most of them in blowout fashion — the red-hot Knicks are four wins away from their first trip to the Finals since 1999.